I can't believe how far I have come.  I have made so many strides regarding the way my family eats and I am really proud to say that it is all really hitting home now.  Do I eat perfectly?  NO!  I am not striving for perfection.  I want the way I eat to be sustainable, mostly healthy, and also realistic.  It is not realistic for me to say I will never eat white flour, take out pizza, or a snickers again.  It is realistic for me to say that I will eat as much whole, real foods as I can, cook from scratch, and introduce new foods to my family.

Some changes I have made......I no longer use any "low fat" dairy products.  I switched to whole milk from grass fed cows that is also minimally pasteurized.  It taste fantastic and is much better for you than the organic milk I used to buy from the store.  The milk is also a lot more local, as it is produced in my home state.  It's as close as I can get to raw milk, at least for right now.

I quit buying kool-aid and most fruit juices.  I grew up drinking kool-aid but I know that drinking colored, artificially flavored sugar water can't be good for you.  I rarely drank the stuff, but my oldest two kids drank it by the gallon!  It really worried me so I just quit buying it.  Yup, that simple.  Though it didn't seem that simple at the time.  I struggle with food guilt from time to time, but that's another story.  I also cut out the fruit juice because it's really expensive, unnecessary, highly processed (most of the time), and basically glorified kool-aid.  I do buy orange juice and organic apple juice on occasion, but it is a treat to have juice now.  Eventually I would like to invest in a juicer so I could make our own juice a few times a week.  We typically drink water, milk, and an awesome fruit smoothie every day.

I have eliminated most packaged snacks.  Yes, even the organic teddy grahams, organic granola bars, and organic snack crackers have been told goodbye.  They may have been organic and even sold at Whole Foods, but they really weren't much better than the non organic versions.  We snack on popcorn, fruit, yogurt, and sometimes I have cheese and bread.  I notice I don't snack much at all anymore. 

I have become a HUGE fan of butter.  I have always preferred butter, but now I can't get enough of the stuff.  I get a large block of yummy yellow butter from grass fed cows.  I use it for baking, cooking meats, and it has completely replaced any need for those nasty synthetic oils.  I do use unrefined coconut oil for some things, like adding it to smoothies, the boys oatmeal, and some baked goods.  I have to be careful with coconut oil because it does tend to leave the food with a coconut flavor and that is not ideal for every dish.  I use extra virgin olive oil as well, but it isn't good for cooking.  EVOO has a very low smoke point and can turn toxic even with moderate heating.  To think I used to cook with it all the time because everyone said it was healthy!  I use EVOO in dressings and such but not so much for cooking. 

Right now I am working on cereal.  Eventually we will phase out of breakfast cereal.  This is a tough one because  my kids LOVE cereal and they have grown up eating that for breakfast.  They do like oatmeal and all my boys like eggs, though my daughter isn't fond of eggs and may be slightly allergic to them.  I know I could make some breakfast burritos, waffles, pancakes, and freeze them for quick breakfast options.  I don't think pancakes or waffles are my idea of an outstanding breakfast choice, but it is certainly better than the sugar laden, genetically modified brightly colored puffs, with strange and questionable ingredients.  Even organic cereals are not much better for you, plus they are quite expensive, and in my opinion taste nasty.  I also find that a hot breakfast is so much more satisfying than cold cereal.    

There is much more to come.

Toward the finish line

I've made a lot changes since I started this blog.  As a whole, I have been eating better but not as well as I could and should be eating.  When I think about my former eating habits, I am both ashamed and appalled.  Dinners consisted of chicken nuggets, hamburger helper, hot dogs, and was rarely a true home cooked meal.  Reading blogs and gathering information has helped TREMENDOUSLY at changing the way I feed my family as well as avoiding pseudo health foods. 

I am not striving for perfection, but there are some big changes I still need to make.  I won't call them goals because these are things I feel I must do. 

1. Eliminate all high fructose corn syrup.  Yup, that means that if something has HFCS in it, then I don't buy it.  There is always an alternative, even if I have to make it myself.
2. An extension of number one.....read food labels.  Too many ingredients?  Out.  Questionable ingredients?  Out.  I have been much better at reading labels nowadays but I am often swayed by "Natural" products (which can be just as processed as products without the label), and brand loyalty.  The second ingredient in my fave BBQ sauce was HFCS!!  I will not be swayed by 100% natural, organic, or think that just because I am at Whole Foods that the product must be healthy.  The truth is in the label. 
3. Try a new meal and experiment with vegetables.  I am used to canned vegetables.  I do love broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, and zucchini but I am used to canned peas, canned carrots, and canned green beans.  I love corn in any form.  It is going to be tough to program my tastes to like fresh veggies.  This is something I'm not used to, and I was raised on canned vegetables loaded with salt and margarine.  I had no idea what real vegetables even tasted like!
4. Plan my meals.  I am still struggling with this one.  The main reason I turn to fast food and frozen pizza is because of lack of planning.  I know I should be writing a menu every week and then making a list.  I never end up doing it and that leads to me 'not having time to make dinner.'  I didn't have time because I didn't plan my meals!  Spending money on fast food is not only wasteful pocket wise, but it's also unhealthy.  It just doesn't make sense when I have perfectly good food at home.
5. Eliminate food waste.  I love leftovers but sometimes I forget about them and they get thrown out.  This never happens with things like spaghetti, but those two leftover pork chops get thrown out all the time.    

