Please join me in welcoming Morgan of the Friendly Food blog here today for a guest post on healthy monthly eating challenges. Here’s Morgan to explain what her family is doing to change their eating habits – and why exactly they’re doing it. Take it away, Morgan!
Committing to living healthier as a family
If being healthy is hard, and handling change is hard, then making healthy changes is damn near impossible!
My husband and I have made the commitment to live a healthier, more sustainable lifestyle by making one small healthy change a month! It is not about losing weight or being more attractive, (we are pretty darn cute, to begin with!) but it is about controlling what we put into our bodies.
There is no denying that society is getting sicker, fatter, and dealing with more mental health issues than ever before. There is also no denying that people don’t eat like they used to, either.
Maybe there is a connection. Or, maybe there’s not, but we are trying to find out!
Monthly changes
We made little changes every month like reducing sodium from meals, eating more eggs for breakfast, and never throwing compost in the garbage (we freeze our compost them bring it out to our “pit” to break down before adding it to our gardens…it is marvelous.
Our first big change was to eliminate all wheat from our diets for 30 days. It was a scary venture since I am sort of a carb freak, but let me tell you, it was one of the easiest things I have done! W
We eat so many fresh fruits, vegetables, and healthy fats that I don’t miss bread in the least. It is fun to coins up with new and exciting recipes and searches the farmer’s market for new fresh ingredients to cook with!
Going gluten-free for me resulted in more energy, less fogginess, and my anxiety is gone. We do not plan on eating wheat ever again.
Looking ahead
Our next big challenge is to cut out sugar! Again, I am scared and don’t know how I will drink my morning coffee, but since we have accomplished all of our healthy changes so far, I feel confident that we will rise above and again get through the challenge unharmed and healthier than ever!
Remember, getting healthy doesn’t have to happen overnight. If it takes many steps and many months to get to where you’re going, then you know you will be there to stay!
-Morgan
To find out more about the healthy eating challenges, follow the Friendly Food blog (scroll up for the link). Cheers to good health!
Love this post!
Great piece, drinking more water is something small that I’m striving for at the moment!
This is such a great article- best of luck with your health journey!
Goat cheese is dairy free?
Wonderful post from Morgan. Everything she said makes sense. I’m gluten and dairy free and minimally take in sugar, so I get it. :) xx
Good for you! I am working my way there! Dairy will be a little tricky (cheese and all).
Substitute with soymilk and goat cheese :)
If you ever need some ideas let me know ive been midifying and creating raw and organic gluten free foods for years..im a naturalpathic nutritionist and live to eat lol..any idea for your coffee…this is what I do every morning…one tsp. or so of coconut oil then blend in the coffee…becomes frothy and delicious…no sugar needed… depends on my intuition..im an intuitive raw foods chef and I create by feeling my way in amounts…
Thank you! I have followed you blog and look forward to reading through it! I am definitely going to try your coffee trick and let you know how it goes!
Awesome..hope you like it..
Awesome!
Sounds great! I really don’t know whether it is possible for me, but this post motivates me to start thinking in this direction! Thanks for sharing!
Small steps help you gain more confidence! Than you feel more empowered to try bigger challenges!
Welcome Morgan. A great post and Christy a great way too to add to yours if you get me xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Thank you! I am glad you liked it! It has been great to be a part of Christy’s blog!
You ladies rock :) :)
Th idea of one step at a time is something good to be reminded of. Nice post.
Thanks for reading! I can hear the song from that Christmas cartoon “just put one foot in front of the other, soon you’ll be walking across the flo-o-or!!!” 😁
😊
Great that Morgan is managing to change her diet and become more healthy. I think the mental issues are more to do with the relentless stress that we all have to deal with every day but I am sure diet helps to control it.
I actually spent a lot of time removing the high pressures of life and the fast paced lifestyle. I have to admit, diet helps more than anything!
challenging!
If you start simple, it makes it super easy! Do one month drinking more water, then try cutting out sodium. Healthy habits cannot happen or night (not if you plan on sticking with them!!) Thanks so much for reading :)
I do love a challenge.
I plan on starting monthly health challenges on my blog this weekend if you are interested in taking it on :) Thanks for reading!
One change a month… that will certainly add up. Hugs.
Thanks for reading! It really does add up! We started really small (just to make sure that we could accomplish the challenges) and then started to move up to harder goals. Some great challenges are taking a walk everyday after dinner, eating three types of veggies a day or switching your coffee to peppermint tea (this is the one I am working on now!)
I plan on doing monthly challenges on my blog starting this weekend for anyone that wants to join :)
Thank you so much for allowing me to write a guest piece for your wonderful blog! It has been a pleasure following you and your posts and it was an honour to be asked :) I hope this post will inspire people to make small changes over the course of time to help achieve a long lasting healthy lifestyle!
Morgan Mitchell
http://www.friendlyfoodforus.com
OH Morgan it’s wonderful to have you here! Your family is taking the reins on health and that’s reason to cheer. Thank YOU for the awesome guest post :)
Anytime Christy! I look forward to continuing to follow your blog and be inspired :)
:)
What a great idea, one food challenge at a time. Loads of fresh fruits and veggies (in season & locally grown preferably) are a great mainstay. Easy for me to say as a life long veggie. However, sugar is a toughie. Don’t be afraid! I haven’t bought sugar in 10 years. I bake pies with homemade wholewheat crust. I use really ripe fruit and NO sugar. I learned to drink black coffee. Now I love it. It’s the real taste…. pure.
Best to both of you in changing your diet, and yes, you are both already very darn cute! :D
Thank you for your kind words! Sugar has not been as easy as wheat was. The coffee is getting me! How do you learn to like it black. I just cannot get over it and have not had any luck with saying `NO`to my morning coffee!
I say yes to my morning coffee. I say yes this is a serious day, and you are a serious coffee. ad infinitum
Good advice and may it is the small changes that make it easier and less daunting!.
I am glad you liked the post. If it wasn’t for the small changes, we wouldn’t have been able to make ANY changes at all!