what's new around here?

I've been doing so much writing about food that I've lost focus a little about what this blog is really about. Yes, it is about food, to the extent that we are trying to make changes. But really this is supposed to be about our day-to-day life and how I am growing and changing as a person or mom. I don't want to become so centered on one aspect and then lose myself, my writing and bore people ;)

I'm going to help save a life today. No, I'm not a superhero. I won't go running into a burning building and rescue somebody or lift a 2-ton car off of a child. What do I mean then? How can I know I will help save a life? How presumptuous of me! Well, I do know, and so can you!! The boys' school is having a blood drive, and I am signed up to donate blood today. Did you know that each blood donation can go to help up to THREE people!? I didn't! So yeah. I'm doing a good deed today. And while it's something simple, and maybe I shouldn't "brag" about it, I am proud of myself. I wanted to share, because maybe it will inspire someone else out there to do the same.

Baby J goes Feb 13 to Early On to be evaluated on his gross motor skills, to see if he qualifies for physical therapy (PT). If he does, we set up an IFSP (individual family service plan) and see if he needs any other services. I don't think they will find him eligible, only because in the last month his gross motor skills have blossomed so much. He will let go of furniture and stand for several seconds, he cruises around furniture very quickly, he can sit from a standing position much easier, he will bend to try and pick up something while holding on to try and stay standing, he will hold your hands and take several steps, and he went from doing the "army crawl" 95% of the time to crawling on his hands and knees about 40-50% of the time. He was truly only 1 "point" away from passing the pediatrician's evaluation/assessment anyway, so now he'd probably pass with flying colors. We're still waiting to hear from the urologist's scheduler so we can set up his surgery.

A has his blue and gold banquet Feb 24 for cub scouts and will get his Wolf Badge (as long as we finish his last two achievements by the 10th!) It's at noon that Sunday and he and Jas will be going to that by themselves. I'm disappointed that E, Baby J and I won't be able to be there, but we have our first conflict of schedules! Anyway, I am very proud of him, as he has been working on these achievements and some of his electives to get his arrow points starting in April as well as his belt loops! I think he's technically earned 2 of the belt loops and his gold arrow point and first silver arrow point. A seems to be really enjoying the fun activities and Jas and him get to have some father/son time.

E won the school spelling bee and goes to the MI state charter school spelling bee on March 15th. Before that though, he is going to the regional bee for the Scripp's National Bee on Feb 24. Yeah, there's our schedule conflict. Same day as A's blue and gold. I was hoping it would be at a different time, but nope :( Registration is at noon and the bee starts at 1pm (the same time A will get his badge), so E, Baby J and I will go to the bee and Jas and A will join us later. If E wins this regional bee, he would go on to the national bee the week of May 26th. A is excited about this because they would both end up missing some school AND his birthday is May 30 so he'd get to go on a trip for his birthday ;) LOL. Silly kid. It should be interesting going though, because last year, Jas was backstage in case E had any behavioral "issues" and because I will have Baby J, who is only 13 months old with me, I won't be able to do the same. I know he's made a lot of progress and matured a lot in a year so hopefully it should be ok.

I'm proud of our boys being understanding that they have to "share" us for the day, one of us being at one's important event and the other being at the other event.

Jas has to travel for work soon, for a week. It's been a while and I can honestly say that I am not looking forward to it at all. I will have to make sure I have lots of easy dinners on hand since I won't have help.

Almost time to head out for the school and it's snowing. Lovely. Ha! At least I'll be on time for a change ;)

I'm so mad at myself right now :(

I wrote a big ol' post yesterday about how we were going to have yummy homemade pizza. Then I found E's "book-it" coupon and saw it was expiring yesterday... Needless to say, Jas and I made a quick decision and ordered Pizza Hut pizza rather than make our own. I mean, E did earn that free one, right?

NEVER AGAIN! Not only do I feel bad going off-menu, especially when I have all the stuff here, but I, physically, feel like crap! Head is in a fog, stomach kind of hurts and I just feel off today, kwim? Plus E went to bed with a headache and tummy ache and woke up extra-whiny. I always know when he's had something not good for him, because of how he is in the morning. It's like he doesn't sleep good at all and also if the way I feel is any indicator, then I'm sure that is part of his problem.

