Real Food

I'm 3 days into a week long food challenge... only eat real food, unprocessed with nothing unnatural added. It was Mark's idea but we had very different motivations to challenge ourselves. His mostly revolved around wanting to cook big meals with friends from scratch. Mine more revolved around being healthy. I hate to cook & I'm lazy. But I'm hoping that a week long struggle to force myself into planning & cooking fresh things might shift my habits a little. So a visit to the farmer's market was definitely in order.

Doesn't that all look delish?

Last night I made portabellas stuffed with quinoa, broccoli, zucchini, & pepper. I should have taken pictures but I was so proud of myself I just ate it right up! I'm not a great cook... that's quite an understatement... so I'm particularly proud of myself right now.

Yes that is bread you see above, but we're counting anything that has all natural ingredients... things our great-grandparents would recognize as food. So I had a loooong talk with the guy at the market (much to his chagrin, I'm sure) who promised me the flour was unbleached & met all the rest of my standards too. Thank goodness because I don't do well without carbs. Or coffee. Carbs & coffee, mmm.... (Lauren, focus!)

This challenge is coming at the perfect time for me. I'm feeling a little emotional about food. Do you guys ever get like that? I think my friend Emma pointed it out to me how food struggles are harder than most because it's not like you can avoid eating the same way you can avoid bars if you struggle with drinking. You have to eat, but eating right takes so much planning & effort & time in the kitchen. Then again if I devote that much time I start to go a little crazy & over analyze everything & feel guilty about any screw ups, which is also no good & unhealthy. It's a balance.

I guess this is all coming to a head because my Dad is having heart trouble. He'll be just fine, don't worry folks, now that we know what's going on it's all under control. And as it turns out it's more electrical than health related, but for a few days I was SURE this was because he doesn't eat healthy. Beyond doesn't eat healthy, he actually criticizes me when I do eat healthy. Teases me about being on a diet, which I don't consider eating right a new diet... it's just eating. And then a few days later will criticize my weight. What the heck... do you want me to loose weight or eat Chinese Buffet with you because really I can't do both. And at the same time he's diabetic & has had 2 strokes which makes me pretty certain he's going to kill himself with food. So when this new heart thing showed up I was SURE this is the beginning of his downward spiral. Turns out it's not, but it still shook up a lot of emotion. (I'm not even sure I should be sharing all this, but it's how I'm feeling & I'll try to trust you guys with that.)

So it's good timing that for at least this week I have a plan. It'll help me avoid all kinds of emotional eating (overeating, undereating, comfort foods, no calorie/no nutrition foods, the whole spectrum... unlike TV not everyone dives into a tub of Ben & Jerry's when they're emotional.) And like I said at the beginning, I'm hoping to instill some new habits that will last beyond this week. I'm feeling really good about this week-long plan. Day 3 out of 7... check!