Stop apologizing. Stop feeling guilty. Stop feeling like you’ve failed.
Are you doing the best you can with the food you’re eating and/or putting on the table for your family? Well then – you should feel very good about that. Are you working hard to serve lots of fruits and veggies? Have you switched to healthy fats like real butter instead of margarine?
Well then, put your zucchini down for just a second and give yourself a pat on the back.
We likely all have room for improvement. Sure, maybe sometimes we compromise on days when truly, we’re just feeling lazy and don’t want to do better. But do you know what I think? I think all of us work really hard and are rarely lazy. I think we are all doing a really good job, working to put healthy food on the table most of the time. I think it’s impossible to be perfect. Therefore, we should appreciate the good steps we’re taking on our real food journey, and should feel great about how far we’ve come!
Too many times when I’m in conversation with people, it seems that they feel like they need to apologize to me because they don’t eat a perfect diet. News flash: Neither do I. All of you who have read my book know about my compromises and occasional orange-fingered habits (shh!). Our family loves real food and loves to encourage others to eat real food too, because really – it isn’t very hard and you will feel so much better if you do. But don’t get it in your head that because I’m a “real food blogger” I somehow have “arrived” at real food perfection. And please don’t feel bad that you haven’t arrived either.
Did you eat some fruit today? Find a great way to sneak veggies into your kid’s lunch? Put a simple but satisfying real food dinner on the table tonight? Bravo!
In an effort to remind you (again) that my family doesn’t always eat perfectly, I took a picture of my grocery store visit tonight. Our family has been passing around a nasty flu bug for about a week and a half now. I’m tired. Therefore, I didn’t even have the energy to go “all the way to Wal-mart” where I would have had a few organic produce choices. Nor do I have the energy to make bread or the tiniest desire to stand at the counter to make tortillas. Next week? I’ll probably be all over it. But right now? We’re in survival mode. Taking care of sick kids is more important than grinding flour and kneading bread, don’t you think?
So guess what? Tonight, I bought a loaf of bread. And two packages of tortillas. And some good looking pita pockets. I checked the ingredient lists and found some without high fructose corn syrup or hydrogenated oils. So I bought them. Then I bought a bunch of fruits and veggies because our bodies need them. Man, citrus tastes good right now! Actually, everything fresh tastes good right now.
I know I’ve said all of this before, but I thought it was worth saying again. Keep it simple. Focus on eating real food. Do the best you can. Feel great about the right choices you are making!
Share!! What is one (or more) right choice you made in the food department today? (No, don’t think about where you “failed”.) We want to know what you did right. Bet you did great!
Very timely! We’re in the middle of renovating a our “dream” house out in the country. I’ve made some compromises lately: some I’m ok with, and some I regretted and stopped doing (like buying boxed cereal – yuck!) But you asked about good choices today: All five of my kiddos (from 9 y.o. down to 14 month old) have the sniffles and coughs, and low-grade fevers…so I was SO glad that I had just been making homemade broth the last few days in my crockpot (LOVE this method!). So they each downed some broth, and some FCLO…they all seem perkier this evening!
Thanks for the encouragement, Laura! I LOVE how you keep things so positive on your blog. I’ve stumbled across a few real food bloggers who are so incredibly negatvie — I just can’t stick around that for long.
I just experimented for the first time making bruschetta (sp?), using fresh basil from our garden (uh, yeah, I’m in Southern CA; sorry for your midwesterners getting snow right now).
My goal (and today’s success) is to eat a veggie at breakfast (usually spinach and/or peppers and onions with my eggs), and I always feel successful for the whole day when I manage to get one veggie in at breakfast. Then, if dinner falls by the wayside (like last night’s waffles), well…..oh, well!!
AND snowed in northerners :-) The sun is shinning, so I’m having an happy moment.
I woke up with a huge headache, but I pushed through and made coconut milk, banana and peanut butter smoothies with a little bit of chia seeds thrown in and it was delicious. Thanks for being real Laura, that’s why I read your blog.
Meredith,
Do you have a recipe for that? And do you make your own Coconut Milk? Just wondering, as I oredered some coconut from Tropical Traditions and wanted to try to make my own. There are so many recipes, not sure what way is the correct way. (ie: do I add honey,vanilla etc.)