I know we all make mistakes, bad choices, etc. I also know this one won't affect tomorrow (hopefully!) but it does affect today. We are the adults, we know better and should have just made the pizza rather go with the convenience of ordering it. E and A would have been happy either way! In fact, E specifically told me he didn't care if we used his coupon. Why didn't I just listen?

I guess I have two choices from here:

1.  Keep beating myself up about it.
2. Accept it and move on. Know better, Do better. (<----  seriously, that is becoming a theme, my motto for 2013, apparently!)

I choose to do 2. I think. LOL. So back to (slightly) better eating today. Organic cinnamon crunch cereal (hey at least there's no dyes or icky preservatives) with organic whole milk and a banana for breakfast. Hormel Natural Choice (still hoping to find even better stuff, but it's better than most) ham or salami with organic co-jack or havarti on whole wheat, fruit - their choice, frozen simply gogurt, pretzels and 100% juice for lunch. For snack, they are taking either an apple or a clementine and E gets an extra snack - probably an organic granola bar.

Time to go pack lunches, feed Baby J, and drive the boys to school on this cold morning. I hope everybody out there has a great day!

Slight change of dinner plans

So far this weekend, we've tried to stick to the menu plan. Yesterday, however, E, Baby J, and I  did end up going to Meijer, followed by Costco. We left the house about 9:45 and were at Meijer until noon! Since we still had the meat to buy at Costco, along with several other things, and it was right next door, we went ahead and finished up our shopping. E and Baby J decided they were hungry and thankfully there is the little cafe right in the store. Not my first choice, but hey, they had to eat, it was 1pm and we had a good 25 minute drive home. I got E a slice of pepperoni pizza, Baby J and I a slice of cheese pizza and myself the 1/4 plus "meal" (1/4 lb all-beef hot dog and pop). I hadn't eaten breakfast - dumb choice- so I was super-hungry and I forgot how large the slices of pizza were, so that's why Baby J and I shared the pizza. E and I shared a Coke (a rare treat for him). By the way, he ended up doing excellent through both stores, helping me with Baby J, and the shopping. So lunch plans were thrown off and since we had pizza, I surely didn't want to make homemade pizza for dinner last night. I decided to switch last night's and tonight's dinners so we ended up having the ww cheeseburger macaroni - with applesauce instead of green beans, because I remembered them at the last minute and they were frozen! oops! Jas was so awesome by helping me make dinner last night, and we worked together as a team and actually ate before 6!!!

I would love to say that it got rave reviews, but alas, it did not. Jas and A loved it, I kind of did, and E did not like it. He and I could taste the roux (read: flour/butter mixture) and it threw off the whole flavor. E has some texture/taste sensitivities - I really think he has more sensory issues than we are aware of - and so he wouldn't eat much of it. Baby J kind of liked it, but I think his got cold so quick from being cut smaller and having to cool off some before he could eat it, that it just wasn't tasty anymore.

Tonight, I planning to make the homemade whole wheat pizzas. We are going to be using Muir Glen organic pizza sauce, freshly shredded mozzarella - I have found that freshly shredded cheese, not only tastes better, it melts smoother. Plus read the back of the bag of shredded cheese. That extra little ingredient to prevent caking? Yeah, go google that. Seriously, go ahead. I'll be here when you get back....


Um yeah, I don't want to eat that.

So back to what we are topping the pizza with. One will be plain cheese on whole wheat crust, the other will have organic ground beef (browned and seasoned with garlic, onion powder, salt and pepper, most likely) and pepperoni - the only ingredient that is questionable. I would LOVE to find some uncured, no-preservative pepperoni, preferably made from organic pork. If anyone knows of a good brand and where I could find it, please, please, please!!! let me know. We have Kroger, Meijer, Costco, Sam's Club (no membership here though...) very close by and a Whole Food's and Trader Joe's within about a 30-45 minute drive, and I may be willing to drive that far for good pork products (read: bacon, pepperoni, pork sausage, pork chops, ham, pretty much any of the above) ;)

I did end up getting everything on my list plus a few "extras" for the kids for snacks, and stayed under my $340 budget by $7 so I was able to get lunch for the 3 of us and have a whole whopping dollar leftover ;)

Today...

