Hi, we’re Eva Marie and EJ — and we’re learning to eat real again.

Why We Started This Journey

Not too long ago, we found ourselves in a place many people know all too well: feeling lousy, exhausted, and wondering why our bodies seemed to be working against us. We didn’t come to whole foods eating because we were health enthusiasts looking for optimization. We came because we were desperate.

EJ has been battling serious health issues that left him drained and in pain most days. He was also dangerously underweight and struggling to gain—a problem that sounds enviable until you’re living it. My situation was the opposite: I needed to lose weight after years of poor eating habits combined with a medication that packed on extra pounds. I’ve also been dealing with chronic pain, fatigue, and a whole host of symptoms tied to inflammation that made everyday life feel like wading through mud.

And our diets? They weren’t helping. EJ lived on bakery goods and cola. I was a cheese-and-chips addict, and together our kitchen was a rotating lineup of frozen meals, drive-thrus, and whatever required the least effort. We justified it by telling ourselves we were “too busy” or “too tired” to cook. But eventually we realized something sobering: if we didn’t start making time to cook, we might not have as much time left as we’d hoped.

When we finally started connecting the dots between what we were putting in our bodies and how awful we felt, something clicked. We weren’t just tired and sick—we were malnourished in the truest sense. Full of calories, empty of nutrition. The fatigue. The digestive issues. The brain fog. The aches. So much of it traced back to what was on our plates.

So we made a decision: no more.

We’re not here to tell you we’ve got it all figured out. We’re still in the middle of this—learning, adjusting, sometimes failing, and trying again. But we’ve already noticed changes: more energy, less brain fog, fewer flare-ups. Enough to keep us going.

This site is us documenting what we’re learning along the way—for ourselves and for anyone else who’s been where we are.

The Shift

We didn’t sign up for a restrictive diet or a complicated program with rules we’d never stick to. We simply decided to eat real food again. Whole ingredients. Things our grandparents would recognize. Food we actually cook ourselves.

We signed up for ButcherBox and Thrive Market. We started filling our kitchen with organic vegetables, fresh fruit, free-range eggs, and quality proteins. We ditched the drive-thrus and started experimenting in our own kitchen.

And something amazing happened — we started feeling better. Not overnight, and not perfectly, but genuinely, noticeably better. One meal at a time.

Why This Site Exists

I originally built Eat Real Again just for us — a place to collect recipes, track what we were eating, and stay accountable on this journey. But as I developed it, I realized the tools we needed might help others too.

That recipe shopping list feature? I built it because I was tired of forgetting ingredients at the store. The simple, no-fuss recipes? Those exist because we don’t have the energy for complicated cooking on hard days.

If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by conflicting diet advice, intimidated by health food that tastes like cardboard, or just exhausted by the thought of “eating healthy” — we get it. We’ve been there.

Our Philosophy

We believe eating well shouldn’t require a nutrition degree, a personal chef, or giving up everything you love.

Here’s what we’re NOT about:

• Counting calories or macros
• Measuring and weighing every bite (just, no)
• Eliminating entire food groups
• Making you feel guilty about what you eat
• Perfection

Here’s what we ARE about:

• Real ingredients you can pronounce
• Recipes that actually taste good
• Practical meals for real life
• Progress over perfection
• Enjoying food again

We still eat tacos. We still make burgers. EJ still has his Buffalo wings (just baked now instead of fried). We’ve learned that eating real doesn’t mean eating boring — it means taking back control of what goes into our bodies and, ultimately, how we feel.

Join Us

Whether you’re dealing with health issues, trying to feel more energetic, or just want to break free from the processed food cycle, you’re welcome here. We’re not experts or nutritionists — we’re just two people figuring this out together, one recipe at a time.

Thanks for stopping by. We hope you find something here that makes your journey a little easier. If you have any suggestions, we’re all ears – just send us a message 🙂 Oh, and before we go, check out the below real quick to find out how YOU can get the most out of this site.

With love and good food,

Eva Marie & EJ

Handy Website Features

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We’ve built some tools to make your cooking journey easier:

• Shopping List Generator – Add ingredients from any recipe (or several!) and take a printable list to the store
• Favorites – Save recipes you love with the heart icon for quick access later
• Serving Adjuster – Scale recipes up or down and watch the ingredients recalculate automatically
• “Make It From Scratch” Links – Many recipes connect to other recipes on the site, so you can make everything from scratch with real ingredients

Want the full rundown? Check out our How to Get the Most Out of This Site guide!