Unjunk Your Junk Food...book review

As you know, I've been on a little quest to start eating healthier.  My first step in the process was to start following some blogs and facebook pages to help in figuring out my action plan.  One of those blogs I started following was naturallysavvy.com.  It's a great blog with lots of health related posts with a focus on whole foods  eating and natural health.  So, when I saw that they were coming out with a new book and were looking for bloggers to review it, I signed up!  And guess what?  I got picked!  Yay!

The book is called, "Unjunk Your Junk Food".  What a great title.  Because honestly, no matter how healthy you are, you still have snack foods or quick foods that you grab when you are in a hurry or just want a snack.  But at the same time, you don't want to sabotage your healthy, clean eating by grabbing the wrong things.

The book starts out by going over some definitions.  It was helpful to me because I'm just starting out on this journey.  It listed some good ingredients with funky names...like ascorbic acid...did you know that it's Vitamin C?  And it lists bad ingredients, like Potassium Sorbate...did you know that it's a preservative that has been "linked to asthma, skin rashes, diarrhea, and hyperactivity in some people" (page 23)?  But, I would have thought that ascorbic acid would be bad for you (acid, hello?) but something with potassium would be ok.  Obviously I have a lot to learn!

The book also has a list of 7 worst ingredients in food...check out the article on their website that goes into a little detail.  But those ingredients aren't always clearly identified on the label, so how do you know for sure?  That's why it's awesome that this book also includes a "Worst Ingredients" chart on page 25.  It's actually a tear-out page to keep in your purse so you can check the labels before you put something into your cart.  The front side of the sheet are the worst ingredients and the back contains ones you should have caution in consuming. For me, this alone was the best part of the book....it's definitely something I will be carrying with me when I'm doing my shopping.  You can also download the list if you register on their site!

So, the rest of the book is practical applications of what you just learned.  It goes through different categories of snack foods and gives you an example of a bad choice with the following page showing you a much better choice.  The snack food categories it covers are: 1) Chips, Dips and Party foods, 2) Ice Cream and Frozen Treats, 3) Cookies, 4) Chocolate, 5) Cakes and other desserts (Yay!), 6) Granola Bars and on-the-go snacks, 7) Candy, 8) Soda and other drinks.

Here's an example of one of the pages...my favorite, Cookie Dough Ice Cream!  So, on the left it shows the bad option including the ingredient list with the worst ingredients printed in red and the ones to beware of in orange.  And there are like 170 pages just like these!  The thing I find most helpful is that I'm able to look at the highlighted ingredients in the bad ice cream, so I know what to look for when I go out and buy some for us.  Obviously all the ingredients are listed on the master list, but I found it extremely helpful to have an idea of what to look for in each of the snack categories.

So, after reading the book, I went through our snack cabinet to see what was in there.  It needed organizing desperately anyway, so it was great timing!  Here's a "before" photo...

And here it is all organized out on the counter.  Now the fun begins of looking at the ingredient lists!

I have a mix of "healthy" options and "not at all healthy".  I'm currently in the phase of buying better food for our family, but I hate to waste things so I haven't made a purge and thrown any of the bad things away.  First up are some Special K cracker chips that I bought last week.  They taste good, but they do contain TBHQ in the ingredients.  TBHQ is on the worst ingredients chart (red) because it is a petroleum-based  food additive to increase shelf life.  According to the book, "it has been associated with nausea, vomiting, tinnitus, and prolonged exposure has been linked with cancer"(page 24). Bummer...looks like these go on the "do not buy again list."

 Next up is my beloved girl scout cookies.  I love the shortbread ones, and the ingredient list actually looks ok until you get down to the very bottom and see "artificial flavoring".  According to the book, "artificial flavoring is a blanket term that could include on or hundreds of unnatural additives.  For example, a typical artificial strawberry flavor contains forty-nine chemical ingredients!" (page 23).  Unfortunately, this was also the case for my favorite brownie mix, Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate.

