Down another lub!

So, it may not seem like much, but yesterday I hoped on the scale to find that I was down another half pound and then this morning, the other half pound was gone!!! Totaling another ONE pound lost! What this means to me is that I am one step closer to seeing the 150's! It has been far too long since I have seen them! So, I'm still 31 pounds away from my goal, but keeping in mind that my high was 177 and now I'm 161...I'm THRILLED!
What am I doing you might ask?
Well, it's nothing complicated and I'm not being overly rigid, but I am making healthy choices.
I'm making sure that over half (even just 51%) of what I consume everyday is fresh raw fruits and vegetables! It's not too tough...just look at your plate and make sure that a little more than half is something colorful and fresh! Also, it's important that you don't just eat fruit and forget about the veggies, because to your body the fruit is still a "sugar". Yes, it is good for you, but too much of it can slow down your results.
Also, I am avoiding highly processed foods! There are lots of different definitions for "processed food", but for me that means if there are more than 5 ingredients in something or if I couldn't spell the ingredients in a spelling bee, then I don't eat it! So, now I'm paying more attention to the ingredients label on packages! For example, I wanted to make my own homemade peanut butter and saw that you needed 1 ingredient to do so: unsalted dry roasted peanuts. I went to the store and picked up a jar of Planters peanuts (thinking it was a good name brand) and was horrified when I turned the jar around to look at the label! Seriously people...these are just NUTS...why on earth does all that other junk need to be in there??? MSG? Yeast? Gelatin? ahhhh... (Peanuts, salt, sugar, cornstarch, monosodium glutamate, corn syrup solids, torula yeast, gelatin, paprika, onion and garlic powders, spices, natural flavor.)

Then, to my relief, Trader Joes came through in the clutch providing me with unsalted dry roasted peanuts with just 2 ingredients...peanuts and oil!

Anyhow, the importance of what I'm saying is you don't know what you are eating unless you look at the label. Do you really want all that extra stuff put into your body, especially when there are better alternatives?
Ok, so I do have to say that it is also important not to become obsessive and drive everyone in your life crazy! I don't push this on anyone else, but I am trying to teach my children to make healthy choices, without depriving them of occasional treats! If we are in someone else's home and they offered my child a snack, I am not going to ask to see the label, in fact I'll probably let them eat it. I never want it to be a case of "my mommy says I can't have it". One processed snack isn't going to "ruin" my kids. It is all about learning to make good choices and it is not worth losing friends or making people feel awkward! Bottom line is that it's not a matter of what my family "can" or "can't" eat, it is a matter of choosing to buy food for our home that is healthy for our bodies!