I did something today that I like to do on occasion...especially on busy days. I did a modified Intermittent Fasting (IF) day. I like to throw a "food is scarce today" curve ball at my body just to help it become more efficient at using body fat as fuel. It's not for everyone, I know that, but some days it works really well for me.
So anyway here's my food for the day....
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| Coffee w/coconut milk |
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| Tuna w/mashed avocado & mustard, asparagus, and mashed sweet potato |
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| Scrambled eggs w/leftover pot roast, mushrooms and spinach |
Dinner was one of those "let's clear out the fridge" meals. The kids had frozen pizza. Easy dinner night. To be clear, I am not a food nazi. My kids are still eating some not so great things. We're working on changing over, but it's definitely a process.
Exercise: I kicked my own behind today! I did HIIT for 16 minutes (Squat thrust, plank jacks, cross jacks & high knees) 4 sets of 30 sec work/20 sec rest. HOLY COW! I thought I might puke at the end :) and then I finished off with some yoga.
Overall: Today was great. I really wanted gum as I was out and about this afternoon running errands. Habit. I've had a few moments also in the past few days where I find I have to stop myself from grabbing something from the kids' plate. Mindless stuff. Again habit.
And now, I'm going to address an anonymous comment that someone left on the last post...
Here's the comment: "Hey, what about if I can't find antibiotic free stuff? Sucks. Hmm..."
My response may surprise you. I don't think I've ever said I buy anything other than "traditional" stuff. I rarely buy organic, grass fed or any of the other "buzz" worded products. Sometimes, if I can find stuff at a good deal, I buy it. Generally though, my food and meat is of the traditional variety. In my opinion there is a spectrum. At one end you have Grass fed, organic everything blah, blah, blah. At the other end you have SAD (Standard American Diet) with food products loaded with sugar and goodness knows what else. I do my best to keep my family towards the "good" end of the spectrum, but I really try not to stress overly much if I can't find or afford to buy the best stuff. I would make myself crazy. First priority to me is buying enough food to feed my family. I would rather feed them traditionally raised chicken and asparagus (or whatever) than buy an organic chicken and not have money for the vegetables...I hope that makes sense. So, if you can't find the stuff you want to eat, or you can't afford it, just do your best.
Tomorrow I plan on going to the farmer's market to get what I can there, then I'll go to the store and fill in the blanks as needed. All local, all hormone free is what some consider to be the gold standard, but I just do what I can with what I've got.
Hope that answers that.
I'm interested in everyone's opinion. What's your opinion on the topic??
9 comments:
I feel exactly the same way, I buy organic where possible and our beef I buy in 60kg bulk packs from the grass fed organic butcher but only because I get it much cheaper than I can anywhere else. I have a big family and if I buy everything organic and free range and grass fed then I'd be broke :-) IF, I was going to try it but I'm someone who gets faint if I haven't eaten for at least 5 hours.
I agree with you... I do focus on grass fed beef but other than that... ehhhh... We will survive. Ya know? Feeding your family multiple diets (like you and I) can be super expensive. I've got to buy grass fed meat for the hubs and I and then organic milk for the kids?! It can all add up!
Here's one thing to keep in mind and one thing I ask people when they tell me that eating healthy is to expensive...
What do you buy that's unhealthy? Do you buy soda, alcohol, chips, frozen meals, cigarettes...? All of that can be really expensive!
We don't buy any of that. We don't drink anymore. We don't even have cable...
Now that I've went on a tangent I think you did an awesome job answering that question. I hate it when people say "Oh well you'll have to order it online or really look hard to find it or buy something else". Not everything has to be so strict and perfect!
Oh man I wrote a book... Too much coffee this morning already :)
I definitely think you do what you can and don't sweat the rest! Eating conventional produce and meats is still better than eating pasta and bagels :)
I also agree with you! Our budget for every 2 weeks use to have a lot of slack in it; but with rising grocery store prices I find that the slack I once had in the budget for extras no longer exists and sometimes I even go over. There are so many families try to eat healthy but budget wise it's not feasible. It's cheaper to buy the 99 cent box of noodles, a 4 pack of butter, 1 jar of generic peanut butter and a couple loaves of bread than it is to buy fresh produce - let alone organic anything. Last April I did a local research paper on this for college and it was horrifying to hear from individuals and what they go through. The things they do skimp on in order to feed the mouths of their babes.
Thanks guys for the responses!! I'm actually finding that now that I've cut out a lot of the other stuff I have more room in my budget to load up on the good stuff, it just takes a little more effort to prep things. I can't just pull crackers out of the cupboard for a snack for the kids, I have to cut up fruit and veggies, (you get the picture). It's not hard, it's just not as easy as pulling out a box of crackers lol.
I do the same thing. If there is something available and within our budget that's organic or grass fed, I will buy it but I'm not going to stress about it. I feel like we've already made huge improvements to the way we're eating. :)
I've missed a few posts somehow! Looks like you're doing good. For me, it goes back to the budget thing. I'm not into preparing separate meals for me and the fam but feeding organic/grass fed/etc for a family of 7 would be ridiculously expensive!
@REBYRYAN- I cannot imagine trying to feed a family of 7 lol! You are my hero :)
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