I try to feed my girls healthy food. Lately, it seems like they've been getting way more sugar than I prefer them to have, but it's been an off week. Sometimes I think about the sort of "journey" I've had in learning about what is truly healthy food.
Growing up, Mom ate wheat bread. Dad ate white, and us kids usually did too. As I got older, I started having wheat bread as well. When I got married and did my own shopping, I bought wheat bread.
A year or so later, I realized I'd been buying brown bread, not really wheat bread. If it says "enriched flour" it's not really wheat (well, it's made from wheat, but so is white bread). I learned that I needed to buy 100% Whole wheat bread. It was a bit more spendy, but that was ok.
Later still, I found out about nasty High Fructose Corn Syrup (HCFS) and discovered that it is in most 100% Whole Wheat bread. Ridiculous. So I looked around and found HCFS-free bread. It can be hard. At Safeway, it's generally $2.50 when it's on a good sale. Normally closer to $4 though. Thankfully, I don't have to buy it there very often! I try to hit bread outlets, where I can get it for $.99-$1.29 a loaf. Super deal! Or, I get it at Winco when I do my general grocery shopping for $1.68.
Many other areas of our diet have been the same way. When you know better you do better. I have learned many things over the years, and I know I'll keep learning more. I like looking back at the things I've learned and how I've applied them. It's an interesting journey, at least to me. It may be boring to you, though!
If you see me at the grocery store, you'll see me checking labels on just about everything I pick up. The things I watch for the MOST are HFCS and other artificial sweeteners (sucralose, splenda, aspartame--except in my occasional diet pepsi) and partially hydrogenated oils. I've started learning about some other things to avoid, but those are the biggest ones at the moment. And even when I've found something that is free of those things, I still check the box most of the time, because I've discovered that some products change what they have. I had found some crackers that didn't have hydrogenated oils, but the next time I checked the box they did.
Grocery shopping is enjoyable to me. Finding healthy ways to feed my girls--and spending as little as possible to do it--is so enjoyable to me!
Friday, February 20, 2009
Friday, February 13, 2009
Hell week
This week has been a horrible week. As awful as the last year and a half have been, this week has been....a million times worse.
It has had it's up-points and those are the ones I have to focus on. Someone sent me money and I was able to buy a dryer--I haven't had one for about 2 months. I got a text from my good friend Nikki last night and we're going to have a V-Day "date." My computer crashed a couple weeks ago and upon finding that it wasn't going to be a quick fix, my dad bought me a new one.
I'm tired and ready for some sleep. Here's to a better week next week.
It has had it's up-points and those are the ones I have to focus on. Someone sent me money and I was able to buy a dryer--I haven't had one for about 2 months. I got a text from my good friend Nikki last night and we're going to have a V-Day "date." My computer crashed a couple weeks ago and upon finding that it wasn't going to be a quick fix, my dad bought me a new one.
I'm tired and ready for some sleep. Here's to a better week next week.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Baby Weight--detailed weight info!
My baby is almost three. In less than three months, she will be three years old. Crazy.
What's crazier is that I am still trying to lose the "baby weight." Having three kids in a very short amount of time makes this an even harder task than normal, I think. First of all, less time between kids makes it hard to get to that "pre-pregnancy weight." When I got pregnant with Kiandra, I weighed between 130 and 135 pounds. By the time I had her, I weighed close to 180. I got pregnant with Kalli only 6 months later, and still weighed about 150 pounds. I again got up to about 180. This time, though, the weight came off a little easier and I was back down to 150 within a week or so of her birth. I worked at it and got back down to about 140 or so before I got pregnant with Kiersten. Once more, I got up to about 180 pounds before having her.
And here I am three years later, still not back to the weight I was before I got pregnant with her, let alone with Kiandra. I did get down to somewhere between 145 and 150 this summer. But then I quit nursing in August. Yikes. I think the issue was two-fold. First, I was pregnant or nursing for 6 years straight. So, I got used to eating like a pregnant or nursing woman and didn't immediately make any changes. Second, even that one nursing a day Kiersten was at for the last bit was apparently using a decent amount of calories, because I wasn't gaining weight. But within just a few weeks of weaning, I had gained about 10 pounds.
And here I am several months later, only a couple pounds down from there. That's where the running comes in. And cutting out sugar. And trying to cut back on the snack food (haven't been so successful here, yet). I started running just over 2 weeks ago and have lost about 2 pounds so far. Not great, but I figure I probably gained a little bit of muscle once I really started working out. I also haven't done much to change my diet yet. I did cut out sugar, but that is mostly so that I can get past this addiction I have to it. I didn't cut out bread or other starches, just sugar--mostly in the form of sweets. But sweets had been making up a fair share of my diet!
So, there you have it. More detail than you ever wanted to know about my weight! But, it's partly for accountability for me. My goal is to be down to 140 by June. My ultimate goal is to weigh 130 again. We'll see how it goes!
What's crazier is that I am still trying to lose the "baby weight." Having three kids in a very short amount of time makes this an even harder task than normal, I think. First of all, less time between kids makes it hard to get to that "pre-pregnancy weight." When I got pregnant with Kiandra, I weighed between 130 and 135 pounds. By the time I had her, I weighed close to 180. I got pregnant with Kalli only 6 months later, and still weighed about 150 pounds. I again got up to about 180. This time, though, the weight came off a little easier and I was back down to 150 within a week or so of her birth. I worked at it and got back down to about 140 or so before I got pregnant with Kiersten. Once more, I got up to about 180 pounds before having her.
And here I am three years later, still not back to the weight I was before I got pregnant with her, let alone with Kiandra. I did get down to somewhere between 145 and 150 this summer. But then I quit nursing in August. Yikes. I think the issue was two-fold. First, I was pregnant or nursing for 6 years straight. So, I got used to eating like a pregnant or nursing woman and didn't immediately make any changes. Second, even that one nursing a day Kiersten was at for the last bit was apparently using a decent amount of calories, because I wasn't gaining weight. But within just a few weeks of weaning, I had gained about 10 pounds.
And here I am several months later, only a couple pounds down from there. That's where the running comes in. And cutting out sugar. And trying to cut back on the snack food (haven't been so successful here, yet). I started running just over 2 weeks ago and have lost about 2 pounds so far. Not great, but I figure I probably gained a little bit of muscle once I really started working out. I also haven't done much to change my diet yet. I did cut out sugar, but that is mostly so that I can get past this addiction I have to it. I didn't cut out bread or other starches, just sugar--mostly in the form of sweets. But sweets had been making up a fair share of my diet!
So, there you have it. More detail than you ever wanted to know about my weight! But, it's partly for accountability for me. My goal is to be down to 140 by June. My ultimate goal is to weigh 130 again. We'll see how it goes!
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