sorry for the blurry picture. this was the girls and my lunch today. it was the perfect picnic for my 2 little princesses. we ate it on our patio on the "little" table. the sharp cheddar was especially delicious as were the strawberries and pepper. the hummus was unfortunately a sad disappointment due to me not realizing that is was bad before trying to put it with our spread.
after another appointment with my beloved new naturopath, Dr. Vivian (who i once accidentally called another doctor's name...that's another story), i'm really feeling the URGENCY for change. of course my "natural woman" is not really up for the challenge, but for the sake of my health, my weight and most importantly for my family to get into better habits for life-long change, i have slowly made some HUGE changes to our diet and my overall life. here's the run-down for the new way to live or attempt anyway :
* remembering that i do so much better on a rigorous schedule : bed by 10:30 (dang Olympics), eating less sugar, drinking more water, working out staying spiritually in tune/trying to stay spiritually in tune, living and love the moment for what it is
* life is choices and each one either leads to a better, more happy life or it doesn't. i can either eat good for the right reasons or enjoy that Oreo blizzard and regret it afterward, etc. i can either spend money on ________ or i can't not seek for riches and material possessions that really don't matter anyway. if a flood came and i saw my big screen bobbing up and down in the water and floating by me, would i be grateful that i spent my money on it or wish that i had put it into food storage instead? everything is choices!
* it feels good to let go, simplify and not hoard things, past experiences (negative) and to just try to live a "cleaner" life.
* stop being so idle! not turning on/relying on the TV during the day. the girls do so much better, listen better and i think they don't break down as much during the day. i'm reconvinced of my feelings from the past...TV really is not a good thing, especially for small children.
* trying to do better at cleaning and keeping up on my house. trying to do more service along the way instead of wasting time.
* remembering : i am truly blessed!
some major food changes we've recently made are :
* beef hamburger : ground turkey...so YUMMY!
* peanut butter : almond butter (mr. clean won't give up the Jiff though)
* vanilla/fruit yogurt : plain yogurt
* cow's milk : oat/soy/rice milk and some cow's milk, don't really want all of those scary rGBH's
* sugar and processed foods : lots of fruits and veggies
* juice : water
* adding in lots of supplements for myself and the girls (mr. clean's not quite convinced of this new regiment yet). for the girls, just cod liver oil/dha's, but for me...fish oil, vitamin d, GAMA, vitamin B complex, thyroid support, L-Tryptophan, fiber, yummy rice protein and energy extract as needed.
* also trying to not eat later at night and wanting to start getting back into dance at least twice a week too. it's really my only way to motivate myself to keep working out.
so for now, all of this is going well and really doesn't feel overwhelmed. i'm sure we will be spending more $ on food as we are eating lots more fresh produce, but i really believe that it will all be worth it as i hope my girls will grow up learning to love healthy food, not craving unhealthy stuff and will avoid a lot of the autoimmune/health issues that run in my family. for them to be well-balanced, happy people in all areas of their life would is one of the greatest things i want for my children. so i'm really hoping this is a great start...
yours truly.