Smash: I found a local farm that sells GRASS FED MEAT from local farmers(eeee!), Antibiotic/Hormone Free Eggs and Milk (!) and organic vegetables!!!!!!!!! All in one place!
Trash: I can't afford to do anything but Ramen noodles and food banks :(
Ugh. Hopefully once my wages stop being garnished from debt in my previous marriage, I can start making food purchases that will help my family be healthy. So for now I'll have to skip this part of my health plan.
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
One link..muah, ah, ah
I found where I'm going to get veggies, milk, and eggs from! Hopefully this works out and I won't have to keep looking around. Ready for the link? Tada! Annies Organic Buying Club. It's NOT a co-op so it's more flexible and you can add more stuff to your baskets or even switch things out. It's pretty huge too, so there should be a good selection.
You pay a week in advance, which means my grocery budget doesn't provide anything I can live on for another week. Which means, the smart thing is to save up the extra pre pay. Which means, I can't start as soon as I'd like. However, the silver lining is that it gives me longer to look for where to get the meat, which is a trickier endevour.
You pay a week in advance, which means my grocery budget doesn't provide anything I can live on for another week. Which means, the smart thing is to save up the extra pre pay. Which means, I can't start as soon as I'd like. However, the silver lining is that it gives me longer to look for where to get the meat, which is a trickier endevour.
Eat right: Step 2
Step One. Check
Step Two. It's grocery shopping time! I've been collecting links, and likeing FB pages on Co-ops for organic food, farmers markets and farms in the area. To prevent the freak out I'm going to keep it simple. Pick two, just pick two of the links to try out this weekend. One for grain fed, hormone free meat and the other for organic fruits and vegetables.
I'll be back with the winners of who gets my grocery money, once I'm done perusing my bajillion links. My one reader(myself), waits with baited breath.
Step Two. It's grocery shopping time! I've been collecting links, and likeing FB pages on Co-ops for organic food, farmers markets and farms in the area. To prevent the freak out I'm going to keep it simple. Pick two, just pick two of the links to try out this weekend. One for grain fed, hormone free meat and the other for organic fruits and vegetables.
I'll be back with the winners of who gets my grocery money, once I'm done perusing my bajillion links. My one reader(myself), waits with baited breath.
Monday, January 21, 2013
Eat Right: Of course it ends with a list
I used to be harcore about organics and being healthy.It was a lifestyle. Everything I ate had a purpose and was from the purest source available to me. Well, except beer and diet coke, those were my splurges. I used to love thinking about living healthy, cleaning healthy, eating healthy...everything healthy, healthy, healthy. And my body showed it.
Now, psh, not even close. When I first became a single mom, that was one of the many things I had to lose. I couldn't afford to feed myself and three children on my income. I qualified for WIC and it saved my non existant budget but WIC doesn't allow for things that don't have high fructose corn syrup or enriched flour. Oh no, only the best sugary, fattening, nutrient void products for the children of mothers who can't afford to buy food.
It's been several years since I've been off WIC, but my budget is still super tight. Shopping at the health food stores is out of the question so I've tried to make do with the choices Wal-Mart has. Wal-Mart is starting to carry some organic stuff but after buying for a family of six and a husband that eats like a lumberjack, even the 40 cent increase per item is not something I can afford. So mostly I forget about organic and just try to stay away from High Fructose.
Well, the time has come to step it up and care more about what we are eating. I feel overwhelmed with where to start. So, to my default organizational tool: The List
Step:
1. Be a pragmatic organic eater. Accept that pretty much any food I purchase is going to have something in it that some author of a granola eating magazine is going to say will kill me or give my son a third nipple. I chose to accept that 20% of my food is not going to be so hot, but the other 80% is going to be really good for me.
2. Stock the pantry and fridge with good food. This is the part that is the scariest. I know what to get, but I have no idea how my grocery budget can afford it. Last time I tried this, my entire month grocery budget was spent for one week of groceries. AND I GOT GOOD DEALS. This is going to take research.
3.Avoid the Big Three: High fructose corn syrup, Antibiotics, Trans Fat or Partially or Wholly Hydrogenated Oils
4.Watch what we drink. Juice is junk food! Soda is bad. Body needs water.
5. Control Portions. Enough is Enough. Get a grip on portion sizes. Meat should be no bigger than the size of a deck of cards. For pasta and rice ½ cup is a serving. Load up on the veggies; make them organic if at all possible to avoid cancer causing pesticides.
6. Cut out processed sugars and enriched/bleached grains.
Now, psh, not even close. When I first became a single mom, that was one of the many things I had to lose. I couldn't afford to feed myself and three children on my income. I qualified for WIC and it saved my non existant budget but WIC doesn't allow for things that don't have high fructose corn syrup or enriched flour. Oh no, only the best sugary, fattening, nutrient void products for the children of mothers who can't afford to buy food.
It's been several years since I've been off WIC, but my budget is still super tight. Shopping at the health food stores is out of the question so I've tried to make do with the choices Wal-Mart has. Wal-Mart is starting to carry some organic stuff but after buying for a family of six and a husband that eats like a lumberjack, even the 40 cent increase per item is not something I can afford. So mostly I forget about organic and just try to stay away from High Fructose.
