Happy Friday! Having this full time gig makes me really appreciate the weekend, so I look forward to fully savoring the next few days. No cooking will be happening today (I’m exhausted, and we have tons of leftovers!), but I thought it was time for a post I’ve been meaning to do for a while. Food, nutrition, and health are things that have always been important to me. But I’ve not always been able to keep up a healthy diet, and it’s something I still struggle with today.

Wowsers! That’s me…in high school. As you can see, I was heavier in those days and was actually overweight for my height. Not by much, but it was enough to make me feel like I needed to lose some weight. These were the days when I went through ice cream like it was nobody’s business…I would estimate a half gallon a week. I was also quite the carb and dessert queen (still am! 🙂 ).

Coincidentally, I decided to go vegetarian my senior year of high school. After learning more about the meat industry I decided that I really didn’t want to support it. So on my 18^th birthday, I stopped eating meat cold turkey.

Things started off well with the vegetarianism, but I struggled with getting in enough fat and protein. I started losing weight immediately, but not on purpose! Once I left for college, and no longer had easy access to a grocery store or control over my food selection, things sort of went downhill. I found myself extremely bored with eating every meal from the salad bar, and it became obvious that I was losing more weight.

Sometime during the fall or winter of freshman year, I decided that I couldn’t maintain a vegetarian diet anymore. I just wasn’t ready/didn’t know how to do it the right way while eating all my meals in the dining hall. (Since that time my college has really stepped it up on their vegetarian options, but back then there were really very few vegetarian things on the menu.) I didn’t feel healthy, and I don’t think I really looked healthy either.

I loved my college but to be entirely honest, I absolutely hated the dining hall food. Not only was it not the type of cuisine I was accustomed to, the food was just bad a lot of the time. When I was a senior in college I weighed about 40 pounds less than I did as a senior in high school! Yikes. It was not on purpose.

(Don’t go into shock, that was also when I cut all my hair off…yup…allll of it.)

(Trying on wedding dresses)

Maybe it was in my head but when I saw the picture above I just said to myself…woooahh, I do not want to look like a stick figure on my wedding day. Since then I have gained some weight back, and I was happy to reach my goal weight by the time my wedding came around!

But I’m telling you all this for a reason, not to be dramatic or give you too many personal details, but so that you understand why I’ve been trying so hard to make healthy eating choices a priority. When I think about the future, I realize that one day I will work full time at a job that will (likely) be stressful. I will carry babies, and then raise them (God willing). I will need energy, and I will need to be healthy. I want to be healthy for all of those things. I want my children to be raised in a home that gives them what they need to be their absolute healthiest. And to do that, we need to change our own habits first.

Being in the blog world has really changed the way I eat and think about food. Blogs like Oh She Glows, Kath Eats Real Food, and Healthful Pursuit have inspired me in ways I can’t explain. While I certainly fall off the wagon now and then, I really believe I am healthier now than I have ever been. But I still have a long way to go.

ONE day, when I know with confidence that I can get all my nutrition the right way, I would really like to return to a vegetarian diet. At this point, I eat meat because I know I need the fat and protein, not because I want it or crave it. Jason, on the other hand, is a total carnivore. And that is okay, I would not force him to be something he’s not (as if I even have the power to do so! 😛 He’d sooner die than become a vegetarian!).

Have you seen the USDA’s new food “pyramid”? Well it’s no longer a pyramid, it’s a plate!

I actually like this improved model, it makes a lot more sense than the convoluted stepped pyramid thing they had before…

Who’s terrible idea was that thing? Anyhow, I like that the plate gives you a more visual understanding of what a healthy meal should look like.

For my new year’s resolution this year I made a goal to eat the 5 recommended servings of fruit and veggies a day. I’ve only succeeded in this probably 10 days so far! 🙁 Hey, when you have an appetite as tiny as mine, it can be HARD to get that many servings! Diana over at The Chic Life has started a challenge for the month of June called Project Veg-Up and I’m going to give it a whirl to try and get back on track!

I also downloaded this sweet app called Munch 5-a-Day that lets you track your fruit and veggie intake. I love my phone.

I am not an example of perfect health, but there are some rules I try to live by that have left me feeling much healthier and happier.

Check your labels

I don’t buy products that have high fructose corn syrup in them. That’s right, NOTHING (unless it’s by accident). I know that the scientific community doesn’t have a unified verdict on exactly why/if HFCS is bad for you, but I will not be waiting around for them to find out. That level of fructose in so many processed foods is not good either way. You’d be surprised by the kinds of things that have HFCS in them (crackers, cookies, jelly, etc.). I also don’t buy products with MSG or artificial sweeteners, and I seriously avoid products with scary additives/preservatives that I can’t pronounce. If you don’t know what it is, why are you putting it in your body? On the flip side, I also try to avoid getting products just because they sound “healthy” or “green”. Did you know that phrases like “Natural”, “No Additives”, “No Chemicals”, and “Free Range” are COMPLETELY unregulated and not reliable?! Don’t let anyone rip you off, read your labels! At least until I become the head of the FDA and change all that so you don’t have to worry about it. 😉

Whole grains win

I used to think that all whole wheat things taste bad and aren’t really necessary for good health. Not true. One of the most valuable things I learned from Heidi Swanson’s book, Super Natural Cooking, is that when you eat white flour products you’re essentially eating something that’s been completely stripped of its natural nutritional value. When I read that, something just clicked and I have been eating whole grains since. It leaves you feeling fuller, and it has so many healthy benefits.

Fruits and veggies aren’t “extras”

My typical outlook on meals for most of my life has been that a meal consists of meat and carbs and some kind of sauce…and that fruits and veggies are just “extras” that are nice to have if you feel like it. This is not my parent’s fault, they have always encouraged us to eat fruits and veggies, but that’s just how I think. So I am slowly changing the way I think. They are NOT extras, they are vital and eating them will give you energy and endless other benefits.

You can get back on the wagon

When I eat something that I know is crap, I don’t beat myself up about it. I just remember that next meal I will try to have something that is better for my body. You don’t need to stop eating dessert or soda forever in order to be healthy. Moderation is important.

I hope this post helped you to get to know me a little better! Even people who are close to me don’t know some of the things I mentioned in this post, so consider yourselves lucky! 🙂 I don’t frequently talk about the low weight issue because people find it annoying since most have the opposite issue. But an unhealthy weight is an unhealthy weight, so I wanted to at least mention it so you know my experience!

Thanks for reading! We’re doing a birthday party for the boys tomorrow, can’t wait!

-Lauren

Do you care about healthy eating? Have you always eaten healthy or have you fallen off the wagon like me?