Today’s guest post is from Tophat at the bee in your bonnet. Heather is one of the few bloggers I’ve had the pleasure to meet in person and she’s just lovely. Sadly, she moved shortly after we met to a place much warmer and nicer. I’ve loved reading her blog since Peanut was very young and I continue to enjoy it today. We plan on doing elimination communication with Twig and Heather has done it with both of her children. So here we go!

Elimination Communication. Big, glamorous words for “catching infant poop outside of a diaper.”

There are lots of places for information about elimination communication such as Diaper Free Baby. And while I was working on this post, Boba published, “41 reasons to go diaper free with elimination communication, no potty training required.” You can hold a baby over a sink, over a toilet, over a prefold, over a bowl, or get a cheap Ikea potty. Or use the bushes outside. That works, too. Sometimes babies potty learn early. Sometimes they don’t. Sometimes they go on a potty strike for an undisclosed amount of time. And sometimes things come up and EC is just another thing on your mind and you need to give yourself a break. All of those are ok.

And now that list probably overwhelmed some of you. Taking a baby potty? Extra work. And on one level, you’re right. But what I tell most people new to EC is this:

You’re a parent, so you know that feeling you get when it’s been a while since your baby has pooped and she’s making that face and you know it’s going to happen and it’s going to be an exploding mess? It doesn’t have to be an exploding mess! Follow that feeling, take the baby to the potty, and save that diaper. And if you were wrong, then you were wrong. And if you were right, booya!

That’s all you have to do. You don’t have to do anything more than that. Just follow your instincts. Sharpen those “something’s up” vibes. Even practicing 20 minutes a day of naked butt time will increase your sensitivity to your child’s cues. Set a timer and do no more. If you can. Because it’s hard to ignore the signals once you learn them. Plus, it’s fun!

Which leads me to my favorite part of EC: the booyas.  If it’s not being fun, then don’t do it. ECed or diapered, by the age of 16, most kids are out of diapers and it won’t matter. Have fun!

Heather with her daughter on the potty at around 6-7 months.

TopHat blogs at the bee in your bonnet about breastfeeding, birth, parenting, and whatever else is on her mind. She is an avid knitter and lives in the Bay Area where the weather is always balmy, though sometimes foggy.

Last year, after actually getting the flu, I wrote this post on how I was debating my decision to not get the vaccine. Someone who had read that post asked me a couple of months ago what my final decision was on the flu vaccine. Were we going to get it this year? My decision: no flu vaccine.

The flu sucked. Absolutely. I hated how I felt, how Peanut felt, and I especially hated the fear I had as a mother for my child. It was annoying not being able to leave the house and having to reschedule things. I didn’t like having to make the decision of whether or not to give my child a drug that could potentially help her immensely and could potentially give her awful side effects.

Regardless, I still do not think that the vaccine is worth it. The mercury in the shots (yes, even in the children shots if it’s multi-dose). The over-exaggerated statistics. All the guess work involved in deciding which strain will be most prominent. The false security that the shot actually protects you from the flu. These and more are still my reasons for not getting the flu shot this year.

What got me thinking about my decision not to get the flu shot was this article on Mothering.com today. It’s specifically talking about the recommendation that pregnant women get the flu shot and how that recommendation is unfounded and dangerous. It goes over many of my personal reasons for avoiding the flu shot and I thought that you all might find it interesting.

This post was written as part of The Breastfeeding Cafe’s Carnival. For more info on the Breastfeeding Cafe, go to www.breastfeedingcafe.wordpress.com. For more info on the Carnival or if you want to participate, contact Claire at clindstrom2 {at} gmail {dot} com. Today’s post is about the environment and breastfeeding. Please read the other blogs in today’s carnival listed below and check back for more posts July 18th through the 31st!

That statement could be implied many ways, but right now, I’m talking about the environment.

Now that I’m a parent, thinking of the environment is more than just an abstract ideal, it’s my children’s future. I’ve always been interested in the environment, but before having kids that’s exactly how it felt–abstract. Back then it was “Yeah, it would be great if we didn’t kill off our ozone layer.” and now it’s “If I don’t do something about this, my children will be more likely to get skin cancer.” It’s amazing how much making something personal can push you to act.

