Food

Hello all!!!

Yes, it is the new year and I am back to feeling bloggy again.  It's been almost a full month since I have felt the need to write down my thoughts and today was a day that I really missed being here.

Of course, once I have downloaded the hundreds of pictures I have on my camera to the computer (being 34 weeks pregnant makes you not only forgetful, but tired as well, so my camera has also been neglected) I will show you all the fun we had over Christmas break.  Evan's parents came to visit along with Kyle and her boys. Their first time visiting us in our new home in Texas!!!

Recently, I told Evan that I wanted to get rid of all the sweenters in our house.  I've been slowly trying to get us to be more mindful of the food we eat and what we have in the house.  A year or so ago, I banned all HFCS and dyes from the house.  This meant saying good bye to some beloved cereals and snacks, but the dyes were really hurting Julia's stomach and I've just never been able to get over how HFCS is made.  So, my family begrudgingly agreed and, low and behold, it turns out that Evan started feeling better when dyes were taken out of his diet too.  Then, I started trying to buy foods that had ingredients we could read, pronounce, and recognize.  That's been harder since processed food is so easily attainable.  I also said I didn't want to use sweetner anymore in our coffee.  Turns out, that was one of the biggest changes we noticed.  Dude, sweenter is gross.

But, throughout all our changes, we've still been keeping cases of soda in the house.  I don't remember what I read or where I read it, but a couple of months ago I was inspired to wean us off of soda.  All soda.  I know that I was drinking about 2 a day and at my worst (when I was teaching) sometimes 4 a day.  Granted, it was Diet Coke, so there were no calories, but that is a lot of chemicals and crap that I was inhaling.  I've given up soda every now and then (for Lent or a diet or to try to build up my self control), but it's always creeped back into my diet.

Growing up, we never had soda in the house. My dad kept diet soda in a refrigerator in the garage, but we rarely drank any.  We'd get sodas sometimes at restaurants, but it was never a daily staple of our diets.  As I got older (probably around high school) I started drinking soda almost daily at school. By college, I was completely addicted to Diet Coke. Probably not an addiction my body has ever appreciated.

So, when I approached Evan about not buying soda anymore, he said no.  He only drank one or two sodas a day and didn't feel it was that big of a deal.  I told him that I would like to try to replace it with sparkling water (like La Crouix) and just see how it goes. Once again, he begrudgingly said he would test it out.  I bought a few flavors of the water and was surprised by how much cheaper buying a 12 pack of the water was compared to buying a 12 pack of any soda.  Maybe saving money would bring a positive spin to getting rid of soda.

Turns out, the water is good.  It took some getting used to since the water is not near as sweet as soda, but we've ended up really liking it.  And, Evan's noticed he doesn't feel as bloated and is feeling better not having soda daily.  I also found sodas with real ingredients at a local store, so we are using those as treats as soda should be.

Since we omitted diet soda from our house (which was around Thanksgiving time!), I haven't really missed it.  I've had 2 Diet Cokes, one consciously and one I ordered out of habit.  Otherwise, we've been drinking water (normal and sparkling), iced tea and orange juice.  Well, I've been drinking orange juice like it's my job, but that's just been the current craving.

Last night I started reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver (gifted to me last Christmas by my lovely friend, Melissa!) and it's the story of her family's journey to eat better.  Kingsolver's fabulous narrative voice tells you how they decided to grow more of their own foods on their small piece of land in the Appalachians and to buy more locally.  I am still in the beginning of the book, but am loving it so far.  I'm hoping to start buying locally here too, especially since we live in Texas and farmers' markets are open year round.

I'm excited!  I know that I am a lover of food and cooking, which does make me more interested in food in general, but I love the idea that I am setting up my kids with a sense of eating healthy.