When I was first married (about 15 years ago now), I had an epiphany.  I had bought a cookbook and discovered that cooking from scratch is a lot cheaper and many times not any more difficult than cooking from a box or premade food.  It also tastes a whole lot better.  Now I am not a purist.  In fact, I would say that the one type of food that I buy consistently premade is bread.  Pillsbury just makes better buscuits than I can.  Most of the time though I make my food from scratch with real ingrediants.

Why do I do this?

The answer is simple.  Cooking is fun (and not as hard as people make it out to be) and I want to stay slim and healthy.  I am 35 now and keeping weight off is not as easy as it used to be for me.   When I cook I control what I eat, and I know what I put into my body.   I really do believe that all of the artificial ingredients in most processed food makes us fat and unhealthy.  In fact, I challenge you to read labels some time.  If you can’t pronounce the ingredient, you may want to consider whether or not you actually want to eat it.  How have we become so conditioned to think that “yellow 40″ is a food?

Some of my favorite recipes are not only tasty but easy.  I came across this meatball sandwich recipe page online the other day and all I have to say is YUM.  Put these meatballs on some buns that have whole grain in them and you have yourself a meal that is delicious.  Don’t forget your fruits and veggies.

Another thing my family likes is Mexican food, but the way Americans eat it borders on ridiculous.   But here are some great ideas for healthy Mexican food, that will not onlymake your food healthier, but will keep all of the flavor.   As a matter of fact, I have found that Salsa makes a kick butt salad dressing.

Eating healthy doesn’t have to be difficult.  You just need to retrain your pallette and your ability in the kitchen.  Make one small change at a time and pretty soon you will be eating well.