So I try to do things that are more environmentally friendly. I’m not perfect by any means, but I try. Breastfeeding probably doesn’t make the larges impact of all of my parenting choices, but it is certainly the first stepping stone to a lot of other things I’ve done as a parent that impact the environment much more greatly, such as cloth diapering. Being in tune with my child’s needs and not letting her “cry it out” gave me that extra push to start taking the train into town rather than driving my car because of how upset she would get in the car seat. Attachment parenting just goes hand in hand with saving the whales.

For me, it’s extended far beyond parenting. I line dry my clothes whenever possible (though I could get better at timing my laundry doing around the weather). Even now that Peanut doesn’t hate the car seat, we still try to take the train whenever possible. I recycle and actually pay money to do it, just because it feels right. I use natural cleaners and pesticides in my home, most of which are homemade. Really, being frugal also goes hand in hand with helping the environment.

So I’m not going to try to tell you that I saved a baby seal by breastfeeding. I’m not going to convince you this is the big reason that you should breastfeed. Rather, I invite you to take a look at parenting as a whole and ask yourself what really makes sense. Chances are, you’ll lower your carbon footprint along the way.

Here are more post by the Breastfeeding Cafe Carnival participants! Check back because more will be added throughout the day.

• Sara @ the Momzelle blog-The environment and I, am I a future green mom?
• Ashley @ Adventures with my Monkeys-Breastfeeding Carnival Day 2: Eco-breastfeeding
• Shelly @ Lousy Mom-Breastfeeding and the Hippie (or Not) Mama
• Renee @ Just the 5 of us!-Granola Anyone?
• Claire @ The Adventures of Lactating Girl-I Breastfeed For My Kids
• Timbra @ Bosoms and Babes-Green Milk
• Natasha @ Natural Urban Mama-Word of the Day: Eco-breastfeeding
• Laura @ Day by Day in Our World-Eco-breastfeeding
• And of course the guest poster on the Breastfeeding Cafe’s blog today is Jeana Jones-Save the Planet: Breastfeed!

As I read The Omnivore’s Dilemma, I quickly became enthralled with the idea of buying my meat directly from a farmer. I wanted to buy meat from a farm like PolyFace that let the animals live naturally. Cows roaming and grazing, chickens following the cows around pecking, etc. I used eatwild.com to find farms near me and it seemed like they all only sold beef—except Running Water Farms in Evanston, Wyoming (90 minutes from my house).

Running Water Farms sells beef, chicken, turkey, pork, and eggs. What kind of meat they have is dependant upon the time of year it is (just like it used to be before the days of industrial farming) and you buy portions of the animal rather than cuts. I decided to try it out last spring and since it was spring, they had pigs ready to go.

I ordered half a pig along with three dozen eggs (eggs are available year round) and Lyle helped me by explaining how it works. I decided to have the ham and bacon curred which took longer, but without it they wouldn’t have tasted like ham and bacon. Other than that, I told him to just get whatever the regular cuts are.

When my half pig was ready, I headed up to Evanston with my mom and Peanut in tow. I had told Lyle through email that I wanted to poke around the farm to see where my meat comes from and he was perfectly fine with that. I was nervous and had no idea what to expect. How much is 70 lbs of pork really? Will I be happy enough with the conditions of the farm to eat this pork guilt free? What if Peanut screams the whole three-hour round trip (she was a year old at this point and absolutely hated the car seat)?

After driving past the farm a few times on accident, we finally arrived. We went up to the house and two adorable little girls answered the door. They took us back into the kitchen where their mom, Jana, was baking.

Jana greeted us warmly and immediately took us back to see the pigs (Lyle wasn’t there because he still works outside of the farm because the farm doesn’t make enough yet to sustain them). The pigs were huge and happy in the barn with the doors wide open. There were little piglets that were just a few months old and they were nursing from their mom when we came in. Actually, she informed us, that wasn’t their mom. This pig had just given birth hours ago to three piglets that were all stillborn and they figured it would be good for her to have the other piglets nurse from her. Cross-nursing on the farm? Sounds perfect for Lactating Girl!

