To feed or not to feed?

Well i have about 10 minutes to write this before Lucas wakes up from his nap and before i have to finish the second part of supper! Food has been on my brain lately..and not just the idea of eating it..although that is always on my mind! :) Ever since Lucas was born and started eating solids i've been more conscience of what i feed him and in turn what we feed ourselves. I'd like to think that I do fairly good considering our income at the moment and the time I have to actually prepare a decent meal when one little monkey isn't screaming at me for his attention. I have stopped using a lot of things that otherwise were a staple previously and have switched to whole wheat versions, brown rice, less sugar, more veggies/fruit, etc. When i was working full time, before i had Lucas, i would try to take lunches to work as much as possible but sometimes there just wasn't any leftovers to take and would eat out..which happened to be approx once to twice a week. As well ,in the evenings, if it was a late night and Reuben was working late, dinner was usually picked up on the go! Its understandable how people that live in the city and work crazy jobs/hours eat out all the time! Our health slightly suffered but we still tried to eat the best that we could! Those days seem long gone and eating out now is a luxury..one that i wish happened more often...but one that we cant afford or really do with a child and his schedule! So homecooking it is! I dont mind cooking..its just thinking of what to make that kills me! And cooking was a whole lot easier when all i had to listen too was my own thoughts or on occasion some music. I like to think that i am feeding my family the best that i can and the healthiest that i can achieve. It seems more and more people are eating organic now days, trying various health diets, cutting out anything with preservatives or unnatural products. For a lot of people health problems lead to these diets and because of that they need to cut out certain things. My mom is one of them, she no longer eats gleuten and her health has improved because of that! Before i had Lucas i was the same way but than i got pregnant and i was able to eat bread till the cows came home without any ill side effects! mmmm mmm..i love me my bread! A lot of it i realize now was due to stress and not being able to eat for  6-7 hours when i was working!! Not good for ones digestion i tell ya! So i have nothing against people that eat this way or change their diet. Its hard not to feel the pressure though that unless one cuts out certain things we are eating unhealthy and not giving our family the best chance that we can! I once read a book called "skinny bitch" that basically tried all the scare tatics in the world to convince you that you should eat vegetarian. Is that the healthy alternative for me and my family? No..i dont think so..not for us anyway. For awhile though everytime i bought meat i felt guilty that i would even consider but knew that we needed it and that my husband would shoot me if i didnt! ----pause----

yeah i totally did not finish in 10 minutes so i get to finish now amongst a living room still messy with toys and supper dishes beckoning to be washed!!  But hey, my child is asleep and i made it to the gym for at least 45 minutes! (and now my tummy hurts from exercising after i ate!) So continuing on...

I have read many articles exposing the truth behind many foods, some that i might eat and some of them i already know that i shouldn't. There is truth behind them for sure..and studies (for some of them) to back them up, but where do you draw the line? We simply cannot afford to shop purley organic (and honestly sometimes i compare organic to non organic and there is more nutrition in the non-organic item..sometimes..not all..) and i do not have the energy nor the time to compare and research all the food that we ingest. I simply cannot remember all the "names" of the supposed non-natural or toxic ingredients in foods because now days there seems to be many..and of course they are all scientific sounding. So i apologize if you see me standing in COOP with a befuzzled look on my face as i try to dechipher all the ingredients in a can of tomatoes. I can remember obvious ones to avoid that really are potentially life threatening. For example you will not find things like Splenda, or anything sweetened with sucralose or aspartane in my house. So i have decided that i need to stop reading articles and stop taking them too much to heart..cause they are stressing me out and making me hate food shopping and cooking for that matter. I dont want to think that everytime i am feeding Lucas i am killing him..when really i am doing the best that i can with the best knowledge i have. I can't live in fear that what i'm eating is giving me cancer, cause i have no control over that. Ask my mom (sorry to pick on u mom). My mom was what i like to call (when i was younger of course) a health nut! She was always avoiding certain foods, or clothing in hopes of preventing cancer or disease. Just over 6 years ago she was diagnosed with thyroid cancer..and i can remember her saying "all that worrying and stressing for what? i got it anyways!" She is fine now, thank goodness, but it taught me a valuable lesson that we dont have everything in control! But i know someone who does and i choose to put my trust in Him. I could spend my days worrying about certain ingredients and research and than the next day be struck by a car and killed. (sorry if thats harsh!) I dont plan on being stupid with food or my life..but i dont want to live my life freaking out about everything either. I want to enjoy my cinnamon buns from time to time, coffee (yum yum), and on days when i just dont have the time to make soup from scratch, to be able to pop open a can of campells soup and enjoy it guilt free. My child will be raised healthy. He will eat his vegetables and meat before he gets a cookie..if he gets a cookie. But i dont want to deprive him of the fond memories i have of eating sugary goodness with my dad or grandma! (sorry mom..you just weren't into the sugar! haha!) So until my health doesnt let me eat my bread anymore or some other sort of food, I will enjoy them in moderation! I'm not ready to part with my honey nut cheerios just yet! :(

Speaking of food

Lucas' favorite snack, fruit and cottage cheese...yay for messy!

love him!