  

The worst offender I found in the snack cupboard were Cheese Curls.  My boys love them and while I didn't think they were the best choice (obviously), they were much worse than I thought and I won't be buying them any more.  They contained MSG, artificial colors, artificial flavors (all on the worst foods list), and Disodium inosinate and disodium guanylate (2 flavor enhancers on the "beware" list).

  

Fortunately, the book had Cheese puffs (p40 & 41) and compared the Cheetos (bad choice) to Barbara's Cheez Puff Bakes, Original Cheddar.  I haven't purchased these before, but will definitely be looking for them as a replacement.

So, after organizing the snack cupboard, I had to check the freezer for my coveted Ben & Jerry's ForoYo Half baked ice cream.  And I'm so excited that it doesn't have any of the worst ingredients or the caution ingredients!  Yay!

  

So, what are the results from this snack cupboard clean-out?  First, I definitely need to start reading the ingredients list before putting things into my cart.  I will be carrying the list of the ingredients to avoid and beware in my purse to reference if I have questions while I'm shopping!  I have a lot to learn, but this is a great resource for beginners.  If you are interested in buying the book, you can find it on Amazon. You can also follow Naturally Savvy on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.



* I received a free book in exchange for my review.  The opinions expressed are my own and I did not receive any monetary compensation for my review.

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Ch-Ch-Changes!

Have I told you how much I LOVE craigslist?  If you've never visited the site, you're missing out!  It's a virtual garage sale where you can buy and sell junk stuff.  It's part of the reason we were able to become debt-free last year.

So, I got it in my head that we needed a new table for our kitchen.  It's kind of an eat-in kitchen and it's not a huge place, but our dining room has CARPET, so the daily place for us to eat our meals is at the kitchen table. We do have some bar stools at our counter now that I have made the top bigger and there is an overhang.  The boys love to eat breakfast there, but they also like to stand on the stools and that resulted in a trip to the ER a few weeks ago (mild concussion and he is fine, but it scared him and momma!).

Anyway, our table was oval.  I got that on purpose because I thought the boys would have less corners to run into and less trips to the ER or bruises on their foreheads.  Which is probably true.  Except there were a few problems.  (Please excuse the low-quality photo taken late at night and taken for craigslist so it shows the leaves and the extra chairs in the background)

See how the legs of the table aren't very wide apart.  So, unless you add a leaf or straddle the legs, you could only fit 4 people at the table.  There were two leaves, but when I added those, the table was really long and made it really difficult to get around.  I have taken the photo standing in the kitchen, and the living room is in the background, so it's essential to be able to walk around the table.  The other problem?  See the bottom of the legs?  Those are WHEELS.  Which makes it really easy to add the leaves in, but also makes it really easy for two boys to sit at the dinner table and try to crush the other person with the table.  There's also a nice beveled edge.  Which is a dried food magnet.  Oh, and the crack for the leaves?  Yeah, right where the boys sit.  Which means pulling apart the table after every meal to clean out the crack.  Otherwise it's YUCK CITY!  

Which lead me to looking on Craigslist for an alternative set.  You see, I do have 4 year old and 2 year old BOYS, so I wasn't looking to spend a lot of money because it's pretty much going to get trashed over the next 5-10 years.  I stumbled across a nice set with a BUTTERFLY leaf (yeah, no more "where do I store this stupid leaf?) and it extends to a square to make 2 people sit on each side.  Which also means the crack is where Steve and I sit and not the boys.  Also, the legs are in the corner of the table so we can fit 6 chairs at the table without any problems.  Here's to hoping the boys don't have any problems with the corners!

And the best part?  The table I had before was Pottery Barn (that I had purchased off craigslist about a year ago!) and I was able to sell it for more than the one I purchased.  Oh, and while I was at it, I got a nice rug.  Off Craigslist, of course :)

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The Dave Ramsey Plan...how we survived!

