Yesterday I said goodbye to all of my junk food favorites. I slurped down my last large diet coke along with a Carl's Jr. six dollar burger meal. The guacamole bacon burger with a side of fried zucchini (dipped in ranch of course). It was delicious. I don't normally eat this way however I thought if I'm going to be eating organic and ultra healthy over these next 30 days, I'm going out in style. I also imbibed in a few glasses of an absolutely wonderful bottle of Cabernet I picked up at Whole Foods as an impulse buy while I was grocery shopping for the organic produce I would need for today. This is going to be the part I will miss the most on this experiment. My red wine. Supposedly an occasional glass of organic red is permitted but that just sounds terrible. I'm sure I will post about that later but for now I have said goodbye to all of the things on the "no no" list and am ready to begin this experiment.

Day 1:

I am somewhat stocked up on organic produce and single ingredient foods after my Whole Foods trip from yesterday however the one thing I found it very difficult to get my hands on is grass fed beef. Whole Foods didn't have it so I'm stumped. They have beef that is called "Step 1" meaning it is 90% grass fed and totally organic (ie; no hormones, antibiotics, etc.) so I bought a pound of that instead cut into stew chunks.

My first reaction to shopping organic is how expensive it is! I spent over $100 for 3 bags of groceries. My stomach nearly dropped. But again, if I'm going to try this experiment I'm really going to do it right so no cheating. I will bite the bullet and spend the extra few bucks. Plus, here is the way I rationalized it: When I buy milk at the grocery store for Charlotte, I am paying about $3/ gallon for milk + added hormones and antibiotics. For $6 I am paying for and buying JUST milk. Same thing with purchasing organic bread. I may pay $2 for regular white bread at the grocery store however that stuff is hardly even bread. There is also all kinds of ingredients in there that are added to help the bread stay "fresh" longer so that it has a longer shelf life. I paid $5 for my Ezekiel sprouted grain bread at Whole Foods but here is what really shocked me: It was REFRIGERATED! WTH?!? Real bread molds in the absence of all those preservatives and thus must be refrigerated in order to make it last longer. So, paying for organic and real food may be more expensive however what you are receiving in return is REAL food. Kind of like buying gold- you pay more for the purest form. Makes sense to me and I no longer feel ripped off.

Here are some staples that I purchased yesterday:

-Organic Fruits & Veggies (Lettuce, Tomatoes, Apples)
-Raw Almond Butter
-Stevia
-Ezekiel Sprouted Grain Breads
-Raw Honey
-Organic Half & Half
-Fage Greek Yogurt
-Almond Milk
-Rice Crackers
-Cage Free Organic Eggs
-Organic Sweet Potatos
-Organic Butter

I have yet to try the Stevia but one of the things stressed on this program is NO articifial sweeteners. Stevia is acceptable as it is natural (it is made from crushed up leaves from the Stevia plant. You can even grow your own Stevia and dry and crush the leaves yourself if you are so inclined). As a perk it is low calorie. Splenda claims to also be "natural" however is actually not and apparently the center of a lot of debate because of those claims, so I will stay away for the purpose of this experiment and stick to Stevia.

My favorite item is the raw honey! So delicious and almost creamy. I will have to keep this away from Charlotte as it is not safe for children 12 months and younger (she is 16 months but I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this  "raw (unpasteurized) food" bandwagon yet so I am still going to only give her the regular honey we have at home).

I will post pictures and recipes later. I made an amazing dinner last night using the organic Step 1 beef and cut up onions, carrots, and squash and a organic baked sweet potato on the side. So yummy! The difference in the quality of beef is startling. It tasted like lamb almost.