My husband later made the point that I was visiting with pigs that were to be slaughtered and eaten. What a far cry from the vegan I used to be! Yes, it made me sad that those pigs would be eaten one day, but less sad than for the pigs I had been buying from the grocery store. These pigs were living great lives. They were on a farm doing what pigs do! They were happy and had their tales intact—much more animal friendly than industrially farmed pigs.

I also got to see the chickens (who were actually fenced off because a skunk they were having problems with currently) and the cows that were off grazing on the grass that the Willams had literally grown from the ground up (when they bought the farm two years ago, the grass had been severely overgrazed). Peanut got to pet a horse and she chased the cats around the house while Jana chatted with my mother and me. When Peanut needed to nurse, Jana didn’t give me a second glance. Actually she told me a story of when one of her older daughters called her up saying she was ready to wean and didn’t know how. Jana’s response? “Stop breastfeeding.” So simple!

This farm turned out to be exactly what I wanted. I walked away feeling like The Willams are people I could be friends with and I will be, because they are my farmers.

So how is the food? Is it really worth all the effort? OMFG yes it is! The eggs had the most orange yolks I’ve ever seen! I didn’t even realize yolks are supposed to be orange! Normally I have to put salsa or ketchup on scrambled eggs, but I feel absolutely no need to do so with these. Also, Peanut—who at the time wasn’t too huge on eggs—shovled them in her mouth as fast as I would let her. She shoved so many eggs in her mouth at once that some fell out when she smiled and she was still grabbing at my plate.

As for the meat, the bacon—though a little on the salty side from the curing—was delicious. Jana actually called me a couple weeks later saying the person who bought our other half of the pig complained about the bacon and she told me she’d buy it back, but we decided to keep it. They don’t pre-cut it for you so it will stay good in the freezer for longer, so when I clumsily cut huge slices my husband called it “bacon steak” (which he loved). We ended up getting a lot more chops and not very much ribs (which come from the same place), so next time I think I’ll specify more ribs. I’ve loved the roasts, chops, and oh my goodness the sausage is the best I’ve ever tasted!!

What about the price? First off, is your health really worth you getting such cheap food? Well, that’s another post for another day. Pure numbers, this is how it adds up.

We recieved: (approximate number because we used an old scale made for people and ended up weighting a total of  62 pounds when there was really 70)

6 lbs bacon
11 lbs ham
2 lbs shank
7 lbs sausage
13 lbs roast
3 lbs ribs
14 lbs pork chops
6 lbs steak

We also got 6 dozen eggs for free and 2 soup bones from a cow that she had because I wanted to make beef broth (6 lbs). If you add in $12 for gas, we ended up spending a total of $245. I went to the store and added up the amount that we would spend on non-organic (because my grocery store doesn’t have organic pork) pork of the same cuts (and the ones that were vague like roast, I took an average of all of the different types of pork roasts at the store). At the store, I would have spent $277.50 for 62 lbs of non-organic pork in those cuts. It was actually cheaper to get it from the farm and that’s not even counting in the eggs and soup bones or other 8 lbs!!!

Over this summer, we got a total of 25 chickens. I didn’t keep track of the exact amounts we spent, but I was consistently amazed at how much chicken I was getting for my money! Some of the chickens I froze whole and cut some before freezing (because I don’t always want to cook a whole chicken). When I was cutting the chicken while watching a tutorial on YouTube, I was amazed! The chicken I was cutting looked pink and the one in the video looked white! The one in the video’s fat was everywhere and white, while my chicken’s fat was limited and yellow like fat is supposed to be! I also got two turkeys before Thanksgiving and I’m about to get two more when I go back up. The turkeys were a bit expensive, but huge! I’m going to get half a cow when I go up too.