Well, the time has come to step it up and care more about what we are eating. I feel overwhelmed with where to start. So, to my default organizational tool: The List
Step:
1. Be a pragmatic organic eater. Accept that pretty much any food I purchase is going to have something in it that some author of a granola eating magazine is going to say will kill me or give my son a third nipple. I chose to accept that 20% of my food is not going to be so hot, but the other 80% is going to be really good for me.
2. Stock the pantry and fridge with good food. This is the part that is the scariest. I know what to get, but I have no idea how my grocery budget can afford it. Last time I tried this, my entire month grocery budget was spent for one week of groceries. AND I GOT GOOD DEALS. This is going to take research.
3.Avoid the Big Three: High fructose corn syrup, Antibiotics, Trans Fat or Partially or Wholly Hydrogenated Oils
4.Watch what we drink. Juice is junk food! Soda is bad. Body needs water.
5. Control Portions. Enough is Enough. Get a grip on portion sizes. Meat should be no bigger than the size of a deck of cards. For pasta and rice ½ cup is a serving. Load up on the veggies; make them organic if at all possible to avoid cancer causing pesticides.
6. Cut out processed sugars and enriched/bleached grains.
Such a quitter
Yay!!!!!! I quit! All lighters have been collected and are in a ziplock for use with candles. All butts have been thrown out. I am officially a quitter!
Looks like not only am I a quitter, but I'm an overacheiver....I finished my goal early and on to the next one: Eat right.
Looks like not only am I a quitter, but I'm an overacheiver....I finished my goal early and on to the next one: Eat right.
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Breathe Right: Thirteen
Thirteen days!!!! I haven't smoked in thirteen days! My fingernails are nice and white, my clothes don't stink, I feel awesome in the mornings and the kids are proud of me.
I'm pretty sure we are going to totally miss out on Winter this year. The only seasons Florida really has is weather. We have weather, not seasons. Today's weather: Rain. I love the rain, but when you're a smoker, and not around a porch it sucks!! Today, I'm reminded of another benefit of not smoking: Life is simplified. I don't have to answer the question...car window up and get smoked out or car window cracked and get soaked. I didn't have to find some tiny dank spot outside to have a smoke break at work. I was able to just enjoy the rain.
Yes, I am liking not smoking very much.
Surprising benefits to not smoking:
1. You Stay Dry
2. You Don't have to get into conversations with annoying people on smoke breaks.
3. Car air freshners actually leave a pleasant scent
4. No guilt from spending money on cigarettes
5. No guilt from smoking in the car with kids
6. When not smoking in the car with kids...no pulling over just to smoke during long trips.
7. I Don't have to hear it from my mom!!!!!Seriously, I never thought nagging worked on anyone, but her nagging the crap out of me is enough for me to never even stand close to a fire again.I Wouldn't dare risk "that smoke smell" around her and the second hand smoke, 1/2 hour removed asthma attack drama it induces.
I'm pretty sure we are going to totally miss out on Winter this year. The only seasons Florida really has is weather. We have weather, not seasons. Today's weather: Rain. I love the rain, but when you're a smoker, and not around a porch it sucks!! Today, I'm reminded of another benefit of not smoking: Life is simplified. I don't have to answer the question...car window up and get smoked out or car window cracked and get soaked. I didn't have to find some tiny dank spot outside to have a smoke break at work. I was able to just enjoy the rain.
Yes, I am liking not smoking very much.
Surprising benefits to not smoking:
1. You Stay Dry
2. You Don't have to get into conversations with annoying people on smoke breaks.
3. Car air freshners actually leave a pleasant scent
4. No guilt from spending money on cigarettes
5. No guilt from smoking in the car with kids
6. When not smoking in the car with kids...no pulling over just to smoke during long trips.
7. I Don't have to hear it from my mom!!!!!Seriously, I never thought nagging worked on anyone, but her nagging the crap out of me is enough for me to never even stand close to a fire again.I Wouldn't dare risk "that smoke smell" around her and the second hand smoke, 1/2 hour removed asthma attack drama it induces.
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Breath Right: Day five
The times I miss a cigarette the most:
Driving down back country roads
Walking the dog
Right after the kids go to sleep
After sex
All the stuff I've been reading to try and get through the twenty minutes of: I want a cigarette so bad I'm going to bite my own throat soon; say that you should replace the time you smoke with something relaxing. My problem is that the times that trigger it ARE relaxing. What's more relaxing than right after sex or driving down a back country road? What does help me get through it is getting busy. The problem with that is, in turn, I become a tyrant and find something for everyone else to do as well. God I love my family. They happily help me when I ask, let me interupt whatever they are doing and are all cheering me on to quit.
Smash of my day. I didn't smoke
Trash of my day. I didn't smoke
Driving down back country roads
Walking the dog
Right after the kids go to sleep
After sex
All the stuff I've been reading to try and get through the twenty minutes of: I want a cigarette so bad I'm going to bite my own throat soon; say that you should replace the time you smoke with something relaxing. My problem is that the times that trigger it ARE relaxing. What's more relaxing than right after sex or driving down a back country road? What does help me get through it is getting busy. The problem with that is, in turn, I become a tyrant and find something for everyone else to do as well. God I love my family. They happily help me when I ask, let me interupt whatever they are doing and are all cheering me on to quit.
Smash of my day. I didn't smoke
Trash of my day. I didn't smoke
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