Some Success and Some Fall, Not Completely, Flat

Some things worked beautifully and some not so beautifully during this week of unprocessing.  Stir fry from fresh veggies - beautiful.  Bread made with inactive yeast - not so beautiful.

This week confirmed my idea of NOT shopping the farmer's market on the weekend.  I must get into the habit of doing it during the week.  With the craziness of shopping aside, this weeks food was delish!

1st up - Random veggie Stir Fry.  My husband said he could never do frozen from a bag stir fry again.  The zucchini, squash, broccoli chicken and onion on top of rice was excellent. Crisp, fresh and all in season.

The second meal...started out as a great idea. Fajitas.  Red peppers, bell peppers, onion and beef.  Really what could go wrong.  Oh yeah....homemade tortillas.  I attempted this blogger's recipe.  Sounded easy enough.  They were a complete disaster.  Yummy, but not very fajita make-able.  I have to work on making the dough balls larger and flatten, flatten, flatten.  

My homemade salsa was a hit though.  Better than anything store bought my oldest said.

We also learned a lesson with snacks.  It is easy enough to keep ready made cereals and crackers and the like always stocked, but with unprocessed foods I have to plan! (Lesson learned!!) My weekly shopping trips and subsequent snack prep have just barely covered us from week to week.  Lesson for this week, make snacks on Sunday and Wednesday so I have enough to eat going into the weekend.

Homemade pancakes was one of my favorite snacky foods.  We had it instead of graham crackers for our first of three breakfasts (my kids can eat!).  

As if to read my mind about eating unproccessed foods  my gym posted these pictures on their Facebook page.  

Planning, planning, planning

Week 1 was fabulous!  I think this is my favorite challenge yet!  It is something I've always wanted to do, eliminate processed foods.

You know how you're suppose to shop on the outside of the aisles at the supermarket; where the produce and dairy products are?  I always thought I did a pretty good job at it.  My first grocery shopping trip was truly an eye opening experience as I only walked down two aisles; one for popcorn and one for diapers.  Everything else was on the outer aisles.

At the Grocery Store with my boys!
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Secondly, I was shocked that some of the items I thought were "safe" weren't.  Why does my colby-jack cheese need food coloring?  Why does yogurt have sucralose and sodium benzonate?  So we decided to stick to organic foods whose ingredients are all recognizable.  This also stirred the "what does unprocessed mean?"  It clearly does not mean sodium benzonate?  We decided that items like natural and/or organic peanut butter, yogurt and cheese were allowed.

Planning was really key to make this week a success.  Not only did we have to meal plan like we normally do, but we had to give consideration to what we were going to substitute all the crackers and pretzels my kids snack on.  It's not like they eat oreos and bonbons all day, but we really did want to find substitutes to the processed foods they do eat.

Last weeks meal plan included grilled chicken kabobs, broiled fish with corn on the cob, and chicken Caesar salad (which just ended up being chicken salad).  Snacks for the kids (and us) were peaches, carrots and other seasonal items from the market.  We also made granola bars and muffins and had peanuts and yogurt.

Overall a great week!

Junes Challenge - Unprocessing!

I am so excited to start June with unprocessing.  What is unprocessing? 30 days of eating no processed foods.  On one hand, its a little scary, on the other hand I'm excited to see what changes I will make to my family's meals and snack options.

Before I get into June's challenge, I want to explain my absence.  I'll write a recap on my March's reading challenge, but both April and May were heavy event days at work and while I had ideas, I wasn't able to plan for them.  

Lesson learned?  You bet!  I have to take time to plan all of my 30 day challenges and anything I want to incorporate into lasting changes or turn into habits.  For me, Intentional change takes time to plan.  

Ok..so onto unprocessing....

As a single adult living on my own and making my own meals I rarely utilized quick and easy meals.  No Hamburger Helper, no Kraft macaroni and cheese, no spaghetti and meat balls.  I just didn't see the appeal.  I would much rather make spaghetti and meat sauce before I pulled out a can of Chef Boyardee.  

This didn't translate so easily once I had three kids.  While I didn't resort to quick meals, it took lots of trial and error (and Chick Fil A) before I figured out that meal planning was the key. 

Now I want to take it to the next level. I want to minimize the amount of processed foods in our house.  No Honey Maid Graham Crackers (the kids 1st of 3 or 4 breakfasts), no Classico Marinara Sauce, no Lay's Potato Chips.  Mind you, we really don't have a lot of foods in the house that are processed, but I really want to further decrease what we do have.  So June's Challenge is a 30 Day kick starter.  

