From Bologna to Brown Rice and Vegetables.

If you grew up on bologna and Twinkies like I did, eating healthy can seem like a daunting task.
Because of how I grew up and what we ate, there was kind of a stigma around eating healthy. To me health food was stuff like eggplant, zucchini, and artichokes and for a kid who grew up on welfare I was of the opinion that only rich, athletic, gourmet chefs ate food like that.
Well health food is stuff like eggplant, zucchinis, and artichokes, but you don't have to be a rich gourmet cook to eat those things. I started out taking very small baby steps (and I mean very). When I went shopping I would pick something from the produce section that I thought was weird and never ate as a kid. Thanks to the power of the Internet I could take it home type it into a search engine and look for a simple recipe for it (and I mean simple). So now I eat all those things and more. It hasn’t changed my grocery bill. I changed what I was eating because I like eating healthy and I simply traded in all the junk food, so it actually evened out! I still revert back to my roots sometimes (although I can go the rest of my life without bologna) and my kids eat PB&J all the time. The peanut butter is all-natural but the jelly might be whatever is on sale. You just can't be too hard on yourself, and realize that it won't happen over night. Any small change is progress. On of my most simple favorites is something I thought I'd never eat as a kid; sauteed kale with olive oil and cashew pieces. Painless to make and very tasty! So I encourage you to go to the produce section of the grocery store and buy the strangest vegetable you see. It may be the healthiest tastiest thing you've ever had! Oh and by the way did you know you can buy artichokes in a can? They go very well with stewed tomatoes and linguine. Fabulous!
Here's a yummy recipe for sauteed kale http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/sauteed_kale_with_toasted_cashews/