Just about 1 year ago, we became debt free except for our mortgage.  It was such an exciting thing for us and totally a life-changer, so I thought I would share our journey with you.

It all started almost 10 years ago.  Steve and I met, fell in love, got married and within a couple months went out and bought a brand new car.  Steve had already purchased a house shortly before we met, so we already had a mortgage (a small one, because the house was tiny!)...what a better way to start out our marriage than by getting into debt?  Of course we got an awesome deal of around $18,000 for a CAR...but it was at 0% interest rate and the payments were affordable.  Then, I bought our wonderful Kirby sweeper. Now, I do love the thing and it works great, but it was like $1200 and we put it on financing...we had the cash, but it was at 0% interest for like 9 months, so we paid it off right before the first payment was due.  And then, we bought a washer and dryer...and you guessed it, 0% interest for a short period and we took advantage of the great offer and financed it again.

Then we decided we needed a bigger house.  Ok, so it was more me that Steve.  Because he had purchased the house on his own, it wasn't in a location I would have chosen, it wasn't the style of house I would have chosen, and we could afford more of a house, so why not?!  It took us almost 2 years to sell the stupid thing, but we finally got out and just about broke even.  I think we maybe made $500, which we put to paying the bill for storing our stuff while we looked for our bigger and better house.  We finally decided to pay a little more than we initially wanted to get a bigger, better house than we originally thought.  So, we stretched ourselves a little, but not too much because we were both working.  Our payment was about 25% of our take-home pay, so definitely still in the conservative category.

We had some cash savings, but instead of using that for a down payment we got creative with our financing and financed the entire house and used our savings for a fence for the yard, new appliances (and not the cheap ones, either), some new furniture to fill up the new house, you get the picture.  About a year after we moved in, we decided we also needed a newer vehicle.  Mine was literally falling apart and was still my car that I had from high school.  But, we decided we needed an SUV and we also needed a car payment to make it happen.

Everything we did from the time we were married (even before) to about 2007 was just living the normal American lifestyle.  It wasn't until we were pregnant with our first child that we really thought about what we were doing with our money.

My mom was (and still is!) a stay-at-home mom.  I am the oldest, and my youngest sister is still in high school.  I'm grateful that my mom was able to stay at home and care for us, but I always thought I would be bored and didn't ever want to stay at home full-time.  I thought that I would like to work at least part-time so I could keep my sanity.  But then I got pregnant and everything started to change.  I couldn't imagine leaving my precious baby with someone else all day or even part of the day.  But there was a problem.  We had too many expenses each month for the amount of money my husband brought home.  Almost enough, but not quite.  The difference?  The stupid $315 car payment for our lovely SUV.  I wasn't going to let that come between me staying home or working, so we promptly started chucking $1000 payments towards the thing.  I was able to stay home with my son for the entire 12 week leave that I was allowed to take (but it wasn't all paid!) but then I had to go back to work for 6 months until we could get the vehicle paid off and I didn't have to work anymore.  We paid the car off on a Friday and I turned in my 2 weeks notice that Monday.  I loved my job, but with having kids, suddenly priorities shifted.

As I said, my husband could now cover all of the expenses with his income.  Except that our house payment was about 50% of our income now.  My income was just slightly under 50% of our household income, so while we could do it, there was no breathing room at all.  Finally, in 2009 after reading about this Dave Ramsey guy on a lot of the blogs I followed, I decided my new year's goal was to find out more about him and do the Financial Peace University course.  Because we had baby #2 on the way and I was scared.

So, early in 2009, we had a chance to do the FPU course for the first time at our church and it was a life-changer.  While we lived within our means before and had only once carried a credit card balance (our first Christmas together), we realized that we didn't have a plan.  And without a plan, it seemed like our bank account was always teetering towards $0 and that we would never get ahead.

