i hate the word yum or yummy or yummers or any vriation thereof

when i was little and we had chalupas or tacos at home, my mom would always have cooked pinto beans on hand. one of my jobs, often times, was to take the potato masher and mash them up. and Voila! "refried" beans!
it wasn't until very recently that i found out actual refried beans have lard and stuff in them. doy. i should have caught on with the "fried" part. at any rate, i am very grateful that my mom raised us on healthy food. we always had a colorful plate. vegetables. fruits instead of packaged sweets.
i say i am grateful. and NOW, at this stage in my life, i truly am.
however, when i was in elementary school and jr. high. ... oh. man. what i wouldn't have given for a gusher. or a lunchable. seriously. i would sit across the lunch table from Faith (my elementary school sort of friend) and lick my lips as i watched her unpack that pizza lunchable with its sauce packet and what not. yyyyyuuuuummmm. then i would pull out my wheat bread sandwich with alfalfa sprouts and baggie of Cracklin' Oat Bran....
"is that dog food?" hardy har har. very funny adam....

(oh. warning: sometimes when i relive moments from elementary and jr high i sort of get lost in the emotion of that time all over.... my sister ellen can attest to that)

aaaanyhoo. back to food. eating right is way cooler that the bright colored package of a fruit by the foot.

so since my hubs and i watched "hungry for a change" we have been eating a little cleaner. 'clean eating' is the new buzz trend it seems. pinterest is COVERED UP with recipes and blogs about clean eating. and if you look up a list of documentaries like the one we watched, you will get a ton of them. and with the clean eating craze, there is tagging along a little bit of spiritual new age mumbo jumbo. you'll hear things like "you need to listen to your witness self" i think she was talking about an out-of-body version of yourself that watches what you are eating and tells you if it's good or bad. and they talk about your "energy" and having a positive "aura" when you don't put those chemicals in your body. and how you need to make sure the veggies and chia seeds you ingest were grown in a loving environment on a local farm run by a hippy cult.... well maybe not that last part, but that's the sort of vibe they give with the extra advise outside of the purely nutritional information.
but if you wade through all the stank of chemical free, organic herbal "deodorant" you can get the cool facts and truth of the matter. which, in my mind is this:
God made food for us to eat. and He designed our bodies to be fueled by that food. (and bonus: he made so much it taste amazing! what grace!!)
when you start messing with, modifying and "improving" His design with artificial junk - your body doesn't react well. go figure.
we haven't gone all out with the purely organic, chickens raised in a spa, band wagon.
but i have been reading ingredient labels like crazy. i decided that my rule of thumb will be that if i can't pronounce it i shouldn't eat it. and if it is a seemingly simple food, like canned beans, and the ingredient list has more than you think should be in beans... set it down, back away, and go get a bag a dried beans that say, "beans" on the ingredients. yeah, they may take longer to prepare - but at least you know what your eating.
the other thing i like about this trend is that it's not a diet. it's a way of thinking. and when you eat food the way God intended - the natural results is that your body functions better. processes food better. and the health that comes from it is exactly what God had in mind. and you're not using His way as a means to get skinny and "lovely" on the outside. but out of obedience to Him, you are living like He meant for you to and in His grace - you get to enjoy feeling better and having clearer skin and stronger hair and a leaner body. He is so good.

we are relatively new to the whole "clean eating" trend, s i am still learning a ton. (and even though i knock it sometimes, i am using pinterest daily for recipes and tips on budgeting grocery bills (because fresh produce and real food tends to be a little more $$ than the imitation food like products on the shelves)) speaking of which i am looking into Bountiful Basket. are any of my 4 readers using it? any feedback on your experience would be appreciated.

well. i, of course, have dog stories to tell. but i will spare you for now. maybe another day...
but before i go: some samplings of the clean food we enjoy -

 AMAZING taco pie with a think layer of mashed taters for a crust = gluten free!

 carrot and pineapple juice. better than v8 splash and no high fructose corn syrup or those other non fruit/veggie ingredients.

 these are crazy good. it's just mashed up ripe bananas and quick oats. (plus choc chips and pecans for a little extra pizaz - though they are great without)

 Even husband is cooking up some great gluten free all real, clean, food meals.

 one word. delicious. jalepeno cheddar mashed taters (used excess of the potatoes needed for the taco pie crust)