All three boys were up by 6:30 this morning. It's making for a long morning for this tired mama already. J and I crashed on the recliner couch last night and we were both up and down all night (he wanted to nurse several times). I really shouldn't complain because he did sleep for 6-7 hours in the crib last Saturday and then again for 5 straight hours on Wednesday. I know breastfed babies wake up more often and even though he's almost 13 months, he's still nursing and will still wake up some, if not most nights. Especially if our daytime schedule is off and he takes longer/more naps :) I'm still kind of used to the other two's sleeping schedules. Even when they were babies, they slept most nights, all night long. Even more so after they started drinking formula. Of course, I now know that formula sits heavier, takes longer to digest, etc. and that's not necessarily a good thing. It's biologically normal and good for babies to wake throughout the night to eat. :)

Today is going to be pretty busy. A has a cub scout activity at the local police station. He only has 3 requirements left to earn his Wolf badge! Visit a historical or government location, plan and cook an outdoor meal and finally, read and discuss 3 stories of how people are helping the environment. We get to cross the first off the list today! Jas is taking him to meet his den at 10. Baby J and I have to go to Meijer and Costco for groceries today, since we didn't get out yesterday. I'm thinking since we are all up so early, that after breakfast we will head over to Meijer and then since it's right next door and opens at 9:30, we can go to Costco for meat, bulk cheese and some other stuff. Of course, we won't be home by 10, so E will have to go with me and Baby J. This should be interesting. E is not one that will complacently go to the store, especially for a LONG trip. I don't like having to force him, and I know it's distressing for him, although I'm not sure what is particularly hard for him about it. The crowds, maybe or just all the walking and the fact that it's boring? I think I may have to bribe use incentive to get him to come along without (too much) complaining.

On top of all that, our living room couch, the one I mentioned above, with recliners on each end and a fold-down center section, it's on it's last leg. We've been putting band-aids on it for the last year or two. The one side can't even really be sat on by anyone but the boys because the springs are so bad we have a wooden board and pillow shoved underneath. The side I usually sit on, the recliner mechanism pops loose sometimes and won't open. And finally, the bottom center front piece popped off a couple of weeks ago and now it keeps coming off. Now, mind you, looking at it, it doesn't look so bad. There's no stains or rips, it's still pretty comfortable, but it's losing it's functionality very quickly now. The front came off again this morning and won't go back on, leaving a gaping hole for Baby J to climb in. Can we say unsafe? So I have two throw pillows shoved in the opening. Wow. I'm somewhat glad we have an Art Van store credit card, because even though we don't have cash/regular credit available right now and I hate to use the store card, we should be able to get a new couch for a decent price and hopefully a no-interest for 6 months deal. I just have to use the Dave Ramsey gazelle strategy to pay it off in that time frame. Shouldn't be a big deal, right? LOL.

As I'm sitting here typing, my older munchkins are watching cartoon network and there are some bizarre shows on here. Not on right now, but commercials for them. And, goodness gracious, the crazy amount of ads for candy, toys, movies, online games and McD's. It makes me sad :(

2 week menu plan

*Updated: I'm coming back through and crossing off meals we've eaten already. As you can see, (as of 2/7/13) we've gone off course a little, but still eating off menu choices. I've had to adjust some breakfast and lunches due to time constraints on my end (read: I woke up late, or was procrastinating ;) and didn't have time). Still, I feel like we are doing pretty good! I will continue to come back and cross off meals, so I can see what choices we have left, as well as make a note if we enjoyed the meal or not.*

I'm sharing here to not only keep myself accountable and to have it somewhere I can't lose it, but also to show you it is possible to plan a menu, cook good real food and stay within a budget. Typically I have about a $300-$340 budget for 2 weeks. This is for everything - food, toiletries (shampoo, soap, t.p.), paper products (sandwich/freezer bags, foil, paper plates), diapers and baby snacks for on the go, and dog food. It varies a little every two weeks, depending on if we are out of dog food since that's a large chunk of money, or in need of diapers. I try to stock up when we have a bit extra and then I'm able to stock up on other items that we may not need but will use later during the following shopping trip. Right now, I have 2 - 5lb pks of white whole wheat flour so I won't need any, but I'm using it in several recipes over the next two weeks. I will probably have to buy some next time.

