This is the Stuff

Thought this song is a perfect fit for me.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqqdA8LHN7I&ob=av2e

I've got this!!!

It's been two weeks, really??? Today I reached the 2 week mark and I've gotten to the point where I know I can do this. It's amazing what taking food away from someone can do to them. I have become very strict with our food intake. My kids and my daycare kids now have a new rule, you take it...you eat it. I DO NOT want to see that garbage lid opening because you are choosing to take food that you can't eat. I cringe when I have to throw even the slightest bit of food in the garbage. New supper rule... you don't eat what's on your plate, it goes in the fridge for your bedtime snack. May sound cruel, but it's not like I put anything on my kids plate that I know they won't eat, sometimes they just want to test me and usually they win. Not this time my loves, mommy is going to win this battle. 

Another thing I would like to mention is the amount of energy I have these days. Before I started eating my seven foods, I could barely make it through the day without feeling like I needed a nap or fight to get up in the morning. Makes me wonder just how bad I actually was eating and what exactly was I putting in my body. I can stay up later without regretting it in the morning and get up in the morning without Chris basically throwing me off the bed. It's great!!!

Again, I would like to thank everyone who donated to my box of food this week. Keep them coming, you have no idea what a difference you are making :) 

Temptation is a disaster in disguise

Yesterday was my middle sons birthday. It was our snack day for preschool so I bought store bought cupcakes so they could celebrate at school and let me tell you sniffing those cupcakes can put you on sugar high without even taking a lick. Then I made cupcakes for afternoon snack so he could celebrate with the kids afterschool. Again everytime I got icing on my fingers I had to run to the sink to get it off me. I really wanted a cupcake, so I sent Tannis a text and told her I was giving myself a free pass to eat a cupcake. You just don't understand I LOVE cupcakes. Between those and brownies, who needs any other type of junk food.

I decided that I would wait till after supper to enjoy my cupcake, so off we went to Boston Pizza where I enjoyed catcus cut potatoes(yes I know they have stuff on them). Then after supper our birthday boy got a special treat for it being his special and out they bring this delicious looking BROWNIE! Are you kidding? At this point all I can think about is eating that brownie and letting it melt in my mouth. But I didn't I instead watched as my children enjoyed it, slowly counting the minutes till I can get out of that place. 

So as we are driving home I start thinking about that cupcake that's waiting at home for me and I think to myself. I am really about to give myself a free pass. This thought really bothered me. It's not like the people who live on the same foods everyday get to just go eat whatever they want whenever they feel like it, so why should I? Wasn't it even that I just ate potatoes that were soaked in stuff that aren't on my list?

We got home...I didn't eat the cupcake, I instead went to bed and read my bible.

One Week Down

"You don't get to do it over again." Pastor Tim

One week has gone by since starting my 7 journey and it was surprisingly alot easier than I thought it was going to be considering I love food. I love eating it, I love baking it, I love reading recipes, everything that involves food I love except reading how bad some of it is for you. 

I would have to say that yesterday was probably my toughest day, maybe it was just because I woke up and had already decided I was going to be grouchy or maybe it was because I thought oh what should have for breakfast this morning??? Oh right, it eggs,toast and possibly an apple again. But I got through it and the day got better.

Today I start a new week and in the week for 3 days I will India staple foods. I have a sponsored child from India and I looked on her card that came with her picture and read what their main foods were, so for three days I will chicken, rice, potatoes and bananas plus add in my already 7 foods. Oh the creations I may cook up :) 

It's also been a week since I threw out my 30 day challenge to all my facebook friends and the response has been amazing. I am so proud of everyone who has gone through their cupboards and donated food, but it's not over yet people, keep going!

There has been a few times I have thought you know I could just quit and no one would notice, but I WOULD notice. Like the quote at the top says "You don't get to do it over again." I want to do this right, the best I can do. And I know I can...why? Because Jesus is on my side.

But it was FREE!!!

Well after just 5 days I had a cheat day... but it's not like I intentionally meant to do it. Tannis came to visit and a few girls and I went out for supper to Boston Pizza. I knew they must have either had sweet potato fries or spinach salad that I can make to my needs that will accommodate my eating plans. Well first they gave our table so we should have known right there what kind of night it was going to be. Anyways time comes for our food to come out and they tried not once but twice maybe even three times to give our orders to different tables. It was a mess. I had no complaints about our waitress, she seemed pretty sincere when she apologized and was even nice enough to inform a manager about our experience. So the manager comes over and offers us a FREE dessert to make up for it. All I'm thinking in my head is "You've got to be kidding me!!!" Well, one of my girlfriends noticed how unimpressed I looked about it since really I was not suppose to have one. But Tannis to the rescue. She looks at the menu and tells me that they have apple crisp. Enough said, I want IT!!! She was so nice enough to not make me feel guilty about it and so of course I did not fight. I knew there was a reason I chose her ;)

I get home after a great night out and thought I probably could have just asked the manager to give me a discount on my meal but honestly she had me a dessert.

