A New Way of Life Now

A couple of months ago Jared & I made some goals to start eating healthier and exercising more regularly.  I have always dreaded exercise & am a serious sugar addict so this hasn't been easy, but fortunately I found a great friend to walk with 5 days a week which has made the exercise part a piece of cake. The movie "Hungry for Change" on Netflix that we watched also motivated me to change (& has helped Jacob to eat better too.)  I just thought I'd share a few new recipes/food ideas that I have really enjoyed because I've appreciated the things my sister Melinda has shared on her blog.
We also starting meeting every week (by phone) with a friend of ours who is a personal trainer and health coach(Nancy anewwayoflifenow.blogspot.com).  She has given us some excellent encouragement and guidance as well as tasty ideas for healthier eating.  My main goal was to start exercising more regularly, reducing the # of treats I eat & increasing my vegetable intake.  A nice side benefit has been that I lost 5 lbs (Jared lost 10) even with all of the peanut butter, cream, butter and pistachios that I've still indulged in.  The main change I have made is eating more whole foods and less stuff with additives and preservatives & baking with fresh whole wheat flour.  Its weird to just go grocery shopping on the outskirts of the store because all I buy is tons of produce, bulk foods, dairy & a couple loaves of bread.

Some of my new favorite foods are
Frizzled Cabbage (finely chopped cabbage sauteed in butter w/ salt).  This makes a healthier (& sweeter) replacement for pasta which I love.  I was surprised how much I liked this, because I hated the boiled cabbage my dad made us growing up.  And it cooks up a whole lot faster than pasta.
Steel Cut Oats topped with strawberries or blueberries, greek yogurt or milk & honey.  This is one of the few foods Josh will gobble up without any problems although my other kids like Malt o Meal much better.
Sweet Potato Fries - I discovered these when I made these Yummy Yammy Tacos & loved eating the sweet potatoes so much, no else even got to make any tacos!  When I'm craving some cookies or brownies at night, I make these instead.   I'm planning to add some sweet potatoes to the garden.
Smoothies (w/ spinach)  - I usually use plain greek yogurt, spinach,  a few oranges and a variety of frozen fruits (peaches, mangoes, bananas, blueberries,  grapes, strawberries, etc.) & a little stevia or honey.  But one day I ran out of greek yogurt and used whipping cream instead.  Obviously this isn't as good for me, but it was super awesome & quick homemade ice cream.  (I actually weighed a lb less the next day:)  If there are any leftovers I freeze them in popsicle molds for after school snacks.
No Bake Granola Squares - I like to freeze these  in baggies so I can just grab one when I'm craving something sweet.
Steamed Spinach with mozzarella cheese - I luckily had some spinach go to seed last year in my garden and it came up spontaneously this year.  I like the flavor a lot better than the store bought stuff. Funny to hear my 2 year old say..."Mommy can I have some more spinach?"  Unfortunately she's more the exception than the rule at our house as far as spinach loving goes.  I add spinach in the scrambled eggs or smoothies for the other kids. 

The hardest thing for me has been to reduce my sugar intake.  I am a serious chocolate lover and emotional eater.  I still allow myself 2 or 3 days w/ a treat (1 portion) but that is serious improvement compared to the 1 or 2 dozen cookies I could down all by myself in one day, or the bag of Costco chocolate assortment that I'd buy for Easter or Christmas & end up eating it all before the holiday actually arrived.  The Raspberry Ice Box Dessert I had at my mom's on mother's day was seriously divine, because I had held off of treats all week long knowing that my mom would make something awesome when we came down to visit.

Jared is amazing with his discipline.  He hasn't eaten candy for more than a year and has gone without treats (cookies, ice cream, brownies, cake etc.) for more than 6 weeks.