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Tuesday, February 1, 2011

You are what you eat!!



Alright, confession time: I am a junk food junkie.


Or at least I used to be.

Ok ok... so I still kind of am, but only sometimes!


See, the thing is that I've been super skinny my whole life. And I know that a lot of people would roll their eyes at such a complaint but in total honesty, I hate being so skinny. I just want to be able to gain some weight and keep it on, that's all! To top it off, I'm a really picky eater, too, and I'm sure that doesn't help.


Anyway, so I've always tried to gain weight. And in doing so, I usually went for really high fat, high calorie foods in an effort to put on some pounds. See, I've never had to watch what I eat, so I just ate whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, and let's face it: the tastiest foods are usually not the foods that are best for you. More butter, more bettah! (Did I just make that up?...or maybe it's a Paula Deen thing?)


It wasn't until I got pregnant that I really realllly had a hard look at my diet. It wasn't pretty. There was even a point during my pregnancy that I had trouble gaining weight and was told to add cheese and peanut butter to everything. I ended up getting those weight-gain drinks and drank 2 a day (they're like 350 calories each). But, I got a whole new perspective on food when I starting looking at it as fuel for not only my body, but for my baby's as well. The biggest thing that I discovered was the incredible amount of CRAP that is added to so much food....I'm talking preservatives, additives, and a bunch of other stuff with names I can't even begin to pronounce.


So began my journey into researching healthy and organic foods. Now, it's true, a lot of stuff that is organic tends to be a little bit more expensive. But I was very surprised at the amount of products I found that were just the same price as non-organic, sometimes even cheaper depending on where I bought them! My go-to sources were: Henry's Market for vitamins, humanely raised meat (for a very reasonable price), stuff like nuts and dried fruit that were sold by the pound in barrels, and natural soda, coconut water, and the like. Trader Joe's is my favvvvorite for snack items (chips, cereal, dairy, pre-made lunches, etc.) - Clay's mom even got me an 'I Love Trader Joe's Cookbook' for Christmas, I'll post more about that another time - and the Farm-to-Market near my work for organic produce that was surprisingly cheapo.

All in all, I made it out of markets like that for a fraction of the price of what I would spend at Ralph's or Albertson's, and all my food had a fraction of the CRAP in it. I was amazed. I could save money and feel better about what I ate! All of these discoveries also led me to start cooking and experimenting in the kitchen more - although my maternal instincts might have also contributed to that - but in any case, I felt better knowing exactly what was put into my meals and felt proud of myself for taking the time to cook. Plus, it was kinda fun!



Basically, like I've said before, I need to take care of myself and be a good example for Levi. Food is fuel! You really are what you eat. I'm still farrr away from becoming the kind of eater I should be, but I'm making progress!



P.S. Again, for my So.Cal readers, Rock View Dairy is a local dairy farm that actually DELIVERS your milk at no extra cost!! The milk does cost a tad bit more, but isn't having a milkman such a cute notion? And you are drinking fresher milk and supporting a local,humanely run business. Worth the extra cents to me. I just signed us up for delivery! :)

1 comment:

  1. Hey Chelsea! I love everything about this post. It was the same way before I got pregnant and then suddenly I was so conscious of what I was putting into my body. It really changed how I look at food. Although I admit sometimes I do break the rules and eat something "bad." I love your blog, by the way!

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