Getting Organized

Our home has a small pantry in the kitchen right beside the refrigerator. Up until recently, this worked out well for us. However, with my new eating-at-home kick, there is alot more food in my cabinet now. I purchased these cabinets from Target for about $80 for both of them. It's so nice to be able to see what we have available to eat and plan meals.

Another idea that came to mind this week was the way I had been making my weekly menu. I had been creating the menu and then shopping. Now, I shop and use the purchases supplementing with fruits and veggies from the farmer's market to create meals. It's amazing how much money I save using coupons. Today I saved $50 at Publix.

Smoothies!

Or Snoodies, as my almost 3 year old calls them. After my muffin mishap, I made smoothies for breakfast the next morning.

1 cup orange juice
1 cup strawberries
1 large banana
1 cup ice
1 container of greek yogurt

It was pretty tastey, however, I think I'll add a dash of vanilla or honey to the next one for just a little touch of sweet. Or leave the yogurt out so that the smoothie isn't creamy, but fruity.

I'd like to figure out how to add some greens to my smoothies.

Muffin Mishap

Well, I thought I would try to make some "healthy" muffins for a quick breakfast one morning this week. I was lured by the healthy name and the high fiber claim. What I failed to do was to actually read the rest of the label. The muffins were high in flavor, but low in nutrition. By the time I pollished off two muffins, I had taken in over 300 calories and as much sugar as a can of soda. Off to find a healthy muffin recipe from scratch.

Sandwiches

This week was pre-occupied with many preop telephone calls. I feel as though it was not one of my better weeks providing meals for myself and the kids. Meet my two new best friends.... Slap these guys onto a slice of whole wheat bread, fold in half, and voila...dinner is somewhat made. Sadly, we had PB&J's for dinner twice this week. We also had Taco Bell one night when the power was out when the electricians were working on the street light in front of our house. Tonight we had Burger King that I grabbed from the drive-thru at 6:30pm on the way back from CVS picking up some dye-free Motrin for my sick 6 year old. How backwards is that?

Anyway, it was a week with different sandwiches. I will say that I am proud of the fact that I've come to realize that sandwiches are not best friends with potato chips. I still have a hard time eating tuna sandwiches without potato chips (heck, I usually put the chips on the tuna sandwich!). So I ask this...other than potato chips, what goes on the plate with sandwiches?

This week we did apple slices and grapes. Anybody got any better ideas?

Off to a great start

2 pounds strawberries
2 pounds green beans
1 small watermellon
1 large loaf of fresh baked bread
1 large cucumber
3 large zucchinis

all for around $10

A day at the farmer's market getting the kids excited about produce...priceless.

Benign

I hadn't realized how much that little word weighed until finally I read it on the pathology report. Just saying the word felt like an anvil had been removed from my shoulders. I count our blessings that we are lucky enough to not be battling cancer. In that same breath, I still have concerns that my husband has a serious colon condition and doctor's aren't 100% certain what caused the breakdown in his colon wall. Hubby will be having surgery next week to have a portion of his colon removed. This is scary business for anyone undergoing such a traumatic surgery, but even more so for hubby because he is 34 years old. This type of damage is usually seen in much older individuals.

So just a recap - Hubby will now need to follow a high-fiber, low-meat diet. He does not live with us full-time due to his working conditions, so he will try to do the best he can living the bachelor life. Joshua has not been tested for food allergies/sensitivities yet, however I notice a reaction to Red #40 (found in common things, including Tylenol), and all artificial Blue colors. He is 6 years old. Our 4 year old, Megan, does not follow any specific diet, however, too many sugary treats really affects her sleeping pattern. The little guy, Daniel, will be 3 in a few weeks. We tease that Daniel is our vegan. If he had the choice between cows milk or rice milk, he'd pick rice, soy or almond milk hands-down over cows milk. Daniel could live on fruits and veggies alone. And finally, there's me. I'm lactose intolerant. Sure, I could probably take a pill for that, but I'm choosing to instead alter my diet to remove the offending products from it. So with what seems like a variety of dietary challenges, we're going back to the basics. More fruits and veggies and less of everything else.

Rewards

As Megan jumped into the minivan after school today, she proudly displayed the reward she earned for being good all week. I was less enthusiastic about the candy than she had hoped. Infact, I have to be honest and say I'm a little disappointed in the fact that her teacher (who I absolutely adore) had this tiny lapse in judgement to give candy to a 4 year old.
With only 14.3 grams of sugar and every artificial color possible, this treat turned out to be a recipe for disaster at our house.

I'm trying to help the kids make healthy choices, not make the choices for them. Megan chose to try the candy. She didn't quite like it, so she gave it over to Joshua. Notice the blue food coloring. Joshua doesn't get along with blue food coloring, it makes him break out in hives and wheeze. I wasn't aware that Megan was sharing her candy with her brother since they were eating at the kitchen table and I was running around the house gathering up laundry. I see a few problems - I need to be present when the kids are eating, and I need to find more ways to make non-food rewards more exciting than the candy that the kids are getting at school. Infact, I'd love to do away with rewards all together and focus my energy on teaching them about the intrinsic rewards that come along with doing the right thing.

And incidently, Keith wanted pizza tonight for dinner, so I ordered from a local mom and pop shop instead of a chain resteraunt. I went with a thinner crust and light on the cheese. Nobody seemed to notice. Have I mentioned how often we eat out (or order take-out)? Too much! My goal for the remainder of September is to only eat out (or take out) once a week. Do we eat out more than the normal family?

It begins...

It all comes down to this...the scale. While cleaning the bathroom today, I hopped up on our scale. After I let out a shocking gasp, I realized that today I weigh the same thing I weighed when I went in for my 20 week ultrasound when I was pregnant with my first child. At 5 ft 4 inches tall, my weight fits my frame best when I am around 125 pounds. However, today, I am 147 pounds. The number on the scale really wouldn't bother me if I didn't have the body to go with it. You know, the mommy-body. The muffin-top that ridges out over the top of my jeans. I can try to buy one of the new trendy shirts that flow out at the waiste to hide my muffin top, but all that does is make me look like I am expecting #4. No way, no how, not possible.

So here I am knowing that I need to make some changes to my diet and lifestyle. It my body looks and feels this unhealthy on the outside, what does it look like in there? If the inside of my body is full of garbage, does that hold true for my kids, too? I just can't bear the thought of filling them up on high-fat, high-sugar, and high-sodium foods. However, when I look back on my family blog and see how much eating out we do, I'm embarassed. Even tonight, we had dinner at Taco Bell just for fun.

We'll still have fun, and we'll still eat delicious foods. We are all going to change our palate a little bit and our attitude alot. Join me as I figure out how to make me a little more healthy and how to keep my kids healthy. I'm certain there will be a few stumbles along the way, but I'm even more certain that there will be huge successes, too.

Here's to tomorrow - a new day filled with learning about healthy choices and learning to implement them in our house!