I’m so glad for Easter weekend – not only because it’s the weekend, but because I had a day off from work today! It was so relieving knowing I didn’t have to wake up at 6 a.m. and I didn’t have to be anywhere today. I did attempt, however, go to Starbucks, specifically aiming to get their spinach and feta wrap, but the Starbucks near my house didn’t have a stove to be able to make them and so off I went to the next Starbucks in town. When I got there they told me they’d run out. What the heck?! I’ve been craving the wrap probably about 6 months and haven’t had a chance to try them yet. Whyyy! So, I came home, made an egg-white in a mug dish, toasted an english muffin and had some sips of the Starbucks latte and still have an unopened container of the Greek yogurt and honey parfait sitting in my fridge, out of disappointment for the spinach wrap I was so desperately looking forward to. I’m sure I’ll have some of the yogurt concoction for breakfast tomorrow.
I have been really touched recently in watching Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution. As I’ve watched each episode, I’m realizing more and more that our country has really become a fast food nation. I acknowledged it before, but the concept never really sunk in as much as it has now. Looking back at my childhood meals in school, they really did serve us processed food. However, I don’t remember the other school kids being as overweight or obese as some of these kids in West Virginia.
Have we really become a workaholic nation? Looking into my own life, I’ve been consumed by work, immediately heading to the gym for a workout and coming home, spending about an hour winding down before I go to bed. This leaves me no virtual time for cooking. I thought I was eating healthier – and in certain ways, I am. However, before I went on my weight loss journey I did use to cook a lot more at home – because I had much more free time in my hands and didn’t work out at all. But now that I have my schedule set, I unfortunately don’t have as much time as I used to, leaving MigL to pick up food for himself – mainly Taco Bell.
I definitely want my kids to learn the names of fruits and vegetables. I was completely APALLED when Jamie asked one classroom full of kids to name some fruits and vegetables he was showing them. They could not name a single one! One kid thought tomatoes were potatoes; they had no clue where their favorite food, french fries, came from. They could, however, quickly pick out chicken nuggets and pizza without thinking it twice. Really, have we become that busy in our lives? I know how easy it is to just pick up something at the grocery store from the frozen foods section and voila, 4 minutes in the microwave, it’s done. Don’t get me wrong, I do that too. Or it’s even more easy just to go through the drive-thru and pick something out from the menu without even getting out of the car. But I think that companies should be thinking of ways to make some of their food healthier. I really don’t need or want to eat something that has 20 grams or more of fat or has 1200 or more calories in something that’s devoured in less than 10 minutes, thank you. How many more minutes of exercise will it take to burn that stuff off to maintain a healthy weight?? I hadn’t realized that chicken nuggets were made of the inedible leftovers from a chicken, mixed in with fat. What I found a bit funny but sad, was when Jamie performed that experiment (and before he said that, he mentioned that it was fool-proof), the kids still ate that kind of garbage. I guess we all eat what we know looks and is familiar and lean towards items that will leave us feeling happy even when we know what we’re eating is bad for us.
MigL and I have vowed to eat more home cooked meals and less take out; to really know what’s exactly in my food and know that I can eat a balanced meal that will fulfill not only my nutritional needs, but will leave me feeling satisfied and healthy. And eating at home will definitely help us save more money.
Click here to start your own food revolution where you live and help improve school foods! If you can’t help at a school, start by eating healthier foods and making better food choices at home. I know it’s helped me become happier with myself and have noticed I have way more energy than I’ve ever had in my entire life!
Eat your vegetables!
No comments:
Post a Comment