So here's the menu. I will try to follow-up tomorrow with how much I actually spend. I still have to do our budget for the week and I dug in to our grocery budget a little already :(

[B = breakfast; L = lunch; D = dinner; snacks are fruit or granola bars or string cheese, typically]

Friday, Feb 1:
           B- scrambled eggs and toast
           L- oatmeal made w/applesauce, maple syrup and some raisins (in thermos') and yogurt *A gets
               pizza today because he's student of the month for his class and the school buys it.*
           D- whole wheat spaghetti w/ ground beef and garlic bread

Saturday, Feb 2:
           B- cereal
           L- grilled cheese on ww bread, pretzels and fruit
           D- homemade ww pizzas (one w/ pepperoni and gr. beef, one w/ cheese) *meh, not my favorite, but not horrible. The flavor was there, but the crust was so thick it was too "heavy". I need to split it into 2 next time and not make double the recipe.*

Sunday, Feb 3:
           B- scrambled eggs and toast
           L- waffle sandwich w/ cream cheese and organic strawberry jelly, yogurt *neither E nor A liked the cream cheese/jelly combo and opted for pb&j on the waffle instead. Baby J and Jas like the "strawberry cream cheese" though. :)*
           D- homemade cheeseburger macaroni (homemade ww macaroni and cheese w/gr beef), 
                applesauce *2 of 5 loved it, 1 really didn't, I kind of did but tasted the flour too much, and littlest one wasn't too sure either*

Monday, Feb 4:
           B- cereal
           L- lunchmeat and cheese on ww bread, fruit, yogurt, pretzels
           D- leftovers

Tuesday, Feb 5:
           B- ww waffles (leftovers in freezer) and fruit
           L- egg salad/tuna and cheese on ww bread, fruit, yogurt
           D- homemade chicken nuggets (ww bread crumbs), organic store-bought fries and tots, carrots *Big hit! We all enjoyed the chicken nuggets, and the flavor of the breading was awesome. Sauteeing/Frying in coconut oil added extra flavor and they were juicy.*

Wednesday, Feb 6:
           B - scrambled eggs and fruit
           L- oatmeal and yogurt
           D- chicken fried "rice" (using quinoa instead of rice!) <--- thanks Heather for this recipe!! *see facebook page for recipe link. This turned out amazing. I cooked the quinoa in homemade chicken stock, added chicken to the recipe and made a couple of adjustments - preminced garlic, sweet pepper instead of red bell pepper, no edamame, ground ginger instead of fresh, mild sweet chili sauce instead of srirachi chili sauce (I think it's slightly spicier?). Everybody but E loved it. I think it was more of a texture thing for him, he couldn't get past the quinoa. I am proud of him though, because he did eat half of it and didn't really complain :)*

Thursday, Feb 7:
           B - cereal
           L- ww(homemade) blueberry muffins, cheese chunks, grapes *we've had the muffins before, so I can say, without a doubt, they are delish!*
           D- breakfast for dinner: eggs, toast, organic sausage, homemade sausage gravy, ww biscuits
                (homemade!) *actually made breakfast burritos with bacon, scrambled eggs and co-jack in whole wheat tortillas, instead*

Friday, Feb 8:
           B - p.b. toast and fruit
           L- macaroni and cheese or spaghetti leftovers (in thermos') and fruit (see link above)
           D- tacos (gr. beef, homemade taco seasoning, homemade crockpot refried beans, shredded
                lettuce, cheese, sour cream, pico de gallo)

Saturday, Feb 9:
           B - scrambled eggs and toast
           L- triscuits with cheese and meat (homemade "lunchables"), fruit
           D- pork chops, pan-fried potatoes, corn

