We try to eat healthfully. You probably can tell from my White Sauce recipe, however, that I don’t mind 1/2 Cup of cheese here or there. My motto is, “Make the best choices you can as often as you can so that when you can’t, you don’t have to.” (Hmmm…) At this point in our lives, these are our “Healthy Eating” priorities that seem to make a difference in our energy levels, regularity (too much information?), and plain-old-healthiness:

1. Eat just enough. Not too much; not too little.

2. Eat more and more vegetables and fruit. When we aim to eat more salads, green smoothies, and fruits, we seem to focus less on eating junk.

3. Eat organic fats. (Did you know that the yucky hormones and chemicals are most preserved in fats? Don’t slather a Tablespoon of estrogen on your bread tonight! If you’re going to splurge on organic foods, splurge on butters, cheeses, and meats first.)

4. Eat fewer animal products. (So splurging on organic butters, cheeses, and meats won’t bust your budget after all!) I like to say, “pet the animals, don’t bite them!”

5. Be wheat-free snobs. This has been the single-most valuable change in our lives over the past 5 years. We very rarely buy, bake, or consume wheat products. When we do, we notice (and despise!) the lethargy, puffiness, and weight-fluctuation that used to be a “normal” way of life. We’re loving Pamela’s Baking Mix, Ezekial 4:9 products, and Alvarado Bakery as tasty alternatives.

After all that healthy talk, I leave you with a scintillating tale of pure junk:

Setting: Our pantry.

Time: This very day.

Plot: Sitting on our shelf is a scandalous box of Reeses Puffs Cereal. The contents: 14.25 oz. Refined Sugar. The expiration date: 04July2007.

See, when I was stocking our Emergency Food Supply a couple of years ago, I looked dismally at all of the healthy cereals and soups I had bought, and decided to thow in a box of Reeses Puffs as a fun treat. I figured, if we’re in the midst of a crisis, a box of Reeses Puffs might be the ticket to a sigh of relief, a faint smile, a pick-me-up of sorts. (I also threw in a disposable camera to record any good times we had eating those Puffs. I’m way too sentimental for my own good.) Well, quite thankfully, no crisis has sent us down to our food shelter. Instead, as I restock the Supply, the stale Puffs have found their way to our shelf and are boasting their sugary survival…