I have never tried Coconut Milk from the store or anywhere else, so do not have any way to base my results on (when I do make it).
Recipe for that smoothie would be great.
Susan
I just put it together and no, I didn’t make my own coconut milk although I have heard you can do that. I put a frozen ripe banana in the blender, a spoonful of natural peanut butter, a few teaspoons of chia seeds and a tiny bit of protein powder and then the milk. I eyeballed it on everything. I have in the past put spinach in there too and that’s delicious. I have a “thing” about the combo of banana and pb. If it isn’t sweet enough for your taste you could add a small amount of honey.
Hope everyone in your family is feeling better soon!! The homemade peanut butter chocolate chip cookies I brought to work kept me from eating that darn Reese’s peanut butter egg that a very nice coworker gave me today :) It’s still sitting on my desk and hopefully I don’t cave and eat it tomorrow. Peanut butter and chocolate…….!
Good timing–I’m battling iritis right now and hardly was able to be home today because of dr’s appts. But, before I left I was able to make our family green smoothies with spinach and fruit for breakfast. We all love them! Thanks for the encouragement.
TOTALLY right with you. I haven’t made bread lately because all of this “morning” (i.e. all day every day) sickness is getting to me! I love my babies but pregnancy is tough. On the one hand you feel so much better when you make only the best food choices. on the other hand vomiting while trying to beat a healthy lifestyle out of your body isn’t always worth it. So, God bless you! I needed this!
Hello preggo. Don’t let the food issue get to you, you’ll have to much stress. Do whatever you can to rest.
I needed this tonight. Thank you! Our real food journey has gone up & down a lot over the past few years due to my health. I had a horrible migraine today, but was able to coach my 10 year old son through baking bread & making “pan lasagne” He did great! I am so blessed to have a son who loves to help me in the kitchen! I buy organic whole wheat tortillas all the time. It’s the only bread item I don’t make myself, but the RA pain in my hands really flares when I roll something out. I’m hoping my kids’ real food diet will keep them from the health problems I have! Thank you for your blog & your encouraging poat tonight!
Sonja, What a blessing to have your son helping you like that! I don’t want to sound flippant but have you ever tried eliminating wheat and grains from your diet? I have and it has helped tremendously with headaches. I don’t have RA, but I think it may help with that too. I don’t push wheat free on people but it may help you. I have the Wheat Belly Cookbook, and it’s definitely not just about losing weight. There are many health problems that can be attributed to wheat. It was astounding to me when I started eliminating wheat and then would intentionally eat something to feel that headache come on within a half hour. Also, I had sore hips a lot, and that has gone away totally.
Just wanted to share something that has helped me, and it’s not really hard to avoid wheat. I don’t make wheat free breads and only buy a few prepared “gluten free” items, like crackers.
Marilyn,
Could you tell me the exact name of your Wheat Belly Cookbook. I looked on Amazon and there are many Wheat Belly cookbooks.
Susan
Susan,
http://www.amazon.com/Wheat-Belly-Cookbook-Recipes-Weight/dp/1609619366/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1365645669&sr=1-1&keywords=wheat+belly+cookbook
I don’t know if that link will work. It is by Dr. William Davis. You could also get the full-length version of the book, which is called “Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health. I just got the cookbook which has an abbreviated version of the book’s contents in the beginning. If you want all the (very) detailed info, get the book. He also has a blog with lots of success stories. It is http://www.wheatbellyblog.com
Marilyn,
Thank you for your suggestion. Actually, I have tried eliminating wheat from my diet. I have family members with gluten intolerance, so I did wonder if avoiding gluten would help. Unfortunately, I didn’t notice any benefits, but maybe I didn’t try long enough (6 weeks). I don’t eat much wheat myself, but I do feed it to my kids (homemade whole wheat bread, muffins, pancakes, biscuits, rolls & the occasional store bought tortillas or pasta) We eat homemade granola almost daily, and brown rice 2-3x/week for our other grains. I don’t know how I would keep my kids from starving if I took away all grains!
I too had RA for 15 years and chronic migraines- both were eliminated when I took wheat out of my diet. If I have any gluten my arthritis will flair again- it seems hard to do but it is so worth feeling better. I can knit again and do so much more all around :) Good Luck!
