One of my big goals for this year is moving the rest of my family closer to a whole foods diet, and it’s one that I went into knowing it would take time and work.
I had a bit of an epiphany yesterday morning, when I was wide awake at 5 am. That tiger blood phase of the Whole30 has hit, and it means I’m wide awake at 5 (awesome) and passed out on the couch by 8:30 every night (not so awesome). But those 45 minutes that I lay in bed thinking and praying before I drag myself out of the warm blankets into the frigid house? They’re good.
And I had one of those come to Jesus moments, when there’s a clarity there that wasn’t before and you realize you’ve maybe been going about things in not the best way.
I’ve known that we’d need to find a way to meet in the middle somewhere and that I would need to compromise a bit in the short-term to improve their diets in the long-term. I’ve been doing that quite a bit with the boy’s lunch. He is incredible picky eater (no, really, I tear my hair out some days). Foods that are supposed to be cold don’t work for him. Sandwiches aren’t an option, either. Right now, we’ve settled on homemade jerky, breakfast cake muffins and mandarin oranges. There are grains (oats and whole wheat) in the muffins, but they’re soaked and I’m a little more okay with that. It’s a step in the right direction and for him, it’s a huge one.
I also realized that I need to plan the dinners I want us all eating, but with foods and in ways they’re more comfortable with. I had the Chocolate Chili from the Clothes Make the Girl on this week’s menu plan. Really, neither of the kids are big chili eaters so it’s becoming a lunch instead (probably a few, actually). I’ll replace it with something they will eat – whatever meat I pull out of the freezer, maybe some potatoes or white rice (cooked in homemade bone broth) and vegetables. That’s something I need to be more conscientious about during my meal planning. I’ll happily eat soups and chilis everyday, but I’m the only one. I need to remember that.
My next goal’s?
- To develop more options for the boy’s lunch before he gets tired of these.
- More vegetables.
- Start thinking about better snack and treat options.
