Monday, May 28, 2012

100 Days of Eating Better

Junk food. We all love it. I know I certainly do. Same with processed food. It's all so quick, easy, and oh so convenient. But its also pretty bad for you. French fries are probably one of my most favorite foods in the world. Especially Chick-Fil-A's. The waffley goodness, crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, all covered in salt. They truly are heaven. :-)

Ok, enough day dreaming. We all recognize that we can eat better. High fructose corn syrup is in EVERYTHING, and as much as I love french fries (*sigh*), I know how bad they are for me.

So I found this site called 100 Days of Real Food, and got inspired. This woman, and her family, decided that for 100 days, they would eat absolutely nothing processed. Her list of rules included no processed sugars, whole grain everything, and lots of fruits and veggies. I love the idea of this, but I personally think some of her rules won't quite work for us (locally raised meats, organic everything). I don't really buy into the whole organic thing. If you disagree with me, fine. I'm not here to argue it. Just stating my point of view.

That being said, Travis and I really liked the idea, but realized that doing this cold turkey was going to be very difficult - especially for Penelope, who every time we go out for any sort of meal starts begging for french fries (looks like she got my tastebuds!) So what we've done is come up with a schedule for us that will help us to wean off of processed foods slowly, but still allow us to get there, and will allow us to try all sorts of new foods that we never would have considered. In fact, that's one of the new rules. Every 2 weeks, we have a try a new food we would never have considered before.

We've divided our steps into 14 weeks (which equals about 100 days), and each week, we will add a new "rule" to our habits. Some of them will be easy for us, some will be tough (NO soda, EEK!), and each of us will have different rules that are harder for us than others. Either way, we're both looking forward to doing this and giving it a try.

Our one other rule - we're going to be as strict as possible about this for ourselves when we're at home. However, if we're out with friends, or at a birthday party, we will eat whatever they provide and will not preach to them about what we're doing and cause a stink. If they offer us cake, you can guarantee we're gonna have cake. :-) Because honestly, if you completely deprive yourself of certain things, you're self control is eventually going to break down, and you're going to binge. That's why we're taking this in baby steps and only making single changes each week (sometimes 2 because of the new food rule)

So, that being said, here is our plan:

Week 1: No eating out – at all
Week 2: Try a new food
Week 3: At least 1 serving of fresh fruit everyday
Week 4: 1 soda the whole week. Try a new food
Week 5: New recipe week! Try a new recipe every day
Week 6: Make homemade stocks/broths. Try a new food
Week 7: To the farmer’s market for veggies
Week 8: Vegetables at every meal. Try a new food
Week 9: Only one small serving of sweets for the whole week
Week 10: Try making your own whole wheat bread. Try a new food
Week 11: New recipe week! Try a new recipe every day
Week 12: No soda. Try a new food
Week 13: No sweets
Week 14: Nothing out of a box, can, bag, bottle or package that has more than 5 ingredients listed on the label. Try a new food

Our weeks are going to start every Monday, because that is my grocery shopping days, and we've decided that today is our first day. One exception to the no eating out rule is on Monday afternoons. Penelope and I share a Publix sub for lunch, but its already included in the monthly budget, and frankly its just easier to give that to her to keep her busy when I'm trying to put groceries away. 

Care to join us? Feel free to use our plan, or create one that works better for your family. Either way, you'll be eating better, and it won't be quite so painful all at once!

Or don't. If you're happy with what you're doing then great! I'm not here to preach about this or judge you based on what you do (see previous post). I just know for us, this is the direction we need to head towards! 

So if you're going to try this, good luck! If not, look forward to weekly posts about our adventures, how things are changing, and how we're feeling!

2 comments:

car2ner said...

Wow, the Try a New Recipe everyday weeks would be tough for me. The Veggie with Every Meal is something we already do almost everyday.

Here's to a successful change of habits. Good thing you are going slow. It takes success over weeks to create new habits.

Unknown said...

I LOVE to try new recipes so that week won't be a challenge. The veggies with each meal won't be tough either, its just a matter of doing it. Everything I cook has vegetables in it, but I want to start serving a side of veggies with every meal.

The limited sodas and sweets weeks are going to be tough for me. :-)