Keeping it simple

I've seen and read about too many people creating very restrictive plans for themselves and reverting back to bad habits within a month or less. Heck, I've been that person more times than I care to admit. And that's not what this is about.

Therefore, my plan is to keep it simple:

1.If a food item has more ingredients than I have fingers, we're not eating it. For the record I have the usual 10.

2. If any of the ingredients is something I can't pronounce or identify without an Internet search, we're not eating it. 

3.If I can't figure out how to make it, we're not going eating it. 

#3 is largely driven by budget.. we've planned a budget of $80 a week for food which means we won't be eating out much. I'd prefer not to eat out at all until we get back on track. However, I'd say I'm a decent cook and I'm looking to get better. Until better happens I'm leaving a little wiggle room on dining out.

I plan to incorporate as many fruits and vegetables (organic and local if available) as possible. I've gotten The Carnivore to tentatively agree to limiting meat consumption to 2-3 meals a week. I lived a vegetarian lifestyle for 8 years pre-Carnivore. Then I became a not very good vegetarian. And then not one at all.  So 2-3 meat meals a week is progress I can live with. I am trying to create a diet that works for both of us.

I would like to get to a place where I'm making everything at home. But again I'm not "better" yet. I don't know how to make bread so until I decide to tackle that, I've found a bread to buy that meets my requirements. Same thing with pasta and a few other staples. 

And this isn't meant to be a drastic change. Over the first month I plan to slowly remove the excessive meat, cheese, and starches that we've been consuming so we don't feel deprived and revert back to bad habits or, you know, wind up hiding in the closet devouring a whole block of cheese. Just sayin'.

Simple, right?