Flexibility and beyond

Well our journey is officially over.  The 30 day mark has come and gone.  So, what's the plan? 

First of all, I hold these truths to be...well, true:  eating real food DOES make you feel better!!!  It DOES help you sleep!!  It DOES aleviate belly bloat (ladies, I'm speaking for myself here)!!  It DOES do away with those jittery feelings I have in the morning (my cortisol levels are off and when I removed the sugar it really helped)!!  It DOES take time/planning/and a certain mind set.  And last but not least, IT IS NOT TOO EXPENSIVE!!!!

My plan  for our future is simple-I am continuing this journey with flexibility.  I am going to pursue the 80/20 rule-80% of the time I will ensure that my family is provided with healthy food choices.  I am going to continue buying the good stuff and I am not going to buy those convenience items that we got along just fine without for the last 30 days.  If it isn't in the house, it really isn't a daily option.  That being said, I am going to accept that there are situations (now when I say situations, what I am really doing here is giving myself an out for those nights where I am so exhausted/lazy/unmotivated that Little Cesar's is a just fine/20% option) where the unhealthy stuff will be present in our lives.  I might not go looking for it on a regular basis, but life happens around here and I just don't want to stress. 

There has been a slow awakening here that I am loving!!  It is coming without any nudging from me!!  The kids are seeing first hand that when you stuff yourself with crap you feel bad.  I am done policing plates when we are at a social gatherings.  Several times the kids have gone wild and have ended up with a stomach ache/bathroom issues/fatigue/etc. and they are starting to make the correlation-remember what my original goal was??  I want my children to learn how to make good food choices for themselves!!  I want them to know when they are full.  I want them to realize that one piece of cake is a treat-but having the cake, ice cream, kettle corn, and a snow cone is going to make you sick!!!!!!!!!  And for the record, I am making these same mistakes and learning these same lessons.  To be perfectly honest, I didn't do so good myself on the 4th of July and woke up this morning feeling pretty miserable. 

This is a journey that we will continue to travel on!!  It is a process that I have learned takes time.  So if you are the parent of very little people, I would encourage you to start making good choices while your kids are young.  And keep offering these good choices even when said children turn their noses up at them.  And then keep offering those choices when you feel like throwing  in the towel because of the complaining.  Our kids used to eat everything we gave them-veggies and all.  As they grew so did their palates (i.e. pickiness) and so did our will power to enforce better habits of trying foods.  All is not lost!!  We have 3 children who will eat anything once, one child who will pretend to try, and one who...well quite frankly I have no idea what happened with her because she ate everything as a little peep. 

Thank you so much for reading these posts.  There were some days where I felt really frustrated but kept things rolling because I knew that people were keeping up with the Story's.  I am going to keep posting-we are always trying new things over here to make life interesting.

Here is to better eating choices for the long haul!!

~Kara