Chase enjoying his homemade squash for the first time.
I've never been a real extreme healthy eater, I drink lots of water and get my fruits and sometimes veggies but I am a craver of all things bad...salt and sugar, and I hate it. I have a awful sweet tooth and contribute it to my childhood. I remember as a kid buying candy in bulk and my childhood friend and I chowing it down like there was no tomorrow. I know all kids eat candy but we ate a lot. And I do believe that's half of my adult cravings, it started when I was young, oh and my cavities show for it too.So my sweet tooth made me decide to limit Chase's intake of processed foods and sugar, unnatural sugar like in cookies, candy, etc. And I try to give him most foods that are natural without all the preservatives. I have now become an addict of reading ingredients, on everything, the less the better. I've been real good about limiting his sugar intake but I do feel like it's going to get harder as the he gets older. Well, I know it will and it doesn't help having it in the house for Brad and I.
I have partially decided that I want to cleanse our house of junk. We're really not that bad, no chips just cookies for Brad and ice cream for both of us. Oh and Brad drinks a coke a day too. Oh and my goodness cereal, we really need to limit in that area, talk about craving carbs. We're both cereal eaters and sometimes not the good ones like Cheerios or Shredded Wheat. That will be painful.
It kind of sounds like we're big junk food eaters but really we're not. Our dinners are almost always from scratch and pretty healthy and our lunches now consist of sandwiches, leftovers, mozzarella sticks, fruit, yogurt etc. I am not buying anymore frozen meals, well maybe one or two for those "in an extreme hurry" days.
I want to feel good and kill the cravings now, for good. I have been trying not to buy a lot of processed foods and more fruit, veggies, meats, whole-wheat bread and pasta, or whole grain, etc. As I was making pies tonight for our church's sportsman dinner I was curious of the ingredients in everything I was using to make the Banana Split Pie. Let's see..
- Vanilla pudding, first ingredient...sugar;
- Cool Whip...corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup;
- Maraschino Cherries...high fructose corn syrup;
- Chocolate syrup...high fructose corn syrup.
The only ingredients that were pretty natural was the crushed pineapple in pear juice concentrate, bananas and my homemade pie crusts, even with all the shortening. :) But I was amazed as to what was in all my favorite things...high fructose corn syrup. I'm sure it will be a delicious pie but I have no desire for a bite, I mean of course I do, but it wouldn't be as pleasurable.
All that being said, I will be slowly be transitioning myself to low almost no processed foods. If I can get Brad partially on board it will be so beneficial to him, me and our whole family. I kind of asked for a juicer for my b'day to help me get started on the right track.
I know I will fall off the wagon sometimes but if I don't at least start somewhere or try, I'll always struggle. I must beat the battle with sugar and get some will power. After my b'day I plan to go on a no processed, sugar food cleanse, all healthy natural foods for at least a week. Yes, that means cutting sweets for a week, this has NEVER been done and I fear for those around me. Thankfully I don't have to worry about cutting caffeine because that's not in my diet but sugar, well...And don't worry I plan on being very healthy and eating well for myself and the baby. I might have to figure a way to increase the grocery budget because fruits/veggies are so much more. No wonder there is so much processed food out there. Have you ever just looked around at the grocery store and taken in all the processed stuff that surrounds you? Amazing.
Here's to trying to eat more healthy and cleansing our family of most processed foods, not all, because there's just some conveniences you need. I guess my word for the year will be perfect for this endeavor...prayer.
(I write this after eating a piece of fresh homemade apple pie and 1/2 cup of chocolate, chocolate ice cream. I have until next week, so no guilt yet, well just partial guilt.)
3 comments:
Good for you, Dawn! If you can get past the first three days (and the tremendous headache), the rest of the week without sugar will fly by. I always think at the end of my allotted time that I feel SO much better, I won't go back, but of course, I always crumble. It's just so tempting.
I did a post awhile back that you might remember, but you might get a few ideas. It's here: http://dailypleasures.blogspot.com/2009/02/what-do-you-snack-on.html
And now I'm off to make all my pies - and NOT nibble. :)
We are on that same frame of mind: ok, I am on that frame of mind LOL! I know in my head how horrible sugar is for us, but it's like they say, you don't think what you are putting in your body is bad until that day comes when it's finally had enough, you know, being young and healthy, we just take it granted that we are going to always feel that way. sigh. I feel a post coming. Maybe an ode to sugar..ha ha! :-)
I envy you. I just can't seem to get the will-power to give up sweets. Of course, as I age, my body likes to store it places that it use to not but I still have such a hard time cutting it out. I can normally cut back but not completely out. I'm hoping to get my metabolism back up some and normally once I start the exercise the eating better seems to just go with it. It is probably a good thing to start Chase early. Good luck and keep us posted on recipes you are using and how you are doing with the change.
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