I Think I Am Going to Like This!!

I am not a food critic by any stretch of the imagination. I am certainly not a whiz in the kitchen. The fact that I have even written a blog about food almost makes me laugh because I can promise you this....that was never my intention or plan. But thanks to so many messages, texts, and calls with words of encouragement, I thought I would write a follow up to my big 10 day challenge of real food.

Tomorrow will be the last day of my challenge and the beginning of a new one. Why? Because I really think there is something to this whole idea of what we put into our bodies. I have not been 'clean' so to speak for the full 10 days. I fell off of the wagon for 2 days and chased that crazy thing until I got back on for many reasons. So here are a few things I have learned in a very short amount of time:

1. I am not the avid coffee lover that I thought I was. Actually, I am a French Vanilla Cream lover with some sugar and a shot or two of coffee. Seriously, I have not missed coffee AT ALL! And it's not that I couldn't drink the coffee, but I couldn't put all of the good stuff in it for the 10 days. And let me tell you, I do NOT like the taste of coffee.

2. To cook and plan ahead a little has not been as traumatic for me as I thought it would be. To my surprise, I have really enjoyed cooking. Carly has LOVED every minute of it and is right by my side to help, which is truly my favorite part. And to my even greater surprise, the recipes have been SO GOOD!!! All of the recipes I tried were from www.100daysofrealfood.com and www.faithwayfamily.blog.com

3. I am weak! Seriously, it only took Honey Buns and Nutty Buddies (which I truly would never just walk into a store and buy because I wanted one) to kick me off the wagon. So although I CAN eat in a way that makes me feel better and tastes better, if I have an option for the 'junk' I will go for it. Jack teased me about hearing the plastic wrap from the Honey Bun being opened in the morning hours and me sneaking to eat them. So to prove a point, I just started eating them in the open....until the box was gone. I guessed I showed him, uh?!

4. I honestly prefer the real food over the other stuff. I am probably the most shocked by how much better the food tastes. On Monday I hadn't been to the store so I pulled out a couple of old staples from the freezer: Bagel Bites and nuggets. I can't explain how bad I didn't want to fix them because even the kids had been eating the real food without complaining (except for Carly inspecting her 'new' pancakes for any hidden fruit, which she does not like in her pancakes). But desperate times call for desperate measures and let me say that the processed stuff didn't taste good at all in comparison to the real thing. I think that is when I realized that eating real food is not only something that I need to do, but I want to do.

5. I feel much better eating this way. After the Honey Buns, Nutty Buddies, and frozen nuggets, my belly did not feel good. Maybe the fact that I ate WAY more than my portion size had a little something to do with it, but I think it was more than that. All jokes aside, I did eat the yucky stuff over the course of two days. At first, it didn't bother me at all. But after several meals and snacks of the junk, I did feel yucky. I truly believe that our bodies digest real food better than the overly processed food. (If there is a nutritionist somewhere reading this, I am sure she is smacking her forehead thinking, "Wow, you are a real genius!")

6. Eating real food is not as expensive as I thought. The initial start may be more than I bargained for, but once you get several of the staples of real food in the kitchen, you can use them over and over again in many different recipes. Actually, the first time I shopped it was a little less than my normal grocery bill. However, the second time I went to the store it was about $60 more than what I would spend in a week. This is because the second time I learned to buy more in bulk. It will last longer and be cheaper in the long run rather than buying smaller packages more often.

So, tomorrow I will keep incorporating more and more of this lifestyle into my day. Let me clarify something though, I have not gone cold turkey by any means. I still buy things in a jar, my kids still have the gummie snacks, and I will indulge in flavored cream with a little bit of coffee. :) I still haven't figured out how you would eat so good while on vacation, although I will say up front, Olive Garden is not up for debate; I will eat there and love every bite of it!! I still have questions about wheat-free versus glutten-free and too much information can be confusing. But what I can say is that we have more of the good than the bad and that feels real good. Instead of eating the good stuff occasionally, we are doing more and more of the opposite. We are eating the good stuff the majority of the time and the bad stuff on occasion. And eating the 'real food' way is not salads and greens all of the time. Actually, I have yet to make a salad in 10 days, much less crave one! However, that is one of my goals this week......to make and eat a salad!

I truly hope that you all keep letting me know your own stories and challenges. They have blessed me in more ways than one. They have kept me motivated, challenged, and encouraged. I will leave you all with some words of wisdom that have helped me:

"Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial" ~1 Corinthians 10:23

In other words, no amount of a good cold root beer or sweet tea will ease my heart, my mind, or my emotions!! So I am trying to stop and think when I grab something. And as you know, I do not always grab the beneficial thing (I already confessed earlier!), but I am choosing the beneficial more and more!

