A happy and healthy New Year!

The tail-end of 2011 brought its fair share of colds, ear infections, strep throat, stomach flus, and various other ailments to the Howell house despite my best efforts to sanitize hands, Clorox counters and boost Vitamin C intake.  It also seems that once one kiddo goes down with a bug, they take on very picky eating habits.  And I'm usually too tired to fight the dinner battle, so pizza, chicken nuggets, cereal and peanut butter sandwiches quickly became the go to meals.

Healthy, I know.  

So this year I am resolving to make some changes in our house, and thanks to Once a Month Mom and the Get Real 2012 challenge, I think we may actually have a plan to slowly transition our house to a {primarily} real food household!  Every month they post a goal, health information, and recipes to help eliminate processed foods in your house, beginning with cleaning out and using up your pantry items in January.   Here's their goal:

In the end, our hope is that we arrive at the end of the year successfully, together, making a transition that will make us proud, our families healthier and our lives richer.

I love this!  As we've added more kids, more deployments, more scheduled (and unscheduled) activities to our lives, it's too easy to succumb to the ease of fast food, take out, and pre-packaged meals.  I hope the Get Real Challenge, and all the other resources I have found so far, can help push me toward a healthier 2012! 

This year, I'm going to use this blog to document our successes and failures in this endeavorer, recipes I'd like to share and remember, and links that I have found helpful.  Please feel free to comment or share any tips you have along the way!  

I found an amazing website, www.WholeLiving.com, that I'd like to share.  It's a Martha Stewart affiliate, which probably explains why I love it so much.  I know, you either love her or hate her, but I LOVE her.  The website is pretty, has beautiful pictures and is easy to navigate.  The recipes look and sound incredible!  I spent a good chunk of time this afternoon while the kids were resting in their rooms reading smoothie and juice recipes and I'm already planning my grocery list for next week!  Here's the link to the site:

www.wholeliving.com

Good health isn't a gift; its a habit you cultivate!

Here's to a happy and healthy New Year :)