Juice

That's my new juicer. Isn't she a beaut? I recently got my husband on board with the whole trying to reduce processed foods and since then he has been researching juicers so that we can start getting more servings of fruits and veggies in every day. This is something that I wanted to start doing a while ago but anyone who knows me understands that when I have an idea about something it takes me forever to actually start acting on it. But here it is all shiny and new and it works great so far. This is not to say that I am not going to try to make more veggie recipes to cook but sometimes a glass of juice is just easier, know what I mean?

So we are mostly still in the education phase of our goal to eat only real food and not a whole lot of action has happened so far other than just trying some new recipes (and getting rid of all the processed stuff in our pantry). I will try to sum up what's been happening in our household lately, but since I want this blog to be an open and honest account I should add that I have had my fair share of processed and unhealthy foods lately including: pizza, cupcakes, flour tortillas, soda, chicken burger from a fast food place, milk chocolate, bagel with cream cheese, sweetened apple juice, skittles, ice cream, apple pie, and other things including when my sister came to town and we stuffed our faces at a mexican restaurant. 

With that said, I really have been sticking to not buying any new processed foods at the grocery store and bringing them into the house, with the exception of bread and flour tortillas.  I have also allowed a few breakfast cereals in my cart but ones with way more wholesome ingredients than previous ones I have bought. The one difficult thing for me to give up has been peanut butter (at least the kind that I am used to eating). It's weird because I have been on a million diets and had no problem giving up the peanut butter before but now when I try to eat the real kind that is essentially just peanuts without all the stuff added, it's just not the same.  I have tried using a little honey to make it sweeter but still not the same. The other day I was visiting family and they had the good stuff sitting out on the counter and I caved and spread some on my toast.  It was delish.  I haven't missed margarine as much as I thought I would but I would have to say I didn't realize just how much I used it until I didn't have it anymore. 

I think that the main problem for me right now is that my fridge and pantry is starting to have a lot more whole foods in it, and so when I am craving something like say, ice cream, I tend to get it when I am out or some times even make an excuse to go out so that I can have it. So I am hoping that the juicer will help because I can make a glass of juice and put it in a cup to go so that I am not tempted to grab something else when I am not at home. 

Hubby has also found us a local place that sells stone ground flour and my mother-in-law lent me her bread maker so I think I am going to finally start experimenting with home made breads and other bread like recipes using only whole ingredients. I also want to continue to find yummy recipes that do not include bread at all since I am hoping to only have it in moderation. We have recently gotten an updated list of farmers in the area who sell beef and pork without the hormones and antibiotics and we are considering joining a local food coop. 

But for now we start with the juicing. Since everyone and their dog seem to be into juicing right now I  have found a gazillion web sites that list different juice recipes you can try. Should be no problem finding some combinations that we like. Wish us luck!

More Recipes

I know I haven't been on here much it's been busy, blah, blah, blah.

Here are a few things I have been trying this past week:

I did a trial run of this basic salsa recipe for Maya's birthday and brought it along with me to a visit earlier in the week. I liked it better the first time I made it because the tomatoes were a better quality. It's all about the tomatoes. 

Lettuce wraps are one of my go-to lunches when I have random things in my fridge that I want to get rid of. This particular day I grilled up some mushrooms, onions, and red peppers. I added that to the wraps along with some chopped pieces of chicken breast and leftover hummus. Yummy. 

Another go-to meal that I make quite often is pork tenderloin with grilled veggies. The only thing is, I have been guilty in the past of buying packaged pre-seasoned pork that is full of preservatives that I cannot pronounce. Since I am slowly emptying my freezer and pantry of processed food, this was the last one in my freezer to go. So long sucka. Tonight at the grocery store I bought a piece of pork that has no preservatives and is free of hormones and anti-biotics.  Now I just have to find a good recipe for a pork rub. 

Tonight I made quinoa bites. This is a recipe that has been sitting on my pinterest board for a long time. Today for dinner I was looking for something I could put together with random leftover ingredients in my fridge because I hadn't hit the store yet. It just so happened that I had all the stuff in this recipe so I went for it! They were yummy, although I didn't have any sauce to dip it in so next time I will try to experiment with different sauces. 

So really the only "new" thing that I tried this week was the quinoa bites, but, whatever. There are so many unique recipes that I want to try but really I have been pre-occiped with other stuff (like sick kids and birthdays) to sit down and figure it out. At least I am still trying to stick with more natural ingredients. 

The processed foods in my cupboard are slowly being replaced, although I did have a few new things that were a "no no" in the pantry for Maya's second birthday, including canned icing and a box of cake mix. We also have some leftover pop from the party. The biggest thing that I have been having a hard time giving up is bread and by that I mean, store bought bread. I just haven't had the time to make my own that doesn't have refined sugar and flour. That is next on the list. 

