My brain hurts tonight. I’ve been reading a lot of information on nutrition. Many opinions out there in internet land. I know I need to make changes, but since a lifestyle change is needed, I’m taking things slow.
I’m in detox camp at my house. I’ve had no refined sugar, white flour, or caffeine for 48 hours. Overall, despite a mild headache and generalized body aches, I’m doing well.
Saturday, Jeff and I had the opportunity to go to Whole Foods. We actually made one round through the entire store, before we put one item into our basket.
Some of the thoughts going through my mind as I walked through the aisles…
Wow, the colors are so beautiful.
You charge how much for a gallon of milk?
That lady must have 50 supplements in her basket.
My kids are in for a shock.
I don’t know if this is for me.
I don’t have a choice. This is my new path.
I really am addicted to sugar.
Eating healthy isn’t convenient or cheap. It takes planning and money.
But then I had a lightbulb moment and thought about the money I wasted on eating out. Would this really be more expensive in the long run? Honestly, I’m not sure. My guess is that it will even itself out. But I’ll keep track and let you know.
We have switched to organic, hormone free milk and eggs as a family. We also bought some Whey Protein powder (low sugar) that was recommended. Jeff and I walked out of Whole Foods with only 2 bags of groceries but felt that our choices were good enough and significant for our first trip.
And that was it for family changes. I’m taking Betsy’s advice who commented to my last post. Jeff and I loved this advice and really took this to heart…
“The only piece of advice (unsolicited) is one that our doctor told us don’t make the children change their diet-offer them healthy food with lots of “kid” type options and they will come around. Both of my daughters are in their late teens and now eat incredibly healthy and exercise because they want to. I am so glad that I didn’t push them and we didn’t battle over food, they are both bean poles and make excellent food choices and when they don’t it isn’t a big deal.” – Yes.
Planning my meals out for the day has been key for me the last two days, especially today at work. I ate every three to four hours and was never hungry.
And tonight I came home to a great man who made me sauteed chicken and brussel sprouts.
It was truly satisfying to eat real food.
And while I have a long road ahead of me, I am feeling more in control of this journey. Excited to be taking these small steps…
Blessings sweet friends – Jenny
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Comments
Lisa
This is a recent article about feeding a family of four strictly from Whole Foods. Offers some great tips and tricks. I am a dedicated WF shopper, and I will tell you that it gets easier the more often you go. Less intimidating.
http://blog.wholefoodsmarket.com/2012/02/eating-near-poverty-whole-foods/#more-27477
Jenny
Thanks Lisa. I’m heading out there tomorrow for my second trip and I’m already less intimidated. Thank you for this link – I really enjoyed it. And looking forward to visiting my local farmer’s market this weekend. -J
sarabeth burke
this is awesome! best of luck to you-i’ve always wanted to try it and have researched and made it to the store only to come back home with twice the amount of groceries that turned into not the healthiest meal on earth…i’m definitely at least proud of myself for hitting the gym 3-4 times a week, it’s a start for me
Heather
I will be watching and learning. I agree with you on the kids thing…that is one battle you don’t want to have, and one thing that kids can control (and should be taught how to control well). We have a candy drawer at our house full of Halloween candy that my kids rarely touch, but the neighbor kids love
I think if you restrict it too much, it becomes a craving and an obsession for them.
I can’t wait to plan and plant my garden; I love to eat and prepare meals that we grew ourselves!
Good luck with the changes!
Ashley Marie
This is a great step! I grew up in California and I was spoiled with good produce living in and around farming communities. I moved to Arizona and I was blown back by prices and low quality of some fruits/vegetables and fell into bad choices with over processed foods. I was quite intimidated with my first trip to the Whole Foods type place here in Flagstaff.
Sometimes our Whole Foods type store, New Frontiers, is too overwhelming and pricey for just two of us. I find Farmer’s Market is a great resource instead. Most times you are buying directly from the farm itself and all of the product is freshly harvested at reasonable prices. Also, it is easy to get exactly what you need!
I hope you can find something that works well both budget wise and for you as a family. It can be challenging preparing meals six while accommodating different dietary needs/wants. You can do it!
Lee Currie
I grew up and worked in the grocery industry. I’ve always been a perimeter shopper and so glad to see more/better choices for everyone. It can be done – even in a regular grocery store. Enjoy the journey!
