Wk One Reflections, Which Means HERE is Wk TWO!

So our Rule #1 is coming to an end. Overall, this was a extremely challenging rule to follow and drastically changed our diet. We have discovered new types of food that we like and will probably continue to incorporate into our diet (such as fresh farm eggs, homemade bread, homemade oatmeal, and Nancy's Honey yogurt) and some foods that are not so grand (the sulfate free organic wine we attempted to drink--I am sure there is good stuff out there but the cheap stuff we tried tasted like the very last grainy sediment-like drink that you have with most other bottles of wine, except the WHOLE bottle produced this bitter flavor!).

One of the funniest parts of this rule was our meal ritual, that we apparently must do unconsciously before every meal but had no idea. It goes something like this: I ask Ryan what he wants to drink (for some reason I always get our drinks when we eat--what is up with that p.s.???). I will say, "What do you want to drink?" Ryan ALWAYS responds, "What do we have?" I start to reply, "Water...." AND then, that is when we would both remember we are doing a food experiment, and I would have to answer, "Water......or water?" Yes, drinking anything besides water on this rule is quite a challenge. Just yesterday we determined that microbrewed beer is probably okay, but we never had any.

The biggest realization we had with this rule was the amount of artificial additives that are added in EVERYTHING we eat. It's astonishing. AND WHY?!?!?! AND I wonder what it is doing to our bodies? Even our "100% Lemon Juice" had a preservative in it...."but it's 100%?" I thought.....we really had to read the labels of everything we put in our mouths. While we probably will not be able to realistically follow this rule for the rest of our lives (nor would we want to do so as strictly as we just did because then we could never eat at restaurants, etc.), I believe we will definitely be more conscious of reading the ingredients list and being more cautious of what we are ingesting. It was also fun to make so many things from scratch....except when Ryan was sick this week and I had to do it all by my lonely self....then I would have liked to order a pizza and call it a night.

On to Rule #2: Don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food! For this rule we are going to say that anything that was not invented while our great-grandparents were alive is automatically OUT. Things that may have been invented while our great-grandparents were on the elderly-side of things will be more questionable, because who knows if they would consider it food? Sadly, all of our great-grandparents are deceased, and all of my grandparents have passed as well. Ryan will utilize his grandparents and ask them about how their parents felt about any sort of questionable foods.

This is where we NEED YOUR HELP! We would like to cook YOUR great-grandparents recipes. Do you have recipes that have been passed down in your family from generation to generation??? PERFECT! Email me the recipe at orcuttzo@gmail.com and we will make your great-grandparents recipes for dinner to ensure that we are properly following this rule. AND it will be fun to see what you guys come up with. We will also post pics of how they turn out and if you live close enough we might even give you a bite! Thanks for your help and we are excited for your recipes and Rule #2! :)