Don't worry I will start posting more interesting thoughts and opinions about healthy eating soon. Just thought I would let you know in case you were starting to lose sleep over it. 

Recipes

Ok so this week I have tried a few new recipes. The hope is that I can find things that have little to no processed items in the recipe. I am hoping I will eventually be able to get rid of all store bought breads, but with due time.  Our pantry is starting to get emptier and emptier as we run out of certain things. We are out of certain cereals like cheerios. All the packaged oatmeal is gone and replaced with the real stuff. There is no more margarine in our fridge and the crackers are next to slowly run out. I still have a heck of a lot of salad dressing and other condiments like ketchup to go through before I can start making my own.

Anyhoo.

Here's the stuff we tried this week.

First thing I did was take the plain old grapefruits that I usually eat and spice it up a bit with this recipe that I came across over at Wanderlust. It was so so yummy I ate it without remembering to take a picture of it.

Second thing I tried was a classic chick pea and tomato salad. It was also yummy but I think next time I will add a third fruit or vegetable, like maybe avocado or cooked zuccini. Chris took this salad to work with him two days in a row so I would have to say it was a hit. 

After that I decided to cook some spaghetti squash. Instead of topping it with a tomato and meat sauce I made an avocado "cream" sauce and cashew "cheese" sauce instead.  I found the idea from this recipe.  This is something that I would never think to put together but I LOVED it. Chris on the other hand - not so much. He said that it wouldn't "stick" with him for long and needed something else to go with it. He proceeded to warm up some sort of bun from the freezer and smacked some peanut butter on it for good measure. 

This veggie burger I made for lunch today, which was inspired by my friend who recently ordered a similar one at a restaurant.  Both Chris and I thought it was pretty good but we felt like there was a bit of flavour missing. So for a second batch I added some ketchup and mustard right into the "batter" before cooking it, rather than just having the ketchup and mustard as a garnish. This did the trick and made it taste much better. This is the recipe I used. I would have to say it was good, but I think maybe I can find something even better. As for Maya, she took one bite, made a face, and then spit it out. There are two other veggie burger recipes out there that I am excited to try so stay tuned for that.  I am hoping to find one that isn't as "mushy" and that will hold together better when you cook it.

I think that's a pretty good start as far as trying some new things as well as cutting out foods that have ingredients I can't pronounce. I found this has also helped me get more servings of fruits and vegetables in without doing the usual boring steamed or grilled stuff.

We still have a long way to go before we start eating more whole foods than not, but I am giving myself A for effort this week.

The Real Deal

Hey There! Remember me? Yeah, I know that you have to actually write posts on a regular basis if you want to keep readers. I kinda suck at this whole blogging thing. My stats have dropped quite a bit in the past month but I know I still have a few of my faithfuls out there checking in once in a while.

Anyways.

So those of you who have been with me from the beginning, you know that the whole point of this blog is starting to change. I am no longer on a "diet". I am no longer trying lose weight. Although I have had some very good reasons in the past to keep myself motivated, the truth is that my goals and my outlook has just been all wrong.

So without getting into all the major reasons of how I came to this point I am just going to lay out my intentions.

1) My family is now going to cut out as many processed foods as we can in our day to day meals. Actually that is not right. We are not going to "cut out", we are going to replace the food with real food. We thought that we didn't eat a lot of processed food at home to begin with, but upon further examining my pantry it was actually quite filled with things that had ingredients I could not pronounce. So we are slowly using up what is left in the cupboard and we are not going to replace it unless it is a home-made version prepared by myself with WHOLE FOOD ingredients. The other day we ran out of cheerios - a  cereal that Maya was addicted to. I was afraid she would have a meltdown but she actually went for my idea of raisin cinnamon oatmeal without any fuss, thank goodness.

2) We are going to start trying at least two new plant based recipes a week until we find enough things that we love enough to have on a regular basis.  I will post the recipes that I try on here as often as possible.

3) I am going to continue to work out as much as possible, but stop beating myself up if I don't make it to my cardio-kickboxing classes religiously. Lets face it, I am up every two hours at night still with the babe. Sometimes I just don't have it in me to go at the end of the day when hubs gets home from work. I would rather take the kids/dog for a walk or clean the house for some exercise on those days. Yes it requires less effort (and burns less calories) than doing a bunch of squats or push ups - but I just have to do something every day and stop making myself feel like a failure if I don't meet unrealistic expectations.

4) I'm going to change my language. I am not going to use words like "diet" and "low fat". Instead I will replace them with words like "nutrition" and "wholesome".  I am not going to be an all-or-nothing thinker anymore. I am not going to expect myself to become a vegan overnight, only to feel miserable when I can't possibly meet that high expectation after three days in. Instead of trying to meet my self-standards all of the time and every second of the day, I will aim to do it more often than not.

