My Challenge of the Week

Just a quick post before I run to pick up Jake from school and then start dinner, clean up after dinner, prepare children for bed, put children to bed, make a grocery list for tomorrow, maybe read a chapter of a book before I pass out? and then collapse into bed...

I used to be really gung ho on healthy eating. I mean, I still am, in theory. I love Superfoods, whole foods, I am anti-refined sugar and corn syrup, violently anti-hydrogenated oils, and I think meat (especially red meat) is bad for you. But my friend Becca recently blogged about an adventure with 50 gallons of coconut oil, which prompted me to research coconut oil, which made me want coconut oil... but more than that, it made me realize that I want to get back to healthier eating. I consider Becca somewhat of a cohort in hippiedom (she is a granola in many ways I am not, and vice versa). I can always count on her for good tips.

Sometimes it feels hard with the little ones. It's so easy to buy a package of something, and then when an inconvenient meal or snack request comes around just rip open the package and your problem is solved. But my goal has long been to avoid processed foods, and to live by the rule that if it includes ingredients I can't pronounce, not to eat it. I've noticed in the last few months I've even slipped back into buying things with hydrogenated oils in them (gasp!), and that is not cool with me. I need to stop being lazy, get back on track, and eat healthy again. I do wish that organic food was more cost effective and accessible, but I'm not as obsessive about that as I am about weird plastic ingredients.

So that is part one of the challenge. Part two is that Tom insists that his best weight loss method (and it seems that he's always trying to lose weight) is low-carb. I personally do not believe in low-carb myself, at least not when it means "I eat no bread, only meat", but if one is pursuing a whole foods diet (aha!) then one should be consuming lots of fresh fruits and veggies, and a little bit of meat (not the moo moo kind) is ok. But finding recipes suitable for small children, who need those carbs, and a grown up who doesn't want them, yet not just serving bread with the salad (because then the kids wouldn't eat the salad, only the bread), well, this is a challenge. I want to get back to making my own bread, because frankly I don't trust Sara Lee and her "whole wheat" claims.

Ok, I'm running out of time before the bus comes. There was something else I wanted to put in that last paragraph, like a Challenge: Part 2a or something, but Brynn interrupted with a series of questions that made no sense and I lost it.