The rules - we will use perishable items that are in the house, i.e. I have a loaf of bread that needs to be eaten.  If we are unable to go completely unprocessed we will choose foods that are minimally processed and use natural and organic ingredients.  No more yellows 5 & 6. :)  As with all my rules, these are rules that my family and I are choosing to live with this month, but we will allow for special occasions or dining outside of the home.  

SO JUNE - Here we go!

Picking up goodies for this weeks unprocessed meals at the
Farmer's Market.

Going back to lessons learned, the first thing I did was plan.  I planned this week's meals with unprocessing in mind.  Then I took inventory of what weekly items we buy that are processed (remember those Graham Crackers?).  Pinned a few things on Pinterest and built a shopping list for the gorcery store and for the farmers market.  I am armed an ready to be unprocessed.

March's Challenge - Reading!

I used to love to read. I used to read a variety of books and magazines. I used to read often.

Sadly, ever since I've had children. reading has been delegated to the bottom of the list of things that need or I want to do; nothing more than a luxury. I used to lay in bed on Sundays and the read the paper. I used to cuddle up in my favorite chair and read a novel. Don't get me wrong, I read and I read often to my children, but when one of my favorite books is The Gruffalo it might be time to consider broadening my horizons.

As my oldest son is getting better and better at reading I want him to see me reading more than work materials. My youngest two already enjoy looking at books and being read to, but I want them see me more often with a book in hand that is just for me. Not to mention, the list of books I want to read just keeps growing without anything being crossed off.

So March's challenge is to read. The rules are simple - no newspapers, no magazines, no journals (I do this every day for work). Not on my phone, not on my omputer or other e-reader. I will read a book for pleasure 30 minutes a day for the next 30 days. My list of books won't be pure non-work related reading, but they will be ones I'm choosing to read for pleasure.

I have a stack by my nightstand and I've placed my order with the library. I'm ready for March's 30 Day Challenge.

An End to CrossFit? Not Really.

My 30 Day Challenge this month was 30 Days of CrossFit, more specifically defined for me as working out one day on one day off. Sadly, scheduling didn't quite work out. While the facility where I do CrossFit is top notch, they have been slow to make schedule changes that were previously promised to be published in January. Without changes to the schedule I was unable to do one day on and one day off. To add to the complication, my life changed drastically as I accepted a full-time out of the home work position that made it impossible for me to adapt to the training schedule that was previously set.

I am disappointed and was really looking forward to the physical challenge. However I still maintained the 3 days a week and made it at least 4 days for 2 out of the 4 weeks.

So what changes did I see?

The scale has moved down a bit and each class I can tell the difference in my strength and endurance as we complete the exercises. Around the middle of the month, I was feeling a bit discouraged that I while I could tell I was getting stronger I wasn't seeing change, but now as we are at the end of the month I can see it. My clothes are fitting differently (better) and of course I feel great after every workout.

Lesson Learned

• With my 30 day challenges..be careful when planning a challenge that includes others' plans. I can only control, what I can control. Yeah, that's a no brainer, but worth stating as I think about March's challenge.
• Be patient with seeing the physical change. It does and will come. Not as quickly as I'd like and not that I won't whine about it, but it will come.
• I'll continue my 3 days a week and sometimes add a 4th. If the schedule changes to allow me to adjust I'll revisit this challenge later this year.

February's Challenge - Getting Fit with CrossFit

Last year I said good bye to all the baby weight (and then some) and lost over 50lbs. I can't believe I had that much to loose. WOW! Ever since I've dropped the weight I've wanted to sculpt and tone. While I did some weight training and cardio over the past few months, I've desperately been seeking a regiment that combines both for a comprehensive full body workout. CrossFit does that and more and I've loved every single workout!

So here's where the idea of 30 Days gets me into trouble. 30 straight days of the intensity of CrossFit would not be the best idea for me. I don't want to overtrain or hurt myself. So instead I talked to my trainer to see what he recommended I do. He's recommending one day on and one day off, but I've essentially been doing that for the last 7 weeks. I want to add a little more challenge (and I'm hard-headed) so I'm going to attempt two days on, one day off. This will be interesting because I'm not sure how my body will respond, but at the same time I'm excited to see the results.

February Fit here I come!

The End of Raw

So here it is. The end of my first 30 Day Challenge.

While I did allow for the special occasions, I remained raw for all but 4 days of the month. I cannot explain the clarity that comes from eating raw; my body feels cleaner and my mind crisper. Not to mention I dropped those holiday pounds!

I'm too much of a steak and potato girl to eat like this long term, however, one of the lessons learned is to use it as a tool to detox and start a new when I feel sugary or carby cravings coming on. So what else did I take away and want to try to implement into my life as I move forward....

