Like this:

One of the most intimidating things to me about “eating healthy” is the idea that I have to do something totally new.

For a while I focused on modifying the familiar to be fewer (Weight Watchers) points.

Some of my discoveries are on this site:

• Homemade Crunch-Wrap (replacement for the Taco Bell version)
• (Turkey) BLT sandwich
• Coleslaw

They’re on the old Points system, but the general idea is still there. And I liked them.  Ate them all. the. time.

And then I started reading a few foodie blogs (for the recipes) and started to learn more about the chemicals in these fabulous low-fat &/or high-flavor foods.  Really, it started creeping me out.

I began to think about the modified/distorted high-fat foods that are universally condemned (and yet, consumed) and wondered how my specialty, low-point foods were different.  Were they really better?  Was low fat or low-cal the absolution of any magical combination of non-food chemicals, or was there some sort of line I ought to draw “for the sake of my health” as I labeled my efforts at weight control.

And now I think, yeah.

But everything in stages.  I don’t believe in instant maturity. Or even that being less-mature = immature.

It is the nature of humans to instantly despise what we’ve struggled to conquer or grow through, and I hope I’m not doing that here. But I do still think there’s always a better to work for.

I don’t believe we can learn a mess of stuff at once, implement it all in a day or a week and end up with perfect, trim little lives.

I think we do what we can, as we can, then push to do a little more than that.

I look for permission to fail; not to excuse my failures, but to buoy me up to begin again, so that the fear of failing again won’t prevent me from even trying the next time.

And I seek simplicity, so that stretching really can happen incrementally.

The crockpot was my first way for this in whole-food cooking.  In a Betty Crocker slow-cooker cookbook I discovered a chili recipe that pointed-out at only 3-points a cup (old system).  I modified it for the way I do things and you can find it here.  The BIG DEAL?  I recognized all the ingredients. And none of them were processed more than canning.

“Real food” didn’t have to be scary, complicated or exotic.

For the next chunk of time I’m going to post my discoveries. And just because I’m your friend, I’ll even point them out for the new WW P+ values.  Even though I’ve moved to what now seems like level-three: I’m actually calorie-counting, people.

Never thought I would, but I am, and I’ll put that into another post in the future.

In the meantime, here’s a foodlist of what I hope share with you over the following days:

• Potato Bake
• Crockpot sloppy joes
• Egg-crust Pizza (modified frittata)
• Moroccan Chicken (slow-cooker)

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