What do I want?

What do I want to see on this blog in a few months? I want to see someone who has lost twenty pounds. Let's get that out of the way from the get go. People always say we should be happy with our size, we can't all be size 1! We have the right to love ourselves as we are. That is all SO true! But the reality is if you weigh too much, in my case 20-30 pounds too much, you don't feel so good. It is taxing on your body. That is the case for me anyway. So I do want to lose 20 pounds. I also want that weird, bloaty feeling of late that the doctor couldn't blame on anything in particular to go away. I want this lower back pain gone. I want the recurring fibromyalgia-like symptoms to go away. I want the cracking knees to stop cracking. I want fewer injuries when I exercise. And I want the junk addiction gone and new healthy habits formed that will stay. I don't know if I will get all of this. I don't know if I will last until next week. But I won't dismiss the idea of these things happening. It is possible.

Observations

Just a small observation. I don't know how long I will keep this up. Hopefully, through the summer and beyond. My kids told me the other day that we eat healthier than any other family/kids they know. This would be Pre-Forks Over Knives. That is true and not true I suppose because I have a major junk food addiction and I let my kids join in all too frequently. But I've never let my kids go crazy with soda and other things and have done well with dinner many days of the week and lunches for school I do all right. I've never had an open pantry policy where kids can overindulge all they want. I've told them you can have one not so healthy snack after school and healthy snacks (fruit, nuts, string cheese, etc. I know, string cheese is debatable.) I haven't been near perfect but they've noticed my efforts.

They also told me we are the biggest environmentalist they know. Again, many would put me to shame. My good friend in Seattle isn't nearly as liberal as I am but just living there that comes more naturally to her I think. And the bar is set very low here for the most part.

The point of this is they are noticing. Noticing things that matter. I get down on myself for my parenting ability a lot. But they are picking up on things that matter, that we should take care of our bodies, we should take care of our planet too, we should believe in equality for all people. It is getting through. I should celebrate this small victory because I don't give myself enough credit. That and they are going to be (already are) amazing people.

3 days down

So yes, I will be posting lots of pictures of my food. I think it helps me keep going and I can look back on it as a reference for the future.

More Meals

So here we have lunch: hummus, veggies and natural peanut butter, applesauce and cinnamon on wheat toast. Actually good, not gross.

Baked apples with cinnamon. 2 hours @ 250 degrees.

For dinner: watermelon, spinach, collard greens, brown rice spaghetti, jarred sauce, kidney beans and ground cashews instead of cheese.

Time to start already?

So we started today and I have some lovely food pics. The food was good but to be honest, I'm really craving some dessert right now. Still, it was a good first day.

Breakfast was oats (not oatmeal, I like to eat it cold and uncooked like cereal) with cinnamon, flax seed, bananas and soy milk. I like soy milk. Who knew?

Lunch was apple, almonds and raisins and this smoothie that had a little soy milk, flax seed, banana, blueberries, pineapple and collard greens. The soy milk is sweeter than the plain yogurt I usually use. I'll have to use a little less next time or less banana. Doesn't it look good next to those tulips Brent gave me for our anniversary? 18 years, baby!

Look at this beautiful Memorial Day dinner! Homemade baked beans, corn on the cob, potatoes, veggie and fruit kabobs.

Starting Monday we (me and Brent) are going to do the Forks Over Knives diet for the summer. As much as we can anyway. Which is basically a vegan diet but they like to call it a "plant strong" diet rather than vegan. Why would we do this? Well gee, I just turned 42, I don't feel at my optimal health, I eat too much junk, especially ice cream which I have a special weakness for.

I watched the documentary Forks Over Knives on Netflix at Christmastime two years ago (while eating a bowl of Christmas chocolate) and I loved it. I thought it was amazing. Mostly because I've always had an interest in nutrition, always felt this pull toward a vegetarian diet and I do believe in the power of healing (to an extent anyway) through food. I know that A LOT of the health problems in America can be traced to our diet of processed and high fat food.

The environmentalist in me knows we'd be a better, cleaner planet if we didn't rely so much on dairy and meat production. The animal rights activist in me has been appalled by the living conditions of factory farming. We would never treat our dogs the way we treat cows and chickens. Reading Fast Food Nation really opened my eyes to this a few years ago (a book that I LOVE, by the way).

Anyway, I don't want to go on about my "liberal agenda" too much. Mostly I just hope it helps me get to a healthier weight and feeling healthier. You can follow our journey with mediocre food photography here (sorry pinterest). Brent still hasn't decided if he is going to cut eggs and dairy yet. There may be the occasional cheat here and there, I'm forgiving myself for that right now. We already eat vegetarian about four days a week, for years we've had meatless days and Isabella (our 15 year old daughter) has decided recently she wants to be a vegetarian (she's already gluten free because of celiac disease but if she wants to add another restriction to her diet, who am I to discourage it). It's going to be hard at first, I'm not stupid (mostly anyway) and I will miss you cheesecake and all of your glorious, delicious friends! But the time is now.