Clear the way... Finding what's best for me

 Finding what's best for me

As I clear the way to make room for the valuable food that fuels my mind & body, sometimes it can be tricky knowing what to clear out of my diet and what to keep.  The process may encompass more than just clearing out the obvious "junk food".

Part of the challenge in knowing what to clear out is that diet/nutrition is a hotly debated subject with strong-held opinions & recommendations.  The deeper I dig into the information, the more I get bombarded with mixed messages about what  to eat.  I feel caught in the middle of a war between the government agencies, renowned researchers, film producers, and professional & lay "experts" in the field.  It can be very confusing.  Plant-based? wheat-free? dairy-free? Mediterranean? low fat?               

My gluten-free month that I did a few summers ago reminded me of how important it is to experiment with food and be the expert of my own body.  That experiment led me to transition over to more of a gluten-free eating style. This was a valuable experience.  It seems there is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to diet recommendations.  So, I decided it's time to experiment with going dairy-free to find out what's best for me.  

Why dairy-free?  I have this growing, gnawing sense that maybe the dairy I consume isn't really necessary, and furthermore may not even be all that good for me.  A few of the sources that support "the other side" of the dairy debate shed light on the potential negative effects of dairy.

• http://thepaleodiet.com/paleo-diet-faq/
• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/dairy-free-dairy-6-reason_b_558876.html
• http://www.thepaleomom.com/2012/10/the-great-dairy-debate.html 

I'm feeling torn.  The pro-dairy message from government agencies has a stronghold on me.  It's so...well, American-  to have a milk mustache.  Plus, I was born and raised in the Dairy State.  I'm a "cheese head".  Could I break path?  Should I break path? 

Up to this point, I haven't been able to get myself to give up the dairy products that I eat daily and love so much- cheese, milk and yogurt.  But this year as Lent approached, I felt ready to sacrifice and give dairy-free a try.  It won't be easy. 

Here are the dairy products I'm really hooked on:

• my 1/4 cup cottage cheese as part of my morning ritual along with 1/2 cup of cranberry juice, before I enjoy my morning cup of coffee
• my post work-out 12 oz of 1% lactose-free milk mixed with a scoop of chocolate whey protein powder
• cheese - all shapes, types, flavors- are a daily part of either lunch and/or dinner meal
• a splash of whole lactose-free milk to lighten my coffee
• our Sunday family dessert night (ice cream)

Questions looming in my mind

• What will I use in place of these dairy "anchors" in my diet?
• How will my choice to go dairy-free impact my family?
• Will I get adequate nutrients, especially calcium & Vitamin D for preventing osteoporosis?
• Will I have to drink my coffee black?!

Obviously, I have some things to explore, figure out, and questions to answer.  All I know right now is that I'm off all dairy for the 40 days of Lent until Easter Sunday.  This experiment will be my way of helping to determine if dairy is best for me, or not.  I'll never really know until I live without it and then try living with it.  Here we go...

 

Clear the way... the potato chip story

The potato chip story

 

Clearing the way to make room for goodness is an enormous topic and can take effort putting into practice.  For some people, clearing out the junk food is best done in one fell swoop.  For our family, I choose to make gradual changes over time (years) in baby steps.  There's no question that having fat/sugar/salt laden foods in our home make it really challenging to eat well.  I don't think anyone is immune to the addicting nature of some of these foods.  If they're there, we'll eat them.  Case in point.....

 

Upon arriving back into town after a gal's weekend road trip up north with my sister Ann, we stopped by the grocery store to pick up a few items for dinner.  We were a bit road worn from all our travel and fun. 

