So very done with Jenny Craig... on to weight loss with healthy food

So, I just can't do it anymore. I can't resist reading the ingredients on the Jenny Craig food and it makes me insane. Not to mention that my body is in revolt with all of the cheese. :(

But this two week stint and my own posts have really slapped me in the face with a hearty "Duh--you can do this if you make some additional effort," and to that end, that's what I'm doing.

The one thing I noticed (and this is something I've griped to Mike about for over a year) is the meat-to-all_other_things_on_the_plate ratio. Seriously. I ordered Outback last night and got their filet with mushroom-wine sauce (which I didn't remember was cream-based) and it was cut in three pieces. Well, I only ate one of them and I think even then it was more meat than most of the Jenny Craig entrees.

This is kind of a great thing because meat is a huge chunk of the food budget--and that's without buying grassfed and/or antibiotic free. If we can stretch the meat further, we might be able to afford the good stuff more often.

Also along those lines, I have finally started participating in food preparation and enforced a "veggies with lunch" rule. So far it's been peeled baby carrots or green beans. But it's new, so I'm working on it.

I also don't snack. I need to. I need to eat every two hours.

And I need to add some fat to our diet. Not a ton because we DO get some fat from the egg yolks and meats in our diet, but I need to be sure it's there.

There's no way I'll enforce portion control on the kids: they can eat to their hearts content. I happen to have lean kids--the youngest of which barely eats solids even at 2yo. I have extremely mixed feelings about people enforcing portion sizes on kids. I think this is a prime example of a decision that should be made on a case-by-case basis. Make sure to balance your kids diet such that you know they're eating a LOT of veggies, some fruits, protein (from fish, meat, eggs or beans), and barely any refined sugars. We've not been great with that. It's lovely that everything they eat is (ingredient-wise) healthier than most, and certainly THEIR diet is a bit more balanced than Mike and I, but I need to look closer at their veggie intake because I don't think it's enough.

If you feel like they can't live a fulfilled childhood without marshmallows and ice cream (and truly--I'm WITH you on that!) then reserve it for Friday or Saturday night desserts. Make it a treat to look forward too--ya know? And if you make it a routine of doing it a specific night each week, they're not likely to ask for it all the time because they KNOW they WILL get it. And then make sure those things are as healthy as can be. We have a really hard time finding "safe" marshmallows, but Whole Foods carries them sometimes. I'm tempted to learn to make them myself.

It's work. But then, if it were easy, our country wouldn't be suffering from issues that are 80% attributable to being overweight. And we'd have fewer of us dying from heart disease (which is in the top 3 causes of death with cancer and MEDICINE! Yes, really--medicine is in the top 3 in the US! Can you believe that?!?!?!)

So... that's the goal. ONWARD!