Background info

After being a vegetarian for 18 years, I thought I understood healthy eating. I thought that if I didn't eat meat I was healthy. I lived on pizza, burritos, and salads. About 2 1/2 years ago I started eating meat again and the weight piled on. I gained almost 30 pounds and was eating everything and anything. I cooked almost completely at home and thought that was good enough. No one else I knew was cooking and I thought that eating fast food or at restaurants was the culprit of poor eating habits.

I had yo-yo dieted for more than 20 years. Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, liquid, Atkins and South Beach were the most common ones that I used. Of them Weight Watchers worked the best, but in the end I gained all that weight back and about 10 pounds more. I didn't want to count points anymore. I didn't want to be hungry. I needed help and had no idea where to get my inspiration.

Well, I had an eye opening experience that really changed the way I looked at food. While watching TV one day, I came across a show that actually changed my life. You are What You Eat with Gillian McKeith disgusted me and made me think about what I was actually feeding myself and my family. I didn't realize that most commercial products have very little nutriontional value. I thought that the all natural bread I made from scratch in my bread maker was a health food. The waffles and muffins that I made for my kids were made with all organic ingredients. I figured, they had to be good for them. I just knew that Trader Joe's, my favorite place to shop, only had "good for you food." What was wrong with my casseroles? I was using low-fat soups. I thought I was doing the right thing! The problem was, most of what I made was just junk that offered no nutrional value.