Sunday, March 07, 2010

What do you eat? What's in your Fridge/Pantry?

            I have a friend. Actually, I have several but there is one in particular that I have been spending more time with lately. In fact, if you read Redmosqui's blog.... she's actually "friend who is a boys" mom. She is a breast cancer survivor. Shortly after I met her at Bug and Bee's preschool she was diagnosed. But, I have NEVER seen her struggle. I have never seen her with a sullen look on her face. We finally got the kids together outside of school functions. Her and I were talking about food and eating habits. The cost of organic food and the vitamins we all need for our body and how they helped her out after her diagnosis and treatment.  Not only has she inspired me to support Breast Cancer awareness, she's gotten me thinking about what is in my fridge and in my pantry. I should thank her for making me realize that it isn't enough to only try to feed my children the right way. I have to feed myself the right way as well, regardless of time.
In all honesty, I should be sleeping. Really, I have a long week ahead of me but I am bothered by the lack of time and dedication that I am not showing my family. I have gotten so unbelievably busy lately. And the pain I am going through with these abdominal problems doesn't help. So we've been eating out a lot. I have stopped getting burgers and fries.  I have opted for the more healthier (if you can call it that), fast food options like wraps and salads.  I did my research. The Tendergrill Salad that I got from Burger king,  that I thought was one of the best salads EVER (taste wise).... has .... you ready? 460!!!!!!! Calories. Yes, 460. It's a relatively small Salad. That calorie count excludes dressing. The salad consists of chicken, tomatoes, cheese, and carrots. So, I thought to myself for a minute that it was the chicken! Burger King also has a small side salad. No chicken of course and it was still... for the side salad 330 calories.

McDonalds salads we won't even get into. Now, Wendy's side salad comes in at 130 calories but you have to consider, it does not have much nutritional value because of the iceberg lettuce.  You'd be better off with the Caesar side salad coming in at 260 calories and using the Romaine lettuce. It's crazy! So the question is.... Do you go with what you can afford? Do you go with convenience? Or do you go with what you can what is healthiest even if it is not convenient or affordable?

What's in my pantry right now?

Cereal--- Some healthy, some not.
Boxed pastas.
Bagels, brown sugar cinnamon
Multigrain pita thins.
Trail Mix
Granola Bars
Oatmeal---- (rarely gets eaten)
Pringles
Tortillas.
Peanut butter oreos (bad me, bad bad me!)
Some canned Veggies
Rice sides
Pringles
100 calorie packs

That's pretty much the gist of it.

My fridge/freezer has milk, dressing, some lunch meat, hummus (yay something healthy!) and cheeses, meatballs, lean pockets (SO bad for you.) some veggie steam bags. Some Ice cream.  And a few other fruits and veggies.

After speaking with my doctors, I have been trying to introduce "superfoods " back into my life. Which are:

  • Beans
  • Blueberries
  • Broccoli
  • Oats
  • Oranges
  • Pumpkin
  • Salmon
  • Spinach
  • Tea (green or black)
  • Tomatoes
  • Turkey
  • Walnuts
  • Yogurt



Most of these I did not abandon. I usually keep them in the house.  The girls actually LOVE everything on the above list. And believe it or not.... the Redmosqui, I met 7 years ago (On March 1oth!) who would only eat sandwiches will now eat most of the things on that list! My problem is time. I don't have it. I am going to be using the crock pot more, I have resolved and the girls and I have stocked up on tote bags so we can resume our weekly trips to the Farmer's Markets that we discontinue during the winter. So hopefully that will help. There are plans for apple, strawberry and possibly blue/blackberry picking.

There really isn't much food kept in my house. The girls get cereal for breakfast,  I don't eat breakfast. We usually get lunch out and the 2 nights I am home we all get dinner out and the 5 nights that I work, I get myself dinner from somewhere. Around December is when I started having abdominal problems. Which is also when I slowed down on going to the fitness center. So here are the things I am going to try to do when all of this is over.

1. Cut red meat MOSTLY out of my life. (substitute ground turkey or chicken most of the time)
2. Make the farmers market a year around thing instead of March-October.
3. Go to the fitness center more than once a week.
4. Take our dog for more walks/Use my Wii Fit more
5. Taking Bug jogging again (she loved it!)
6. NO MORE FAST FOOD.
7. Budget better so that eating out isn't necessary, and really only is a treat.
8. Purchase a meal planning kit.
9.  Purchase a triple crock pot (to cook 3 things at once).
10. Use the crockpot most nights of the week.

So are the few things that I want to doing, it may not happen all at once but it needs to happen. Right now, my only work out routine is dancing with the girls. Which is keeping my weight steady, I am not gaining any weight, but weight isn't really what I am worried about it. I am worried about health.

If you have recipes, tips, ideas, etc feel free to share. I don't I don't get to publish some comments, but I will at least reply to the emails to have an email conversation. I think this nation as a whole is struggling with health. I don't want to be factored into that population anymore.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for stopping by my blog today. I have been eating much healthier lately and even lost 12 pounds so far.

Holly Schwendiman said...

Great timing. I just read this article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35315651/ns/health-diet_and_nutrition// and boy is it insightful! :)

We've been moving into more and more made from scratch and grown at home at my house. My results are right in line with what I read today.

Hugs,
Holly

Queen Bug said...

Thanks for stopping by Heather!


Holly, that is a great article. Now I just need to practice.

 

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