So, during the course, we got our act together, wrote everything down in a budget, and made a plan for the future.  Our debt snowball was pretty easy...only one item that we put on it.  The 20% portion of our mortgage (which wasn't exactly 20%, but it was what the loan officer told us to do).  Technically it was over 50% of our annual income, so it should have been put in Baby Step #6 (mortgage) instead of #2 (debt snowball), but we didn't have any breathing room and needed to knock it out in order to make it.

So we ATTACKED it with a vengeance as Dave Ramsey likes to say.  From around April 2009 - January 2011, we had baby #2 and we paid off our 2nd mortgage!  WE'RE DEBT FREE!  It was amazing how much extra money we found in our budget when we wrote everything down, stopped making those small impulse purchases that added up to hundreds of dollars, and cut our lifestyle for that time in order to get ahead.  I mean, we didn't make any extra money during that 20 month stretch (Steve didn't get any raises) but yet we were able to find extra thousands of dollars to chuck directly towards the principal on the mortgage.  It.was.awesome.  It was also a lot of hard work, sacrifice and tears, but totally all worth it.

So, from now on, whenever our house buys a new car, takes a vacation, or buys Christmas presents, you can be sure that we paid cash for it :)  Because we will never again be "slave to the lender."  We  do have our main mortgage still, but we chuck extra money at that every month and have a goal of paying it off in 8-10 years max. Because being debt-free is worth it.

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Project Life 2012

Wow, are we really almost a week into 2012?  I can't believe it.  I feel like time goes faster every year.

I've spent the past month getting ready for Christmas, doing all the fun Christmas activities like making gingerbread houses and watching The Polar Express.  I've volunteered in my kids' classrooms and helped with Christmas parties.  My family spent Christmas Eve in downtown Cincinnati taking a carriage ride, seeing Santa, shopping, and having a great dinner overlooking Fountain Square.  And the day after Christmas we headed to sunny Miami for a week where we had great weather.  Unfortunately, we had to get back to real life and I didn't get to stay long enough to watch my Mountaineers demolish Clemson in The Orange Bowl, but seeing it on tv was pretty great too.  I also worked at the SPCA for a couple of days in early December, doing exams, vaccines and microchips.  It was fun to work again and a great easy way to get my feet wet after a 4 year absence!

I hope everyone had a great holiday season.  I always find it a little hard to transition back to the routine after the holidays, especially knowing how long winters seem in Ohio.   I am still writing thank you notes for Christmas gifts and trying to wrap that up also.

I have written several posts about scrapbooking before and I'm sure you're all aware of my love for digital scrapbooking and photoshop.  This year when I finished my yearly book it wasn't nearly as fun for me as it has been the past 6 years so I decided to try something different to document 2012.  I will still do my yearly digital scrapbook because I love the result too much to abandon it, and I also love that I can print multiple copies as gifts.  At this point, my family expects it  so I'm stuck!  But I thought I would add another scrapbook for just our immediate family this year, one that is a little more personal and maybe captures some of the more mundane aspects of everyday life.  I am choosing a format that will allow lots of flexibility and will also let me incorporate some of the digital scrapbooking into it.

So I decided to do "Project Life".  This system is the brainchild of Becky Higgins, and it is designed to make scrapbooking very easy.  The basic kit looks great, but you can customize it as much as you want and make it as elaborate as you want.  It seems to be a great way to start scrapbooking for those who have never done it before and are intimidated by the idea of creating everything from scratch.

Here's the link for the Becky Higgins website that describes Project Life.  You order a core kit that is made up of journaling and decorative cardstock pieces, a binder (I think you could use any 12x12 scrapbook with rings), and page inserts which come in multiple configurations. 

Here's what I ordered so far.  I can't wait to get it!!

Clementine Core Kit

Clementine Cardstock

I'm waiting to order my page dividers because they are out of the kinds I want (I have a few that will work to start with).  I am also waiting for the black binder, which should be available in a couple of weeks.  I prefer the black exterior to the more colorful ones.

If you're looking for a way to organize your photos and memories in 2012 this is a great system.  Take a look at Becky's blog and you'll see many different ways people have used the basic system to create a personalized scrapbook.