Katrina,
Your RA was eliminated or the symptoms?
I avoided any prescriptions or medical treatments for RA so I haven’t been in to a Dr for a long time. At this time I have no symptoms at all. It took a good two months without gluten before I really felt better. We eliminated all grains for one month and then tested one at a time. The first time I tried gluten I almost couldn’t get out of bed the next day I hurt so bad- I hadn’t realized it was getting slightly better over the weeks. Now I rarely have any pain (even when it rains :) ). I have been totally off gluten for 7 months and the results have been amazing! It does take a while though for the healing. I really didn’t want to go gluten free because I thought it would be too hard. I love bread more than most people I know :) The results have been worth it though in me and my daughter (who now says her knees hurt if she has any gluten). Hope this is somewhat helpful!
Also if gluten is truly a problem then even making it for your kids can affect you through cross contamination. A crumb really is enough to cause a reaction. We do use other grains- homemade granola and granola bars, rice, quinoa, millet etc. These don’t seem to bother us although we do limit them at this time as we are trying to do some healing for our guts.
Katrina, thank you so much for your quick response! I talked to my husband, and he is willing to try everyone going gluten free for 6 weeks. Hopefully it will be long enough to see if it makes a difference. I had not thought about the cross contamination before, thank you for pointing that out!
Thanks for the encouragement! I often forget that perfect isn’t the goal and serve myself a helping of guilt. Good food choices for today: blueberries, strawberries and blackberries cooked down to a syrup (no sugar added) and stirred into oatmeal and a simple stir-fry of chicken, veggies and lots of garlic for dinner!
Just what I needed to see. We drove from Ohio to Wyoming and back again in the last 8 days with 2 sick kiddos. We are worn out and the cupboard was bare. Still haven’t made it to the store so no fresh fruit or veggies but I did manage to get a fresh loaf of bread baked and was so grateful to have a chicken broccoli casserole in the freezer. Used your trick of putting the casserole in still (partially) frozen on low heat for a longer time. Loved feeding the family a hot healthy meal!
I gave my kids a fun bath with a few “healthy ingredients” thrown in (epsom salts for magnesium and lavender to help them relax before bed).
We drank some yummy and probiotic water kefir (strawberry kiwi flavored) and gave extra grains to a friend.
I kept it simple. I was a bit rushed in the a.m. and was able to grab a homemade frozen meal outta the freezer. Thank goodness for grandmas sending us grandkids home with leftovers. Also, with fruit on hand, I could quickly grab it for snacks and such.
I found a way to get my little girls to eat avocados. (Cue applause) You can make chocolate pudding from avocados and it is delicious enough for even seriously addicted chocoholics: 2 avocados, 3 tbsp honey (or to taste) 4 tbsp cocoa (or to taste) milk to thin it to the right consistency and a little bit of vanilla. Voila! We’ve been eating this twice a week with sliced bananas and strawberries. So healthy!!!!
Hope your gang is better soon, Laura. Blessings :)
I saw that on pinterest. does it keep ok? or do you have to eat it right away?
I’ve made this several times now and it keeps great for a couple of days!
It’s never lasted longer than the next day’s breakfast at our house :)
I’m going to make that to go with our waffles for breakfast! thanks for the idea :)
Thank you for the reminder, Laura. I also love you for being real about it. I had jam on my toast this morning – homemade, low sugar. We’ll have veggies and salad with lunch. You are so encouraging.
Sheri, I can’t wait to try that avocado chocolate pudding!!
I love when you write posts like this! I am too hard on myself about food…and it looks like I’m not alone! Thanks for the encouragement you always put out there! Today I am in the midst of processing all the fresh fruits and vegetables I bought over the weekend, peeling, chopping, cutting, so everything is ready to eat when we all want snacks. AND I’m making kimchi while I’m at it! I didn’t even want to get out of bed today (lol!) so I feel good about getting this much done! :-)
Hope your family is well soon, Laura. I think many of us compare what goes on in our homes with what we “think” goes on in others homes…and we always come up short. There are definately seasons of just surviving. But buying store bought bread is so much better than having a stressed out Mom.
Have a great day!
