Whole Food Diet

The other day I was watching Oprah (one of the 3 times a year) and it was on how we as Americans eat. They showed a little about the documentary Food Inc. that I want to see now but had a couple experts on who talked about different diets. The one that I liked the most and which made sense to me supported a whole food diet, one in which you eat simply whole foods such as fruits and vegetables in their natural state and organic meat and dairy products and only foods that you prepare yourself. I love food, almost too much and I definitely feel that you should not deprive yourself of anything, you should be able to eat whatever you like but in moderation. I haven't been doing that. Since having Lucy I have been craving nothing but junk food literally. It's awful. I keep telling myself I'm nursing a baby please eat something nutritious, the vitamin's not going to cut it. I make sure the boys get all the food groups at each meal but don't care about myself. For breakfast I might eat Fruit Loops, which we all know is not healthy but at least I'm getting some vitamins and minerals but then for the rest of the day I'll eat chips, pretzels, cookies, candy, ice cream, everything but what's good for my body and I know better but just can't stop. I've always been able to lose the baby weight pretty easily without exercising but this time it's not coming off and it's because of all the high calorie foods I eat so this show gave me the motivation to try to eat healthier. So starting Monday, my family is on a whole food diet for a week. We will eat no processed food, no canned food or boxed food. Everything is going to be natural and organic (bye bye girl scout cookies but for just a week). I've got my menu planned and I went to Salt Lake today to Whole Foods, a store I've never been too and fell in love with the bulk aisle. They had so many different kind of beans, rices and grains it was amazing. All of our meals except for 3 will be vegetarian. I am going to make all the bread, pasta and tortillas out of whole wheat flour. I grind the white wheat and it's so yummy. Okay not as good as white flour, you just can't beat hot out of the oven Lion House rolls, but pretty close. I'll be spending a lot of time in the kitchen. It is definitely more expensive to eat this way, about 2 1/2 times more than I normally spend on a weeks worth of groceries but we'll see if it's worth it. If my digestive system becomes regular I will call it a success. It will be worth the money if it saves me from having colon cancer in the future, something I worry about because things just don't move like they should but they never have. One thing that I liked that the guy on Oprah said is that eat whatever as long as you make it. It's ok to eat french fries if you make them. It takes quite a while so most likely you won't eat them very often. I do plan on making a couple treats, we've still got FHE thank goodness. I just wonder how the boys will do. They are so used to getting a treat after every meal. Since my dad had his stroke I've definitely been reevaluating our lives and especially how we eat. The habits my kids have now are going to be hard to break when they are 40. There are other countries where the people eat high fat diets but they have none of the chronic diseases that Americans do and it's because they are eating whole foods and not all the processed foods we are bombarded with. I'm definitely not turning into a fanatic just doing a one week challenge but if I feel better I'll definitely be making more changes. Let's see how my family likes the meatless pepperoni on pizza night. I just don't know if I can eat that one. I still will only eat food that tastes good and I won't pretend it does when it doesn't no matter how good it is for me. Now if I could just find something to get me motivated to exercise. I've thought about joining a gym but when would I go. Neil and I hardly see each other as it is. In the next week or so I'm going to try the treadmill when we get one.