"The "actual" eating plan"

By now you might know that Luiso and I are in this journey together, I'm still grieving the recent loss of my mom to Cancer and my stand on "crap."  So let's go to the eating part of our "journey" - after reading everything under the sun related to eating according every condition out there, I got to the point of getting "beyond-overwhelmed" and decided to do something completely simple...(I thought...) Use common sense.  First, keep the calorie intake less than the outtake. (Of course, making sure the calorie number for the intake meet my levels of "hungriness."  I KNOW that at least at the point I'm at in my life, we can't survive on only 1,200 calories a day.  For those of you that can, and continue to function properly,  More Power to You! Second, like it or not, I have to increase my vegetable and fruit consumption.  Third, (hardest part for me as well...) not eat out as much.  (I'm going to come back to the eating out part later, maybe in another entry, I need to.)  Fourth, I need to move more as well.  For the calorie intake part I set up my goal for the day at <1,800 calories.  Also, I'm not obsessing about carbs, proteins, fat, etc...What I'm doing is, trying to eat as wholesome as possible. And I do need to snack.  For those who knows us well, know that we have had a couple of rough years.  Not bad, just rough. (Like everyone else in this planet...we're not that unique in that sense...) When I quit my job back in 2011 to become a "Real Housewife of Round Rock Wannabe" reality played a very ironic trick on us (and hey, why not? compared to what other people goes through, this is "piece of cake.")  Having 1st World Country Problems is not that bad when you stop to think about it...  Which made me realized part of my Puerto Rican DNA is being a hoarder, emotionally and physically.  We tend to keep and don't get rid of anything, "because you never know when you'll need it..." And in these last 3 "trying years" I found myself doing this.  1) Feeding our family of 4 with $15 or less.  2) "Couponing" 3) Getting more and more into debt to remain "afloat."  As most of you know "debt=stress" and "stress=cortisol" and "cortisol=shutting down your system; plus, an increase tendency to eat your emotions and stress."  I got "hooked" on the "Extreme Couponing" TLC show.  And currently, I know the Target and HEB coupon policies "to the teeth." But one thing I started observing while watching "Extreme Couponing" is that all the people featured there look so unhealthy... I know for some of us, you see this when going to the supermarket and watch some people getting their groceries using government assistance cards, (this topic deserves their own entry...) I digressed...Returning to our "actual" eating plan...we decided to do the following...I lead, and Luiso agreed to eat whatever I served him. I'm calling our diet "an elimination diet" meaning "eliminate everything that we cannot afford..."  Saying this, I plan my grocery and limited cooking skills according to what we can afford, in both, time and money.  Also, I'm trying to incorporate traits to become a citizen of the World and try to avoid GMOs, pesticides, extremely processed foods, company products that exploits natural resources and people, etc. within our limited budget.  However, the other day, Luiso and I were joking about becoming "vegetarians" because the cost of meat and seafood is "up the roof."  (At this time, I don't see us becoming vegetarians...but it is not a bad idea to revisit sooner rather than later.) Also, as part of becoming "better citizens of the World" I'm recycling and using everything we have in our pantry.  Some of the food we have are "good choices" and the other are not.  So we balanced...I'm always been intrigued by the phrase "Beggars can't be choosers."  At this stage of our lives, we need to make the best with what we have.  I read yesterday couple of posts about "Are you really living life...Or are you just paying bills until you die.")  Due to the fact we can "die" at any giving moment, yes, we are just paying bills until we die, but as many of you know, sometimes, we need to take things in all aspects of our lives, step by step and process by process.  I really don't think we currently have the "luxury" of becoming "picky" with what we eat or don't eat, but it doesn't take away from the fact we can practice better choices including how we allocate our budget, priorities and fuel our body (spirit and soul, as well.) 
In a nutshell...we are eating within our means, practicing making responsible decisions, not only to ourselves but always having present the common good of everything.  Sometimes, I need to take things "in compartments" to "handle" what at hand, but I know everything, what I'm dealing with and what I decide to revisit at a later time, have repercussions all around it.  Because everything is connected.  Everything.  "Food for thought..." And that's our "current" eating plan. :)