I have been very sick with the flu for a month so my husband had to go buy some bread and applesauce. I have a day here and there where I feel a little better and will make a batch of granola or bread. Lately been up to making smoothies for my son and I and am thankful for that. Also my sweet husband during this has already made several batches of broth. In fact he put together some turkey soup with the broth last night in the crockpot so we will have some healthy soup tonight and we had our smoothie this morning. Running very low on snacks for my son. He is in growth spurt stage. I cannot believe how much he ate yesterday. For dinner he had 2 helping of chicken stir fry with brown rice and pineapple. Said he was still hungry so had some greek yogurt. Was still hungry so he had some almonds. I am running low on healthy treats and can’t make much right now-so was wondering any ideas for somewhat healthy snacks that can be made quick(like 5 minutes because after that I start having coughing fits and get exhausted)or that I could buy. Fruit does not fill this boy up and he already goes through 2 or 3 bananas a day. Think I’ll make him some poopcorn,but other than that don’t know.
Hi Gina. He will eat and eat and eat like my children! Would a little more protein such as bean dishes, cream, cheese, eggs?
Oops! Spelling mistake. I meant popcorn not poopcorn-that would be a whole other problem-ha!
Thanks Birdie-he does eat a lot of protein already,but haven’t had any bean dishes in awhile. He only eats the yolks of eggs so doesn’t like hard boiled or deviled eggs. Will only eat them fried so he can throw out the whites-he says they make his stomach hurt.He eats plenty of cheese every week. He also enjoys peanut butter type snacks,but other than putting some on bread or a banana I don’t know what else to do that would be fast.
Great post! I always feel like I could be doing more. My 6 year old just discovered, after 9 months of refusing them, that she likes raw carrots again. She actually asked to take some to school for snack. So she had RAW carrots for snack, strawberries and pea pods with lunch and will be having steamed broccoli, raw green peppers and cantaloupe with dinner. She started the school year this way, then decide she was no longer eating a bunch of staple fruits and veggies (raspberries, oranges, carrots, avocados, cucumbers, grapes, apples, etc.) all around the same time. I felt terrible resorting to cups of fruit packed in juice and tried to heavily push applesauce as it is at least lower in sugar, then she decided she didn’t like applesauce. I am hoping I can slowly start going back to all fresh fruits and veggies at school.
Excellent encouragement! I so appreciate your healthy and balanced perspective when it comes to feeding our families (and life in general).
I am due any day to give birth to my third child and we’ve had lots of being grateful for less than “perfect” food choices and the financial provision to acquire them. Yesterday we made a last minute trip to the store after ballet and before dinner, I resisted the urge to get something totally pre-made/processed and ended up getting hamburger patties, some baby carrots, grape tomatos and a little”cheat” in the way of chips to feed us all for dinner. Fancy it was not, but it was satisfying and reasonably healthy.
Now I just need to convince this baby that he needs to come out!
:) I just had my 3rd a week ago. We’ve done several of the little ‘cheats’ as well. We’ve been eating whatever people are kind enough to drop off and meals out of the freezer that I made before she was born. Hope that healthy baby comes soon!
Congratulations on your new arrival! I am definitely looking forward to thankfully feeding my family lots of meals made by others and also have a small freezer stockpile that I am trying not to get into too much beforehand, though the weight of this boy makes it quite literally sorely tempting!
I love the “all the way to Wal-Mart” part. I am so there. Hope you are all completely well soon!
Thanks for the encouragement!! I needed it!!
Laura…
Bless your sweet sweet soul. I SOOOOOO needed to hear this today. I just asked my husband last night through held back tears to please pray for me because I was so overwhelmed with our food journey. You descibed me to a “T”, always focusing on my failures. This week I will focus on my successful choices and cut myself some slack on the rest. (deep breath)
Today I made some real food chocolate chip muffins for my kiddos for breakfast and had myself an organic apple with almond butter and I smile at the fact that I washed that organic apple down with some good ol’ coffee! LOL.
Dear Jenn. Just focus eating fresh and home made. If allergies are not a problem then just focus on simple meals. If organics are to costly, buy what is affordable and wash. God never wanted us to be stress over food. Your children will pick up on your stress and food could become an issue for them. Blessings to you, may you continue to find freedom from food worries.
