Challenge #1:Cut Out Fast Food

For my first month's challenge I plan on completely removing fast food from my diet. These last few months I have been eating out way too much for convenience sake, but I'm done. All of the extra calories have caused me to gain weight and I'm beginning to really feel sluggish and just plain unhealthy. Because of this, I've decided to stop eating fast food, and make more of an effort to eat at home and prepare all of my own meals. This will not only cut all of those extra calories out of my diet, but I'll be able to know everything that goes into my food.

It really is sad how Americans in general have become so out of touch with what goes into the food they consume. The amount of crap that goes into our processed food is crazy and so totally unnecessary, but it makes the food cheaper. This may be appealing to those who have to tighten their purse strings due to the economy, but as a result they may end up having to spend all of the money that they save on food (and more) on medical bills, caused by the fillers in those cheap foods. I would rather just spend a little bit more time and money now on good, healthy food, so that I can hopefully avoid future health problems for myself and my family.

I'm not just worried about being healthier in the future though. I have noticed that since I have started eating fast food on a regular basis, my stomach has started to bother me more, my skin has started breaking out, and I've been feeling tired and sluggish a lot, and I really don't enjoy this. I am hoping that by cutting fast food out of my diet, I'll be able to lose the weight that I've put on and just begin to feel healthier. I also feel that I'll be helping the environment that much more with every burger I choose to not eat and every wrapper that I'm able to keep out of the landfill.

(Late) Update 1/31/2012
I was able to keep away from fast food for the month of December, and I did try eating some a couple of weeks ago, but I started to feel sick (probably from the high sugar content). So, although I may have some McDonald's french fries every now and then, overall I'm not really interested anymore in eating fast food when I'm out, and I plan on avoiding it as much as possible.

Starting Over

It's been quite a while since I last posted a blog entry on here (5 months to be exact), but what with school and moving, as well as several other things that have come up in the last few months, combined with my limited internet access, it's been hard to get the time to post anything. Although, these changes have also caused me to get away from some of my more "hippy" type habits, so I haven't really had much to write about anyways. However, as my schedule starts to become less hectic, I'm finally getting more time to spend on the things that I enjoy and find important.
I'm planning on reinventing my blog and spending more time in the coming months focussing on reading, researching and learning hands on about all of the back to basics and homesteading topics I'm interested in and sharing on the way. I'm also going to start focussing on my own self-improvement, mentally, physically and spiritually. I plan on setting goals for myself, both short and long term, that I will keep track of on this blog and that I hope to succeed in completing. I realize that I could wait for the next month to start off the new year with new resolutions, but I am trying to cure my habit of procrastinating, and I'd rather start now than wait a month (or more).
I am looking forward to starting over, in a way, as I renew the pursuit of my ultimate goal: to eventually live on my own working (self-sufficient) homestead. I realize that it may take years to make my dream a reality, but I feel that the wait, as well as all of the experiences on the way, will be more than worth it.