Fresh vs Processed

DH and I bought a dehydrator tonight. I can't wait for the weekend to try it out! We have so many spices in the garden and hot peppers that we need to dehydrate some before they go bad. I have been surfing the Internet and my favorite website, Pinterest, looking for different things I can dehydrate. There are soooo many options. I want to make my own trail mix for work and different fruits for my morning oatmeal. This will all help to keep me on the allergen-free straight and narrow as it will open up so many options.

Dehydrating it myself will also be cheaper AND I will know exactly what is in my foods. That is something I am liking about eating clean. I know what is in my food. Before, when I ate processed foods I would have absolutely no idea what was in it. If I did bother reading the ingredient's lists, I wouldn't recognize half of the ingredients! Do you ever look at that list and scratch your head? Look at a simple Chocolate Frosted Donut from Dunkin' Donuts. If you follow the link and look at the ingredients, they have to tell you what some of those ingredients even are! If they didn't tell me I would not know what Soy Lecithin was or what Potassium Sorbate was used for. And for that matter what is Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate?
When I make food now, I am the one putting the ingredients together and I know exactly what they are and what they are for. I also don't have to worry that what I am putting in my body doesn't have so many preservatives that it won't ever rot. Have you ever seen Supersize Me? The burger and fries on the desk never rot. Think about that in your stomach. Gross!

I know which I would prefer! How about you? 

Research

I have read several books now on the subject of food allergies, gluten-free living and clean eating. I have come to the realization that alot of the problems I have had or am currently having could be caused by the way I eat. I never realized that depression and ADHD could be caused by the foods I eat. I have always eaten all kinds of processed food. I have eaten fruit and veggies but not in abundance. I grew up on a farm with access to the freshest meat. Now, I eat processed meats from the grocery store. Definately not the same!
I have learned through my research that food allergens can be under any number of names in the ingredient's lists of many foods. I have come to the conclusion that if I eat clean I don't have to worry about this because that will take out many of the processed foods that have been in my diet for years.

Recommended reading:
G-Free by Elisabeth Hasselbeck
Eat Clean Recharged by Tosca Reno
Complete Idiots Guide: Gluten Free Eating by Eve Adamson
Gluten-Free Cooking for Dummies by Danna Korn and Connie Sarros

Recommended Cookbooks:
Allergy Self-Help Cookbook by Marjorie Hurt Jones, RN
Whole Foods Allergy Cookbook by Cybele Pascal
So What Can Eat Now by Rhonda Peters
Complete Allergy-Free Comfort Foods Cookbook by Elizabeth Gordon
Everything Allergy Cookbook by Linda Larsen
Eat-Clean Diet Cookbook 2 by Tosca Reno

I have been doing alright in my quest to become free from my allergens and eating clean. I did have a few little slips today. I ate 3 pieces of fun size candy. I am not even sure why I did it. I wasn't hungry. I had other heathy foods I could have been eating but instead I choose to eat foods that had a bunch of ingredients that I could not even pronounce much less knew what they were. I am a very big emotional eater and I just had my gallbladder out Friday, so I suppose it had to do with that. *Sigh*