Sunday, Feb 10:
           B - ww fruit muffins (see above link) and yogurt
           L- grilled ham and cheese, pretzels, fruit
           D-quiche with ww crust (ham, cheese, peppers, onion and tomato) *yeah. Um, no. Not making quiche again. It either just didn't turn out good, or it's just not in our taste. If someone ever wants to make one for me, I'll try it. Otherwise, I will avoid like the plague!*

Monday, Feb 11:
           B - scrambled eggs and toast
           L- blueberry/fruit muffins, yogurt, fruit
           D- leftovers

Tuesday, Feb 12:
           B - cereal
           L- meat and cheese rollups, yogurt, fruit
           D- nachos (gr. beef w/ homemade taco seasoning, shredded cheese, leftover taco toppings as
                desired)

Wednesday, Feb 13:
           B - p.b. toast and fruit
           L- egg salad/tuna with cheese on ww bread, fruit, yogurt
           D- homemade ww ravioli (only using the pasta recipe - filling withricotta, mozzarella, gr.
                beef) and spaghetti sauce, salad *didn't like how these turned out. I will have to try again, if/when we get a pasta maker. I just can't seem to roll the dough thin enough. They didn't cook all the way and were very dough-y. I even cooked them for much longer than she said to...*

Thursday, Feb 14:
           B - cereal
           L- tortilla wrap (lunchmeat and cheese), fruit, yogurt, pretzels
           D- salad with grilled chicken, cheese, sunflower seeds and/or tortilla strips, strawberries if
                desired

Friday, Feb 15:
           B - scrambled eggs and toast
           L- leftover chicken (cold), cheese chunks, pretzels, fruit
           D- homemade fish sticks (ww bread crumbs), homemade french fries, salad

Saturday, Feb 16:
           B - cereal
           L- p.b. and jelly on ww bread, fruit, yogurt, tortilla chips
           D- chicken quesadillas (ww tortillas and homemade taco seasoning)

Snack time :)

Every Friday, my kids' school sells popcorn as a fundraiser and as a snack/treat for the kids to eat. Since I'm trying harder to avoid food dyes in our diet, this week they won't be buying it. Yes, that's right, the popcorn that I have helped make and sell has food dye :( They have a really nice popcorn machine they use and it takes kernels, butter flavored oil and the buttered flavored salt powder. Both the oil and salt have yellow dye (#5 or #6) not to mention artificial flavoring!

This morning, I pulled out my air-popper and made our own popcorn. I sprayed it with my olive oil mister and sprinkled some sea salt on it. Easy peasy!

A quick glimpse

Baby J on a field trip with mom and E's class :)

Apparently, Baby J will be having surgery in the next few weeks. It's a minor surgery, but he'll be under anesthesia and that is scary to me. Even with everything we have gone through with each of our munchkins, this is definitely the scariest to me. I never thought it would be the youngest having surgery. I always figured E would have had to have heart surgery for his VSD (ventricular septal defect).

A quick run-down of the trials and tribulations we have dealt with as parents:
(Nothing terribly huge and I know others have to go through much harder things. Don't think I'm complaining, just sharing, so you can see the big picture.)

E: heart rate dropped numerous times during labor and umbilical cord around his neck at birth; diagnosed with VSD at 2 days old while still in the hospital, even though we could have gone home early, I had decided to take the extra day for rest and help as a first time mom; ppd for me and low supply and minimal to no support for breastfeeding resulting in me giving up (important to me but luckily he did ok on formula with no allergies :) ); jaundice but numbers never checked (still makes me mad at the dr, as Jas and I were uninformed and young); slow growth, probably due to VSD and high metabolism; speech delay at 18 months, with formal diagnosis of communication/speech delay shortly after; autism diagnosis through school in kindergarten per IEP team; Asperger's/Pervasive Developmental Diagnosis Not Otherwise Specified and possible ADHD at 8 (?, it was the end of 4th grade I think...). He still has a small hole in his heart but it is slowly closing, causing no issues/symptoms and doesn't need surgery. He has a behavior plan as well as an Individual Education Plan through school, is academically advanced, in 6th grade at 10 and making major progress socially and behaviorally. Oh yeah, and an unfortunate incident with a quarter that involved several x-rays and mom watching the toilet closely. We never did actually see the quarter again, but x-rays confirmed it was passed...

