real food

egg and avocado on homemade bread.

i realized a few day ago some of the changes we have made to the things we eat.  being conscious of what we put into our body.  i've been reading a lot about whole foods, real food.  reading about the connection between food and health issues, disease, and how you function on a daily basis.

proper nutrition is so important in running, baseball and water polo.  it's your fuel, your power and your recovery.  it's not just about eating a certain amount of calories, it's the value that those calories have on your body.  and don't get me started on kids' food.  i'm guilty of buying food for convenience sake, but it's heartbreaking and terrifying what the wrong food can do to a growing body.

so we've made some changes at home, most of which have gone unnoticed by the kids.

real peanut butter - no more jiff or skippy, even the kind labeled natural.  we eat peanut butter with 2 ingredients: peanuts and salt.  the kind you have to stir before you can eat it.  the kind that sticks to your ribs.  i started eating this while i was training for the half marathon.  mixed in my oatmeal or in a smoothie or on top of a banana, it keeps me feeling full for a long time.

coffee with little to no creamer or sweetener - i confess i'm an artificial sweetener person.  just one, but i know it's not good for me. so i'm going without or adding milk and the smallest bit of sugar.  and guess what?  you can really taste the coffee that way.

pancakes from scratch - this has been b's quest for a long time: find the perfect pancake recipe. every saturday morning he's looking for something new to try, adding cinnamon, lemon or chocolate nibs to the batter.  he makes crepes, waffles and french toast too.  on occasion we'll enjoy the kodiak cake mix.

pure maple syrup - with pancakes you have to have syrup.  the syrup we bought was full of sugar, additives, and flavoring.  a few weeks ago i bought the tiniest bottle of pure maple syrup that i could find afford to see if we liked it.  and we did.  we use a lot less, it's not as thick and it's very sweet so a little goes a long way.

homemade jam - thanks to grandma sue, every summer we get a new batch of strawberry and peach jam.  it's her project with the kids, although i'm pretty sure she does most of the work. we store it in the pantry and have it all year long.  and it's so much better than anything you can find in the store. real fruit and yes, lots of sugar, but we love opening a jar of grandmas jam.

water - we drink a lot of it these days.  no soda and for me, very little diet coke.  no juice, except orange.  sparkling water at dinner or water with lime and lemon at lunch.  water, water all day long.

crackers - oh this is a tough one in our house.  we are all about the cheez-its, goldfish and wheat thins. i started buying triscuits; plain, non cheesy, square shaped triscuits.  and we are surviving.  they have very few ingredients and topped with some cheese or hummus, they are pretty good.  bonus - we are eating less crackers.

plain greek yogurt - this one's just for me.  they don't appreciate the taste.  i top it with granola, fruit and honey for breakfast or snack time.  love it!  i think i will win them over eventually.

this is far from a whole life change.  we eat plenty of processed foods.  don't get between me and my red vines.  and what's a house full of children without cereal and mac and cheese?  we eat out a lot which probably negates a lot  of the good we are trying to do.

we're taking control where we can, making changes that work for us.  and we've been discovering that food actually tastes better.    hopefully it will make a difference.