Julia
There’s no Whole Foods where I live, but there are two competitive organic chains. The benefit is that the regular grocery also serves to this market. Also, the local food community here is intense,with several outdoor markets all over town, in season. But still, I have to be frugal, so I try to work from the top ten organic list when I can.
I hope that we can afford to eat cleaner, pesticide wise, this summer, by actually doing the garden.
I know all that info is overwhelming, but when I started digging and more importantly, putting it to the real test, I loved being informed on such an important topic. In my opinion, you can’t change everything overnight and have to pick a few things to target. The expense of going organic forced it to be secondary so for me, I jump started by tracking my calories and macronutrients and cardio to get the scale started downward. Next, but more importantly is building muscle. You can burn so many more calories just sitting around by adding muscle. I love that
KatieK
Have you ever read anything from Ellyn Satter?
Highly recommend. When I was working as outpt. clinical nutritionist counseling parents, I would always suggest her books.
http://www.ellynsatter.com/resources/DORfeeding.pdf
Regarding Kids and Eating and Nutrition
Marilyn Johnson
I love your enthusiasm Jenny! You are so motivational. Just read this post from another blogging friend. http://modernprairiegirl.com/
I am thinking of getting one of the books she comments about. Happy veggy shoppping!
Kristin
hi Jenny,
I recently found the Skinny Taste site, and have made a few of her recipes. They are delicious – and easy to make, bonus!
Maybe this will help you achieve your goal in a tasty way.
http://www.skinnytaste.com/2012/01/baked-oatmeal-with-blueberries-and.html#more
Melissa
I love Whole Foods as well, but yes, there is a reason they call it “Whole Paycheck”. Good luck on your new journey! Looking forward to your updates! You can do it!
Julie
Congrats to you on your sugar detox! I’m doing the same thing for about 10 days…you know I know how long LOL!
I’m also trying to eat right bc I already do the exercise. I’m telling my husband that we are NOW going to eat ‘grown up meals’. We laugh bc we totally would have a bowl of fruit loops for dinner – and it’s just the 2 of us. LOL!
Good luck and take it easy…
JUlie
Allie.Duckienz
I haven’t read all your comments re this but I found terawarner.com to be brilliant in my health journey
Betsy
Jenny I am so glad that you and Jeff found that advice helpful. When my oldest daughter looked at colleges the last two years visiting local grocery stores and the food service department made a big difference to her. She ruled out any school that didn’t have local organic produce available, I will have to say she didn’t gain the “Freshman 15″ , but I did!!! I sent homemade cookies to her every week and of course had to sample them.
Good luck to all wherever you are on the journey to good health and a longer life. There is so much information available some of it that goes against conventional wisdom that I know there are options for everyone and every taste.
Betsy
One thing I forgot to mention is that when we are traveling we make it a point to visit regional or local grocery stores. That could help this summer on your trip. I always check out a place before we go there and find some places that we know we can get healthy food, so we don’t rely on fast food or convenience food. The summer we spent in Europe we rarely went to restaurants (although in few places it was mandatory-like Paris-LOL) we just allowed the kids to pick out whatever they wanted to eat at whatever grocery or food store we happened upon. We had wonderful heatlhy picnics in parks, on beaches, and even on our hotel room balconies.
If you are coming through the Northwest I have some wonderful suggestions for great places to shop and eat.
Sarah
We’ve been trying to make better choices when it comes to food too. I’m like you, it is expensive. I just keep trying to tell myself this isn’t an expense, it’s an investment for our future. The cheapskate in me is having a hard time with that though
Cecilia
Way to make positive changes! Whole Foods is SO pricey…I completely agree. We try to use our farmer’s market for most everything and find great, organic (although not certified as it is often too expensive for the smaller farmers to do this), healthy food. Lately, we’ve even been able to find pastured eggs there, which we eat a lot of after having gone grain free just about a year ago. My biggest piece of advice is to eat the most nutrient dense, anti-inflammatory, anti-allergenic foods you can find. Check out the program that got us started eating this way (that is, if your head isn’t exploding with tons of websites and advice already
http://whole9life.com/2012/01/whole-30-v2012/