Ten Days for our family of real food. It is possible. It is doable. With the exception of a short planned break for one of my girls at a birthday party, we all nailed it. No mess ups {other than that mint my husband ate without thinking and the bunny puff that belonged to my baby that I put in my own mouth without thinking}.
About 15 years ago, I was at a conference with a friend of mine. She leaned over and whispered “Let’s go get something sweet at the cart outside”. You don’t have to tell me twice. As I picked up my jaw off the floor (she was my healthy eating friend) and followed her outside, I would have never guessed the outcome of this. I waited behind her in line to see her gaze at all the candy and deliciousness and then reach out and pick up a nutrigrain bar. I said, “I thought you were getting some junk food.” She replied, “I did.” Yes, I felt stupid.
I have spent my life in middle ground with our eating choices. I regularly see people who eat “worse” than we do. I regularly see people who eat “not worse” than we do. I suppose, on some level, everyone could say the same thing.
We have had an overhaul on our food and for the first time it makes sense to me. It’s not to incorporate a powder, or a bar. It isn’t to trick our body into behaving a certain way. It’s to eat REAL FOOD. Our ten day challenge taught me so much.
*watermelon~ I think God’s version of Krispy Kreme. It’s a great dessert and it was just that on day 4, 5, and 7.
Some questions I regularly have had….
IS IT MORE EXPENSIVE TO EAT THIS WAY?
UM YES, yes, and yes. It is more expensive. No way around that. There are definitely ways to stretch the dollar. However, it is more expensive.
DOES IT TAKE MORE TIME?
UM YES, chopping and cleaning vegetables and making tortillas from scratch is definitely more time consuming than ripping open a Totinos Pizza Box and slinging it in the oven.
WAS THE PLANNING HARDER?
Yes, but only because it is a total overhaul in what we eat. In time, it will be no harder, I believe, than how we were eating before.
*Roasted Butternut Squash with Olive Oil and Sea Salt, Steamed Cauliflower with Parmesan, Baked Potatoes with a little real Butter and pepper, and Salad with sliced Cucumbers and Balsamic. Dinner~day 3.
The 10 day challenge was different then just trying to eat better because it forces you to read all the labels for ten days. Everything. I was shocked. I still am shocked. The things that I THOUGHT I was doing “good” or “better” than other choices…not so much. Such as marshmallows have blue food dye in them? Are you serious?
I read articles and researched and learned. I am learning new foods. Like Kale. Uh huh. It’s on my menu. I am learning new tricks like unsweetened cocoa powder and 100% maple syrup make a nice chocolate sauce that rivals Hersheys, not a fake nasty diet chocolate.
* Whole Wheat Crepes with Chocolate Sauce. Dessert~day 2.
I felt so happy with the food I was feeding my family. I was not constantly saying NO to the junk, but yes to snacks of cauliflower and carrots and apples and almonds. I was feeding them nutritious meals. It made this mama happy.
The biggest shockers of the whole thing were~
1. I expected to grin and bare it and muscle my way through some mind numbingly horrible diet tasting food for 10 days. 
Instead I found immediately that real food tastes better. I don’t mean slightly better, I mean my kids were asking for seconds and thirds better.
2. My 13 year old woke up on day 7 and announced that he felt like a fog had been lifted. (I did not put those thoughts in his head ahead of time).
3. There is sugar in everything and I mean everything. EVERYTHING. Soy sauce to rotisserie chicken to mayonnaise and beyond.
4. There is also food dye in everything. My children’s vitamins, canned vegetables, throat lozenges, and everything in between.
5. My kids were 1000% on board. All of them. They even passed up donuts, candy, lollipops, and Cheez its (all offered at church).
WHAT NOW?
Yes, this has changed us. More than I thought possible. I read articles like this and this and it has made my husband and I think long and hard about our budget and our food. We are making adjustments. We are finding our own balance.
I will not be found on an intersection in a sandwich board shouting for the end of processed food. Not by a long shot. I am not turning my blog into a health food blog. There are plenty of brilliant ones out there like this one and this one. I will not be condemning anyone who does not think like me and if you invite me over for dinner, I am going to eat what you fix me, I promise.
*Chicken stir fry with brown rice, pineapple, apricot all fruit spread, and liquid aminos. Whole wheat bread, salad with peppers and balsamic, and corn with a little real butter and sea salt and pepper. School lunch on day 9.
I will tell you this, my biggest lesson came on day 11 and lingers even today on day 12. We officially stopped the challenge after day 10. As planned and promised, we made chocolate chip cookies at lunch time and ordered our favorite pizza for delivery for dinner. After a couple licks of dough and one cookie, I had my first noticeable sugar rush of my life. I only noticed it because I had been living in a continual one for as long as I can remember, but it took the true absence of sugar for 10 solid days to show me just what I was dealing with. We went ahead with dinner plans and 2 slices of pepperoni pizza later, I was less then enchanted. The grease and sluggishness~ yuck. My seven year old said it was gross and didn’t finish it (it was the same pizza she loved 10 days prior) and my eleven year old complained of a stomach ache after dinner.
I am not going to lie, there is a part of me that is irritated. Irritated that my old familiar recipes and ways of eating around here have been all messed up. I sometimes want to live in a world where driving through Taco Bell and eating that fourth late night meal of the day is fun and delicious and yes even nutritious. However, even as I type that I find that to be a fairly odd statement to even make on many levels.
God made our bodies and He made such incredible food for them. Getting as close to eating what He created to nourish the body He created ~ it just makes sense. We are committed to to do our best to continue on this path, for the long haul.
