My Crutch

I've been cleaning eating for a little over 3 weeks now.  Well, that's not true.  I've been on a journey to clean eating for a little over 3 weeks now.  There's a huge difference!  Clean eating is definitely a process!  If you're thinking about getting started or are a newbie like me, it's ok to take it slow!  These habits were learned over years so it's not going to change overnight.

Things are going really well for me.  So well, that I really can't believe it.  As I'm comparing this time to all the other times I've I tried to eat healthy and failed, I've tried to figure out what was different this time.  Why am I successful for over 3 weeks now when I couldn't even make it 3 days before.  I honestly think one component of the answer is soda.  You see, a can of coke has always been my huge stumbling block, my huge crutch of the past.  I talked briefly about this in a previous blog post.  I've done a pretty good job in the past of changing my breakfast. Where I would always fail was at lunch.  I would come in to the kitchen, trying to decide what to have for lunch and knew that whatever it was, I just had to have a soda with it.  The additional factor of this problem was the food I ate when I drank a soda.  I would eat things that "tasted good" with soda.  So, I would have nachos, chips, things like that.

What's amazing for me to say, is that I sit here now with not having had a soda in a week.  Wow!  I have never done that before!  The best thing is, is that I eat so much healthier and I don't even miss it.  What I have to come to realize is that I probably can't ever have soda again.  There will be things that I will allow myself in moderation, probably all will center around dessert.  However, with a soda, it's just not the same.  If I have one, then I want another one the next day and I feel like I have to "quit" all over again.  Some say food can be an addiction, and I can see where that can be the case.  So, soda is gone for me and I'm fine with that.

So, what's your crutch?  What's that one thing, maybe the biggest thing you need to stop eating?  Try getting rid of it first.  If you save it for later than you're really just giving yourself an uphill battle.  Yet if you take that hard thing and get rid of first, well, it's all downhill from there!

Newbie tips;
1. Remember that this is a lifestyle change, not a diet!  It's ok to take it slow.
2. Everybody has that one food they love, whether it be ice cream, chocolate or a sugary drink.  Identify what it is and if you can't make a healthy alternative, then cut it out!  The process of moving to a clean eating lifestyle will be much easier if you do.

Pancakes for Lunch!

I have always had such a hard time with changing my eating habits. I normally do breakfast really well, but lunch always trips me up. Pretty much it revolved around my need for a soda. If I would eat something healthy, a soda wouldn't "taste right" with it. So, I would go back to normal junk because with it, soda tasted oh, so good. Well, I have not had a soda in over 4 days! I can hardly believe it! The best thing for me is when I came down for lunch today, having a soda didn't even cross my mind. Wow! That's a huge change in just 3 weeks.

Today I decided to try out a recipe I saw on Pinterest for pancakes. If you want to see other meals I plan on having throughout the week, check out my Meals for This Week board. I also try to review them after I make them and repin them to here. This has made my life so much easier in planning meals. I don't know how many times I've bought groceries and then forgot what they were for. So, now they're conveniently located in one spot. And let's be honest, who really plans meals outside of Pinterest now anyway. Well, at least I don't!

Ok, back to the oatmeal. The original recipe is here, but I'll copy it so you don't have to link all over the place. I was a little, ok, very hesitant over this recipe at first because it has cottage cheese in it. I do not like cottage cheese, at all! But, this whole journey of eating better is being willing to try new things, and besides, the lady from the original post didn't like cottage cheese either and she liked the pancakes, so I thought it was worth a try.

Protein Pancakes

Ingredients

• 1 egg
• 2 egg whites
• 1 cup low-fat cottage cheese
• 2/3 cup rolled oats
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• pinch of salt

Instructions

1. Preheat griddle to medium-high heat
2. In a small bowl, lightly beat together the egg and egg whites and then add to a blender
3. Add the remaining ingredients to the blender and blend until smooth
4. Spray griddle with non-stick spray
5. Pour pancakes from blender onto griddle, about 1/4 cup per pancake
6. When bubbles start to come through, flip over and continue cooking until both sides are golden brown
7. Serve with pure maple syrup and fresh fruit

Notes

This made eight 3 – 4″ pancakes.

I used 100% whole wheat oats I had on hand. I'll have to research and see how much better steel cut and/or organic ones are before I decide to switch over. As stated before, I did not buy organic cottage cheese and so used the Fiber One brand. I am ashamed to admit that I did not read the label. That's one thing I'll have to get better at!

Well, the pancakes were really good! Austin, my oh so picky almost 16 year old even liked them. Well, he said they were good but tasted funny. I don't understand how something can be good and taste funny, but at least he said they were good. The batter was very thick, so next time I might try to add a little water. Not too much, but it would help it pour a little better. I had mine with my cheap organic milk. I topped them off with real maple syrup, blueberries and bananas. All in all, it was a fantastic lunch and they are packed with protein, so I think my husband is going to love them as well! It looks like they are going to end up costing about $1.65 for 8 pancakes. I was paying $1.45 for 10 frozen waffles, so not too big of a difference for a huge health impact!

