How Pinterest Changed My Life

That sounds dramatic but stay with me here. I'm online every day and accessing certain websites via my phone all day. Before Pinterest the websites I visited were very limited. Facebook, ScrapShare, my school's website, Hotmail, the bank, and a couple of radio stations. There were a handful of blogs that I visited as well but I mostly read those through the updates sent to my email. I was aware of Pinterest but avoided it like the plague because it seemed to all consuming. I finally broke down back in March or so and asked a friend for an invite. As predicted, it was immediately addicting but I found that I didn't only repin things, I actually clicked the links and visited the websites. And I made the stuff I found! So Pinterest has opened up a whole new world of websites to me (ones that I never ever would have visited on my own) and it's inspired a new passion for cooking. I have a separate board for some of the Recipes I've Tried if you're interested.

The other part of how Pinterest "changed my life" is more directly credited to a website I found because of Pinterest. 100 Days of Real Food doesn't really say anything different than anyone else but it's presented in a way that just makes sense. Initially, as a student on a very, VERY limited budget, I was drawn to Lisa's 100 Days on a Budget. If she can feed a family of four healthy, filling "real food" on $125 a week, then surely I can do it on even less than that. Especially since I have a ton of staples in the cupboard already. I read all the entries for the 100 Days on a Budget and then moved on to the Original 100 Day Pledge. Lisa follows Michael Pollan's mantra from his book "In Defense of Food" "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." I haven't read the book yet myself but I plan to this summer. This plan just makes sense and in the twoish months since I discovered Lisa's blog, I have started making these changes. For the first couple of weeks to say I had "changed" was laughable because I was still eating the food I had on hand. All the processed frozen things in my freezer and boxed items in my pantry. Over time the change was reflected in my shopping habits. The best part about how Lisa presents her suggestions is that is empowering. Instead of feeling deprived because I "can't" eat certain things, the difference is that now I "can" but I CHOSE not to. For a stubborn person like me who HATES to be told what I SHOULD do (should is my most hated word ever) being given the choice of eating crap or eating whole, clean, real food, is liberating.

So this discovery of a website (with recipes) that focus on "real" food along with the eye catching pictures from Pinterest, have combined to really, finally, change how I think about food. And the best part? It's FUN! I look forward to each meal I prepare now. What a concept. :)