I’ve been dreading writing this all week! I had a really bad week as far as my diet was concerned. Thanks to Jerry and my challenge, I’ve been doing pretty well the first few weeks of January. Since my health goal this year is to eat more vegetables, I suggested Jerry do the same. He doesn’t like vegetables, but I tell him that maybe if he keeps trying, he’ll eventually like them. I think our taste buds change based on our current eating habits, so if he starts adding veggies here and there, maybe he’ll start to actually like them.
The thing is, I feel terrible making food and I “know” he won’t like it. I love mushrooms but I almost never make anything with them because Jerry and the kids don’t like them. The same goes for many other fruits and vegetables. So, he said, if I promised to make recipes that I thought he wouldn’t like (recipes that included vegetables I liked but rarely cooked), then he would eat them and “try” to like them.
I’ve been looking at Dr. Greg’s Daily Dozen list to try to incorporate these items into my daily diet, and one of them is leafy greens. I never eat leafy greens; of all vegetables, they are not my favorite. They’re only slightly higher than celery on the list, which is pretty bad.
Instead of trying to get creative every day, I decided to have a small salad before dinner (he recommends at least two cups of leafy greens per day). I don’t make anything fancy – just a mix of mascara and homemade seasonings (I got the recipe from the How Not to Die cookbook).
I was surprised to find that I really enjoyed eating salad before dinner! Eating a salad with a meal is disappointing (an unpopular opinion, I know), but eating it before dinner was a game changer for me. I actually really liked the taste and the extra amount of food made it easier to eat less food overall. I also stay full longer, so it’s easier to skip snacking at night.
Anyway, in addition to salads, we also had a lot of other vegetables. Unfortunately, last week Jerry and I started snacking heavily (again). Eat less vegetables. junk food. It’s not just the food, it’s our attitudes—in general, we’re becoming lazier, more carefree, even flippant. Nothing like a responsible adult! Hahaha.
A lot of things suddenly changed – from a year and a half of bad luck, to paying off the house and car, to Noah moving out, to Jerry’s new job arrangement, to Eli turning 18 – and our attitudes Of course it changes. There have been a lot of positive changes (like Jerry’s work schedule and paying off the house), and we all seem to be able to take a deep breath and relax after a year and a half of stress. We’re always waiting for the next problem to happen. Obviously we can’t stop bad things from happening, but we always enjoy the holiday 😉
My weight, however, did not. I’m actually not going to post a weigh-in today. I wasn’t planning on skipping it, but I forgot to weigh myself this morning. Since I was scared of it anyway, I was going to give myself a week to try and get myself back in control before the weigh-in. Jerry and I both mentioned that we felt terrible (physically) because we’d been eating so poorly for a week and then two weeks later were eating healthier than ever. So we’re back at it again today – continuing our challenge to eat more vegetables. And act like mature, responsible parents, not carefree teenagers! Hahaha.