Intro

Welcome to my blog! Quick facts about me: My name is Abby. I'm 27. I grew up on a farm in northwestern Kansas and now live in Kansas City. I'm a K-State grad (Go Wildcats!), majored in Computer Science. I work at a hospital as a web developer. I'm engaged to a wonderful man named Chris, we're getting married in June 2011. We have 3 dogs: Josie, Stormy, and Rufus. I enjoy cooking, eating, traveling, wine, the beach, and hanging out with friends and family.

Enough about me, let's talk about the inspiration of this blog!

Up until a few years ago, I never gave a second thought to what I put in my body. During college and even for a couple years after I graduated, my diet consisted mainly of ramen noodles, frozen pizza, Hamburger Helper, and fast food. I'm one of the lucky ones that is genetically predisposed to be thin; so I never even gave what I ate a second thought.

A year after I graduated college, I decided to get a dog. I had grown up with dogs and had missed having one around while I was in school. Even though I had lived my whole life with dogs, this was different: for the first time in my life, I was solely responsible for another living thing. I went to the store, bought a crate, toys, food and water bowls, just like every new pet owner does. And a couple weeks later, I made the trek from Kansas City to Enid, Oklahoma to pick up my new puppy, Josie.



I picked Josie up at the house of a woman named Madeline. Madeline was my 4-H dog project leader when I was a kid. She had put me in touch with Josie's breeder, one of Madeline's dogs was the father of the litter (Madeline was also getting a puppy from the litter). We had a lot of catching up to do, and towards the end of our visit, she asked me what I was going to feed Josie. When I gave her my answer (Iams), she promptly stood up and said "Come with me!". I followed her to her kitchen where she grabbed a bag of dog food off the shelf and flipped it over and started reading the ingredients, pointing out what ingredients I should look for in a dog food. It seems like common-sense and second-nature now (now I read the ingredients on everything I buy), but at the time, I had never even thought to read the ingredients on my own food, let alone a bag of dog food!

And so it began...

After a while, I realized my dog was eating top-of-the-line holistic dog food and treats that I had to buy from a specialty "all natural pet food" store. I was obsessed with giving my dog a healthy diet.

But what was I eating? The same ol' crap I had eaten at a poor college kid. So I decided I should try to eat "healthy" too... And I never imagined just how much I'd learn!