Love, Laughter, and Laundry

Welcome to an inside peek into the life of our family. I hope that as you get to know me through this blog, you will get to know the Reason for the hope and the joy that I have in me:
Jesus Christ


Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Veggie Tales

Well, my husband and I are embarking on a new adventure. As a result of some scary medical reports about my husband's cholesterol/blood pressure and an even scarier lecture from his doctor...we are attempting a new "change of lifestyle" in our eating habits. (I'm trying to get totally on the bandwagon and quit calling it a "diet!") We heard about a friend who had amazing results by switching to a no meat, no nuts, no oil, no dairy, no fun type of diet (oops...way of eating!)
Because I love my husband even more than chocolate (and that's a lot!), I promised him I would do this with him to support him. We are basically eating like "vegans" now (...at least until we can get the health issues under control!) My hubby and I have cracked up at the websites and grocery stores that we have had to go to for recipes/food, because it is becoming increasingly clear that we are WAY out of our element. Saturday we made our first trip to a natural health food store in the city. I felt like a Beverly Hillbilly. Let me try to explain... the places I usually frequent have white haired ladies in aprons handing out samples of frozen dinners to eat. Well, in this store it was a black guy with dredlocks, playing Bob Marley tunes on his guitar, handing out veggie pizza. (I'm not kidding!) This place has organic dog food...even organic toilet paper! (Who knew?) Everyone else was walking out to their hybrid/ alternative fuel cars...while you could clearly spot our 15 passenger gas guzzler towering over all the other vehicles.
One other thing I haven't mentioned is that since I barely have time to fix one supper for my family, much less two different things every night(not to mention the fact that my self control is not strong enough yet to grill hamburgers for them and veggies for us), my poor kids are finally having to eat their vegetables. I have to admit, the meals so far have not been bad at all. In fact, they've been quite good. We've had meatless meat in our spaghetti; we've found ways to make burritos, tostadas, red beans and rice on our new plan...and the list goes on and on. Now, even though they eat what we eat at night, they do get to have "regular" food as well. They haven't been completely banned from Pop Tarts, ice cream, and the like (just so you won't think they're being deprived.) But, I guess the new "lifestyle" is beginning to take hold. This morning when my 7 year old was telling me all the things she wanted for her upcoming birthday she looked at me solemnly and said, "You know, I was really wanting chocolate cake for my birthday...but I guess I'll eat vegetable cake if I have to." Now, that's a kid who really loves her mom and dad! :)
(Don't worry, grandmas, your baby will get chocolate for her birthday!)


Lord, help us to be successful in this endeavor, that we may have the energy and good health to serve You better!
"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." I Cor. 10:31

4 comments:

John and Vicki said...

Glad you have joined us! John and I have been on this "lifestyle" for 2 months now. We've had some great results both with weight loss and drop in cholesterol. Maybe we can share some recipes. Oh yes, and my son calls that store "The Hippie Store" :)

John and Vicki said...

Check out the new vegan blog. :)

Renae said...

Love your blog and good luck with the lifestyle change. We have tried a little here and there and at different times. I love your experience at the health food store. I know what you mean. I finally decided that if I can't find it in Walmart or Kroger, I can do without it for now. :)

Unknown said...

I used to think people who called themselves 'Vegans' were from another star system - Vega.
;-)

Although they weren't blue.

Too much ScienceFiction in my diet -er- 'way of eating'.

When we went Feingold Diet, it was the same way for us. Having to tell people 'no, can't eat there, no can't eat that' all the time got old and tiresome. (For me). But the results in the kids were marked. (in me too).

Pretty interesting having a family of 6, all of whom are ADD or ADHD.