A: Heart murmur at birth and because of the sibling history had echo at hospital, turned out to be nothing serious, just the pre-natal vein/artery (correct me if I'm wrong?) wasn't closed completely, fairly common; ppd for me and again, low milk supply; jaundice with his numbers getting up to about 15 - seriously, he didn't look as yellow as E did, though :(; somewhat slow growth (apparently, I just make small babies, though, cause even on formula he didn't get chunky ;) ) and then a possible formula allergy so he had to go on soy formula for a while; reflux that needed prilosec till he was about 11 months and spitting up, he even needed an ultrasound and ct scan (I think? the one with the dye...); he's also had x-rays 3 different times from falling (the most recent off his bike and needing his elbow and knee x-rayed!).

J: heart rate dropped during labor and umbilical cord around his neck at birth; slow (but steady) weight gain but no other failure to thrive symptoms; heart murmur noticed at 1 week old, again because of sibling history sent for echo - turned out to be an "innocent" murmur; very jaundiced, numbers up to 18 and needed bili-blanket at home for several days; undescended left testicle which was seen on ultrasound at a few weeks old.

That brings me full-circle. The surgery is to "bring down" his left testicle. At just over a year old, it has still not come down on it's own. The urologist couldn't feel it and manually move it so he's scheduling J for surgery in the next few weeks. It's an hour long surgery at the hospital and he'll be under anesthesia, but he gets to come home right after he's out of recovery, apparently. I'm nervous for him. I can't be in there with him, he'll be medicated, he can't eat or drink (and most likely, not breastfeed) for several hours beforehand. He still nurses on demand, and most nights that means quite a lot, sometimes it feels like all night long ;)

I know deep down that he's going to be fine, but I'm anxious. I guess I'm asking for some prayers from you all. For J. For me. For the doctor. Thanks.

Normal.

What is normal? Or maybe, rather, who is normal? Not I! I don't fit neatly into any box. I am not just this, or just that. I try to get along with people. I like people who talk to me like their equal and not lesser than. If you treat my kids the way I would, with respect and authority all in one, I trust you with them and want you and your kids around. If we think along the same lines, in one way or many, if you get my husband's goofy jokes and sarcasm, if you understand my kids' differences and don't think anything of it, you are my kind of people.

I have a hard time relating to people, or maybe it's just that I don't always open up to others? I don't know. It takes me a while to make a new friend. But finally, after 3+ years of living in MI and my oldest son being halfway through his 4th year at his new school, I can say I truly have someone I consider a good friend! It's nice to get along with somebody, that lives nearby and has kids that are similar ages and get along with my boys. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my boys' teachers but because they are their teachers, it's probably crossing some invisible line to call them "friend" (even though, I truly classify at least one a friend and 2 others as acquaintances!). But another mom that Jason and I feel comfortable around, can have over for dinner, sit and talk to and totally lose track of time in the process, that is a rare thing indeed. (I've only ever found that with a few other people in my lifetime - Sharon, Jill and Darla are three of them and they are all still amazing friends!!!)

So thanks again, Julie, for hanging out with my goofy family last night and bringing your boys over to this madhouse!

Making a difference

I was approached by a friend today about helping her write an article in our school newsletter about food dyes. She has a fantastic idea and since she's experiencing first hand what a difference it can make, she will do a great job with this. I am truly humbled that she asked me to assist her!