God, I cannot thank You enough for starting this work in me and in so many others. I pray that with each day I will truly consider Your Word more and more; although EVERYTHING is permissible, what is BENEFICIAL? I pray that I will live by these Words with more and more integrity and conviction in all areas of my life; not just with my food choices. I love You Lord and I thank You that You have began a good work in us and You will complete it! In Jesus' name.

Note To Self: Perfection is NOT the goal!

"It is easier to make excuses than changes." ~Lysa Terkeurst

Well, today is Day 1 of my ten day challenge of real food. It does make me chuckle to think 10 days. Seriously, how hard can this be?! I will let you know after I overcome my sugar withdrawal.

We have had a full weekend. The days flew by and I didn't get to the grocery store with my list for the week, so I felt a little unprepared last night. I even let the thought cross my mind that I should just start on Tuesday, but then I read the above quote from Lysa. And that is just what I was doing...making an excuse. Procrastinating.

So, I went back and read my last blog to get motivated again and remind myself of my determination to do this. When I invited others to join me on the challenge, I said "the more the merrier". When I wrote that, my first thought was actually "misery loves company", but I stopped myself from defeating myself and others before we even started! It was easy to think of the reasons I didn't want to start the challenge, but I started to think about the reasons I WANT to do the challenge and they are truly worthy reasons. Here are just a few:

1. I want energy.

2. I have too many people that depend on me in a day to run out of gas not long after I get started.

3. I have a new little one on the way and I need not only energy, but a strong body.

4. I think sugar makes me grouchy. (I will be shocked if I still get grouchy after this and then I will have no idea what the cause would be!)

5. I want to stop feeling frustrated with my choices only to turn around and choose them again.

6. I want to feel good and taking care of myself and my family definitely makes me feel good!

7. I have too much I want to do to not take care of myself.

I will have to read these more than once in the day to stay on track. I will have to ask myself what I want more...the junk that keeps me in a vicious cycle or the good things that are more lasting and meaningful to me. I think a little bit of self-doubt causes me to want to make something known....I will still eat treats from time to time, so I have not fallen off the wagon or forsaken the lifestyle when I have an ice cream cone with the fam! :) But for 10 days, I am serious!!

I also remembered something so very important as I read the last blog....perfection is not the goal. I will not do it all "right" in the next few days, but I will begin making new habits. Too many times I have given up on things because of the "all or nothing" mentality. But honestly, that mentality is so bad because who has it all or can do it all? That means there is alot of nothing going on! So today, I don't have all the ingredients for alot of the homemade recipes I wanted to try, but I do have chicken, eggs, salad, and veggies that I can use. And honestly, a trip to the store will give me a short burst of motivation, but then I will still have to fix the stuff! And I do not need one more head of lettuce in the fridge to go to waste or one more limp cucumber because I "forgot' it was in the veggie drawer. I know I am not the only one that has opened the refrigerator FULL of fresh fruits, veggies, and other goodies only to shut it and say there is nothing to eat!!

Nope, today is the day of progress! I will not rationalize why I don't really have to do this. This is not about my weight. My goodness, I am 28 weeks pregnant today so I will not be seeing the scale drop. Instead, this is about feeling good from the inside out. I have never had a weight problem. Yes, I have been in shape and out of shape and had a few extra pounds to shed, but I have never had a battle with numbers. But I have battled in other areas. I have battled feeling bad about myself. I have battled exhaustion and frustration. I have battled wanting one thing and doing another. I have battled going against what I truly want for a quick fix instead. But I will remind myself one more time, today is the day of progress!! This is not a diet. This is a new way to live. One more time, perfection is not the goal.


God, there is no part of my life that You do not want to be a part of. In Your eyes, there is no separation of spiritual and physical. We are Your creation, created in You to do great and wonderful things. But I am scared to death of failure. I fear a great start and a lousy finish. I am afraid of not finishing what I start. But Your Word says that it is You who works in me to will (the want to) and to act (really do it) according to Your good purpose. (Philippians 2:13) I pray that today You will help me to make choices that are in line with how You want me to take care of myself and my family. And although You will encourage me, You will not be sprinkling me with pixie dust or tapping my head or hands with a magic wand to make these choices for me. Help me to do the hard stuff until it's not so hard anymore. How blessed to serve and love a God that is in every part of my life! In Jesus' name.