I think all of these things are easy, simple changes.  These are just immediate diet changes.  I will get to the monetary changes I need to make later! 

New Plans

This new year is starting off pretty good.  I hate January, I hate the cold bitter winter that always seem to last forever.  This year it hasn't been too bad, but old man winter will come.  Slowly but surely.  What I do love about January is tax season.  I look forward to my refund since there are a million things I could do with the money.  I e-filed yesterday and sent it on its merry way.  I used turbo tax free edition and filed my federal taxes for free.  I usually purchase the Home and Business version of turbo tax, but you know what?  The free edition was EXACTLY the same.  It doesn't offer you the "audit support," but I was more than happy to save the money and file for free. 

On a different note......food.  I haven't been doing to well on the whole eating better thing.  I did (for the first time ever) buy whole wheat pasta for spaghetti.  I'm not much of a fan of wheat bread.  We always had wheat bread growing up and I always despised it.  I was quite skeptical when I bought it but I actually like it.  The kids didn't notice the difference either.  I'm sold, whole wheat pasta it is.  I noticed the kiwi fruit was on sale this week so I picked up a couple, in hopes that the boys would like them.  Not a hit.  Sahki refused to try it and Keiren didn't care for it.  My oldest two had no clue what the "little brown things" were.  Gee, I think I need to expose them to different kinds of food more often.  Looks like I'm going to be eating plenty of kiwi.

Is it summer yet?

Eat Crap and Die 4

Fruit pies!!!!!!  I love apple pies but I never thought these were any good.  My mother loved these things, and I would eat them as a kid sometimes because they were in the cabinet a lot.  Even though I ate them when I was little, I don't remember ever enjoying them.  I just ate them because well, it was sweet and a dessert (and there probably weren't any better choices for dessert at the time) but in the back of my mind I always thought, "This sucks."  Which in my opinion they do, in fact, suck.

Their website states that these pies come in apple, cherry, blackberry, lemon, strawberry, and french apple? flavors.  I have only ever seen cherry, apple, and lemon flavors in my neck of the woods.  I'm not sure what the french apple would even taste like.  The only kind of pie I like is sweet potato and apple, so I certainly wouldn't give the other flavors a try.  It also looks like they changed the packaging a bit. 

If I really have a craving for a pie, I will usually pick up Sara Lee pie, or maybe one from the bakery.  If I need a really quick fix, I find that apple pies from McDonald's aren't too bad and they're pretty cheap.  I mean if you're going to eat crap, shouldn't it at least taste good?!??  I just never understood the appeal of these pies.

I tried to find some ingredient and nutritional information about these pies but I couldn't find any.  Until next week.......

Denial

My son has autism.  Actually, it's quite possible that both of my twins have autism, Sahki's is just a lot more obvious.  He hasn't been officially diagnosed yet (diagnosis is a long process) but there will not be any surprises once he is officially diagnosed.  I first became alarmed when my twins (Keiren and Sahki)  turned 2, and they still weren't talking.  They said "banana," but that was it.  I listened to well meaning relatives who told me they would talk when they got ready, and told myself that language was often delayed in twins.  I listened to people who said, "My kid didn't talk until he was three!"  I was in denial.  I also didn't understand that autism has so many complexities.  My boys love hugs and kisses.  Sahki could sit in my lap for hours.  They giggle, and absolutely love to laugh.  They don't mind other children.  That didn't sound autistic to me.  My boys were fun, they were not off in some corner by themselves, refusing to engage with others.  They didn't scream when you touched them.  They didn't line up their toys.  They didn't break down if their routine changed.  They ate different foods, and they didn't need the tags off of their clothes snipped off.  They were too fun and social to be autistic I told myself.  Boy was I ignorant and uninformed.

I told myself that they were just different, late bloomers, a bit eccentric even.  But then I began to notice other things.  I noticed that they acted very young for their age.  I know they are young, but they seem so delayed in other areas.  It really hit me when I toured some daycare centers and saw other children their age and younger who seemed a world away from my boys.  I noticed that the boys never developed pointing.  As in pointing at their juice or a toy if they wanted it and couldn't reach it.  They did lead me to things, such as grabbing my hand and pulling me to a desired destination or object.  I thought that was "smarter" than merely pointing, but I have since learned that it is very common for autistic children to lead instead of point. 