Every time we go up, Peanut loves it. She gets to pet the animals. She gets to play with the little girls. I love talking with Jana. I even got my mother hooked on their meat and eggs too, so she goes up with us. She’s getting half a pig and half a cow when we go up next. Overall, this place is soooo worth it. My family’s health is worth it.

As part of your “New Year’s Resolution” or whatever you want to call it, read up on how what you eat can affect your health. When you’re ready to make the change, find a farmer near you that shares your ideals. Get to know that farmer. Get to know your food. Become involved in the process of preparing your food. Don’t be fooled by convenience, because it will cost you in the end.

A while back I got really interested in food, so I read (or actually listening to the books on tape while driving) The Omnivore’s Dilemma, InDefense of Food, Food Rules, and Mindless Eating. Part of what I was amazed with was the fact that the “organic” and “free-range” meat I had been buying at my local grocery store isn’t much different than the “industrial” meat sitting next to it and costing half as much.

Industrial organic versus organic was definitely the part of The Omnivore’s Dilemma that hit close to home for me. I had been buying organic meat and produce for over a year and I thought I was doing the best thing for my body and planet. I was far from it!

Industrial organic is the stuff you find in your grocery store. Yes, it’s grown without the big pesticides and fertilizers (and actually they’re allowed to use some that are “natural”, but still have detrimental effects), but industrial organic is still bad for the environment! Over-aeration, shipping in compost, and shipping products across the country and often across the world is just as bad for the environment as conventionally-grown industrial food.

Ingredient list for "Natural" Cheetos

Also, organic does not automatically mean healthy. I know how ridiculously simple that sounds, but my mind automatically made that association without thinking. No, those organic crackers with 32 ingredients aren’t better for me than the non-organic with only 5 ingredients. Did you know that “USDA Certified Organic” products can still have 5% non-organic products in them?* And if it says “made with organic ingredients”, that’s up to 30% non-organic. That means dyes, preservatives, and all the stuff that I’m not okay with being in my food.

So what’s the solution? For me, it’s moving out of the grocery store. I went to farmers markets this summer and tried to freeze and can as much as I could so I can have produce during the months when produce doesn’t grow around here (which is a lot of months of the year because I’m in Utah). I’ve also been using Bountiful Baskets to get produce that’s as local as possible (mostly Southern Arizona) this winter. I’m trying to not be so reliant on processed foods. Last, but not least, I’m getting My Very Own Farmer.

*If it says “100% organic”, then it is, indeed, 100% organic.

Photo Credit: FreckleFoot on Photobucket.com

Okay, so maybe I’m not made for this sugar-free thing. Desserts are my one vice and I don’t think I can give them up all together, but this week did make me re-evaluate my relationship with them. Desserts should not control me and I can control myself.

So rather than sugarless, I’m going to go with less sugar. Sugar will be something reserved for when Peanut is not around—which severely limits the amount of sugar I will have anyway—so that she can hopefully grow up without the addiction to sweets I obviously have. I will also limit myself to one sweet thing. That means no handful of chocolates and no eating five cookies at once. If the sweet thing I want is a candy bar, I will have one. If the sweet thing I want is cake, I will have one slice. It will also not be an every day thing. I will try to limit sweets to special occasions as much as possible. I will also try to limit myself to sweets I make myself at home so I can control the amount of sugar—and really everything—that goes into them.

I know it may be unfair to say no sweets for Peanut when I still get them, but it’s for her own good. Hopefully she can grow up without my habits and I can slowly grow out of them. There is absolutely no reason that she needs sweets when she’s so young.

So this brings me to a new question: grandparents. I’ve told them no sugar, but it’s not really doing much to deter them. They joke “Don’t tell Mommy” as they give her bites of their cookie. I don’t know if they don’t take me seriously or if they just don’t like denying their grand-daughter cookie when she’s asking for it.

Have you had this problem? How did you handle it? Am I making too big of a deal out of it? Maybe I should just let her grandparents be grandparents?

Sugar-free?

