Back to Basics

This past Sunday at church I was raving to some friends about the yumminess of some cinnamon twists that I had made for breakfast that day. One friend responded, "See, this is why I can't cook anything off your blog!" In other words, she was telling me that it's all too fattening. It startled me.

Since then, I've been thinking about what she said. Although I have posted some lower-calorie recipes lately, she's right. A lot of what I've been posting are the "special something" that you want to make and have every once in a while - muffins, pies, cakes, even some of main dishes like the chicken pot pie. If I ate this stuff all the time I'd be as big as a house. Unfortunately for me, I have been making them a lot more often then usual. I can't blog about them if I don't have pictures, and I can't get pictures if I don't make the recipe, right?

I realized that since I've started posting regularly on this blog this past summer, I stopped losing weight. In fact, not only did I stop losing, but I have gained about 10 pounds back. Huh? I am SO no into that. And all this time I've been telling myself that it is because I haven't started running again since summer vacation. Although exercise is a big factor in weight loss for me, a huge part of my weight loss will also be affected by what I am putting in my mouth. And since I have a big sugar addiction... there's no eating "just one bite" of anything sweet.

And so, I am going back to basics. I realized that I have been too concerned with posting what is "yummy" instead of what is "good and nutritious" on this blog. "Yummy" implies sugar and fluff, not sustenance. Yet if I look back at my goals for this blog, they have more to do with feeding my family healthy food - not "yummy" food. And "good and nutritious" can be "yummy", too! It's just hard to realize that when you're trying to decide between a Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffin and a fresh apple. I don't need to clutter the blog with sweets and fat. There's plenty of those recipes out there to be found if you're looking for them.

And so, though I will still do an occasional post on something sweet (in part because I've already got several recipes and pictures ready to go) or something full of carbohydrates (like bread and pizza), I'm going to focus on good, healthy dishes, utilizing lots of veggies. We are heading into the biggest weight-gaining season of the year, and the last thing any of us need are more ways to eat junk food.

As an added bonus, my sister Gwen is going to start posting recipes on this blog with me. She is also on a journey to regain control of her eating habits and live a healthy lifestyle. Maybe by lending one another support we can all be successful.




(Photo of fruits and vegetables courtesy of http://webpages.scu.edu/ftp/kryder/phealthy.html)