Cutting the fat

I've learned many things through the process of nursing my son.  One of the lessons that I learned while pumping was this:  every drop counts.  Every drop of breastmilk works with other drops of breastmilk to make a meal.  So there were days when I'd see drops, and I learned about economics through milk.  I never understood the quote, "A penny saved is a penny earned."  Because to me, it seemed like I had one wasted penny-- and why did ONE penny really matter.  But now I really know.  One penny, put with other pennies makes many pennies, which makes the money of my life.  And if I waste one penny, I'm wasting other pennies and that affects my goals and dreams, because there are less pennies to work with. 

My husband and I have always spent WAY too much money on groceries.  It's food after all, and I need to eat right?  So it's okay to overspend on the budget because it's food.  Wrong.  Although, I did operate for 10 years with this ideology.  And got fat doing it!  I'm now operating under the premise that every penny counts.  Even at the grocery store... and really this is the first time.  Most of my friends know that I've been into couponing, and I've gotten some really great deals!  But I've never made myself stay within budget, and even in couponing, I've wasted pennies. 

TIME TO CUT THE FAT!!

Well no more!  We resolved to stick to a number at the grocery store, and it's significantly less than what we used to work with.  We've cut out things that we used to do slowly.  For example, we used to eat out often, but with a toddler, that's really impossible.  So we cut that out.  Then last weekend, I planted a garden of beans and peas, and basil.  Obviously I could do more, but I'm operating with baby steps.  Next, I'm learning-- so is my hubby-- to cook with what we have instead of using recipes.  Recipes are just springboards for changing them to meet the ingredients we have at home. 

USING BEANS

Next, I'm learning to cook new recipes or use things I haven't used before.... like beans.  I've always used canned beans.  Now it's time to start using dried beans.  Yesterday, Greg soaked them for me, and then I made them the quick cooking method.  We'll now see how they work added to all sorts of meals this week.  I'm really excited to see what we come up with.

Dessert, Gardens, & Sprinkles

I always thought that losing weight meant giving up dessert.  I love dessert.  Actually, I love sweets.  I should say I LOVE sweets.  It was hard to consider giving up sweets and still lose weight.  To me, I was like well, I'll be overweight as long as I have my dessert.  I don't want to live without dessert.  That's not living.  But my mom helped me see how I can still have dessert everyday and lose weight.  Granted, it's not a cannoli, or a rich slice of cake-- who knew cake had so many calories?!  Oh, that's right-- everyone who's skinny who passes up cake at the birthday parties knew how many calories is in cake.  Why do we serve cake at birthday parties anyway?!  Cake is the devil.

This week, I've managed to have my sweets-- in the form of fruit-- and still feel satisfied.  Mom puts sprinkles on all kinds of things.  A low calorie smoothie, gets decorated with sprinkles --and voila! -- it's more fun!

I also found out, that bratwursts are in the same category as cake, to be enjoyed about once a year!  Sigh.  All this healthy eating has me wanting to start a garden.  The thing is, my garden would be in hot Florida, not in the unseasonably cool Chicago weather that I'm currently enjoying.

So 7 days of healthy eating has me thinking of gardens instead of cake, and it's refreshing because I don't have to tell myself no to the garden.  I can say yes to the garden-- and forget about the cake!

Also, since being back here in IL for the past 10 days, I realize how much there is to do.  One can be outside here and actually enjoy it!  I feel like in Florida, by my house there is nothing to do.  It's sad.  There's not really a life for kids in Florida, especially in Pasco County.  But I have purposed to be more active when I get home, even if that means leaving the confines of my air conditioner to be out in the sweltering heat.