Those of you who know me in real life realize how much of a feat this is going to be. I know I have a problem and it scares me that I see Peanut developing that same problem. She doesn’t want to eat fruits nearly as much as she used to, she won’t eat a regular pancake without syrup on it (though I think pure maple syrup is alright because it’s a whole food, it should still be a special occasion type of thing), and she is plain out refusing leafy greens. I. Will. Not. Have. That. Child. I did not work my butt off giving her a drug-free birth, breastfeeding her, researching vaccines, and all of these things that limit putting toxins in her body to let her turn into the little kid drowning herself in sugar. This needs to stop here and now.

As before stated, I also have a problem. The other night I literally ate cinnamon rolls until I made myself feel sick because they tasted so good. I feel like I can’t control myself around sugar. I try to make healthy choices throughout my day, but I see a cookie and I fall apart instantly. What’s worse is that I feel so bad about eating those five cookies (yes, I often can not stop at one cookie) that I just give up for the rest of the day. Then Peanut comes in and wants to eat the same things I am. All of this is so wrong.

So here we start. We’re going sugar-free. I know this will be a gradual process, but it needs to be a strict one too. So rather than trying to cut it all out from the get go (which never works and is too stressful), I’m going to do it in stages. We’re cutting out a new area of sweets every week with my ultimate goal being no refined sugar, occasional natural sugars (i.e. honey, maple syrup), and much more fruits to make up the in between.

This Week’s Goal: No More “Sweets”

Anything I’d consider a dessert is gone. No cookies, cake, ice cream, chocolates, candy, brownies, cinnamon rolls, etc. The sweets are the main culprit and need to be taken care of right away. It’s going to be hard, but I think it’ll help to start off big and go smaller with time.

How I’m going to accomplish this goal:

1. Remove them from my house. I’m going to go through all of our food and get rid of the sweets. Luckily, I’ve been trying to cut down on sweets for a while so there really won’t be that much to get rid of. I’ll take the food I can to a local shelter rather than throwing it away. If I don’t have the option in my own home of the late night sweets, it won’t happen.

2. Tell family about the no desserts rule. This will be for Peanut and myself. If they’re all having cake, we’ll bring fruit to share. We’ll also have to eat it in another room so she doesn’t beg for everyone else’s cake (which she does all the time). That part kind of sucks because we won’t be in on the fun, but I’m hoping with time neither of us will crave the sugar and we’ll be able to join them again.

3. Buy a bunch of fruit. I’ll be less likely to try to go out for sweets if I have something that will satisfy my sweet tooth at home. I already love fruits and Peanut loves them too when there’s no sweeter option. I’m happy we’re starting this when Peanut is young enough that she can’t actually request sweets.

4. Say no to sweets when we’re out. I’m just going to avoid looking at the dessert menu at all. Also, places that I crave going to specifically for the dessert (like Cutlers and their cookies) will have to be avoided until I stop craving sugar so much.

Does anyone who reads this blog live sugar-free? If so, any helpful hints?

Welcome to the March Carnival of Natural Parenting: Vintage green!

This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Code Name: Mama and Hobo Mama. This month we’re writing about being green — both how green we were when we were young and how green our kids are today. Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants.

I grew up in a moderately eco-conscious family. It was always second nature to me to do things like turn off the faucet while brushing my teeth or recycle pop cans. I was always interested in things like recycling and saving endangered species, but as I got older I quickly dismissed those things as ideals. It’s difficult to not become cynical in this disposable world where so many things are taken for granted.

When I ventured out into the world on my own, I continued to unconsciously do environmentally friendly things. It wasn’t until I was pregnant that I actually began to consider the big picture encompassing those actions. I started to look into things like natural childbirth and breastfeeding, I learned those ideals often went hand-in-hand with natural parenting. I used the internet (Oh, I love you internets) to find information on places near me that recycled plastic and how to grow an organic garden. I realized it’s not only important to buy organic foods, it’s important to buy whole foods.

I realized those so-called ideals aren’t really ideals—they’re how the world should really be. Ideals are something to model your life after. Ideals are something you strive to achieve. My daughter deserves to grow up in a world that is not lined with plastic. That is not an ideal. That is a fact.

