Keepin' It Real

I've been having an internal argument.  I can argue with myself better than I can argue with anyone else, and trust me, this girl can argue with the best of them.  I have been dealing with this nagging feeling that I need to switch my family to what has become known as "real food".  (This is a very popular trend right now, so you probably know what I'm talking about, but if you don't you should check out 100 Days of Real Food.  It's the closest thing to a "one-stop" shop on the topic that I've found.)  Anyway, I've been on Weight Watchers since early January, and I've lost 12 pounds and then I plateaued.  I'm sure there are things I could do better (like...ahem...not devote all my weekly extra points to the consumption of Dr Peppers), but the more I read the more I become convinced that Weight Watchers is not the best plan for me.  Let me be clear, I am not condemning Weight Watchers.  I just think it's not addressing the issue behind my weight problem.

Weight Watchers is very focused on fat-free, sugar-free foods.  They also advertise and design their program so that you can make room for the "foods you enjoy" and still lose weight.  This works for some people.  It used to work for me.  It doesn't anymore, and there are two reasons why.

1. I manipulate the situation and justify eating junk by using my weekly extra points or cutting corners during the day.  This means that, although I am no longer using several fattening ingredients when I cook dinner, my consumption of sugar has not decreased enough to make a difference in my body chemistry.  And sugar is a bad, bad dude.  
2. I have become a label-reader.  I am seeing the additives and chemicals that the food industry is putting in fat-free and sugar-free foods, and I am convinced that those additives and chemicals are killing us. 

Before you roll your eyes and think "Oh great, ANOTHER person is buying into the hype" let me clarify something.  I am not one of those people who freaks out about trace amounts of rat poop in my canned goods.  I am not convinced that the food industry is slowly poisoning all of with anti-freeze.  I actually think the truth is much scarier.  Our culture has become so focused on "having our cake and eating it too" that we will take shortcuts without making sure those shortcuts are actually taking us to our desired destination. We will gravitate toward labels like "all natural", "multi-grain", and "low-fat" without taking the time to learn about what we are really putting into our bodies.  And the food industry knows it.  The food industry's goal is to make money.  Their goals have nothing to do with keeping you healthy.  And with the lack of consistent regulations on food labels it's very easy for companies to make claims that do not give consumers the whole story.

There is always a new diet plan or nutrition theory out there.  And with each new "discovery" there is a flood of new products on the shelves that have been engineered to fit that trend.  When did we forget that our food was engineered for us by the Master?  I don't care if you believe in God, Buddha, Allah, or the Flying Spaghetti Monster you have to have some theory about how we got here and how we've stayed alive for thousands of years without the American food industry providing us all with "miracle" foods.  I choose to believe that I was created by God Almighty, and I believe He created my body to work in conjunction with the foods He provided.  I heard someone say last week that if "walks, swims, flies, or grows it's food; if it doesn't, it's not".  Makes sense to me.  And this is an approach that has stood the test of time.  Imagine that.

Starting with this week's grocery store trip the Turners will be moving toward a Real Food diet.  We are on a tight budget, so there will be some things we can't do (like buying only locally raised meats or all organic produce).  There are certain ingredients that we'll continue to use until we have exhausted our current supply; when it's time to replace them we'll choose better alternatives.  The 100 Days of Real Food blog has a "budget plan" for $125 per week.  I don't have anywhere near that much.  I'm not sure how that's going to work.  My plan is to blog each week's meal plan and grocery store list/cost.  I will also most likely be making a long trip once a week to get to stores that we don't have in my little city.  The nearest Great Harvest Bread Company is 30 miles away, and until I can perfect the art of making my own bread I'll be making a trip up there once a week.

I am nervous about giving up sugar.  I know that for the first 24-48 hours my body is going to be yelling for a Dr Pepper, and I'm going to have to push through it.  I know that the craving for bad carbs is going to hit hard.  I am not looking forward to the headaches and the struggle for willpower.  I am not looking forward to the raised eyebrows when I try to explain this to people who won't understand.  I am not looking forward to finding hot dog wrappers and empty soda bottles in my husband's truck (we all know he's going to cheat!).

There are a few things I AM looking forward to, though.  Not having to count points and stress out when I can't figure out the best menu option.  Full-fat ooey gooey melty cheese.  Butter (in moderation, of course).  No more caffeine headaches.  Making the best choices I can make for my family.

What are your favorite resources for "Real Food"?  Do you participate in a co-op?  Do you have a favorite health food store?  Anybody have suggestions for simple grab-n-go breakfasts and lunches that will satisfy the hunger of a working man with a seemingly endless appetite?  What about ideas for baby finger foods for a kiddo who hasn't quite mastered the art of picking up squishy fruits and veggies?

Grocery shopping day is Wednesday.  Stay tuned to see how it goes!

