BEFORE
AFTER
So I go into my kitchen and look in my pantry and notice that it is SO BARE and........ I Smile! Why? Because that is an indicator that I am still on this journey of a healthier me. It is a saying that says you can tell a person's character by the company they keep. Well same goes for these pantries, you can tell a person's healthy state of mind (or lack there of) by what is on their pantry shelves.
When I first started this journey of eating clean, I had to really do a lot of soul searching and self checking. I came to realize that the way I shop, eat, and even my cravings are by habit. Here I was with a family of 3, still shopping for a family of 6. You see, I still had that mindset from my childhood. Remember I was the chubby kid in my household of 6, so anything dealing with the food I was involved, from the shopping, to the pantry organizing, and even most of the cooking once I was old enough. I can recall the feeling of satisfaction at an early age when I saw our pantries FULL to the MAX! I knew all the Twinkies, ho hos, cereals and juices where waiting on me whenever I was ready. Oh, but when the pantry was low I knew that meant one of two things: PIZZA! or Sandwiches (yuck!). Of course I would always root for the Pizza, but those sandwiches won the battle one too many times for me. So with these past experiences, and me equating FULL pantries to happiness and EMPTY pantries to not so happy, it seemed only right for me to keep my pantries full to the max at all times! I can recall in college when my pantry, which was a big ole Tupperware tub, was always filled w/ snacks and goodies!
As of today, my pantry is not completely empty like the pic above, but it is really bare. It has a couple of canned veggies, only because I don't like frozen corn or peas, the rest of my veggies I buy fresh or frozen. Then I have my tuna and oysters as protein snacks, and then my staples like flour, sugar etc. Pretty simple. Occasionally I would have a bag of chips or some other snack, but I find myself reaching over those to get my peanuts or another healthy snack. I will admit, the hardest part was emptying out ALL of that junk I had in there at first. Looking back I laugh at myself and even feel sorry for myself for thinking that processed junk was suppose to nourish myself and my family. For example, the INSTANT Potatoes, LORD help me, I had it down to a science trying to make these "potato flakes" taste like real potatoes. I mean, all that effort I could have used to boil some real potatoes that still have the nutrients and FIBER in them. Or maybe the boxed carbs like the dirty rice, stuffing, MACARONI, and even the instant sweet potatoes. Y'all I really could not imagine going back to that FOOLISHNESS! And don't think for a second that I gave up my macaroni or dirty rice, I just cook them the old school way- from scratch and with REAL ingredients! Gone are the CHEESE POWDERS OR SQUEEZE ON CHEESE CRAP! I go in there and grate the cheeses I want, and when I am feeling fancy, I may include 5 different REAL cheeses and it is THE BOMB.COM!
I CHALLENGE YOU TO CLEAN OUT THOSE PANTRIES! You will thank yourself later #TRUST #TRUESTORY
Eating to LIVE and not the other way around!