Thank you! I was feeling bad about the junk I’m sure my kids ate while they were “home alone” yesterday because of a snow day. I have to remember that my 5-yr old likes water better than anything else and regularly asks for “good” food to help her body. Even my 14-yr old has started to embrace the changes and regularly drinks water and eats more fruit and vegetables. He even asked to try some pasta the other night (this from a kid who has NEVER liked any kind of pasta or rice including mac n cheese!) We’re not perfect but we are taking our baby steps down the right path.
We are doing GAPS, and it is helping my daughter and me. It is insane and I do not like it… but I guess that is something to pat myself on the back about her eczema is only an occasional thing now. We had cabbage with breakfast (*cough* as breakfast I was writing about cabbage and cooked a ridiculous amount).
Oh Laura! I sure wish we could all gather for a collective hug :-) Sorry to hear that illness has struck you and your loved ones. Thank you for your beautiful post. You are a dear friend to so many of us. Blessings dear lady <3.
Our oldest daughter grabbed your new cookbook that was in the van yesterday and started reading it as we were drilling the younger kids. She stopped all the Bible memory recitation going on at the time to read to us the part about your orange, cheesy finger addiction. She could barely get through it she was laughing so hard. (She also found the disclaimer very entertaining as well.) :)
Later, when we got out at Walmart she informed me that “fat is actually a good thing that our bodies need….well….”satated” fat that is.” Apparently that’s her first time coming across that word. I think I might have a new “Supervisor” in the kitchen after reading the cookbook. I might have to have her read this post before we start cooking today….
Praying your crew bounces back quickly. Tell the Cake Boys great job on the last episode. Our 6 year old watched the commercial and said thoroughly confused, “They’re just slippers…” Hahaha! Yes, honey, they are just slippers… Blessings!
Just a simple thank you. Sometimes the guilt about buying a loaf of bread can be horrible. I can relax a bit and see that I am doing the best I can.
So right. I’ve sprained my ankle and with a toddler and a baby, I just can’t keep up with cooking right now. I have priorities but taking the time to heal, give to the Lord, and take care of my babies is my priority. I don’t feel at all guiity. In a way, I am proud because it has helped me learn my priorities.
Quite a slippery slope…
Are you kidding me? I can’t believe I’m taking the time to respond but just maybe you’ll listen. If FOOD is your God, then it’s a slippery slope. Otherwise, it’s called life.
Amen! :)
I don’t have a lot of food in the house right now and we are low on grocery money until we get paid, but we keep plugging on with what we have. For breakfast I’ll pull out some waffles I froze for a later use and make some syrup (with sucanat) to top them and we’ll have smoothies. Lunch- Lentil soup/ grapefruit Dinner-I’ll take out a chicken and make some homemade fries/onion rings. You inspire me that I CAN do this! The most inspiring part is that you keep it real without the guilt…. now that I respond to!! I feel like you are my friend whom I’ve never met. Keep up the awesome work and know that you ARE making a difference :)
Laura- Ah, this is why I, can I say this, love you! :-) I seriously hope to meet you when you come to Colorado. I am praying really hard that it is NOT Sunday, May 19.
Eeeek! Well, the Meet and Greet I’m planning for Colorado Springs does happen to be on May 19th. BUT, I’m also planning one in Denver on the 18th. Sure hope that works for you!!
I live closer to Denver and I hope the 18th works for me, too!!!
I also found your comment about Wal-mart funny… our Wal-marts have hardly any organic produce and the other produce always looks, well, like something I do not want to put in my mouth…
Agree! Agree! Agree!
Tonight I am baking the homemade granola from your wonderful cookbook, using a couple of substitutions based on what I have on hand. I even used up my sweetened coconut (hopefully my future purchases will be unsweetened). But at least I’m making it from scratch from mostly healthy ingredients, and it certainly beats Lucky Charms!
Right now I work as a full-time teachers’ aide in a Christian school, and although I love my job, the hours away from home wear me out. I will continue to do my best to provide healthy, homemade meals for my family, but if and when I need to “cheat” a little, I will not feel guilty!
Laura, I so appreciate your honesty and non-judgmental attitude when it comes to eating real foods. I couldn’t agree with you more; it’s all about BALANCE! Recently my ladies’ small group watched a Beth Moore teaching in which she talked about how we as women can be obsessed with even something good like healthy eating. But God wants us to be free in whatever part of the journey we find ourselves in!