I also noticed that they didn't appear to understand most of what I said.  I knew they should understand things like, "Go get your shoes," or "Give me the ball."  Even simple everyday commands and words were lost on them.  Then I noticed that Sahki never cried when I yelled at him.  Yes, I have gotten frustrated and yelled at him when he is playing with the oven for the millionth time.  Sahki would just stare at me with a blank look on his face, or usually keep right on doing it until I dragged him away.  I thought he was just a really defiant two year old with the thickest skin in the world.  Keiren always cried when I yelled at him.

I knew Sahki had autism when I took him to his first speech evaluation.  He wouldn't respond to his name, nor would he make any eye contact with me or his therapist.  The therapist asked if she was pronouncing his name correctly, and then she asked me if he had ever been screened for autism.  I was in tears when I left because I knew that Sahki was autistic.  I didn't need the diagnosis, I could feel it.  I got home and read everything I could about autism on the Internet.  I was dumbfounded.  It seemed to describe Sahki perfectly.  Of course he didn't have every sign (nobody really has every sign, autism varies greatly in symptoms and intensity) but there were so many things he did that I didn't give much thought to.  I kept reading.

Walk on tiptoes?  Check! 
Doesn't respond to name?  Check!
Poor eye contact?  Check!
Plays with light switches, doors, fans?  Check!
Seem fascinated with movement?  Check!
No use of language or gestures?  Check!
Play with toys inappropriately?  (Like wanting to open and close the door of a car, or simply spin the wheels instead of pushing the car around)  Check!
Destructive behaviors?  (Such as head banging)  Check!
Limited or no pretend play?  Check!
Overly attached to parent?  Check!
Stares at lights?  Check!
Unusual hand movements?  Check!
Acts too young for age?  Check!
Delay in fine motor skills?  Check!

As I read more, it hit me that even some of what I thought was their normal and social behavior was abnormal.  Autistic children can have trouble with give and take when they play and when they speak.  Even with verbal autistic children, they can have trouble engaging in conversation appropriately, like failing to ask any questions or keep a conversation going.  I first noticed this with Sahki when there was a little girl in the waiting room with us while we were waiting to go back for speech therapy.  She came over and tapped him very gently and playfully on the belly.  Sahki giggled and enjoyed her tapping him.  The thing I noticed is that he never tapped her back.  I saw that she was waiting to engage in a game of "tag" of some sort, but Sahki would simply giggle and go back to what he was doing. 

After a few tags he no longer giggled and didn't seem to acknowledge her pokes.  He lost interest very quickly and never engaged in any back and forth.  While he didn't cry and he doesn't mind other children (I think having a twin brother and so many older siblings helped tremendously with his social skills), he doesn't play in a "normal" way.  Another example is if I roll a car with Sahki.  He will engage and giggle, but instead of rolling the car back he will pick up the car and bring it back to me instead of just rolling the car back to me.  His sense of turn taking or back and forth seemed odd to me.  I had just never realized it before. 

I will write more later......We've got a long road ahead of us.

Eat Crap and Die 3

Velveeta cheese.  Velveeta cheese.  Velveeta cheese.  Calling it "cheese" is doing this product too much justice.  Even the U.S. government doesn't allow it to be called cheese.  I must admit that I used to buy Velveeta from time to time, I only used it in my macaroni and cheese.  I never used enough to really be able to taste it, but enough to give the sauce a creamier texture.  I abandoned this stuff altogether a few years ago though.  I would never ever think of buying it under any circumstance now.  My brother in law made macaroni and cheese for Thanksgiving and I could tell he used some Velveeta in it.  Totally ruined it for me.

I just can't handle the taste of this stuff anymore, but then again I can barely tolerate American cheese.  I mean look at it............it sorta looks like butter, sorta looks like cheese.  It has the consistency of jello on steroids.

I came across these Velveeta slices as well.  I don't know if they still make these, but barf.  Just sickening.  Why on earth would anyone put a slice of Velveeta on anything??!!!??  Even as a grilled Velveeta "cheese" sandwich...... I can't imagine the thought.

Of course there are the Velveeta shells n' cheese which I have never tried (and probably never will).

Creamy cheese sauce and shell pasta!  Yum!  I can't imagine these being any good either.

 It's a new year.  Lets put Velveeta out of business.



I'm Ready

New Year, new me, new things, and plenty of new things to talk about.  Has it really been since September since my last post!!!!!   Jeez, where does the time go.  I'll save the 'I was busy,' 'My aunt was sick,' blah, blah, blah, excuses because nobody is likely reading this blog right now and it doesn't matter because I'm back and ready to write. 

I'm not one to make New Year's resolutions but I have decided to finally get around to doing all the things I have always wanted to do.  You know all those things that you always tell yourself you can't do, or that it's silly or a waste of time BUT deep down you always wonder what if?  Well I'm just going to do it.  I am going to stop making excuses and make time, pursue my dreams (within reason, I'm not quitting my job) and do my best not to eat crap, save the planet, and raise four kids in the meantime.