Be Well Tip: Out with the old

I have Mondays off work. Which is awesome when you have lots of fun plans in the sun with your friends, but that requires your friends to have days off as well. Yeah, doesnt work out that way. So instead, I took on a little project: cleaning out our pantry.

Going through shelf by shelf, I could not believe the stuff I was finding. Gravy flour that my mom says probably hasn't been used in 5 years, old meat seasonings ridden with MSG, beef granules (um..eww!!), lemon scone mix that was never opened...how we acquired this stuff I can only guess. We even had a half used can of UW Husky hot chocolate mix that turns purple when you add hot water. My sister and I both went to WSU...yeah that got dumped down the drain real fast.

Then there was the more obvious stuff, like corn starch, corn syrup, wheat pastas, flour, and powdered sugar, which used to get used all the time in our house, but haven't been touched in months. While my dad and sister could have been using this stuff, lets be honest, my mom and I are in charge of the food in our house, so it all just sits there.

My mom and I both have trouble throwing things away. I hate the idea that we paid for something, only to watch it go down the drain. Not to mention the fact that there are hungry people in our country and others who would happily take our half used box of popcorn. For this reason, anything that hadn't been opened, I donated to our church, who takes it to a food bank. However, I'm not sure what to do with the perfectly good stuff that has been opened. I haven't thrown it away yet, so if you have any brilliant ideas, please share!

I wanted to share this with you because I think its something that can really liberate you when you change your diet. Lately, I've been having a hard time sticking to mine 100%. Already, I feel more empowered now that I know that almost everything in my house is safe for me to eat. It motivates me to be better about my eating so I can truly heal. Plus, it feels great to give unneeded items to someone who needs them. It may be a little late for spring cleaning, but hey, summer cleaning has the same effect, I promise. So get rid of all that stuff thats weighing you down, and start getting well!