Step One

Changing your habits is hard! We have all learned this the hard way. Think back in your life and try to recall how many different weight loss diets you have placed on yourself. So how many was it? I will give you a list of the famous ones I have been on, and the ones I made up myself. I tried HCG, weight watchers, low carb diets, reduced calorie diets, and so many others. Did they work? Yes, they did. Weight Watchers was actually my most successful. I loved it while I was on it, but the big question when I was done was this: was I really healthier because of it? The answer: no, I was not. On that diet I ate so many different TV dinners trying to keep my points in order that I am sure, I ate so many preservatives that are still occupying my body. In addition, not one of those diets taught me anything about how to eat healthy and keep the weight off. Now I have never been a large girl, but I have struggled with keeping my weight where I want it to be. Even when I thought I was eating healthy, I came to find that I really was not. Let me explain how I found out I was doing everything backward.

This past summer I spent 4 weeks in Germany, 1 weekend in Austria, and one week in Switzerland. While I was in Germany and Austria, I did not have access to a refrigerator or any cooling system other than an open window. Needless to say, I ate out A LOT. I was so worried that by the end of my trip I was going to have gained all the weight I had paid my personal trainer to help me lose to get me ready for my wedding. To my surprise, when I got back home to the states and weighed myself, I actually LOST weight; almost 7 pounds. Now to be fair, I did do a ton of walking, because I traveled through cities by foot or by bus and traveled across the few countries by train. That being said, I still ate what I thought to be terribly, but when I pondered and remembered what I had learned about German culture, it all seemed to make sense. Germans are very environmentally conscious and health conscious. Their farming is usually all organic, and they are not particular fans of tons of preservatives. They go grocery shopping 2-3 times a week, because their food is so fresh it actually goes bad! Now look in your cupboard and count how many things that have been in there for over a month. What keeps that food "good" are chemicals and synthetic foods that were not meant for our body in the first place. By simply eating actual food, I lost weight. It was that easy.

I know some of you may be saying, "Well you didn't control for the exercise, so you cannot be sure that the extra walking wasn't what did it." To you all I reply with this. When I recently decided to go an all-natural and all organic route, I have not had time to go to the gym (ok that is somewhat a lie because I work at a gym, but I do not do any physical activity while I am in there). There was no sort of physical activity to interact with my current outcome. Now, when I started this, I did not anticipate doing it to lose weight. I just wanted to have a healthier lifestyle. Well, surely enough, a week and a half later of no exercise and the new healthy organic/all natural eating habit, I lost seven pounds! That's right, seven pounds with no exercise and without even putting in effort. I did not starve myself, in fact, I ate homemade cookies that my husband made, and I ate every couple of hours. I ate like a normal person and still lost weight! It was incredible!

I know that organic foods can sometimes be a bit pricey, but what I discovered from actually shopping for organic food, it is not as expensive as I thought it would be. In fact, many of the organic fruits are comparable to the non –organic fruit. For example, my very first attempt to buy organic produce, I compared the price of my favorite apple: The Pink Lady. The price for inorganic Pink Ladies was 1.29/lbs., the organic price….drum roll please….1.29/lbs.! I was shocked! Eating healthy could actually not be too much of a burden on my wallet! So here is how I got started to eating organically/naturally.

I started with the items I eat most: produce and yogurt. These I always get organic and it does not add any undue burden on my finances. Many items I continue even to this day as non-organic items, simply because I cannot afford to eat 100% organic at this point in my life. So things like milk, eggs, lunchmeats, and cheeses I get non-organic, but all natural. When shopping the all-natural route, it is important to rely not completely on the label. Just because an item advertises as all natural, does not necessarily mean that it is true. Want to know an easy way to find out whether the item is really all natural or not? Check the label! Look at the ingredients and if you cannot make the item yourself in your own kitchen with known ingredients, then do not put it in your basket. Sometimes I find that I do not know what a certain ingredient is, so I err on the side of caution and do not get it. It is true that sometimes all natural items have a more complex name that I am not familiar with, so if you want to know exactly what the label is telling you, do some research.

I hope this was helpful and can ease you into a healthier lifestyle! In future (and much shorter) posts I’ll tell more about my journey and tell you some great places that you can go shop for all natural/organic food items. Happy shopping!