For the curious - Overhauling your food

I am fortunate in that for years now I have planned and cooked most of our food. I thought we ate pretty healthy (and we did eat healthier than a lot of folks) but when hub got diagnosed with diabetes, we had to take a hard look at the menus and cupboards.

I threw away open boxes of pasta, crackers, etc. It was just easier not to have it around. We have eliminated bread, pasta, and all grains except quinoa and I have some sprouted wild rice mixed with quinoa. I know that sounds hard.

We eat a lot of stuff that anyone following a paleo diet would turn their nose up at: some cheese, an occasional diet soda or popsicle, last night we had a couple of corn tortillas each with dinner. We simply chose what we were willing to give up in order to achieve the goals of weight reduction and hub’s blood sugar reduction. The processed carbs had to get the boot, no question. We opted to leave some things that aren’t healthy (sugar free popsicles are nothing but chemicals), but that would make the transition easier. In time those things may go as well, or we may just accept a certain amount of crap in our diet – I don’t know.

But I will say this: it gets easier. Some meals are so easy to adapt it requires no thought: tonight we had a chicken in the crock pot with baked organic sweet potatoes and steamed artichokes. Other things were tougher (lasagna). Some things I’ve adapted (like lasagna) and others have simply fallen by the wayside (homemade chicken and dumplings are gone with the white flour).

Here’s the thing: 1) it’s not like we can never eat those things again, ever. We can, but right now it is simply too important to mess around with “moderation.” Define a moderate amount of cyanide, for example. If something is pure poison, how much is it okay to ingest? My body treats a chemical like a toxin and processes it as such (like a popsicle) but it doesn’t do the kind of active damage that pasta will to the hub. That’s where we drew our line in the sand. Your line may be somewhere else.

But overall it hasn’t been too hard. We eat meat, vegetables, fruit, nuts & seeds mostly, with a little bit of other stuff to smooth the path. Our allergies and allergy headaches have improved dramatically, so has sleep, and other bodily functions. We are seeing the payoff in terms of our health – and not just on the scale or in hub’s blood sugar readings (which were again out of the diabetic range this morning).

Because I am a list making fool, I made a list of menu ideas. I was able to come up with 31 dinners out of what we used to eat that I can make without processed carbs. Since we eat out once a week that means we could go about 5 weeks without ever having the same dinner twice!

It has required some planning, but the payoff has been well worth the investment of time.

Well, we left the dogs today. Luke (the kid next door) came over a couple of times during the day to check on the pups while we are both at work. Butch has been doing better, so hopefully things will be okay between him & Jordan. (Hub is working a temp job the next few days.)

Speaking of pups, did you catch the news about the pet treats? http://vitals.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/22/11798368-nearly-1000-dogs-now-sick-from-jerky-treats-fda-reports-say?lite

I have a very good recipe for dog treats that the dogs LOVE and they are easy and cheap. I buy organic kibble (Blue Buffalo or Wellness) and make their wet food and dog treats. I bought a cookbook for dogs. That’s just how I roll.

Today was yoga at lunch and gym after work.

Friday is our 10 year anniversary. By marrying each other we’ve saved two sane people from a life of misery. Ha!