My love...obsession with food!

Food, it is my love, passion, okay...maybe my obsession. I love everything that has to do with food. I love buying it, prepping it to be frozen, cooking it, finding the best prices on it, sharing it, and most of all eating it!

I work out usually 5 days a week at boot camp here in Snohomish. I love it. They have some eating suggestions for you and also some different programs you can do to achieve different results you are looking for. So I am on a 10 day cleanse, I have done it before as part of the 24 day challenge but this time I am just doing the cleanse getting all of the toxins out. There are strict eating guidelines while on this cleanse. No refined sugars, no wheat, no dairy, no red meat, no corn. You can have fruit, veggies, lean proteins, hummus, oatmeal, brown rice, so healthy complex carbs, healthy fats, etc you get the point. Really this shouldn't be that hard for me right? I eat pretty healthy, I love fruits and veggies, I got this, no problem!

PROBLEM! I love food, I mean I am obsessed about it. From when I wake up until I go to bed I think about it. My morning starts by feeding my 5 girls breakfast and making 3 lunches to take to school because the food there, well it isn't food. The next thing I have to think of is what to make for dinner because if I don't we will go homeless eating out all of the time. Which by the way isn't a treat really anymore when you have to practically go into the kitchen of the restaurant to make sure nothing has food dye or gluten. Add in grocery shopping, planning meals, eating for myself and all I think about is food.

I have discovered in these last 5 days (the first half of the cleanse) which has felt like an eternity, just how much I am addicted to sugar! Seriously I knew I loved the stuff but wow I think about it more now that I can't have it for these short (well for some people) 10 days. I don't pig out on sugar but I do need to have it everyday. Dark Chocolate is my favorite and I just need a little. I feel like a drug addict rationalizing reasons why it is ok to have just a little fix. I haven't cheated and I am proud. I feel better and this isn't for forever (even though it seems like it right now) and soon I will be back in the land of sugar, I will regulate hopefully a little better. I do know that after not having sugar for 10 days everything will taste sweeter when I do have it.

So I have been eating tons of raw food. Which I love of course because I am obsessed in case you missed that earlier. It is amazing the creative things that you come up with to eat when some foods are off limits. I love hummus and usually have it with multi grain chips, but chips are a no-no right now, so I tried them with celery...too watery...carrots, AMAZING! So every day I have been eating anywhere from a half of a pound to a whole pound of carrots. See I told you I was obsessed! And the hummus is so flavorful you don't need that much at all.

I am also an over eater. I know it seems a little weird because I am "little" but really I overeat often. I texted one of my trainers from boot camp today to ask if sweet potatoes were okay to eat on the cleanse because you guessed it, I love them! She said "Yes but don't OD on them!" PL, you know me too well! I didn't OD though, I probably would have but my 9 year old who doesn't like any veggies really loves sweet potatoes and ate more than half the pan!

All of this to say that in my days of reflection I feel much better when my diet is 50% or more raw food, and this cleanse has reminded me of that. To keep up on the same eating when the cleanse is over and not forget how much I love raw food and how good it is for me, well that is the reason for this random blog tonight.

So I leave you with my 3 favorite cleanse approved foods that I couldn't survive without...
#1 Carrots with hummus, my favorite is Trader Joe's Mediterranean hummus.
#2 Granny Smith apples with Adam's All Natural chunky peanut butter
#3 Popcorn, cooked on your stove top, or "Lori Pelham Popcorn" as we farm folk affectionately call it.

From bargain to health

I used to be a bargain shopper, I mean who doesn't like saving money? I was one of those coupon ladies that you didn't want to get behind in line. Granted there were many "couponers" much better than I could ever dream of but I did alright. Then food dye and I feel out of love with each other and my family's eating habits change big time. I have been doing a lot reflecting this week over all of the changes we have made in this last year.

One year ago in my garage you would have found about 150 granola bars (the super healthy Quaker ones with HFC), about 100 boxes of cereal and fruit snacks galore. I would have gotten them at a super good deal if not free of course so why not get a ton right?!

So this week I found myself stalking up on mango's! I love mango's, they were on a good sale so I bought 42 of them! I know overboard, but not really. I am going to cut them, freeze them and make ice cream out of them. Yep just frozen mango pureed and it is amazing, and amazingly healthy.

Our journey with food dye has lead us to healthier eating, no more cereal for breakfast or lazy nights for dinner. No ice cream galore, well except our healthy homemade kind. We aren't total health nuts (well maybe) but we just don't need to indulge in the sugar all of the time.

We eat a lot of raw food and I love it. It makes me feel so good when I send my kids off to school now knowing that they have had a healthy breakfast eating real food with good for their body nutrients in it. So no, my grocery bill isn't as low as it used to be, but I have learned moderation, I have learned that price isn't the bottom line but growing healthy kids that have a good foundation is very rewarding. We were somewhere last week and we were eating less than healthy, which is ok now and then for a treat and my girls (who usually would inhale fast food) barely ate anything. As soon as we got home they all said they were starving and went straight to the fridge and ate fruit, of their own free will. That was a proud mom moment.

I am proud of the changes we have made as a family, I am grateful that I haven't had to drag my kids down this path kicking and screaming the whole way. There has been resistance at times but they love eating fruit and even some veggies. My two little ones eat the most veggies of anyone, I wish I would have started giving them to my bigger kids as infants I think that would have made a difference.