Preparing for Week One!

Are you overwhelmed with the blog posts yet? I'm trying to keep things simple and concise, and not overwhelm people. The most important thing I want to stress through this process is that it is an individual one. I love food, nutrition, and cooking, so naturally, it is enjoyable and easy for me to find time (and extra money!) to research, prepare, experiment, and encourage others. But sometimes the cleanliness of the bathtub suffers. That's life. It is my hope that your intention for this challenge should be to find out what works for you and your family. Maybe germinating wheat berries, drying them, and grinding them with a handmill is not your thing. That's OK. But maybe you like the idea of your ketchup free of HFCS (high fructose corn syrup--who knew?!), and want to make your own every few months. Take some risks, but start slow. As my sister likes to remind me, I wasn't always a nut-loving tree hugger. It took time to reach this status, to own all of these cumbersome kitchen appliances, and to be brave enough to chop up a fish head on the kitchen counter.

Who's In
It seems to me that we have three types of people participating, so I am going to try to differentiate by levels as much as possible.

Tier 1 - "I want some new recipes." Self-explanatory.

Tier 2 - "I want to feed my body and my family healthy foods and optimize our nutrition." This group is at a weight they are comfortable with, but want to maximize health and discover the best ways to prepare their eats--inexpensively and quickly. (Tall task, but I will try!)

Tier 3 - "I want to drop some weight." This group is looking to change eating habits and shed unwanted pounds, pains, and illnesses. If you are in this group, I can't stress enough the importance of trying to follow the menus as closely as possible, especially the first few weeks. I dropped 14 pounds in two weeks when I first eliminated processed food from my diet. But there's no sneaking Chinese food at lunch or biscotti for dinner (well, not often at least) if you expect to see results!

As of now, we've got about 25 people participating directly at various levels, and closer to 40 if you consider their family members that are also affected by the challenge.

Week One: Footloose and Sugar-free
Week one will begin with what I would consider a solid case for eliminating sugar from the diet. Now before anyone clicks the little red 'X' at the corner of the screen, I think there is a time and place for sugar. It's called December. Now, however, it's January. So if you're a Tier 2 or a Tier 3 (can anyone give these poor nameless groups a better tag than that??), get ready. I'll be posting more about why we are going to take the plunge and eliminate sugar from our diet, so put away those boxed cereals, snarf up those truffles [ahem: Mother] and get psyched!

Demonstrations
I'll be cooking on Saturday, and I'd like to invite anyone who is interested to stop by for some breakfast and snack demos and tastings. Please RSVP through a comment below, via facebook, or email me: meganmassaro@gmail.com.

What: Sugar-free Breakfasts and Snacks
When: Saturday, January 10 from 3 - 5pm
Where: 45 Mechanic St. #2 Newton
What you might see: Smoothies, Dutch Baby Pancakes, Spinach Kiku, Hummus, Potato Skins, and a few more surprises!
Cost: I'll get enough ingredients to send people home with portions, so please bring a few dollars to help off-set the costs.