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Courageous the movie!

Did you like "Facing the Giants" or "Fireproof"?  Well, the newest film from the same producers (Sherwood Productions) is now out!  I haven't seen it yet, but it's definitely on my list!

Visit the website, http://courageousthemovie.com/ to see a preview or find out what theater near you has a showing!

Here's the description from the website:

Honor begins at home.Four men, One calling: To serve and protect.
As law enforcement officers, they face danger every day. Yet when tragedy strikes close to home, these fathers are left wrestling with their hopes, their fears, and their faith. From this struggle will come a decision that changes all of their lives.
With action, drama, and humor, the fourth film from Sherwood Pictures embraces God’s promise to "turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the hearts of children to their fathers." Souls will be stirred, and hearts will be challenged to be...COURAGEOUS! 

Stars: Alex Kendrick [FLYWHEEL, FACING THE GIANTS], Ken Bevel [FIREPROOF], Ben Davies, Robert Amaya and Kevin Downes [THE MOMENT AFTER 1 & 2, MERCY STREETS, SIX: THE MARK UNLEASHED]

I'm not sure if I can actually get this to work, but here's the trailer!  If it doesn't work or takes too long to load, visit this website to see it.

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Etsy.com - Custom Mommy Necklace

Have you ever heard of Etsy.com?  It's one of my favorite websites and it seems like I talk to people all the time who have never heard of the website before.  It's basically an online craft show.  You can buy, sell or browse handmade items, vintage items, and craft supply items.

I also love that I can help other stay-at-home-moms make a little money to help enable them to continue to stay at home!  I have a home-based business, so I appreciate some of the sacrifices they are making to stay at home and to run a business in your "spare" time.  I find it's much more rewarding to order something from an individual than to go to a big box store!

Recently, one of the things I've been looking for is a custom "Mommy Necklace".  Something that will have all three of my kids' names stamped or engraved on it.  There are so many choices and I'm having a tough time figuring out which one I want to order.  Here are a few of the options I'm considering:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/60987413/sterling-silver-heart-mothers-necklace

http://www.etsy.com/listing/73182578/hand-stamped-brass-four-sided-swivel

http://www.etsy.com/listing/62677388/my-kids-have-my-heart-hand-stamped

http://www.etsy.com/listing/58592455/sterling-silver-heart-on-a-personalized

http://www.etsy.com/listing/65923204/heart-strings-custom-personalized

http://www.etsy.com/listing/62251700/open-heart-sterling-silver-hand-stamped

http://www.etsy.com/listing/62240420/heart-full-of-love

See what I mean?  Lots of options and I really don't think I could go wrong!  I ordered one when I had baby #2, and I've loved wearing it!  Originally I purchased one with 2 separate charms, with the idea to add charm #3 if I ever needed it, but the shop I ordered from is no longer making jewelry.  Which means I HAVE to get another one.  Darn.  I'm planning on making my decision in the next week or so and will share which one I order with you when I get it!

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Three Favorite Websites

I'm sure at this point, you all think I do nothing but spend time on the Internet.  Not true, but after the kids go to sleep I do always spend at least an hour, sometimes two.  I've heard people say "what in the world could he/she possibly be doing on the internet?", but for me it's more of a "I can't go to bed because there is so much to see".  I've already talked about how much I love pinterest, and I spend lots of time looking at recipes and cooking websites.  I also sometimes read blogs about parenting, decorating, and photography.  I have way too many favorite blogs and websites to share, but I thought I'd showcase 3. 

First, google reader.  We've mentioned this one before.  Beth and I both use google reader.  It is just a way to keep all of the blogs you read in one central place and see new posts to those blogs without going to each individual website and checking.  You set up a google reader account/page and then add subscriptions (website or blog addresses) to it.  After that you log in and read new posts.  Here's what it looks like.  Make sure you add our blog!! :)

Another website I've been spending lots of time on is houzz.com.  This is a website with tons of different home pictures.  Very useful for me right now, as we are planning on breaking ground on our new house within the next couple of weeks.  I am decorating challenged, so I've been saving all kinds of pictures to pinterest from this website.

