10 Days of Real Food!

Confession time: I am addicted to sugar. 

Put a donut in front of me, and it takes every ounce of self control to not eat it. And then later I’d probably find some way of justifying why I should eat it and then eat it. Or I’d eat maybe a quarter of it, thinking I’m being so self-controlled, but then the next quarter…and the next…and the next would quickly follow the first little bite.

2 Peter 2:19 tells me that “you are a slave to whatever controls you.”  So whenever I let food control me, I am enslaved to it. Sad, isn’t it?

So what’s next? I tried to “just be more self-controlled”, but that only lasted until we made chocolate chip cookies on Valentine’s Day. I wanted to do a detox, but can’t because I’m still nursing. Then John and I came up with something that we think would be a healthy lifestyle change for our whole family: eating real food.

Real food? Yes, real food. Real, unprocessed, un-chemicalized and un-preservativized (yes, I just made those words up) food. Food that God made and gave us to enjoy and to nourish our oh-so dependent bodies. Inspired by the 100 Days of Real Food blog, we decided to commit to 10 days of eating real food. Our goals are to establish healthier eating habits and wean our bodies off the crazy amounts of sugar that we are used to (on average, Americans consume 22 teaspoons of sugar a day — that’s 150 pounds a year! — while the recommended amount is no more than 6 teaspoons for women and 9 for men a day). If you want to know more about the benefits of cutting out processed foods, check out the 100 Days of Real Food blog post on the topic.  As future missionaries, we also see this as a great way to prepare ourselves for a much simpler life abroad where Starbucks white chocolate mochas and Albertsons chocolate chip cookies are just not readily available.

Here’s What We WILL Eat: 

1. Lots of fruits and vegetables

2. Dairy products (unsweetened)

3. 100% whole-wheat and whole-grains

4. Seafood and meats

5. Natural sweeteners like honey and pure maple syrup

6. Beverages: water, milk, coffee (no sugar), and all natural juices

7. Anything else that’s a whole food like God created it 🙂

Here’s What We WON’T Eat:

1. No refined grains (white flour, white rice…)

2. No refined sweeteners (sugar, cane syrup…)

3. No deep fried foods

4. No fast food

Sounds simple enough, right? Well, it takes some meal planning, more time making food from scratch, and some definite changes in my shopping habits (finding things that only contain ingredients that are whole grain and  that I know and would use myself is pretty hard! Just take a look at the ingredients list for flour tortillas to get the idea)…

Here’s our meal plan for week 1:

Breakfast: Whole wheat banana pancakes, granola, oatmeal

Lunches: Egg salad on triscuits (believe it or not, triscuits are made whole grains and only have 3 ingredients), PB&J sandwiches on whole wheat bread, fruit smoothies, melted cheese sandwiches

Dinners: Whole wheat pizza, pulled pork with cornbread, creamy mushroom soup, spinach bake with sausages, bacon pasta

We’re starting on TUESDAY (Feb.25th) and will keep you posted on how things go! That definitely adds some pressure that’ll help us stick with it :). John and I are excited and really strive to grow not just in physical but also spiritual wellness during this time of denying certain foods, practicing self-control, and taking care of the wonderfully intricate bodies God has created for us.

Interested? Keep on following our blog! Want to join us? Let me know and we can go on this real food journey together 🙂

1 Corinthians 10:31 — “So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God”