My First Week of Healthy in Forever

November 10, 2014November 10, 2014 by theseordinarygraces In Faithful Finish Lines 3 Comments

There’s a plate of cookies on my counter. I’m one week into changing my lifestyle for the better and there’s a plate of cookies on my counter. For some people, this wouldn’t be a big deal. I have a friend who says she doesn’t have much of a sweet tooth. I think she’s an alien. These cookies have dark chocolate chips, walnuts, dried cherries, and coconut. They’re chewy and delicious. They smell like heaven and they taste like fairy dust.

Sigh. . .

Back to the topic at hand. I logged my food this week. I didn’t do too bad. Except Tuesday. I went to a going away dinner for a friend on Monday and brought Pumpkin Strudel Bars (let’s call them PSB) and naturally made way too many. So what I noticed on Tuesday is I woke up, ate a PSB. Worked out, ate a PSB. Made lunch, ate a PSB. Cleaned up lunch, ate a PSB. I’m not exaggerating. You can guess where this went the rest of the day.

The great thing about Faithful Finish Lines is there isn’t a lot of, or really any, guilt involved. We’re working on figuring out our own issues (ahem, sweets) and then making a plan to fix them. Slowly and deliberately. Last week we were tasked with logging our food. It opened my eyes to what I like to call “drive-by eating”. You know, when you walk through the kitchen and eat something. Every. Time.

For this week, we are working on increasing our fruit and veggie intake and finding ways to move more. I kind of started that last week since I can’t ever just follow the plan. Since I want this to be a family lifestyle change, I’m involving the kids in just about everything. We are taking the dog on longer walks, even when it’s cold. We’ve done a water challenge every day and we also started drinking green smoothies with our breakfast every morning. The kids gulp them down and they don’t have any idea what makes them green. I find that both hilarious and ridiculous.

Ben: What did you put in this, Mommy?

Me: Pineapples.

Ben: Cool. It’s delicious.

Clearly their critical thinking skills need to be honed.

Here’s our favorite smoothie recipe so far:

Green Pineapple Goodness

2 Cups unsweetened almond milk

1/2 a banana

handful baby spinach

1 Cup frozen pineapple chunks

1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

2 Tablespoons flax meal

1 scoop natural vanilla protein powder (you can leave this out, just add more banana)

1/2 an avocado (optional)

Put it all in a blender (I use a Ninja) and blend until smooth. This makes about 4 cups of thick, creamy deliciousness. Drink up!