 

"I need some Ranch potato chips" Ann told me as I quickly ran in for just a few items.  Mind you, Ann is health conscious but she had a hankering for some potato chips.  "Sure, anything for you sis."  I was completely overwhelmed as I scanned the enormous section of potato chips, pulling out my reading glasses to scour the ingredient list.  I knew I wanted to avoid the worst culprits - hydrogenated fats and MSG.  I was hoping to find a list of ingredients that was fairly short and somewhat whole foods-ish.  Who was I fooling?  Did I really expect to find whole foods in a potato chip aisle?  I also glanced at the fat and calorie content.  Wow.  I knew I wouldn't be doing anyone a favor by bringing them into our home.  Torn, I wanted to honor Ann's request, but I simply could not bring myself to place a bag of potato chips in my basket.  I proceeded on to get the other few items.

 

I had barely opened the car door when Ann curiously asked, "What kind of chips did you get?"  Grimacing, I confessed that I didn't buy any potato chips.  "You what?!", she yelled at me in disbelief (in a sisterly way).  Back at home, we made do without our potato chips. 

 

A few months later, a Christmas package arrived from Ann.  It contained a cookie tin labeled, "For happy hour".  We curiously opened it up, and there in front of our eyes was a tin filled to the brim with....Ranch potato chips.  Ha ha ha!  No food label information to deter me this time, we dug in as we played our family's favorite board game, Rummikub.  Yet, the competition of the game paled in comparison to the real battle over who got the most potato chips.

The Lay's slogan is spot on: "No one can eat just one."  The food manufacturers add a perfect blend of fat/sugar/salt to create a true party in our mouth.  These foods are scientifically designed to be highly desired by our taste buds.  Scientists are learning that the wiring of some people's brains may make them more susceptible to these additives in foods.

When our taste buds are used to having chips around, who would chose carrots?  We can set ourselves up for greater success in eating well by keeping the "trigger" foods out of reach.

Mile by mile, life's a trial.

Inch by inch, life's a cinch.

I want to clear the way, inch by inch, to make room for the goodness.

 

Clear the way... Kiddie foods

Kiddie foods

In the early years of bringing up children, I fell prey to the advertising of "kiddie" foods- artificially flavored & colored, processed "fun" shaped forms which often provide little to no nutritional value.  Wanting to do what was best for our preschool-age daughter who was a picky eater and "falling off the growth chart", I desperately followed the well-intentioned advice of friends, loved ones and medical professionals to "give her anything she'll eat".  That I did.  Not just her, but all 3 of the kids at the time.  Jimmy didn't mind so much (see picture). 

Jimmy discovers how to "unlock" Oreos (1994)

After enduring an overnight stay in the hospital for growth hormone testing, it turns out my daughter's body was simply getting realigned with her genetic code to grow at the 5th percentile instead of the 50th.  Reflecting back I wonder, if it weren't for that precipitating event would I have still succumbed to all the "kiddie" junk food?  There sure is a lot of pressure to do so.  It's the American way.

I read a superb article in the living section of the Oregonian the other day, "French parents don't make life all about children".  In her two books, author Pamela Druckerman discusses some of the differences she has noticed from living in both the French and the American culture.

1. Starting from a very young age, French kids mostly eat the same foods as their parents. There are no "kid" foods.

2. French parents teach kids how to wait and entertain themselves simply by making them wait and entertain themselves. 

Excellent points!  Our kids grow up learning to use food as a way to pass the time, to entertain themselves, to eat just for fun, and maybe even to help their "boo-boo" feel better.

Last weekend, a soccer dad was reading the label of his 2 year old nephew's kiddie food package (I think it was Pirate's Booty).  Kudos to him for examining a food label.  "Well", he declared, "there's nothing really bad in it, but nor is there anything good in it."  Precisely.  I couldn't have summed it up better.

I put food into 3 categories:

   1. negative (potentially harmful to one's health)
   2. neutral (nothing bad, nothing good)
   3. valuable (unprocessed, whole foods- chocked with natural nutrients)

The foods that I want in my home are the ones that have something good in them - the valuable stuff that my mind and body thrive beautifully on.

Over the years I have gradually stopped buying the kiddie foods.  When they're not in the house, they're simply not there to eat, plain as that.  Same goes for any of the fat, sugar, and salt-laden foods (I'll save the addicting potato chip story for my next post). 

