Week one: DONE!

After one week of eating fairly clean, I'm hooked!  I said fairly because I'm not a person who throws away food. There are too many starving children in the world to justify throwing away brown rice because it isn't organic.  However, after the holidays, we were at a good starting point for this.  My pantry and fridge was getting bare due to all the holiday cooking I had done.  Therefore, I was able to replace a lot of my staples with whole, organic food without throwing anything away.
Before my first shopping trip, I was sure I'd double the amount I usually spend on groceries, but what I found was shocking.  I actually spent $25 less than what I typically spend in a week on conventional groceries.  Why?  This is what I was able to deduce.

-Buying bulk items is cheaper than prepackaged conventional
-There is always a good amount of organic items on sale
-With a more exclusive mindset on whole foods, you are less likely to stray from your list with things you see on sale that you just have to get.

Basically I walked away from the grocery store with whole, organic foods for the whole week and nothing else.  No junk.  And it felt great!  I will say, to keep the food bill down, go into the store with a shopping outline, not a list.   For instance, go in saying, I need 5 vegetables.  When you are at the store, decide what you get by what is on sale.  Also, what is on sale is usually in season so it's fresher.  Same with all categories.  If you need snacks, wait til you get there to pick out of what is on sale.

Besides weeding the junk out of our lives and actually saving money, I am already seeing the health benefits for my family.  I've lost 4 pounds.  My son, who goes number 2, once or twice a week is going EVERYDAY now!  That may not seem like much to you, but if you've had a kid dealing with constipation since birth, it's thrilling!  He is also a treat sneaker.  He's always sneaking into the pantry for a treat and usually walking away with an Oreo some other unhealthy snack.  For the past two days, he's been sneaking the clean graham crackers I've made.  Since the change he's only asked for those and yogurt for snacks.  I've already gone through 3 batches since Saturday!

Lastly, the food is delicious.  It tastes whole.  Like food should taste.  Can't wait for week two!