5) Outside of the house we will still allow my children to eat whatever. I mean, come on, the whole point of going to Grandma's house is so that you can bake cupcakes and eat liquorice. Maya is in daycare twice a week and so I don't have control over her meals on those days (although they do stick to relatively healthy options).  We are also not going to stop our child from having treats on special occasions, for say birthdays or Christmas. Same thing applies to me....if I want to go out on girls night every few months and split on a plate of nachos - so be it. The point is, if we can control our daily meals at home, we should be eating healthy way more often than not.  And that my friends, is moderation (another word I am trying hard to fit into my vocab).

I really feel with all my heart if I focus more on eating actual real food and less on what I cannot have or have to "cut out", I am going to see benefits. I know that my moods will improve. My energy will probably improve. My stress level will go down and my self esteem will go back up.  I will feel like a normal person again rather than that person that does good for a while and then has an epic fail.

Yesterday I made a chick pea and tomato salad as well as broiled grapefruits. Stay tuned for the recipes!  I also will revamp the look of the blog shortly as well as get more into what my definition is of non-processed foods and so on. I may even elaborate my opinions about things such as "caring about what other people think" and "excuses" and "setting deadlines".  Stay with me people. There are good things to come on here. Good things to come!

How's That Working For You? - Part One

"How is that working for you?"

This is a very common question that I ask clients at work when they keep doing the same thing over and over again in response to a problem that doesn't seem to be getting resolved.  This is a particularly helpful question for those who may need a little prompt in examining what they are doing in terms of whether it is actually helping, or whether or not it is time to make a change in how they respond to a particular situation.  Many times, it is obvious to everyone else except that person that what they are doing is actually part of the problem.

This is exactly the kind of question that I have had to ask myself lately.

I have been doing the same thing over and over again for years. I go on a diet. I work out. I lose a bunch of weight. It works TEMPORARILY. Then something happens where I derail from the plan. I get sick. I get stressed. I get too busy. I get whatever. Then I turn into the biggest cliche of a person who loses fifteen pounds only to gain twenty back later on. I turn into the person that blogs about all the reasons why I should stay motivated, only to become a failure a few months in, armed with all the "I had a bad day" confessions and "I will get back on the wagon tomorrow" promises.

It's no secret. It's been in the research for years. Diets don't work. They just don't work. Despite this obvious fact staring me in the face, I continued to live in denial of this truth only to end up right back where I started. My denial has come in the form of many different excuses as to why I haven't kept the weight off. I got pregnant. I got sleep deprived. I got stressed at work. I was on vacation. Whatever it was, there was always a convenient reason for why I wasn't able to stick with it. And all of my family and friends saw it for what it was, but never knew how to call me on it.

I've seen this happen to so many other people in my life as well.  They lose a shit load of weight. Then a year later it slowly starts to creep back. Then two years later they are back to where they started. There have only been a very small percentage of people who have actually been able to make a lifestyle change and stick with it.

The most common thing I used to say to myself is this:

"I know that diets are only a temporary solution but I have to lose the weight first, then I'll worry about how to keep it off later".

What a load of crap. It's like an alcoholic saying that he needs to quit drinking first, and then he can start dealing with his anxiety disorder.

How many times do I have to go on weight watchers before I become wise to the facts? How many times do I have to fail before I realize that what I am doing isn't working.

Things are gonna change up in here.  The goals, the focus, the values and beliefs. The behaviour, the thoughts, the methods. No, like really. Not an all-or-nothing kind of change. Not a suddenly extreme behaviour kind of change. You might not even really notice the change for a long time.

But it's coming....






Photo credit: Esparta / Foter.com / CC BY

Sickly

So I've really sucked at this whole blogging thing lately. My house is currently full of sick people. Strep throat has taken over myself and Maya. We have been fighting fevers and basically just trying to survive this past week. It doesn't seem like it's ever going to end. Just when one kids' fever goes down the other one breaks out in hives. Just when my head hits the pillow I am woken up by chills and coughing.  I haven't worked out in seven days. I'm really just trying to rest when I can, which thankfully has been made semi-possible with my husband being off work this weekend. I miss our little chats. I will be back to blogging soon, I promise!

I'm Still Here!

Ok I just realized that I haven't done a post in five days. I have been doing a lot of thinking about this whole blog and my goals and my life and my family and my future and my accomplishments and my failures and what I want and what I don't want and my kids and my childhood and my house and my friends and my job and my habits and my dreams and my....well you get the picture. I've been doing a whole lot of thinking.

It's just so hard to try to come to a conclusion on everything and write it in a blog post.

But I'm going to try. So give me a few days and I promise I will keep you updated on what's going on in the life of me.



Photo credit: A Guy Taking Pictures / Foter.com / CC BY