Newbie tips:
1. Don't be afraid to try new things, especially if they're used in a recipe. You may not even end up knowing it's in there!
2. Look for ways to add berries to your diet. They are so good for you! I reluctantly added blueberries to this, since they're not my favorite. However, mixed with the bananas, they tasted amazing with the pancakes!
3. Watch your children with the real maple syrup! It is expensive and you don't want to have to rinse a bunch down the drain because they're so used to their pancakes floating in syrup (again, not that I know from experience :) A little bit will go a long way!

Earth Fare!

Today, I went to my very first Health Food store. My husband and I braved Earth Fare. Since it's a Saturday and they had something special going on, it was pretty crowded. I wish I would have made my first experience at a little less crazy time, but that's ok. We just braved the crowd :)

The good news is that I found a lot of great stuff that really wasn't that expensive. The bad news is that I found a lot of great stuff that was terribly expensive! So, I really am going to see what all stores are available in my area and see what are the best deals at each store. Then I'll have to rotate where I shop each week and stock up on what the best deals are at each store.

So, the big question, what did I get? Well, I really wanted to take a picture, but got home and washed all my fruit and vegetables and put everything away before I remembered. So, you'll just have to be happy with a list.

Unsweetened Almond Milk, Organic Applesauce, Organic crakers, citrus soda (ok, this was a Bob Marley brand that my husband just HAD to try), Organic peanut butter, Gallon of Organic Whole Milk, Frozen Berries, Organic Strawberry Jam, 2 Jars of Organic Salsa, Organic cookies, 3 Lemon Yogurts, Whole Organic Chicken, Bunch of Organic Bananas, 2 containers of Organic Blueberries & a Container of Grapes.

Wow, that's a lot of stuff! And guess how much I paid for everything? Drum roll please....$31.64! Can you believe it? Ok, so I have to confess that this is probably a once in a lifetime thing. You see, when you sign up for their Tomato Bank program, they give you 1,000 points which is $10 off. They also send you a coupon for a free whole chicken and to get five of their organic products for $1. That was the peanut butter, strawberry jam, applesauce, cookies and crackers. I honestly would not buy the cookies and crackers again. I wasn't that impressed with their ingredients, while certainly better that what I used to buy!

All in all, it was a great stop and I got some great things. It's always easier once the first shopping trip is behind you! There were a couple of things that I felt were pretty pricey and so didn't buy while I was there. First was organic apples. They were a little over $7 a bag and I knew Walmart had organic apples. So I decided to check out the price on them there since we had to return something anyway. I was glad I waited when I found out they were only $5 a bag there. I also waited on cottage cheese, big mistake! No organic cottage cheese at Walmart, so I had to buy normal and it was only about $1 cheaper than the organic at Earth Fare.

So, for you newbies, like me, here are some tips:
1. Grab the small book of coupons that are in a basket by the front door. I saved 75 cents on my frozen berries.
2. Bring you own bag! You get Tomato Bank points if you do!
3. Still read labels! There were some yogurts that had a ton of sugar in them!

A Bad Day, Yet a Good Day

Today, we buried my husband's Uncle Tom. He was an amazing man. It's so good to go to funeral's like that. One where the deceased had lived a life pleasing to God and you heard it over and over again from so many different people. What a privilege we had to be able to know him as part of our family.

After the burial, we returned to the church for the meal they had prepared for us. I took one look at the table full of food and told Doug that we would just have to forgo our new healthy eating stance. So, we piled our plates with a ton of food and I had two desserts. When I got done eating, I looked at Doug and said I feel sick. He was like, yeah, me too. This is why we're making this change. You should finish eating and feel great, not like crap! What a great reminder. We've only been working on this for 2 weeks and we can tell a difference. I can't imagine what it will be like once we're completely free of processed foods and free for a long time. What a great thing to look forward to!

On another exciting note, I'm visiting my first ever healthy food store tomorrow. I have a stack of coupons to use at Earth Fare. So excited to get my feet wet in this area. Next on my list is Trader Joe's. Living outside of Indy, I'm sure there will be plenty of more I can try out. I'm hoping to get a list of the best deals at each store and then rotate when I go to each store to stock up. Being on a tight budget is going to make this change hard, but I am determined to make it doable!

The beginning....

Every year, one of my New Year's resolutions is to start eating better and every year I don't follow through. I'm not sure why this year is different, but it is. I think I'm just ready. The good thing is that my husband, Doug, is ready as well. As I started looking into eating healthier, I came across several other blogs and articles on getting rid of processed foods. After reading very briefly some of the issues a lot of processed foods can cause, I decided this is definitely something I wanted to do. After talking it over with Doug, we both decided to try to weed out processed foods over the next month and to hopefully be 90% processed free by February 1st.


We're a couple of weeks in and we've shopped for groceries once. I have now decided to start documenting our journey. Plus, this will keep me accountable and hopefully on track. Our family has horrible eating habits, so this is going to be a big change for us. One of the first things I've done is cut back to one soda a day and now I'm to one soda every other day. After February 1st, I won't be buying soda anymore. Yay! I'm really excited that I've made it to one every other day. This is a big step for me!


The one huge challenge to this will be budget. We have very little, if any extra, so changing to organic and not processed will be very difficult. I'm going to do my best though.


Another challenge will be my knowledge, which is very limited. But, I plan to learn a lot along the way!


So, join me on my journey. I'm excited to see where it takes me and my family!