(this is the post I wrote on the private Healthier You blog. This past week's challenge was to eliminate all white sugar, junk food, and fast food. Going into this next week, we are continuing food journaling and the sugar/junk elimination and adding 2 servings of fruits and 3 servings of veggies everyday. Who's in???)
(ps - hope you don't mind me adding this to the already somewhat eclectic mix of blogging topics around here . . . oh well.)
Hey everybody! Another week down. :)
I don't know why I never really realized this before, but being fully committed to an idea, a goal, a change makes all the difference for me. Knowing I just "can't" eat certain things, it's not that hard for me to say no even if other family members are eating it (yes, I know it would be better for everyone to be on board together - but, baby steps, right?).
This has made me thankful for the experience I had when one of my babies had a milk protein allergy and because he was exclusively nursing, I couldn't eat ANYTHING with any milk product in it at all, or he would have blood in his stool. Casein, whey, butter, milk . . . nothing. And it's in EVERYTHING. I ate an animal cracker once - just one - and he reacted to the whey in it. So anyway, looking back on that, I know that I can resist temptations if I have to!!
So, with this past week's challenge, I am just telling myself this is something that I have to do. That helps.
Another thought process that has helped me in the past and I am using again now, is to remind myself that yes, I know how good that tastes but I just don't need to eat it right now. And whatever it is, it's not going to go away. This is not a one-time-only chance to eat something yummy that I might want. Someday, I think I will eat treats again (in moderation . . . and only occasionally). But it can wait. It will always be available another time. So I can pass it up right now. (I don't know if this is the absolute best attitude to have about giving up sugar, but so far it's working for me, so I'm going to keep with it for now.)
So, I am finding that giving up sugar is do-able! Yay! The hardest part is paying attention to labels and planning ahead a bit to make sure I won't slip (at least that's how I feel about it today, we'll see how the coming weeks go). ;)
This past week I also started with trying to get in all my fruits and vegetables since I know this is a struggle for me. What has made it easier for me is to make sure I am getting 2 servings at every meal. Yes, that gets me up to at least 6 servings, but it's just easier to plan on 2 per meal to make sure I'm getting it, rather than thinking, oh I'll just eat that for a snack later or whatever. I am just making myself eat it at every meal.
I've been eating 2 cups of raw spinach with salad dressing every single day for lunch, with whatever else I am eating. And there have been a couple times I've microwaved myself a bowl of frozen green beans to eat at the end of dinner just because I needed another serving of vegetables!
So, as we go into this next week I'd like to hear how the rest of you make sure you're getting your 5 servings a day? What fruits and veggies do you eat every day?
And what do you eat for quick, easy, healthy lunches?? I hate fixing lunch. lol.
I'd love to hear some new ideas.
Thanks!!
5 comments:
Good job, Kristen. I'm proud of you.
If you have a decent blender, smoothies are the easiest way for me to get my 5-a-day. I put spinach, a banana, some combination of frozen strawberries, blueberries, and pineapple. I make mine with a water base but you can do it with milk or yogurt or juice. The banana is the best flavor mask for the spinach and the blueberries are the best color mask if drinking something greenish/brownish grosses you out. You can add pretty much any fruit that you like or have on hand. Check out greenereating.com and scroll down a little until you see smoothies in the sidebar and click on that. They have good recipes and ideas.
Oh, our other great trick is to make a pasta and spinach salad (with chicken and whatever else) and the kids get mostly pasta with a little spinach and the parents get mostly spinach with a little pasta and everyone is happy. It keeps me from having to make 2 different dinners.
Keep blogging about your weekly challenges. I love seeing what other people are doing to be healthy!
Having kids has taught me how to sneak veggies into virtually everything! The smoothies are a fantastic idea.
I love making a salad for lunch. Heat up some tyson grilled frozen chicken strips, cut up some string cheese, throw on whatever carrots, lettuce, sometimes nuts and dried cranberries- a fast lunch and so good!
Ditto for me on the commitment. That's why I knew I needed an exact health plan, laid out for me, not any vague "I'd like to eat more fruits and veggies and eat healthier" goals. I too have been surprised how easy it is for me to turn down things because I know I would be straying from my commitment to my plan.
I already sort of answered your questions in my comment on my blog, but here are some more thoughts on fruit and veggie servings and lunches:
-Ditto to smoothies. Mine this week have included all varieties of frozen berries, bananas, dates, kale, flax seeds, almond butter, apples, pomegranates, and mixed fresh fruit.
-I've been mashing fruit (or pureeing it) in different combinations every morning to combine with oatmeal for breakfast.
-Most of my meals are variations of salads, soups/chilis, and rice & beans with some veggies on top. I like mixing fruit and veggies on salads (pears, apples, blueberries, dried cranberries are all good on spinach, kale, or greens; cucumbers, celery, tomatoes, radishes, avocado, and broccoli are favorite veggie toppings.) If you can eat cheese, that really makes salad options endless! (I love bleu cheese on any salad.) Sunflower seeds or candied almonds to top off (or any nuts, but I only like candied almonds).
-Lunch: I've been eating leftovers and smoothies everyday and before this week, I ate lunch out every day (sandwiches, soups, salads) - so not many novel ideas there.
Good luck!
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