Good Food

To start the new year off right Matt and I wanted to start eating healthier. One of my New Years resolutions is to lose 15 pounds. To Matt that meant a 15 day vegetable/fruit reboot plan. Where all you eat for 15 days straight is , you guessed it, fruits and veges. This is to detox your body and start you on a path of adding more healthy fruits and vegetables  into your daily meal routine. He got the idea from watching the video Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead. It's an eye opener if you've never seen it. So, he signed up to take part and with that came a daily e-mail with recipes attached. He's been compiling them for some time now and they have become the base of our new healthy eating routine. In our house the main course is always the best, so of course that's what normally fills up half of our plate. Not a salad, like it should be.

I on the other hand feel that in order to be healthy that, yes, I must add in more fruits and veges, but that I must learn to modify my portions. I LOVE food and I will eat until I feel sick sometimes. It's just that dang good! Going on a pure vegetable and fruit diet is a little too extreme for my tastes. I'm more about putting that main course on my plate, but  making sure that the majority of what I am about to partake of is of the vegetable family. That's the dream, anyways. Not how I normally eat. Bad girl, I know. But I did feel confident that I could realistically eat this way and not feel completely deprived. Because when I deprive myself then I rebel. In a bad, bad way.

So, I have decided to join Matt on his adventure, but in my own way. We've been eating the same breakfasts and lunches. Which translates into lots and lots of fruits and veges. But I add a small slice of low fat cheese to my salad, just to get some fat and protein and a sense of normalcy to my meal. It prevents me from lashing out. Cheese just makes me happy. What can I say? I am actually feeling really good! When I feel munchy I eat a handful of nuts. Just once a day though.  For dinners I have been sticking with my plan. Veges take up at least half of my plate and the main course (last night it was a home made beef pot pie made with the left overs Grammy  and Papa Gold sent home with us) is about 1/4 of my plate. So far so good.  I've even lost 3 pounds in 3 days. And Matt has decided to eat a small portion of the main course for dinner as well. The goal is for this way of eating to stick.

And I need it to stick. I'm officially at my heaviest weight. And that's not a good place for me to be. I never had to worry about my weight before I turned 34. And for the last year it's been a fight. It's true what they say about your metabolism slowing down in your mid 30's. It sucks. But food was meant to be fuel. And I need to use it that way. Not to say I don't believe in a splurge every once in awhile. But the goal is every once in awhile. Not a nightly splurge, as was becoming my bad habit.

Oh, and just for the record, It's not like all of our main courses are fatty, fatty. I really do try to cook healthy. It's more like I would fill 3/4 of my plate with enchilada or spaghetti or whatever and 1/4 with a vege. But, no more. I am a new woman!

I feel good taking this step. I really do desire to be healthy. And I need to set this example for my kids. And guess what happens when Mom puts more veges on the table? Her kids eat more veges. It's true.

And lets not forget the importance of exercise or drinking plenty of water. I've stepped up my game on those, too.

So, here's to a happy and much healthier new year.