And finally, this one isn't so much a favorite website as something I think all moms should be introduced to.  It is The Flylady.  In a nutshell, this is one woman who has a method of cleaning her house that she shares on her website.  The website itself is, in my opinion, a little hard to navigate and understand.  But the method is great.  She has certain chores she does daily, some she does weekly, and some she does monthly.  I think her method needs to be adjusted to your own needs (I'm not really into her "shine your sink" idea), but if you take the time to read her strategies I think it can really help you develop your own system. flylady.com

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Blogs I Follow

I'm a blog addict.  I'll admit it.  Most of you reading this blog probably follow a couple blogs written by a few friends (mine is one, I hope!) and maybe a few mom blogs or coupon blogs.  Well, I currently subscribe to 71 different blogs on my Google Reader.  Yep, 71.  And at this moment, I have 292 blog posts that I would like to read.

To start with, I organize my blogs into several different categories.  Here are the categories I have:

Personal:  These blogs are all personal friends and family.  I won't share most of the links I have in this category because most of the followers of these blogs are just their friends and family, but I do have one I would like to share.  I used to work at the National MS Society (my first full-time job out of college, actually!) with Emily.  Her cousin, Jenny worked there right before I got there as well.  These two wonderful ladies started a blog and it's actually the first blog I started following (thanks, for starting the addiction, ladies!).  Anyway, they have a good mix of mom posts, recipes, deals, and product reviews.  

http://momminitup.com/about-the-authors/

http://momminitup.com/

Cakes:  My home-business is cake decorating (Eat Cake!, though I'm currently taking a break due to pregnancy issues and then giving myself time to adjust to 3 kiddos)...wedding cakes and special occasion cakes.  I subscribe to 22 different blogs in this category.  Some bloggers post tutorials, some post recipes and some just post photos of their amazing work!  Here are some of my favorites in this category:

http://bakeat350.blogspot.com/2011/06/gingerbread-for-summer.html

http://bakeat350.blogspot.com/ 
http://sweetsugarbelle.blogspot.com/
http://www.bakersroyale.com/
http://ediblecrafts.craftgossip.com/
http://blog.pinkcakebox.com/
http://www.ericaobrienblog.com/


Cooking & Baking:  This category sometimes overlaps with the "Cake" category, but I try to stick blogs in here that do more with making meals and other dessert type items (not cakes).  I get a lot of inspiration for making meals from these blogs!  Here are some of my top blogs in this category:

http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/2011/05/love-and-sugar/

http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/
http://www.simplebites.net/
http://simpleorganic.net/
http://www.5dollardinners.com/
http://www.munchkinmunchies.com/


Deals:  I will definitely have posts in the future on this topic, but I must say that I.heart.Dave.Ramsey!  We have been on the Dave Ramsey plan for about 3 years now and it has helped us out so much!  Some of the blogs that I follow have been key in helping to cut the food and grocery shopping area of our budget!

http://savingslifestyle.com/blog/
http://moneysavingmom.com/
http://www.babycheapskate.com/
http://wholesomemommy.com/
http://freebies4mom.com/


House & Organizing:  This is another one of my big categories, with 23 different blogs that I follow!  After cake decorating, my second favorite "free time" activity of choice is small home improvement projects, crafts and looking at pretty house pictures.

http://iheartorganizing.blogspot.com/
http://www.made-by-rae.com/
http://gordongossip.blogspot.com/
http://blonde-designs.squarespace.com/
http://thirtyhandmadedays.com/
http://unclutterer.com/
http://justsomethingimade.com/
http://www.ana-white.com/anablog


So, that's a list of my favorites.  Do you have any favorite blogs that you would like to share?  I'm always looking for new ideas!

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