Why We are Switching to Cleaner Eating

There are a number of reasons we decided to give clean eating a try.  We found out about it when I tried to lose some weight using a book called 40 Days to Fit.  The method in the book did not work for me, but I really liked the idea of getting a lot of the chemicals and dyes out of our diet.  Especially if doing so would improve energy and all the other claims the book made.  So we decided to take baby steps in this direction.
The Colonel and I have roughly about 30 pounds each to lose (him a little more than me but we are starting easy).  He always complains of being totally exhausted and how just about everything is extremely sore.  I keep up with my kids very well, but it does get tiring.  Our children are a big part of why we are doing this.  Our youngest lost a lot of weight in his first year (he dropped from above the 80% percentile down to the 7th).  I had quite the battle with the doctors, as they kept trying to tell me that because the Colonel and I are both average people he was fine.  I knew something was not right.  He had very bad acid reflux on top of a sensitive system.  Even though I was concerned about his weight, I was more concerned about his nutrition and whether he was getting enough to keep him developing.  Since boys tend to be effected more by dyes and things, I figured that by cleaning up our eating he would get the increased nutrition and less harmed by dyes.  Our daughter needed more fiber in her diet and cutting out the dyes, etc. could only benefit her as well.  Overall, clean eating seems to be the one diet that would meet all of our family needs, as well as the best method to teach our children about taking care of their bodies.  After all children learn by example.  But clean eating is more than just a diet, it is a lifestyle and a whole approach to food.  As my dad always says, "We eat to live, not live to eat."
For us as a family we are taking this process very slowly.  We have found for us that too many changes too quickly sets us up for failure.  We also are not completely cutting out a lot of things.  Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, for example, happens to be my daughter's favorite.  Instead of having it be a staple in our house, we now might purchase it once every couple of months.  I make macaroni and cheese from scratch the majority of the time.