We still have one lingering item from the pre-school "give her whatever she'll eat" approach.  That is Ovaltine, the chocolate mix for milk.  At this point I'm just buying it out of sheer habit. The kids add it to their milk for a quick breakfast or snack because it's there and they've always done it.  I decided I'm done buying it.  No need for it.  It's nothing but sugar and some chemicals.  Oh, but wait-  the label claims it has "10 vitamins and...". No, I'm not falling for that advertising gimmick anymore.  When it runs out, it's gone.  I could throw it out, but I'll just let it run out.  The next time I use my preprinted Winco grocery list, Ovaltine will be intentionally absent.  I'm closing the door to an unhealthy choice, which opens the door to make the healthy choice the easy choice.  One step towards making room for goodness.

Welcome to The Eating Well Project!

Two events -- actually reading two books recommended by my sister Ann -- were my kick-in-the-pants to really get me on the path to start writing this blog.  In 9 Things You Simply Must Do to Succeed in Love and Life, Dr. Henry Cloud helped boost me with a shot  of "I can do this!" by taking it one small step at a time toward my goal of someday writing a book.  The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin, inspired the format for my baby step to begin writing.  That is, a blog that is a year-long exercise in learning and experimenting with (in my case) making it doable, and enjoyable, to nourish myself and my family well.

On a deeper level, my reason for writing this blog has to do with my core values- health, family, faith, growth, happiness.  So much of our emotional & physical well-being is dependent on our nutrition and how we fuel our body.  The ill effects that our food supply and eating habits can have on us are staggering.  The obesity and diabetes statistics are reaching near epidemic levels with each passing day.   What does this mean for our future health? Not only ourselves but the health of our children and grandchildren?  I ask myself, why not do all I can to set us up for success, and be the best we can be?

• to feel good & want to get out of bed to start the day
• to have the energy and focus throughout the day to have a positive impact on the world around us
• to be of healthy disposition

Yet eating well is not easy.  It can feel really mundane and frustrating at times, almost a battle.  John & I are coming up on our 25th wedding anniversary this August.  I was reflecting the other day on the fact that I've prepared dinner (for the most part) on average 6 days/week, 52 weeks/year, for nearly 25 years.  That's a lot of meals.  7800 in fact.  I want to put some zest back into it!  Make it more fun to feed my family well!  And do a good job of it!  I want to pour myself into it, figure it out so that it will become habit - not just for me to eat well, but for everyone in my family to eat well, feel well, live well.  In a way that works best for each of us.

My plan is over the course of one year to achieve specific goal(s) set forth each month.  At the end of the year, I will have become better at feeding my family well in a way that I don't have to think it through each time, yet not have it be so rote that it's boring.  I will prepare my children for the future -  to have the ability to feed themselves well whether they're under our own roof or not-  be they at school, over at a friend's, off to college, married and beyond. 

I promise to be kind to myself.  A good reminder from author Gretchen Rubin is, "Perfection never happens in real life. We always have to do the best we can with what we have. And that's okay."  We're each in a unique place, trying to do our best.

Here is my outline of the topics I plan to cover throughout the year.  I may adjust as I see fit.  This blog is the story of my experience- what I try, what I learn.  It reflects my particular situation, values, and interests.  I hope that sharing my experiences will help you think about your own eating experience, and inspire you to try some different things on your own, to eat well, feel well, live well.  Let's enjoy the ride!  

   February         -Clear the way to make room for goodness

   March             -Bring on the fruits & veggies

   April                -Begin with a plan: breakfast & lunch

   May                -What's for dinner? I've got to get those recipes organized

   June               -Who's cooking dinner?

   July                -Liberate myself & put the cookbook away

   August            -Regroup for the school year

   September      -Ramping up for the Girlfriends Half Marathon

   October           -Share thy food

   November        -Engineer my environment

   December       -Simplicity of the season

   January           -Year in review