Monday, March 7, 2011

How's That Working For Ya?



I thought tonight should be the night to tell how this crazy organic lifestyle is working for me.  I'll talk about my energy levels, my weight loss, and eating habits.  I'll also mention a few things that I am in the process of tweaking.

So far I have lost 17 1/2 pounds since mid October 2010, when I started the blog and started eating healthy foods.  And since I had been gaining weight for a pregnancy or in that weird post pregnancy stage for almost 3 years, that amount of weight loss is going to mean a new wardrobe!!!!!  I'm waiting a bit longer and when I get back to my pre preggo weight I'm going on a shopping trip.  I'm thinking New York City.  A girl can dream, huh???

That is nice and all but the big difference I notice is in my energy.


Since all 3 of my people are finally starting to sleep through the night (at least a few times a week) I can start to see how my energy level is faring with my new lifestyle.  It is amazing.  I used to have sugar crashes during the day and need a nap.  No longer.  I am almost like the girl I once knew, peppy, energetic and excited about life.  As a family we have started going on adventurous outings.  Well, as adventurous as you can get with a 1, 2, and 5 year old tagging along.  I have noticed monumental changes in my energy level!  Praise God.  I am becoming the mommy I want to be to my kiddos.

As far as eating goes, I am still eating one raw meal a day, a salad.  I eat anything I want to eat, it is just usually fairly healthy.  Remember, I am in no way, shape or form dieting.  I am just trying to get healthy.

I have started cooking a bit more in butter.  I have found that I really like to cook in olive oil or butter.  I have tried coconut oil and think I have to give it a bit more time to acquire a taste for it.

For a while I tried to have a meal or two a week that was vegetarian.  I like meat.  I LOVE meat.  So for now, I have nixed the vegetarian days.  I feel better and have more energy when I eat meat.  Buffalo or bison has become my meat of choice.  Bison steak.  Enough said.

We all love fruit so we eat it for most snacks and sometimes dessert.

I am finding that for our family of 5 to eat grass fed meats, organic fruits and vegetables, and organic processed foods, it usually costs around $300 a week.  (Please click this link to see a revised weekly cost.)  I cook ALL of our meals.  There is the rare occasion that we still do eat out but I tell you it is RARE.  And at times I am even cooking 2 different meals.  My two littlest people are in a fairly picky stage so they go through a lot of food.  I am spending quite a bit on things I know they will eat.  This won't last forever.  Soon enough they will have to join in the family meal at every meal.  I foresee that saving me quite a bit of money.

One more thought on the $300 a week: I usually buy extras when something is on sale.  That adds quite a bit of expense each week too.  I don't mind as we always eat it.  So I could easily cut down my budget if I only purchased exactly what was needed for each week.

My husband and the kids still love it!  And I try and make a point to still include their favorite meals into our rotations.  In fact today we had a yummy homemade pizza and ice cream for dessert.

I think that it is fair to say that this organic lifestyle is working for us.  Big time!

7 comments:

  1. By the way that is my oldest daughter trying to fly a kite. That was one of our adventures this weekend!

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  2. so wonderful! We had homemade pizza last night and I thought of you! I did not do it all healthy really but it was a fun family activity and it was so cute to see them so excited for it to come out of the oven. Keep it up and thanks for the posts and updates!

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  3. Yeah Carly! I haven't been able to do the spinach/kale sauce for the pizza lately either. We do what we can and enjoy the time with our little people! My kids love to help in the kitchen too. Makes me smile. Thanks for commenting.

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  4. Do you notice a difference in energy in the kids, too? Or behavior? How about Michael? do you think there's a difference in him, too?

    So cool to read your posts! What a neat concept and lifestyle. Very inspiring. THANK YOU!

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  5. Those are great questions! My kids are really easy little people to begin with and have plenty of energy. I do notice though that they complain much less about their tummies hurting. I remember when we were eating out most days, my oldest was always saying her tummy hurt. That said, yes, they do have more energy as they don't have to rest through the feeling bad they experienced after eating fast food. We go to the park most days and these little people play HARD!!! As for the question about behavior, my kids don't have temper tantrums and are very obedient. They are lovely little people and seem to just get easier and easier. So it could be the diet As for Michael, he is the only one that eats out more than the rest of us for work. He did say that he feels so much better when he eats better. He also said his concentration is better when he eats better. And when he eats better it is usually the result of sleeping better. So it's hard to say if it is a result of the diet or the sleep that causes the better concentration. I think they go hand in hand.

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  6. That is so wonderful! I try to choose the healthiest versions of the few things my kids will eat because they are so terribly picky. I'd love to include more organic foods, but a $300/wk grocery bill would destroy us financially. That's about twice our weekly bill! That said, if I could afford it, I would. :)

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  7. I wish I were better at planning a menu and strictly following it. It is my goal to try and reduce my grocery bill over the summer. I understand that $300 a week is high. I'll let you know how it goes as I start to get more organized and get myself on a budget. This summer I plan on focusing on that!!!

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