I am on a mission

Ok, I'm not going to lie. - like so many others out there, I want to lose weight.  But my weight loss goal isn't for vanity's sake, it's for sanity's sake. But more importantly, I want to lose weight to better my health.   I am incredibly blessed in that I have a fabulous husband who loves me for me.  He doesn't chide me for being, ahem, a bit on the fluffy side (yeah, I know you're thinking, girl, you are "a bit" on the fluffy side like the Pope is "a bit" Catholic.  And if you are really thinking that, well, bite me).  So I don't need to lose weight to impress someone. And I don't want to lose weight because there's a certain size I want to be in or anything like that.  But as I grow older I realize how precious our health is.  I've taken for granted good health really.  Despite being the aforementioned fluffy girl, I've been pretty darned fortunate in that my biggest health concern has been high cholesterol.

I got my first glimpse into what good eating can do for you at my last physical.  In October 2011, I had my blood work done and despite the fact I had been on a statin for, oh geez, I don't even remember, maybe 3 years or so) my cholesterol hadn't been under 200 for, well, honestly, the last time I remember seeing it under 200 was when I was in college. I had the bloodwork drawn again 6 months later and lo and behold it was in the 180s.  Did my statin use change?  Nope, I was on the same 10 mg of Simvastatin (generic for Zocor) I've always been on.  Honestly, I expected my cholesterol levels to rise since I started culinary school in August 2011 and we are not ones to shy away from using things like real butter.  And then it hit me - despite using judicious amounts of fats like olive oil and butter (not Paula Deen amounts of butter, but still, pretty good amounts) in a large amount of my cooking, my weight was not going up and my cholesterol levels had dropped.  What did I attribute this to?  Knocking out a large amount of processed foods. (I should say now, I'm not a doctor, nor have I played one on TV.  Please consult your personal physician for specific info pertaining to your health)

So that's my goal now.  Try to knock out as many processed foods from my diet as possible.  But I refuse to be a victim of all or nothing thinking - I'm not getting rid of all processed foods but I am going to make a conscious effort to make the majority of my food food that's been processed as little as possible.  Have you made similar changes?  And if so, what hints do you have?