One Day At A Time

I’ve always been interested in nutrition and healthy eating. Since I had baby boy back in November my habits have been less than ideal- specifically after dinner time. I could lay a lot of blame on my husband since he encouraged some of my “bad behavior” with eating ice cream every night after the boys go to bed. Up until recently ice cream was only an every so often occasion (for me at least)- but for some reason he would eat it every night and I decided that since I eat healthy 90% of the time that “just this little once wouldn’t hurt”

Sadly all those “just this once’s” have turned into a bad habit for me. It WAS fine for me because I was really active, but now when I eat it I can’t seem to get enough and I make myself sick with it. As I said before I haven’t gained but 3-5 lbs and I’m certainly not fat- but I’m not satisfied with how I feel.

To a certain extent when I exercise I can get away with a daily PORTIONED treat, but when those treats become everyday expecteds and regular occurences and not so portioned anymore (blush) that’s when the ice cream (and the homemade ganache sauce and dulce de leche and nuts and..(double blush)(seriously, I don’t think anyone can resist THAT) controls me, instead of me controlling what I put in my body. Plus, they no longer become treats to be enjoyed.

I know I’ve probably been using it as a form of stress relief as I have been an emotional eater in past times. But I am ready to face my stress (and it’s not bad stress) in more healthy ways. Like reading my scriptures and praying…but that’s another post I’ve been meaning to write.

I am a really healthy eater by most standards- my breakfasts and lunches are really simple. 90% of my grain products are whole grains. I aim for at least 5 servings of veggies a day. I try to eat 1 oz of nuts a day (for healthy fats and as a meat substitue), and I just ADORE beans and try to eat them as much as possible. Lately I just haven’t felt much energy. It could do with the fact that having two kids takes more energy than one and I need more sleep. It could also be that I need more QUALITY nutrition.

So while the sleep thing will probably have to wait until Lachlan gets older- I figured I could improve my diet a little more. (we can all improve in some way. I am certainly not perfect in this area-only trying my best) I’ve added a few supplements to my diet: Essential Fatty Acids, Probiotics, and Digestive Enzymes for different reasons, it hasn’t made a marked difference in my energy- but at least I feel better knowing my bases are covered.

Through the years as I’ve learned about nutrition I am coming to understand that we can use food as medicine to heal our bodies and help our bodies to function more optimally in our day to day lives. If we are eating healthfully and balanced we really shouldn’t be getting sick very often at all (genetics aside) I’ve been thinking about what I can do to improve and I thought the next logical step would be to eat more of my fruits and vegetables raw- as cooking/microwaving/steaming destroys enzymes and nutrients that are vital to our health.

One of these ways (as touted by the raw food community) is through drinking green smoothies daily. Here is an EXCELLENT post about why drinking greens can help tremendously.

Most of my veggie intake is pretty routine and I eat them because I SHOULD eat them, but also because I enjoy them. I do however need to eat more of the dark green leafy vegetables (kale, spinach, chard etc) which I find very difficult as they are pretty bitter. I realized after much contemplation that I could at least TRY a green smoothie and if I didn’t like it, no harm done.

So today, I tried my first smoothie. I used my kitchen scale to measure out a serving of bagged mixed greens (85 grams-no iceberg thank you very much), a serving of fresh pineapple (165 grams), 1 Tb flax seed, 1 Tb honey, a serving of probiotics, and because my blender is dumb I threw in 1 cup of plain yogurt to help liquify things.

While it was not an appealing color it was really quite tasty and I tried it. Jonathan even drank up his own serving- which I think is FABULOUS. Who wouldn’t want their kids to be getting their nutrition without so much of a fight. Jonathan added strawberries and bananas to his and that was quite tasty as well.

This has already gotten too long, but in summation- I tried it, I’m still alive and I think I’ll try it again, probably tomorrow.

As far as the ice cream goes well, I’m still working on that- I think for now I’m either going to have to go cold turkey or go back to portioning it. I’m making it my goal each day to try and get by without it. The experts say that when developing a healthy diet, focus on what you CAN have rather than what you can’t. So I’m trying to add the green smoothie/more raw veggies and by doing so hoping to reduce my cravings/desire for the ice cream. I’m just taking it “one day at a time” here with my eating habits and enjoying the adventure.