Hi, friends. I’m feeling pretty pumped about the results of my daily log on where I spend my time – our week 1 awareness challenge. While I did find I go off track fairly often, I was able to control how much time I spent online and realizing I don’t allocate enough time for diversions OUTSIDE OF MY CONTROL – such as a client needing something or a kid needing some extra mama errand time and so on. I feel MUCH BETTER spending less time on social media and unplugging more. I’m going to keep working on staying in the present moment to be more productive and fully give my attention to the matters at hand.

So week 2 we’re diving into a sticky topic  – getting real about FOOD. I’m not a foodie AT ALL and don’t really enjoy eating or cooking per se so that in itself provides a roadblock for me. Our Get Real series in an awareness challenge to look at our choices and for me that means I have to not fall back on the EASY which often means junk meals or junk food (yes, packaged granola bars, too) instead of eating REAL FOOD. I want to appreciate good food more and really see the dangers of the quick fix, packaged junk. Thankfully, I do love making fruit and veggie smoothies so I can get my green on. Food should be a FUEL for our bodies not an experiment to see if our bodies can process the garbage we’re putting into it. Not an ego boost to feed our desire for salty, fatty foods that we’ve gotten used to because our culture is what it is today. Sugary, fatty, salty, quick. It does take a while to get your tastebuds back, but I promise you’ll find food more pleasurable if  you lay off the bad stuff.

Recommended activities and links to guide us this week. If a word is highlighted, it means there is an article that tells you more about why it’s bad or good:

Do an inventory of your fridge and your pantry. What you BUY is likely what you’ll EAT and feed your family. For me, I buy and cook WAY too much pasta. 

Too many packaged products? Put on your shipping list to buy the REAL THING instead. Understanding which processed food is good for you and which ones are stripped of nutrients. 

In a cooking slump? Try new recipes and LEARN HOW TO COOK over at HilahCooking.com.

Look at long-term lifestyle changes such as smoothies for lunch or the paleo diet or what it means to be gluten-free. Limit all fried foods and eating beef. We went from eating it about once a week to about once a month and even then I want to make sure it’s GOOD – grass fed, lean.

Do a daily log for a week to see what your “normal” is (but still resist the bad choices). What time of day is hardest for you? What are your portion sizes? What’s your ratio of food on your plate? Too much meat and ‘tators? Veggies should be the biggest portion. Don’t think you have to have bread and dessert at every meal. Make FRUIT your dessert. Maybe one night a week you get an actual HOMEMADE dessert. How could you start weaning yourself off bad choices? Fast food once a week instead of three? A soda once a day instead of two or three. Go from a 20 oz. down to a 8 oz? I PROMISE it can work if you work it.

Pay attention to the food as you are eating it. Do ONLY that activity not eating while working, etc. Look at the food and ask, where does this come from? What’s good in it? What’s bad in it? Is it a treat or something I eat too much of? Read the label! (For me that was giving up granola bars. Yes, it has fiber but check out what else it has: Glycerin, sugar, fructose, soluble corn fiber, rice flour, corn syrup and so on. So now I’ll treat it as a candy bar, not as a “health food”. If you are eating fast food, try the kids’ meals instead of the bigger ones OR buy single items not the whole meal – an easy way to control portion size. Unless it’s a damn good burger, I’ll usually take the top bun off to help limit carbs. All bets are off if I’m eating at Tucker’s though. Yum.

On sodas: I used to be a diet soda addict. Drank it for 20 years. I swear it killed my memory, gave me migraines and I had a gut that didn’t go away UNTIL I GAVE THEM UP. Now I drink coffee with no sugar (maybe a small bit of creamer, sometimes vanilla or mocha) and tea. I only have the occasional regular soda (not diet) and then it’s poured in a glass so I don’t drink much of it. (And boy is it sweet if you haven’t had one in awhile.) Sodas are the new tobacco, bar none. Sugar is killing us, feeding toxins to our cells and making us tired, low energy and depressed. How about 143 reasons sugar is harmful and lots of citations.

Yes, our body chemistry and family histories are all different. That can make it tough in dealing with meal planning and food rules for an entire family but what research does show us is reducing or restricting sugar and carbs and fake foods and increasing fruits and vegetable consumption and sticking to lean meats are the way to go.

Foods I Used to Rarely Eat That I Love Now:

Almonds, Greek yogurt, boiled eggs, tuna, spinach & kale (mostly in my smoothies), banana every morning, almond and coconut milk, coffee, red wine

REALLY need to work on my water intake. I like to add some fruit to it for a bit of natural flavor. Kick the bottle habit and use a filter in your house.

Have a question or comment? I’d love to hear from you and good luck on your journey.

Get Real is a year-long awareness challenge to look at our choices on 52 topics. Subscribe to the blog to get this in your inbox each week. In 2014, everything is ILLUMINATED as we live with INTENTION. I’m not a guru – just a woman sharing her intentions for the year, inviting you along with me as we wake up to our personal truth.