Mostly Good

The month is almost over and well, I've been mostly good... :)  I've had some fails, but a ton of successes!  I've had something sweet only once a week, (4 times) which I'm very proud of.  I've been eating TONS of fruits and veggies.  Haven't had anything to drink except water all month.  I've worked out 5 days a week every week.  Yes, I've had some fatty foods every now and then, but for the most part I've been strong willed!  (Except for a specific time of the month... darn period.) And just like I tell my boot campers /readers; you have to brag and celebrate about your small successes!  Be proud of your one month of "mostly good" choices.

 This is a proud month for me.  I feel better about myself than ever before.  I'm more comfortable in my skin than I have been since before I had babies.  Why?  Well, I've said this before... when you start to love your habits, you start to love yourself.  When you are pursuing good habits, you may not be losing big numbers on the scale, but you are losing the guilt you subconsciously feel when you make bad health choices.  Stick with those New Year's resolutions.  Celebrate your "mostly good's" and do better next month.  The more you try, the stronger you become!

London's Run is tomorrow!  I'm anxious, nervous, excited... and ready to get it over with.  No, I'm not doing the half marathon.  You marathoners and half marathoners are amazing!  I admire you.   My next race is where I want to conquer a half and then hopefully a full marathon.  But for now, I am perfectly happy with perfecting my time this year and doing the 10k again.  This is one of my New Year's resolutions and I'm ready to tackle it!  Wish me luck!

Trial and... ERROR!

So, I said I would tell you about the new things we've been trying.... here's a word to the wise:

Since we've been trying to eat much less meat, my kids were begging for some chicken nuggets, since I haven't given them any for a while.  While I was at Sprouts, I saw some meatless nuggets called Quorn.  I read the ingredients.  It said they were made from mycoprotein and the labels lead me to believe that mycoprotein was a fungus much like a mushroom.  Well, we brought them home, made them and they tasted EXACTLY like a chicken nugget!  My kids loved them.  I even took a picture of them eating them:

So after lunch  I got online to research this "mycoprotein" stuff that tasted so much like chicken! And... I found tons of controversy about it. :(  Basically, it's not like a mushroom at all.  It's like a bacteria and some people have become violently ill from eating it!  It scared me to death. I felt like the worst mom in the world for just feeding my kids something and trusting dumb labels when I know better than that! I was terrified that one of my kids was gonna start vomiting, but luckily nobody got sick.  There is an article about it here that will help you understand the controversy a little more.  But when I read all of the reviews from people who had become sick, I decided never to touch that stuff again!  Just thought I would let my readers know, so that you don't make the same mistake :/

2 Weeks of Good Efforts!

I have ended my first two weeks of striving to eat much less meat/dairy.  Here are my thoughts so far:

I have done very well with not eating meat!  I have had meat twice in the last two weeks.  So going from twice a day, to once a week, is HUGE!  It's not too hard to not eat meat, but it is SO HARD to not eat dairy.  Dairy is in EVERYTHING!  For now, I am satisfied with being conscious of my meat/dairy intake.  And I am still being very strong in cutting back in all of it.  I'll admit, today I was at a wedding for a lot of the day so when everyone went to a burger restaurant,  I had a salad with ranch, but no chicken!  The ranch was the first dairy I have had in a few days, and I'll say, it was so yummy! :)  Tonight at the wedding reception they had delicious looking tacos!!  I held strong, I had a tortilla and some chips and salsa, no meat, no cheese.  I should also mention, that since January 1st I have tried to stay away from sweets.  I have been surprisingly really good at this!  I have been at bachelorette parties, birthday parties, weddings, and haven't touched a thing, but one night this month I did have a cupcake and one graham cracker (I'm confessing.)  But I think that is pretty good for two full weeks!  And here is what I want my readers to hear from me today:

It is hard to live in extremes.  So don't set yourself up for absolute perfection. It is hard to be perfect all the time.  Am I going to be a Vegan, or a Vegetarian? No way, because I know I will fail tremendously.  I am happy and satisfied with the fact that I am trying to live a healthier life style.  I am celebrating the fact that I am making major efforts to be healthy in my diet.  And I want any of you who are trying to accomplish goals right now, to be proud of yourselves too.  If you give in every now and then, its okay!  Just wake up in the morning and keep on going.  Don't let one little cupcake ruin all of your efforts.  You can eat that cupcake and then start fresh again the next day!  I believe in having a balance in all things.  I knew from the beginning that trying to eat whole foods, and plant based foods would be tough,and that I wouldn't be able to do it every single day, but I have enjoyed the efforts in doing it, and will continue week after week.  And you should too!

 

Keep on keeping on!  

You will feel great about yourself if you do.

A New Diet For a New Year

It has been a while since I have posted, because I have been so busy with the holidays, but i'm determined to do better this year! With that being said...

Hello! And Happy New Year! It's a perfect time to start fresh and make healthier decisions.

I have been accomplishing some goals of my own, and it feels so good to make good efforts. Who's with me?!

Today i want to encourage any who read this, to watch a few documentaries about food. The first, is "FOOD INC." the second is "Forks Over Knives." You can find both of these on Netflix. In my opinion, it will help push you in the right direction for your diet this year. I want your feed back, so watch them and then comment, so I can hear your opinions.

I have been considering for a while, whether I want to try a Vegetarian or a Vegan diet for a while now. It's just such a big commitment. If you are rolling your eyes at me, please know that it has nothing to do with saving animals, or me being against hunting, or anything like that. I LOVE MEAT! That's why this decision has been difficult. BUT, I have been doing my research and the more I study, the more I discover that we, as a society, eat way too much meat/dairy. I know that we should "eat meat sparingly," but in the world we live in today, it's not convenient to make that change. The more I've been conscious of my meat intake, the more I realize I eat it for almost two meals a day, most days. There's no way that can be sparingly, in my opinion. So how do I change this?

Are some of you thinking... "Wait, but you need meat to give you protein!" or "You have to drink milk and eat cheese for calcium!" The truth is, you can get those nutrients from so many other kinds of foods. Just get educated about food, so that you can understand how to balance your diet!

In all honesty, I have been slowly cutting meat out of my personal diet for a while. Not because I'm involved with PIDA, or I am an animal lover, but because I would like to experiment. I want to see the improvement in my body by eating a whole foods plant based diet. This requires creativity with recipes and a little extra money buying organic foods, but in my opinion I think it will be worth it.

So, here I go on my journey to eating much healthier! I will continue to post about it. For right now, I'm simply cutting out meat, and eating much less dairy. My goal is to cut the dairy out for a while too, and see how it goes. Will I do it for a month? A year? Who knows, but for now it is purely experimental for me.

I bought a bunch of groceries over the last few weeks and have been trying new things, new recipes and such.  I will post things that are tolerable, and things that I just can't choke down, so that if you decide to make some changes, you won't go through trial and error like me :)

Go watch the documentaries I recommended! Let me know what you think:)