Healthy Eating Update

Since the beginning of summer, I have been trying hard to eat foods that are considered "real". Of course, in the beginning, it was hard. I'm not where I hope to be with it, but I feel as though I'm better than I was when I started. I'm still learning as I go, I'm still trying, I still fail on occasion. I'm not perfect. The weight has NOT just magically "fell" off. I know I kept saying, "I'm not doing it for the weight!" but in the beginning, I really was doing it for the weight.
But, weight aside, I feel a difference. I can now explain better my reason of sluggishness. I know I feel better eating better. I didn't think I could ever say that. I always thought it was just cliché. But, it's true.
I read somewhere that our body reacts differently to overly processed food. I thought it was just health nuts trying to win converts saying that, but after eating not so great these past two weeks, I now know what they mean. I'll try not to get too gross in how I realized this, but one innocent example is my taste buds. I never realized how overly processed foods are…overly seasoned. It seems they are often too salty or too sweet. If I try and eat more than a small amount (because, hello, I'm fat! And I don't know diddly squat about portion control), I get a weird bump or two on my tongue. Anyone know what that's called? It always seems to be on the sides of my tongue. Anyways, I just call it salt or sugar overload. I never took notice to how much seasoning has to go into overly processed foods in order to make them taste reasonable, until I stopped eating them.
Another thing I noticed was how much more expensive it is to eat a largely overly processed food diet. A large amount of people are under the belief that it's healthy eating that's expensive, but that really has not been the case for us. By omitting most overly processed frozen, dried, and canned products I have seen a huge difference in our food budget. Well, that and planning our menu I believe have really helped us get from "oh, snap, how are we going to eat for the next week or two?!" to, "oh, snap, I have some extra money in the food budget left for the next week or two!" This leads me to my next point…
We have been eating less. The first month or two, we sort of pigged out because I felt like, "I FINALLY found something I can stick with! Something that says it's okay to eat butter, and bacon, and strawberries, and chocolate (though not in that order)! I'm eating really real foods, so I can live it up! YAHHOOOO!!!" But, now that we are past the fun and thrill of it, we are slowly getting to the point of it becoming a part of our everyday lives. Eating better foods eventually makes you want to slow down and savor it. There are some moments where we pig out, but they decreasing. I still probably eat faster than I should, but I don't eat seconds or thirds much anymore. I don't feel the need to "pile it on" my plate. I'm still trying to learn that free food doesn't mean I can and should be pigging out.
Which brings me to my dilemma…With the holidays coming up, we are often invited to functions involving food. I am always thankful for these events, because it means food that I don't have to cook and often times food to bring home that I don't have to cookJ. Not that I mind cooking, because I really enjoy it. But let's be honest- I'm not exactly sharing the responsibility of cooking with anyone here. As much as I enjoy it, it gets tiring after awhile. I won't pass down the chance for someone else to do the cooking. However, I'm already starting to feel a bit uncomfortable about functions because I have to ask questions of how/what it's made of. Do I suck it up, enjoy the food and keep the moments rare? Or, do I decline the offers? Bring my own food? Is there anyone who reads my blog and has had the same problem? What do you do when having to eat outside the home?