Whole 30

I have decided to challenge myself to eat whole foods for 30 days.  Details can be found here, but basically I will eat three meals a day, comprised of a palmful of protein and a ton of veggies.  Fruits, nuts and seeds here and there too.  No grains, legumes, dairy or sugar.

Why so extreme?  Well, I hope to give my digestive system a break, increase nutrient absorption, and figure out what foods my body respons well to.

Also, I hope to get better at:

1.  Menu planning.  This is something that I don't do.  I find it intimidating.  But if you eat mainly produce, you kind of need a plan for when/how you're going to eat it, otherwise it will just sit and rot in your fridge.  I sat down yesterday and made a list of meals and a corresponding grocery list.  It took a long time, especially since the recipes were all new and I was picking them blindly.  It was fun to go shopping, though, and know exactly how many zucchinis and tomatoes I would need for the week.

2.  Cooking.  Obviously, since I don't menu plan, we have a few staples and we grocery shop for those.  I would like to consume more than cereal, pizza, mac and cheese, spaghetti, salad and quesadillas. And my children will benefit from a broadening of their tastes; I want them to experience more crunch, zing and zest of the culinary rainbow.

3. Relationship with food:  I find that as a stay at home mom, I snack throughout the day on whatever is easiest, because cooking and sitting down to eat are "selfish" in the eyes of my toddlers, who only see this as mom not attending to them.  I also personally don't like to spend a lot of time thinking about food, which is why I like to throw things together and get dinner on the table as quickly as possible.  I have been reading a lot about nutrition lately, and I do think it's worth it to change this habit.  I owe it to myself and my family to focus more on what is sustaining us.  We are already somewhat healthy: don't drink soda or juices that aren't %100, avoid high fructose corn syrup, buy whole wheat products, etc.  However, I would like to learn more about what we should be eating, and focus less on what we shouldn't.

4.  Weight:  This is not a necessity for these next 30 days, but I would sure be happy if I lost a few pounds.  I'm not technically overweight, but my body feels puffy and most of my pre-twin wardrobe is still uncomfortably tight around my waist.  I would like to feel better in my movements, and that sweet spot is typically about 10 pounds away from here.

So, here we go!  Wish me luck.  That's mainly why I'm blogging about this, so that people I know and love can help to keep me motivated.