• How quickly I can throw together a smoothie or salad for a quick meal or bite to eat and how filling they can be. I'll never have an excuse to skip a meal and believe me with 3 little ones excuses are a plenty.
• Allowing for celebrations and to live my life is key to my sanity. If I can't have fun, what's the point?
• I really like the idea of carefully watching what I eat during the week when it is more scheduled and allowing for my weekends to be "free."
• I almost think I'd like a vegetarian lifestyle...again if I wasn't such a steak and potatoes gal. :)

Onto my next challenge....

T - 1 Day

With one day to go there was reason to celebrate and celebrate I did. No raw today. While I could've waited and I thought long and hard about doing do, I'm going back to my rule of living my life. It was truly a special day and deserved to be treated as such.

With that said...a very odd thing happened today. For the first time since I've been raw I had extremely low energy for my very intense workout. This was a complete disaster. I've been including protein in my diet and working out 5 days a week (intense 3 days) have not had any problems except today. Today I could not do it.

The End is Near

It's been great being raw, but now I want a burger! Not a craving. Not that my body needs it, but I just want it. Just a few more days.......

No Cravings!

One of the things I've really enjoyed about going raw is once I got through the first few days (and the sickness) I haven't really had any cravings. Of course I'm looking forward to having a juicy burger at the end of this month's challenge, but I haven't had a real craving for anything carb, sweet or salty. I've even gotten my cycle this month and had no cravings associated with it. Hmmm....must figure out a way to continue this trend. I love the no cravings!

Mid Month Check In

Feels good to be raw.

I took some time off from being raw this weekend to celebrate a few special occasions. It was nice to be indulgent and enjoy, but it feels good to be raw again. My body feels cleaner and less bloated.

I'm a little more than 1/2 way through the month and have started to think about additional lessons to take away from this month's raw challenge.

6 Days

That's how long I made it raw - 6 Days. I'll set the stage and say I caught a stomach bug that surpassed my appetite. I think once it came back, it came back with a vengeance and salad wasn't cutting it. I needed a burger!

Kind of sad, but lessons learned....

Aside from the burger, I feel less "carby" and definitely no longer bloated. Raw is good for me that way.

Last year when I was a very diligent food plan I allowed for my weekends to be "free." I think my body is vey accustomed to that patten and honestly I don't think it's a bad thing.

I'm going to continue eating raw this month, and incorporate my lessons learned.

January's Challenge - Going Raw

I picked eating raw for January because I thought it was fitting after all the indulgence over the holidays. What a great way to kick of the New Year!

Ever since I read Michael Pollan's, In Defense of Food I really wanted to make a conscious effort to eat more "real" food and add more fruits and vegetables to my diet. I thought why not take that a step further, completely immerse myself and just go raw. I've done a week long raw diet before and found it really helpful to detox or clean my palate. Consuming nothing but raw foods really helped rid my body of cravings that I was finding hard to do otherwise. It'll be interesting to see what 30 days looks like. The first few days are the roughest, but a third of way through I get the hang of it and then it's smooth sailing.

I'm a picky eater so I looked into several raw food plans and tried to come up with a system that works for me while still ensuring that I get all of the nutrients my body needs.

I'm on Day 2 and so far so good.

One of the rules I am applying to this challenge and all of the 30 day challenges is that I will not impose my challenge on others (although there are some my husband has willingly (and happily) agreed to participate in). I will also allow for special occasion exceptions. This month brings special occasions mid month so while I'll stick to the spirit of raw foods, I will allow for exceptions. Some may call it cheating, I'm calling it living.

Happy New Year!

What better way to kick off a new year than with changes!

New Year's Resolutions? No.

This year I've decided to take on a new twist to the New Year's Resolutions. Instead of making 1 or 2 promises and trying to keep them for a whole year, this year I'm going to take on one new commitment a month. I'm going to explore things I've always wanted to do, things I've been terrified to try or never had time or energy to even attempt.

I'm going to take on one new commitment a month. My list so far: (in no particular order)

1. Eat Raw
2. CrossFit
3. Yoga
4. Sex
5. Prepare Non Processed Foods & Snacks
6. Use no Disposable Products
7. Eat only Local Foods
8. Enjoy North Carolina - Manteo to Murphy
9. Explores my Artsy/Crafty Side
10. Minimize my Carbon Footprint
11. Read for 30 minutes a day
12. ..........still thinking.......

The challenge is that every month I'll take on one of these and do them every day for 30 days. I can do anything for 30 days, right?? It's been argued that a month's time frame is all you need to break bad habits and build new good ones. Working within some general guidelines for each (I can't actually spend an entire month exploring the state) I hope to take some lessons learned and incorporate at least a small aspect of each commitment into my life, permanently.

So here's to 2012! Happy New Year!