Saturday, February 2, 2013

Stronger....Month Two

     I am still taking baby steps to becoming stronger in 2013.  Rather than trying to make a bunch of big changes all at once, I making slow, gradual changes in my life.  Every three to four weeks, I plan on adding something new to my life.  January I focused on becoming stronger in my faith.  I spent time each day with a devotional, the Bible, and prayer.  I have come to look forward to that time each night.  I truly feel that my faith in God is become stronger and deeper than ever before.

     My next focus is becoming stronger through healthy eating.  I wish that I could say my body craves healthy foods.  It doesn't.  Coke, cookies, Little Debbie snack cakes, Jalapeno Cheddar Cheetos ....mmmmm!  I have found that if I cut these foods out completely, I will binge on them at some point.  I have to portion them out in moderation, which is hard.  There are some foods that I cannot have at home or I will eat them all.  It is better for me to have one ice cream at Dairy Queen than to have an entire gallon at home.  I have gotten much better, but I still have a long way to go!

     I want to eat more "real" foods.  Jim and I agree that real food is much better for all us.  We don't mind paying more for certain things if we know that they are better for our bodies.  Processed foods bother me.  Chemicals in my foods bother me.  Chemicals in my daughter's food bothers me even more.  It is hard to cook from scratch.  It takes time to plan the menu.  It takes time to grocery shop.  It takes longer to prepare the meals.  It is worth the time and effort to feed myself and my family food that is better for us.  I am getting better about making things ahead of time and freezing them for a quick meal.  Much better than going to the local fast food place.

     In the spring and summer months, my family and I make weekly trips to the local farmer's market.  The food is local.  It doesn't have chemicals added to it to make it last longer.  The meat is hormone free and we know the people who raise the cattle.  We can talk to the growers of our food.  We can ask what things are and how they should be cooked.  There is also a local whole food co-op not far from us.  There isn't a large variety (we live in a small town), but we always come away from there with something fun for us to try. I am also going to try my hand at having a small garden this summer.  How much more local can that be?  I am not promising that veggies will grow, but I am going to give it a try~my grandma would be proud of me!

     Hopefully, the steps that I am taking will make me stronger.  I am trying!

3 comments:

Eternal Lizdom said...

Jeff and I aren't trying to cook dinners yet. We do our smoothies in the morning and we keep healthy options for dinner. He's been rotissering whole chickens so we always have chicken in the fridge. The kids are perfectly happy to have cold chicken with fresh fruits and veggies like carrots, berries, apples, tomatoes.

You can do it!!! I'm really trying to dig in to my emotional dependence on food. I have some ideas of why but don't know why it still holds on to me. Watching "Fat Sick and Nearly Dead" was inspirational for me yesterday.

Anonymous said...

Cooking meals isn't that difficult. The hard part is having the ingredients on hand. I have found lots of menu inspiration on the internet - some sites allow you to enter in the ingredients you have on hand and they have recipes. Another thing I love are cooking magazines. I love Cooking Light and will read in bed at night, looking for things to try.

Baby steps and you will be fine!

City Homemade said...

Nancy, you can do this! Each small change will bring you that much closer to your goal!

We will get that garden growing for you! Your thumb is greener than you think!