the plan.

A few weeks ago I had a lunch meeting with a girl who requested a "gluten-free" menu list. My impression of people who asked for "gluten-free" anything were self-important sensitive dieters who liked to jump on nutrition band-wagons and liked to limit their diets to challenge their ability to turn away food. Apparently, I'm a judgmental ass. 

I asked her about why she chose to remove gluten from her diet. She talked about stomach and allergy problems and explained that her diet wasn't just about limiting gluten but also foods with preservatives, GMOs, non-organic and sugar substitutes. It had been a little over a year since she started and she said she had reduced her prescriptions from 5 to 1, had more energy than ever, felt great and had lost 30 pounds without much exercise.

 The ironic thing is that I had just started to really look at what I was eating. Rather than looking at calorie content I was asking myself, "what is actually in my food?". After finishing a bowl of Lucky Charms, I couldn't believe how many ingredients were listed on the box. I know that technically it's all edible but maybe there is something on that list that is causing us harm? Our whole family is on allergy medicine. Joe takes a prescription for his heartburn and Emmy gets a runny nose only 48 hours after missing a claritin dose. 

I decided to make a change. I knew Joe would put up a fight. I knew it would mean spending more money on organic groceries and I would have to re-think my go-to dinner meals and plan ahead. I'm trying not to think of this as a "diet" or a way to lose weight but a focus on a healthy "diet" in the sense of what we eat. It's all about the nutrients we consume to fuel our body, not what we can't eat or what is low-calorie to help us lose weight. Although, to be clear, I sure as hell better lose some weight.  

My first trip to Whole Foods was expensive. I was not only buying groceries for meals, but replacing most of the household staples as well. I threw out 4 huge paper bags full of expired foods, sugary and unhealthy snacks and freezer meals that had been abandoned months ago. I loaded up two bags for my sister with food that was still good but contained gluten. 

There was no way I was going to spend the money on changing our diet without making sure that the old temptations were out.  I made picture collages of the meals I wanted to make so that Joe would stay on board. I made sure to pick eye-pleasing pictures because I knew he wouldn't go for the actual descriptions! I also decided to have multiple vegetarian nights a week and not mention that to Joe. This is both because it's budget-friendly and because we fall very short on our vegetable intake and we need to focus more meals on them. Yes, we were sometimes a little hungry by the time we went to bed. It's hard to adjust when you're used to eating so much more.

Here is week 1:

1. Gluten-free "fried" Chicken.  - I wanted to make something comfortable for everyone. The gluten-free breading is not as good as flour but it's not bad either.

2. Tomato Bisque. The whole family loved this soup. I chose this because it's fairly easy to make and is great for leftovers and/or appetizers for other meals.

3. Lentil soup with sausage - One of our old favorites. So simple, just brown 1/2 lb of breakfast sausage and add to two cans of lentil soup. I put a link to Ina Garten's more complicated recipe if you're into unnecessarily challenging yourself.

4. Gluten-free pizza casserole. - This choice was all about making Joe feel comfortable with "gluten-free". The dough part was a little chewy and didn't reheat great but overall this was very tasty.

Once we were nearing week one's end, I was excited to try new recipes! 

To make our budget work, we have to eat leftovers of each meal the next day (or so) for lunch. That means we are pretty sick of something and don't want it again the next week. It also means we are tossing out WAY less food.

 For other lunches, I bought Udi's gluten-free bread, organic peanut butter and honey and tossed out Joe's Bama grape jelly.  Most of our lunches included some skinny popcorn and fruit. I try to think about the food groups and I want to make sure that we are getting a little of everything every day. That seems so elementary when you say it but seriously, how many people actually do it?

 For breakfast, I made breakfast muffins with the extra sausage from the lentil soup and our other choices were fried eggs and grits or yogurt and homemade granola. Breakfast is tough because we are used to sweets like pop-tarts, cereal and breakfast bars that are quick to eat. But, breakfast turned out to be one of the greatest changes we made. Yes, we have to slow down most mornings and eat before we leave the house but eggs, real grits, greek yogurt and hearty granola fill us up. I am no longer crashing and starving before 12. I started buying a few Chobani's cups and brought granola to work so it's easier to pack and run out the door. 

Week 2:

We are currently mid-way through week 2 and loving everything so far.

1. Asian Lettuce Cups - these are another old favorite. I substitute water chestnuts with 1/4 cup chopped cashews. I have always hated the water chestnut texture and cashews add a nice crunch. 

2. Quinoa Enchilada Bake - this casserole is great and made SO much food. We had it for dinner, then lunch, then again as a side for the eggplant pizza. I'm sick of it so I'm moving the last serving to the freezer.

3.Eggplant Pizza - I LOVE eggplant. Joe was more "meh" about it and kept asking what it was because all he heard me say was "we're having the pizza for dinner" and THIS IS NOT pizza. I also found out he had been cheating and had eaten gluten and fast food last week. I kindly (ha) explained how much time, money and effort I was putting into meal planning and budgeting and how very selfish it was to waste a lunch I packed for him. He's back on board now (I think).   

4. Roasted sweet potato, quinoa and kale salad - basically a light option here. I made the mistake of planning too many vegetarian dinners in a row so I may add some meat for Joe.

5. Steak roll ups. I am so, so very excited about this one. I may even switch it to tonight to get Joe back in the spirit. Veggies and red meat all mixed together. We should both be happy!

One of the things I have loved most about meal planning is sorting through recipes, finding ingredients that match up so less is wasted and making a complete grocery list on Monday when I'm not shopping until Friday. That way, I can add other groceries like milk, butter, yogurt, etc as we run out. I also know that I will buy one or two large fruits per week. I used to get this weird thing in my head where I didn't want to eat all the fruit because I loved it and it was expensive and I wanted to save it. But I WOULD eat all the chocolate without hesitation and the fruit is what goes bad! So now I know I get to eat as much fruit and/or vegetables as I want. Cantaloupe is a pretty big deal in our house and we eat one a week. I snack on popcorn instead of chips and I'm not worrying about counting calories. We also substitute splenda with raw sugar in coffee and honey in tea. That way, we know we are getting sugar but it tastes better, it's more satisfying than before.  

As a treat, I bought myself this BKR water bottle I'd been eyeing to help focus on getting 80 ounces a day. I also gave most of our tupperware back to my mom and replaced it with some pyrex glass bowls that I like better because they dont' make our food taste weird after reheating or get stained easily like plastic containers. For our sandwich lunches, I use a 3 compartment box to keep everything separated and portions small. So far, Joe has only left 2 abandoned at his office. If he's not careful he'll get demoted to plastic baggies & a paper bag.

As for lil' bit Emmy, I decided to change her snacks a little to raisins, organic applesauce, cheese or skinny popcorn. She can have gluten though, I haven't talked to her pediatrician and I don't want to limit her diet when she's only 2. I make sure she gets whole wheat and plenty of fruit. She still hates pretty much everything green but I offer it anyway. Last night I offered her some eggplant and she refused it but stole a pepperoni off the top. I have no idea how she knows what is good without trying it first but she has her daddy's taste in food so it'll likely be a long battle. The important thing to me is that she tries new food and stops eating when she's full. Brussel sprouts will have to wait.