Food Challenge Wrap Up

Well, we made it through all 14 weeks!  It was a lot of fun and may be something I repeat if we get a little off track in our eating habits again at some point.

Overall thoughts:

I thought it was great!  It was a focused way of looking at your eating habits without having to overall everything all at once.  I think making tons of changes all at once is really overwhelming - even when our basic eating habits have always been healthy.

What was hardest??

The hardest week for us was giving up refined oils.  This shocked me but both Victor and I thought it was harder than giving up sugar/sweeteners.  there are pretty much no edible crackers available at our local grocery stores that are free of refined oils.

Eating all locally grown food is difficult too.  We do pretty well with somethings but there is still room for improvement in this category.


What surprised me the most?

I think I was most surprised at how easy it was to give up Diet Coke/soda.  I had been drinking 1-2 Diet Cokes a day and now drink 1-2 a month.  I do not miss it.  I really feel quite a bit better without it.  Most surprising is that I have really been able to go without caffeine.  I still drink black tea 3-4 days a week but not usually because I "need" the caffeine.


What changes will become permanent?


We will adopt many of the ideas into our eating habits permanently.  I am working on writing a "family food pledge" of sorts but don't have it done yet.  Stay tuned!

I challenge anyone who is reading to take a moment and really focus on your eating habits.  It is quite eye opening.

If you are looking for a book to read I found the book "Real Food" by Nina Planck an easy read and very informative.  I don't agree with everything she says but it was a thought provoking book and it made me think.