Let's start on a positive note. Josh, Nicholas and I spent the end of last week and the weekend in Cape Coral, FL (near Ft. Myers) where Josh attended a medical conference on female genitalia and disease (yes, you read that right...3 days of material...ewww). Nicholas and I had a more enjoyable time visiting with Josh's Aunt Jan and Uncle John. They were (as always) wonderful hosts and we always love our time with them. Here is a picture of Nicholas enjoying time out on their boat.
Jan and John are very healthy and eat wonderful foods on a mainly vegan diet. I felt rejuvinated when I left and committed myself to making more healthy food choices for the family. Not that we are known for eating horrible food...but my kids have gotten into some bad food habits.
To name just a few...
1. They refuse to eat yogurt with real fruit in it...no they just want colored yogurt that tastes like cotton candy. Where is the health benefit there?
2. They think bread that has any grain at all in it is "yucky". I have been buying the Iron Kids bread because they have a great marketing gimic going on that suckers parents into thinking its healthy. However, once you look at the label you see that it is still made with bleached white flour and has sugar added to it...not healthy. But who the heck has time to read the label when you are in the grocery store with three kids?
3. Anytime I manage to get something whole grain on their plate they beg for jelly or syrup to mask that horrible healthy taste.
So as you can see we have a ways to go before we can claim any real nutritional prize. But I knew I felt great after five days of eating healthy and I wanted this to continue at home. Yes, I would find an organic food store and I would buy only whole grain and I would make my own yogurt with fruit and granola for breakfast and we would stop eating red meat and I would use more beans and lean proteins like salmon and turkey...YES...AND to top it off we would start running in marathons!! GREAT IDEA...this is going to be GREAT!
And then we got off the plane in Kansas City. And then I realized we still had a 3 hour drive home. And then I realized how hungry I was. And then we passed...
Ah, but we would do better tomorrow once I had time to go to the grocery store and buy my stash of healthy food. Yes...tomorrow. We would start our new, healthy lifestyle tomorrow.
And then I woke up to a 5 year old with post-vacation mood swings. And then I had to take three kids to the eye doctor for their exams (imagine that will you? God bless Keith Mallatt). And then I had to deal with a 2 year old who wanted to go back to Gaweeena to see Nannie and Grandad and Nana and Papa. And then I got a headache...and then before I knew it...it was time for dinner. We had waffles. TOMORROW...yes TOMORROW would be the start of our new life.
So now its tomorrow and my kids begged me for eggs and biscuits and gravy for dinner. I agreed but only if they ate pears with it (wouldn't Aunt Jan be proud?)
I ate a few pears too...and then as I was making dinner, opened a can of Pringles. Never a good idea. I felt too guilty to eat anything else after I had about three times the serving amount on the can resulting in a stomach ache and a guilty conscience.
I should have known this healthy lifestyle was futile when Natalie rattled off her shopping list today as we were on our way to Wal-Mart.
Natalie: "Momma, I need get some syrup, jelly and marshmallows."
Momma: "Good grief...all you want is sugar."
Natalie: "Oh you're right, we need get sugar too."
Because we are in the Christmas spirit, that reminds me of...
I think we need to get Aunt Jan and Uncle John down here for a healthy diet bootcamp...
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