A Work in Progress

I started this blog in 2009 as a way to help keep me accountable in my weight loss and to share the recipes I tried and/or created.  Since it's beginning I've gone through several stops and starts with my healthy eating initiative.  I did manage to lose almost 20 pounds over the course of several months in 2010, but this blog has recently been a little neglected thanks to a combination of factors.  The first half of 2011 was basically a loss thanks to the birth of our little munchkin and my inability to eat very few things besides mashed potatoes and refried beans while pregnant.  Then, I let myself eat what I wanted during the second half of the year in celebration of being able to eat without puking for the first time in almost a year.  Plus, planning healthy meals with a brand new baby is not an easy thing.  Heck, sometimes I get to dinnertime and realize the only thing I've "eaten" all day is Dr Pepper.  Ruh-Roh. 

I've been having quite a bit of pain in my back, hips and legs since Sam was born.  Luckily I have a friend who is a wonderful massage therapist, and she has been working with me.  My hips are apparently out of alignment, and my muscle tone in my core is completely shot thanks to a year of using those muscles very little. 

All that adds up to a number on the scale that I can't even admit, and a renewed commitment to being healthy this year.  As of this week I'm back on Weight Watchers (I like the new Points Plus program), and I'm slowly working my way into regular physical activity.  I'm scouring the web for good Weight Watchers recipes, and I'm starting daily yoga workouts.  I'm also planning to revamp this website a little bit to make the healthy recipes stand out a little more and adjust the points for the Points Plus program.  So stay tuned for recipes and more!

A Journey Begins

I've been debating since Sunday whether to blog about this or not. I'm torn between keeping my privacy and wanting accountability. In the end, the accountability won out. So here's the story...

Most of my readers know that Aaron and I have struggled with infertility for the last several years. After three miscarriages we stopped "trying" to get pregnant, but we didn't do anything to prevent a pregnancy in hopes that nature would take its course. After two years of that it became obvious that nature was not cooperating, and I went to the doctor. We tried some medication for a few months. No success. So I went to a different doctor who was finally able to put a diagnosis on the problem. Without getting too medical the problem is that my body has too much insulin which has screwed up my body's ability to regulate my ovarian function. So we tried another medication that appeared to be working - I quickly lost about 15 pounds - but it came right back within a couple of months. Last week I noticed that I was out of refills on that prescription, and I was struck by the realization that I don't WANT a refill. I don't want to take any medication or go to any doctors or deal with scheduling lab work. Frankly, it annoys me. And it's expensive. But ultimately I've come to accept two things:

1) If I claim to serve the God of the universe who has the power to heal me of all wounds and provides for me in every season I have to learn to allow him to work in HIS time.
2) Part of serving God means treating my body responsibly which means taking ownership of what I eat and refusing to allow myself to sit on my bum rather than getting exercise.

By now you're probably thinking "Isn't this a food blog? Where is she going with this?". Here's where I'm going...

Somewhere in the last seven or eight years I got fat. It probably has something to do with the cream and the butter and the gummy bears and the Dr Peppers. Let me tell ya, this Texas gal loves her Dr Peppers. Especially when Sonic ice is involved. But it's time to take a step back and say that enough is enough. It's time to learn a new way to cook and eat, and it's time to lose this weight.

Sunday I started on Weight Watchers. I've done it before about three years ago, and it worked for me. But then I went on vacation and I got complacent and fooled myself into thinking that I didn't need to keep paying the monthly fee for something that I could do on my own. But, see, the accountability of logging in the points for everything you eat is what makes it work. There's something about watching my daily points dwindle when I enter the empty calories of my afternoon Dr Pepper that suddenly makes a glass of water look really good.

So this blog just changed slightly. I love to cook and eat good food. It's very relaxing for me to be in the kitchen creating something new. That's never going to change, and I refuse to be that person who decides to lose weight and begins a sudden love affair with tofu and wheatgrass and that lettuce that looks like weeds. I still want to cook delicious mouth-watering foods. My goal is to blog about learning a new style of cooking those foods and to have a forum of celebration and encouragement as I drop the pounds.

I might also whine and complain a little bit. I make no promises to be "Miss Merry Sunshine" when I'm really craving a bowl of Sausage, Tomatoes, and Cream. That craving can get ugly, folks!

I'm not going to put specific numbers here regarding how much I weigh I can't even bring myself to type the number right now. Weight Watchers has you enter goals in phases, so I'll just start and say that Phase I is losing 10 pounds. This girl needs small steps, people!

I'm also going to need lots of encouragement and humor. I don't readily admit that I can't do things on my own. I think my first sentence as a child was "I do by self!". But this is definitely something that I can't do without people prodding me onward.

One final note and then I'll shut up...

(And if you've read this far it means you either really care about me or you're really bored, so either way, thanks for being involved).

Let me make it clear that I understand that losing the weight doesn't mean that my body will immediately re-learn how to regulate itself and I will get pregnant. I may be destined to be Crazy Aunt Sarah who teaches her nephew words like "turd" and "doofus" (sorry about that) and sings Broadway show tunes to him in spite of the pained look on his daddy's face (not really sorry at all about that). Aaron and I are facing an uncertain future as far as parenthood is concerned. But I am supremely confident in this one thing:

My God is bigger than the struggles of this world, and if I walk each day according to His principles things are going to work out as they should.