I want to make sure to approach this without putting any parents out. I don't want them to feel bad or think they are doing something wrong, cause that's not the case. But I want them to be open minded and think about it. Maybe little Suzie is struggling to focus on that assignment, not because she can't do it or she's bored, but because her brain can't focus due to food dye interfering with it's natural functions. Maybe little Johnny can't stay in his seat, not because he's "hyper" from sugar, but the food dye is affecting his ability to sit still and not fidget so much. Maybe your child has "brain fog" and can't think clearly when it comes to their homework, or they get a lot of headaches but the doctor can't find a medical reason. They won't stop talking or interrupting long enough to listen. Whatever "ADHD" symptom they are having. This is not to say there is no such thing as ADD/ADHD or that medicine is NEVER the answer, but sometimes it's more (or less) of that. Isn't better to remove some unnecessary item from your life, something insignificant, that COULD be causing a problem, and surely doesn't do anything good for our bodies? Why not eat foods that don't have dyes? They really serve no purpose, other than making our food look "pretty". The fact that they are made from petroleum makes me (and hundreds of thousands of other people) think that, how can they be good for you or just be benign ingredients??

It's hard. Your kids will resist. Especially when their friends have fruit roll-ups or blue frosted cupcakes. Or when Grandma and Grandpa say, hey it's just once in a while, or even the inevitable "well you ate it and you're just fine!"

Seriously, that one makes me mad. Am I really? Is my generation seriously just fine? Look at the obesity rates! I'm 65lbs overweight, because I've eaten crap food for too long and not exercised on top of it!! Look at the high incidences of ADD, ADHD, Autism, asthma, cancer, and numerous other diagnoses. Do I think that all/any of those are caused by food dye? I really don't know. Do I think that they are exacerbated by it? YES, YES and a resounding YES!!! I think GMO foods haven't helped either. I think these things not only screw with our brains but our genetics, our fertility and therefore our children! Our parents ate a ton less "crap" food, and their parents, even less. We can NOT keep doing this to ourselves. We have this one life here on Earth, (and God-willing, eternal life with Him in Heaven, because yes I do believe!) and we have to make the most of it. We have to make our kids lives good so they can grow up and be successful and hopefully someday, if they choose, have their own families. How can they do that with out good, real food going in their little bodies and their brains being able to get the right nutrients? We all know if we don't eat a meal or eat too much candy, we don't feel well, maybe a tummy ache or a headache. So why not make the most of those meals we do eat?

Oh yeah, and when your kids resist, remember, you are the parent. You buy the food, you do the cooking. Don't buy junk, don't make it available. Offer something at every meal you know they will eat (but is good for them) and whatever else you planned. That way they have the choice to try something but won't starve if they don't want to or don't like it. Don't make it a battle. There are so many more important things in life, than fighting over food. Offer the good stuff, don't "give in" and keep the crap out of the house!

Just a thought...

READ, READ, AND RE-READ THOSE LABELS!!!

I started writing this on FaceBook, but quickly realized that my little status update/photo share was turning in to a long rant. LOL. So here goes: I went grocery shopping this weekend and bought these 2 items because I had coupons. I didn't check the labels closely. I usually trust Dole and Welch's. They both have some good products, but that doesn't mean they are all "ok" to eat. Blindly trusting manufacturers is not the best decision. We are trying to avoid HFCS, and drink 100% juice. The mango twist is only 20% juice and it's 2nd ingredient is HFCS, right after water. That means it has more of both of those than it does actual juice. (Ingredients are listed in order of amount, 1st ingredient being the most, and so on). I usually by the Dole fruit cups that are packed in just juice, no added sweeteners. The Dole canned tropical fruit has added sugar (hence the "light syrup) and while it's not the 1st or 2nd ingredient, it's not really needed. Fruit is sweet enough on it's own. It really doesn't need added sugar. If our kids get used to eating it without sugar, they will soon realize that it's delicious with out extra sweeteners. Our taste buds are so used to all the extra sugar and HFCS because it's in EVERYTHING! If we stop eating so much, our sense of taste can adjust and we can enjoy food the way it's meant to be, the way God and nature intended.

That's not to say I don't love candy (especially chocolate) and Pepsi, but I guarantee 20+ years of having those have made a big difference in that. Over the last couple of years, I've learned to enjoy many foods, things I've never even tried before.

(BTW, a piece of dark chocolate, even once a day, isn't necessarily a bad thing. It has antioxidants, plus if you truly like it, it can be a bit of a stress relief ;-) )