Six Final Thoughts

Join the Six Ingredient Challenge hosted by Hobo Mama and Anktangle!

We're on a six-week path to eat more whole foods, guided by one simple rule: Buy foods with six ingredients or fewer. And we're blogging about our journey on the way.

This week we're answering the question: What are your final thoughts and reflections as we wrap up this challenge? Do you have any new-found wisdom to share?

You can see all the responses to this question on the link-up post.

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Ha! I really managed to come up with 6 thoughts to list. I loved the title and was determined to make it work.

1. I really found that when my life is in turmoil (such as a child with a new restlessness problem that keeps me up many a night) is not the time to successfully make lifestyle changes, even fairly small ones.
   
2. I was reminded that stress leads to crappy eating habits which leads to feeling even crappier. Healthy eating seems to be that much more important when you don't feel up to cooking healthy meals.
   
3. I learned that I really can find a middle ground with my family. It doesn't have to be all or nothing. Our favorite marinade has more than 6 ingredients and one of them is High Fructose Corn Syrup. I think I can live with this.
   
4. I found I have minimal will power when it comes to food given to us. Ronni volunteers handing out food to residents up the street and he always brings goodies home. He usually brings lots of breads, sweets and then maybe some fresh food, too.
   
5. I learned not to assume my husband is unwilling to make some small changes. Sometimes he was agreeable!
   
6. I learned ingredient limits as possibly a better way to improve our diets. I was trying to cut out one ingredient (HFCS) at a time. Ingredient limits seems like a small enough step to manage with faster results.
   

Elmo still eats lots of cookies, but I make them fresh from scratch now.
I know it still isn't the healthiest snack choice, but I see it as an improvement.

What bite sized changes have you been able to make to your household diet?