This morning I decided to start a blog. Not out of a narcissistic need to show my craziness to the world, but to have an outlet for everything that has been swirling around my brain for the last few weeks and to get some honest feedback from people that may have done or gone through the same things. It will also make me accountable for my decisions, good or bad. Let's hope for more of the former than the latter.

Here's my starting point: I'm killing myself, my husband and my kids. No, not hack-them-to-death-with-a-machete killing them - I'm killing them with what I feed them. We are your normal, everyday, busy family of four and, as hard as I try, the choices I make when it comes to snacks and meals are sometimes not the best. Of course, I always thought I was doing a great job when it was time to plan the menu. Tacos?  Duh! Meat, lettuce, tomato, and cheese - sounds healthy! Spaghetti? Tomatoes, people - major antioxidants! Meatloaf? Oh...wait. Not a great example. Oh, I know, on the surface it doesn't seem too bad. Look a little closer though and things start to get a little nutritionally hazy. Everything I fix has additives, preservatives and chemicals that, although they give these foods an incredibly long shelf-life and have been deemed safe by the FDA, are terribly, awfully bad for human beings. Hence, the realization that I'm killing my family. "What led you to this epiphany?", you say. I read a book called "Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall. I'm a runner and I'd heard so many good things about this book that I thought I should read it ASAP. I started reading it thinking I'd understand running a little bit better and maybe get some tips on form. What I got was a LOT more. Yes, it was about running, but it was also about how far we as human beings have fallen from our true selves. We used to hunt, raise, or grow our food, trek hundreds of miles to find better living conditions, work hard manual labor from sun-up to sun-down, and spend whatever time was left bonding with family. Suffice it to say that we don't do that any more. The other thing I learned is that I need to change my family's diet. Drastically. Did you know that there are places in the world where cancer and heart disease are virtually non-existent? Want to know why? Those people eat a plant-based diet and meat plays a very small role as more of a rare specialty item. Exercise is also a part of life - it's not even considered exercise.  Now, I run and my kids, ages 5 and 7, are a constant bundle of motion, but my husband is a different story. Since we've been married (15 years this December), he's gained somewhere around 60 pounds. I never really worried much about it and I even took it as a testament to my cooking, but now that it's affecting his health things have to change. He's not a tall man, and he's stocky to begin with (a lady patted him on the arm once and exclaimed "Geez, you're built like a brick shithouse!"), but all his weight is around his middle. Of course, that's the worst possible place to store fat and it leads straight down the path to heart disease. We've talked about changing our diet before, but now I'm serious. There are a few problems I have getting started. How far do I want to go? Vegetarian? Vegan? Slowly? Stop eating animal-based products cold-turkey? Lol, that just made me giggle, sorry... What about the social aspects (and possibly stigma) of going meatless? How will my kids handle it, with me knowing full-well that their favorite thing in the world is a Happy Meal? My brother and sister-in-law are vegetarians and it always bothered me that I'd have to make special foods to accommodate them. Now that will be me. Oh, and by the way, I LOVE meat. Self-proclaimed meat-and-potatoes girl here - this is definitely not going to be easy on me.These are the things I need to figure out. If anyone has any helpful suggestions, feel free to share. Haters need not post. :) Thanks for reading! Now I'm going to go find a good recipe for vegetarian lasagna. After all it is Meatless-Dinner Monday.