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Cleaning out the cabinets

I have started taking summer classes toward an autism endorsement. I am not sure what is wrong with me, but I cannot seem to get into the routine of yet another semester. I think after having completed an MA Degree, you reach this point of hitting a funk about taking any more classes. I think I've completed about 240 credit hours now. I have a lot going on between classes, volunteering, working as a sub to finish out the school year, trying to find a permanent full time position and juggling all my kids' activities.

Today, we received some not so good news. Avery, at the age of 10, despite being in normal weight ranges, has a triglyceride count nearly double what it should be. Michael and I are committing to changing our lifestyle for all of our kids. Sophie was mad at me because I would not let her eat french fries or buy a cookie or candy today while we were at the store. Sophie is small for her age but we still need to watch what she eats as well. If not, she could struggle later with her weight because she will have developed poor eating and lifestyle habits.

I know what we need to do, having lost over 100 lbs myself before. It's just keeping motivated long term and trying to keep my family from revolting on me. I was telling Michael that although we do not buy a lot of chips, cookies and junk, even eating convenience foods like rice-mixes, mac-n-cheese, etc or those breakfast or granola bars as just as bad as eating candy bars as they contain high amounts of sodium and sugars. That is the hardest part--watching out for foods with "healthy" labels that are really just packages of sugar, sodium and even hidden bad fats.

I miss running. I used to do 5 miles a day, but my accident has left my knees in bad shape. I also need to devise more activity for the kids. My goal is to get the kids in bed by 9:00 pm (my dream) so we can get up extra early and do a family walk (minus Michael because he won't roll out that early even if the house was on fire).

I checked out a book today on clean eating. I know that this is the best approach, but how do you balance eating healthy with keeping peace in the family? I'm determined to take that challenge.

To me, this is more than just about losing some weight. I see so many people take short cuts by doing diet pills, herbal drops, detox diets (extreme ones), to fasting, etc. The problem is, that while they may lose weight, they are not feeding their body the right amount of nutrients to develop healthy muscle or to fight heart disease and cancer. They end up with sagging skin, hair loss, bad teeth, body odor, etc.

This is about teaching my children long term health benefits of eating healthy and exercising. Today, I picked up some stuff to make 2 dinner menus:

Thursday: Rolled Lasagne bake made with spinach, fat free cottage cheese, light pasta sauce and lasagne noodles. There are many varieties of whole wheat pastas out there. I'm going to serve this with a side salad and 2 lasagne rolls. We have a Girl Scouts program tonight.

Friday: Since my schedule is jam packed for Friday, again. I have to observe an autism class, pick up Sophie from daycare, pick up Kaitlyn from dance, take Brad to work and somewhere in between, make dinner and take the kids to children's church. We are doing Boca flame grilled veggie burgers, with romaine lettuce and tomatoes served on 1/2 of a oat bran pita, carrot sticks and apples as sides.

The plan I am following is based more on WW with as much geared toward clean eating as I can. Clean eating means trying to eliminate as much processed stuff as you can.

Let's see how this goes.


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