My passion for being environmentally friendly has become something of a religion to me. I grew up in a home without religion and I am an atheist myself, but I thoroughly believe that we need to respect and cherish our planet. Just because I don’t believe in a higher being doesn’t mean that I believe in anarchy or don’t have morals, every action that I take affects our planet’s and our society’s future. I believe that there is biological meaning to life and that we are ignoring that meaning. This planet must survive for our civilization to survive. We are all made from recycled carbon and nitrogen. We need to be sustainable or we will cease to exist.

I take every opportunity to preach my ideals and the steps I am taking to get to them. Having my mother as my best friend means that she is quite often subjected to this sermons and now the ones who originally influenced me to care about the planet are being influenced by me.

Now my parents (partially) understand the importance of buying organic. My in-laws have even started collecting plastic to give to me to recycle. I’ve explained to many friends the ecological consequences to their actions—often without being asked to—and many of them have changed their ways.

I may not have come from the most eco-friendly family, but they laid the groundwork for who I am now.

Visit Code Name: Mama and Hobo Mama to find out how you can participate in the next Carnival of Natural Parenting!

Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants.

(This list will be updated March 9 with all the carnival links.)

• My Momma Was a Hippie — Jessica at This is Worthwhile is continuing her Earth Momma mother’s way of honoring nature by taking her child outside every day. (@tisworthwhile)
• Mom Did Know Best, About Diapers at Least — Guavalicious at They Are So Cute When They Are Sleeping has a dirty secret about cloth diapers: They’re easy. (@guavalicious)
• The Force that Drives the Water Through the Rocks — Shana at Tales of Minor Interest remembers her first spiritual connection with nature, granted to her through her father’s care for the spirits of the earth.
• Confessions of a Cabbage Patch Kid — Joni Rae at Tales of a Kitchen Witch Momma learned about landfills and recycling through gardening. (@kitchenwitch)
• Seeing My Grandmother Through Green Colored Lenses — Michelle at Seeking Mother was raised by a grandmother who wouldn’t let anyone throw out used clothing — ever — and who believed baths were water enough for two or more people at least. (@seekingmother)
• Through Green Tinted Glasses — Thomasin at Propson Palingenesis realized her family didn’t so much choose green as it chose them, since not being green would have cost a lot more.
• Green or Die! — NavelgazingBajan at Navelgazing remembers berating her family for not turning off the faucets — and notes that her efforts to save the planet for another 20 years must have worked.
• Natural Parenting Carnival: Green Living — Sarah at Natural Parenting is doing more to make her children’s generation green than what she had as a child.
• Natural Parenting Carnival: Vintage Green — pchanner at A Mom’s Fresh Start used to fill her own water bottles from a spring — before doing so was cool. (@pchanner)
• Getting Dirty — Molly at Molly’s Place is inspired by her mother’s camaraderie with nature. She’s going to get back in touch with the real food cycle, as opposed to the “shrink-wrapped nutrition” you can buy. (@KPMolly)
• My Vintage Green Raincoat — Mama at Maman A Droit is wearing her brother’s bright green raincoat — 16 years later! (@MamanADroit)
• Vintage Green — Darcel at Mahogany Way hasn’t realized it yet, but she is slowly turning into her parents. (@MahoganyWayMama)
• Vintage Green — mrs green at littlegreenblog reminds us that children can be green simply by being kids. (@myzerowaste)
• March Carnival of Natural Parenting: Vintage Green — Lauren at Hobo Mama was eco-chic before it was en vogue. (@Hobo_Mama)
• Growing Up Green — Chrystal at Happy Mothering honed her green instinct from an early age. (@HappyMothering)
• greener pastures — The Grumbles at Grumbles and Grunts has a list of ways she’s transitioning from green living as a novelty to green living as a lifestyle. (@thegrumbles)
• Vintage Green: The Hot Water Tank Is Not Sexy — Zoey at Good Goog had to go green when moss started growing around her feet. (@zoeyspeak)
• We Walked Softly — Starr at Earth Mama wrote a beautiful post about how her parents instilled a love of and respect for Earth and nature in her, and how she is passing that gift on to her own children.
• Save the Mermaids! — CurlyMonkey is learning from her daughter how to keep the mermaids happy. (@curlymonkey_)
• March Carnival of Natural Parenting: Vintage Green — Dionna at Code Name: Mama sees glimpses of her mother’s greenness frugality in her own life – but she draws the line at pantyhose soap. (@CodeNameMama)
• I Thought I Made Them Green, But Really They Made Me — Melodie at Breastfeeding Moms Unite! thought she made her parents green — until she took a closer look. (@bfmom)
• A Culture of Less — Alison at BluebirdMama explained why homebirth is the green childbirth choice. I love this thought! (@childbearing)
• 5 Ways to Embarrass Your Children While Going Green — Acacia at Be Present Mama shares some of the embarrassing things her parents did to her in the name of being eco-conscious.
• Ending Is Better than Mending? — Paige at Baby Dust Diaries is teaching us how to darn socks armed only with a light bulb. (@babydust)
• There and Back Again: A Green Girl’s Tale — Lactating Girl offers a gentle reminder that certain eco-conscious practices shouldn’t be “ideals,” but realities. (@LactatingGirl)

