No, I haven't starved to death or gorged myself into oblivion.

Well after another long hiatus, I'm typing again... I broke yet another camera and I started school full time so I haven't been in the blogging mood. But I'm full of words again, so here ya go.

There have been big changes around here since I last blogged. We've always eaten very healthy, but we took it up another notch.

We stopped shopping at Walmart. Those low prices were coming at the cost of our sanity. That place is a sad zoo. The miserable employees, primitive customers, and asinine company structure make Walmart a nightmare for people like my husband and me. We do all of our shopping at Kroger now. Yeah, I know it's only one small step up the food chain, but it has totally made a difference.

We also drastically changed the way we eat by cutting out high fructose corn syrup. You know I don't always buy into all the hype out there but we have noticed a major difference with this little step. Avoiding the HFCS has made me a lot more critical of everything I buy. You'd be surprised at all of the things with HFCS. We had to change breads, yogurts, salad dressings, cereals, even pickles and ketchup! In order to get a better sugar, we have to buy a lot more organic products. I've actually been surprised at how little it has affected our bottom line. I'm also watching all those nasty partially hydrogenated oils and MSG. I'm not perfect. I still love a bottomless regualar coca cola when I go out, I'm making better choices over all.

So I'll be the first to admit these changes have been super hard. Not because I can't have oreos, ritz, or whatever (I didn't eat those things before), but because it throws me out of my element. Before this winter we had our shopping trips down to a science. We could have shopped with our eyes closed. I flipped out when he suggested changing my grocery list. We spent a few hours in Kroger trying to find the best bread. Its been about 2 months HFCS free and I've got a product list built up, so I'm getting comfortable with my shopping trip again and I'm so proud of us for the changes we're making. I've updated the "what I'm eating" sidebar for you guys. I feel like we've really struck a good health/value balance with the meals.

We're also eating a lot of Subway lately. Probably enough to qualify it as an addiction, but don't hate! I have discovered the Italian BMT on Italian herbs and cheese and I don't think I'll ever be the same. We have had at least 3 subs each a week for the last 2 months. BTW, the whole wheat breads have HFCS, but the white and the flatbread are ok. I might do a big post on this later so I'm holding back a million nice things I have to say about subway.

I might also write a post on my new "pet." I am growing a sourdough culture in my refrigerator and I'm quite proud of it.

So, I'm back (again). I'm not dead and I'm lovin' live and lovin' food.