The Gracious Pantry

There is nothing I love more than finding a fabulous new website/blog to read….especially if it has good information and is a productive use of my precious little time.  The Gracious Pantryis the newest blog in my repertoire.  I recently completed 65 days of the Candida Diet (in two parts).  I did it because I had a yeast overgrowth and had acquired many painful symptoms that left doctors baffled.  While it should take awhile for the yeast in my body to be completely under control, when I was off the strict diet, some of my symptoms started to return.  At that point, I realized there is truly something to what you eat.  After following the diet for the second time, my symptoms disappeared and I never felt better.  I learned that it is possible to “eat to live” instead of “living to eat.”  I am still working on that, but I am really trying to change my focus.  As Americans, our social lives revolve around food!

Clean Eating is the gist of The Gracious Pantry.  It is created under the same principles as the Candida Diet:  Eat simple foods that are easy to digest.  By doing this, the energy previously used on digesting refined sugars and high-fat foods is free to move to places in your body that need healing (allergies/sinuses, painful joints, stomach issues).  The numbers of people I know with any of those problems is growing every day.   Stating the obvious, you would certainly lose weight by limiting or eliminating sugars and high fats.

After reading The Gracious Pantry, I am highly motivated to hop back on the wagon.  Tiffany has created a website that is a fabulous resource not only for great  “Clean” recipes, but also for how to get started from Step One.  She offers a list of items to have in order to stock your pantry with clean foods and she also clarifies exactly what needs to be eliminated and how to substitute for those ingredients in your recipes.  (What an amazing help!)  The list of recipes is long and are great to get you started.  She also blogs on favorite brands, which I have found to be extremely helpful when at the grocery store.  Knowing “legal” brands sure makes the grocery trip shorter rather than having to read every package you purchase.  On top of the great recipes she posts, she also has a store that points you in the right direction for tools and recipe books she uses in her kitchen.

Everyone has their own reason for wanting to start eating clean.  It could be like me…because I have to in order to keep my health, or for someone who wants to lose weight or just be take care of your body and be healthy.  I really like Tiffany’s advice in that you have to choose your own boundaries.  If you need a treat, will you allow yourself a treat once a week? once a month?  However often you choose, you need to set your own rules and stick to them.  This is not a diet, but a lifestyle change.  I can speak from experience that when you make up your mind to cut out processed foods and refined sugars, etc, your body will have never felt better.  Your energy will return, your body will heal and you will feel like a million bucks. 

Check out The Gracious Pantry and I would even encourage you to get her feed.  It will be great encouragement to receive good and healthy recipes to motivate you to eat clean and take care of your body!