Of course we still go out to eat now, but we have a budget and we try to use it for going to restaurants instead of fast food. Meal planning has helped curb the eating out, but when we have friends over on weekends, it’s really difficult to not go to Burger King with them. So I’ve been doing “variations” of out favorite fast foods on weekends.

For instance, tonight I did pizza pasta. Yes, it has many of the bad things that pizza from Papa John’s does, but you’d be amazed at how much better the same foods are for you when you prepare them yourself. Restaurants just cook differently than you do at home (maybe that’s part of the reason it tastes so goooood). They cook their veggies in fat and add preservatives and I have yet to find a fast food chain that serves organic anything. So my pizza pasta uses organic beef, mushrooms, sauce, herbs, and pasta. I also chose to not put as much meat in it as the recipe called for. My breadsticks were made from (mostly) wheat. You would be surprised at how much healthier this meal is for you than a pizza from one of those chains. And it’s delicious too!!!

What variations do you make at home to simulate your favorite fast food? How do you make it healthier?

Also does anyone know of a recipe for whole wheat breadsticks?

So what is considered a whole food? Obviously, I’ve been making dinners that don’t use condensed soup as an ingredient (which is surprisingly difficult by the way), but it goes beyond that. It’s not just processed and unprocessed—there’s a lot of gray area.

I obviously use fresh organic produce and fresh hormone-free meat. Technically the organic dried herbs I use are processed, but I would consider drying and grinding minimal processing.

We’ve been trying not to use refined sugar, but it’s in everything and I can’t substitute with honey yet because Peanut isn’t old enough. I’m still figuring out substituting other things for sugar like pure maple syrup. What about corn starch? I’ve been listening to The Omnivore’s Dilemma audio book lately and I am beginning to question that corn starch I use to make gravy. What do you even use instead of corn starch?

I feel like I’m cooking “from scratch” when I use things like canned beans and chicken bullion cubes. How “from scratch” is that really? I checked out the ingredient list of my chicken bullion cubes today and was appalled at how much stuff there is in one of those cubes. So do I need to make all of my chicken broth from boiling bones? I don’t even know how to do that.

So when I say I’ve been trying to eat whole foods, what I really mean is I’ve started the process of getting rid of processed foods. One day I would love to be one of those people who buy their meat from the farm and make mayonnaise rather than just buying a bottle, but it’s all in steps. So for now, I won’t use things like condensed soup in my dinner. I won’t buy frozen pizza and packaged cookies. I will take small steps to start eating whole foods and maybe one day I’ll be one of those people who don’t crave pop-tarts.

Starting Weight: 163 lbs

Current Weight: 158 lbs (still)

Photo Credit: Hart Healing Arts