Diet.. uh.. or... what you put in your mouth matters

Balance
Nutrition
whole foods
...
it takes time and planning.

We live in a society where Moms have not been educated (I believe) on the importance of providing for our families healthy nutricious meals. Most Moms I know.. and .... myself included... are frustrated, moan and groan about going to the grocery, having to figure what to feed our families, meal planning, and the over all "WORK" of food prep in general. ... Trying to find variety, new meals.. creating exciting meals that the family appreciates.

I think this is a problem with our society. I was raised a child of the early fast food nation... I remember when our home town didnt have a sonic, or mcdonalds, or taco bell. I remember when going out to eat was unusual.. and special. .. Our society has stedily increased its desire for more places to eat out... more reasons for Moms to NOT prepare the meals for thier families on a consistant bases. ..... When I worked full time... I was exausted. the last thing I wanted to do was spend 30 mins cooking and 30 mins cleaning up afterward.

I know part of the problem I have is I was never really taught to plan, to be organized with my food choices and to make it a priority. I use to think as long as I worked out enough that it didnt matter what I ate... OR what i fed my family.

I know differently now.

so i have set some goals in regards to meal planning and healthy eating:

• I want to have eating out be a rareity for our family in the future. This can be done by having a plan in place and items ready to cook so there are now "excuses" for carry out or quick meals from down the street :) and for these home cooked meals to be prepared happily... not in a "i am being put out" kind of way...
  
• I want to incorporate more whole foods... (like making whole wheat from scratch biscuts instead of buying store bought "easy" versions)
• and mostly I want to have meal planning and food prep in my life to be something that I dont look upon with dread ..... I want to bring the joy of cooking to my family and have it be healthy!!!!!

Eating at home these days seems counter cultural. Especially if you rarely go out to eat or get carry out.... and cook from scratch .. from whole foods is even rarer.... I am ok with being different... and i will strive over the next few weeks-months to develope a habit of being happy at home in my kitchen :) .. or.. as it might be later in this week.. by the campfire :) cooking wholesome foods for my family :)

now.. on to a "you are what you eat" topic.... here is an interesting link from the green smoothie gal i found today.. she has in this post a link to another blog with a very interesting post.. :

Does eating right cause irregular periods?

I just read a highly controversial, really interesting article on Debbie Took’s raw food blog, about the possibility that when a woman eats a vegan, high-raw (mostly raw) diet, she may have irregular periods, very light and infrequent. Evidence is given and a number of professionals are quoted, that indigenous women don’t menstruate like modern Western women do, and that Western women who change their diet also change their menstruation. The question is asked, why are so many who are serious athletes or who eat a superb diet . . . not menstruating?

click here to read the rest