You Are What You Eat. •

If you are what you eat, then I must be bananas. B-A-N-A-N-A-S. {i seriously cannot say ‘bananas’ without singing it a la Gwen Stefani} Any way… Emmy must be bananas, too, because this girl is o.b.s.e.s.s.e.d with the yellow fruit. If you try to take one away from her, she will go ape-shit. pun. intended. But seriously. This chick would eat bananas all day long if I let her. “Nana! Nana! Nana!” {Back when Emmy had a hard time pronouncing, “GG” I told my mom she should have named herself ‘Nana’ instead.}

But I digress.

Are we really what we eat?

I believe this to be so. & lately I’ve been putting more thought into what I put in my belly. & my daughter’s. But trying to eat healthier is easier said than done. For me, at least. I really wish there was such a thing as a Food Fairy, who would magically deliver healthy food to my fridge and tell me what meals to prepare. {In a perfect world, the Food Fairy would also do all the cooking for me, too!} I get overwhelmed with trying to eat ~~perfectly~~ healthy. There’s too much to remember: Nitrates are toxic. Organic fruits are a must. The bigger the difference between carbs and sugar, the better. {head explodes right about now}

Since I’d really like to keep my head intact, I’ve decided to focus on making one change at a time. Emmy and I went to Whole Foods last week and my goal was to make sure none of my deli picks had nitrates/nitrites, artificial coloring, and were not ‘mechanically separated’ (ew!gag!) While roaming the narrow aisles (seriously WF, you need to expand the width of your aisles!) I used what I already knew about making healthy choices, but didn’t beat myself up if I wasn’t the *perfect* health nut.

I love the people in WF’s though. They’re so much nicer than the folks at other marketplaces. Probably because they’re hyped up on organic superfoods & coconut water instead of toxic processed crap. & I know it may sound weird, but I truly believe Emmy loved being at WF’s. She was so chipper and friendly, smiling and laughing throughout the store. Plus, she L O V E D all the yummy samples.

It’s been over a week since I’ve decided to take baby steps to eating healthier, instead of trying to flip my entire kitchen upside-down, and I must say that it’s going well. Are there times when I don’t eat *perfectly*? Of course! But I don’t beat myself up about it any longer. If I did, I would drive myself bananas!

So what about you? Are you ~~psycho~~ cautious about what you eat? What tricks or tips have you learned to make eating healthier easier?

Loyally,
Katie

2 Comments

Corinne

February 8, 2012 at 4:22 pm

We've definitely been taking steps to eat healthier – complex carbs rather than just refined, more veggies, more fruits, less processed sugars, etc. One thing I find frustrating with the entire "healthy eating" issue is that it's expensive to eat this way! I love WF, but we can't afford to live off their prices. Trader Joes is more budget-friendly for us but with me trying to cut our grocery budget down by using coupons, I still end up having to go to the regular grocery store which for us works. I sometimes have to look a little harder for the healthier options (and past all those tempting ones) but in the end it's what we can do for right now.
One thing we've been doing that has helped us stay on track and better prepared is preparing a meal list for the week before shopping. Makes grocery shopping a breeze and allows us to find healthy alternatives to traditional foods online and create meal plans off those – plus we tend to eat salads for dinner 2x a week.
I think it's great that your being more aware of what you are feeding your family! It's definitely something I think will pay off by creating healthy eating habits for Emmy!
PS- I'm reading one of Russ' books The Chemistry of Joy which includes a 3 step process (one of which includes food we eat and how that affects our mind (brain chemistry) and bodies – I'm finding it interesting and helpful to see how my mood is dependent on how I treat my body with the food I eat and exercise.
omg – sorry this post got so long!

Drew

February 8, 2012 at 6:39 pm

We've been transitioning to an healthier lifestyle since I'm worried about hubs health long term since he's EM and the shift work screws with your body rhythms.

It's definitely more expensive but the easiest thing I've learned to do to keep costs down is to do 50-75% of my shopping in the produce section and then only buy packaged items that truly make my life easier. Frozen fruits, F.I.G brand beans (no cans), frozen brown rice and occasionally canned tomatoes. I've cut out 95% of the dairy I was eating and now rely on almond milk or flaxseed milk. I also no longer eat meat or eggs.

So it's a trade off really, meat, eggs and dairy products are expensive and produce is cheaper. The problem I've run into is that to fuel yourself on a plant based diet it requires you to eat a larger quantity of food. I recently had a health assessment at my gym and I accidently lost 4 pounds. So now I'm trying to make sure I'm taking in calories equal to what I'm burning training for a 1/2 marathon in March.

Corinne

February 8, 2012 at 4:22 pm

We've definitely been taking steps to eat healthier – complex carbs rather than just refined, more veggies, more fruits, less processed sugars, etc. One thing I find frustrating with the entire "healthy eating" issue is that it's expensive to eat this way! I love WF, but we can't afford to live off their prices. Trader Joes is more budget-friendly for us but with me trying to cut our grocery budget down by using coupons, I still end up having to go to the regular grocery store which for us works. I sometimes have to look a little harder for the healthier options (and past all those tempting ones) but in the end it's what we can do for right now.
One thing we've been doing that has helped us stay on track and better prepared is preparing a meal list for the week before shopping. Makes grocery shopping a breeze and allows us to find healthy alternatives to traditional foods online and create meal plans off those – plus we tend to eat salads for dinner 2x a week.
I think it's great that your being more aware of what you are feeding your family! It's definitely something I think will pay off by creating healthy eating habits for Emmy!
PS- I'm reading one of Russ' books The Chemistry of Joy which includes a 3 step process (one of which includes food we eat and how that affects our mind (brain chemistry) and bodies – I'm finding it interesting and helpful to see how my mood is dependent on how I treat my body with the food I eat and exercise.
omg – sorry this post got so long!
Drew

February 8, 2012 at 6:39 pm

We've been transitioning to an healthier lifestyle since I'm worried about hubs health long term since he's EM and the shift work screws with your body rhythms.

It's definitely more expensive but the easiest thing I've learned to do to keep costs down is to do 50-75% of my shopping in the produce section and then only buy packaged items that truly make my life easier. Frozen fruits, F.I.G brand beans (no cans), frozen brown rice and occasionally canned tomatoes. I've cut out 95% of the dairy I was eating and now rely on almond milk or flaxseed milk. I also no longer eat meat or eggs.

So it's a trade off really, meat, eggs and dairy products are expensive and produce is cheaper. The problem I've run into is that to fuel yourself on a plant based diet it requires you to eat a larger quantity of food. I recently had a health assessment at my gym and I accidently lost 4 pounds. So now I'm trying to make sure I'm taking in calories equal to what I'm burning training for a 1/2 marathon in March.