Other than that I am doing great, yes I have cravings but they aren't as bad as I thought they would be. And I'm really excited that in 2 days I get add some India food into my menu. Yay for rice.

Oh one last thing... have you cleaned your cupboards yet???

Day 1

Well it's almost the end of day 1 and I have to say I did pretty good. I ate only what I said I would eat and drank only water. I won't lie there was a few times where I picked up food to snack on and then before putting it in my mouth remembered that it's not okay to eat it.
The apple I had for breakfast this morning reminded me of why I don't eat them often, they seem to dry out my mouth. Made a mental note to buy different kinds of apples next time I go grocery shopping.
Surprisingly my spinach, carrot and egg salad wasn't too bad considering I put on no dressing.
As some of you might know, I am also working on decluttering my house which is going to fit in nicely to my journey. Today's task was to go through my pantry and organize it. As I'm going through it I'm looking at food that I have doubles of and will probably never be used and I thought to myself why don't I just give this stuff away. Bless someone else who can use and not put in the trash where it would end up going if I kept it. So I got a box and started putting in my extra food. After I was done, I looked at my half full box and thought how awesome would it be to fill that box up. So I challenged all my Facebook friends to go through their cupboards and see what they could find to donate. And the response has been great and I've decided to do this for the next 30 days and give the food away on the last day of Month One.

So instead of stopping after just month one of blessing others I will somehow incorporate it into every month of my journey and challenge all my friends to join in. I have a feeling the more I continue along this journey the more I will learn about myself and about others, and this really excites me!!!

Till next time...

Here we go...

Jesus may there be less of me and my junk and more of you and your kingdom- Jen Hatmaker

Well tomorrow I start my journey and let me tell you it's all I have thought about since deciding to do it. I thought about when I should actually start this journey, so many events happening did I really want to miss out on all this yummy food I am about to encounter. I mean come on, two of my children have a birthday in the next thirty days and my friends apparently love having spring babies too and we all know what happens when you put my girlfriends and I together. WE EAT!!!. But maybe missing out on all birthday cake won't be such a horrible thing for my body.

So here's the deal for my first month. I am too eat only seven foods for thirty days, I cannot put any sort of spice on them(maybe a tad of pepper and a little oil for cooking), just some plain food, and drink only water. So here's my list:
Chicken (Yes, after 8 months of not eating meat I'm going to go back to it. I have to admit I'm a little nervous as to how my body will react to it)
Sweet potatoes
Spinach
Eggs
Whole Wheat Bread
Apples
Carrots

My list is basically what Jen has in her book minus the avocado's since I have never tried them and now is not the time to be trying new foods.

I also decided that for three out of the four weeks I will eat staple foods for three days from three countries that have some meaning to me. I have chosen India since that is where my sponsored child is from, Mexico as that is where Chris's sponsored child is located and Haiti as I will be heading there next March for a Missions Trip.

Oh and I should let you all know who my first council member is... her name is Tannis. Though she won't see me often in the next thirty days I know she has connections and can find out what I've been up to ;) No seriously though, I hope she is ready for ridiculous text messages as I drool over food that I watch other people eat. But I know she will give me the encouragment I need to do this :)
Well that's all for now... tomorrow the journey starts. I'm off to finish the bag of chips I started earlier.

Getting Rid Of Excess

"Whatever you walk away from, God will replace it with something better." Pastor Tim

Thursday March 29th while the kids had quiet time I sat on my bed and wondered when did my life become so busy and when did I decide that it was okay. I constantly feel like I need a break but there just isn't time for one, I need to keep going to get everything done, and keep up with everyone else. So I sat there and wondered how can I simplify my life. So I posted a Facebook status about it asking how is one way you could simplify your life and only one person answered and she basically answered exactly what I needed to hear. Way less stuff. Then she asked if I had read a book called "7" By Jen Hatmaker. Apparenetly this book could help me so she lent me the book and just from reading the introduction I knew I was given this book because it's my time to make changes in my life So Thank-You Kathy for lending me your book.

At first I figured that I would just read this book and get ideas but lets be real here, if you know me well enough, you know that I am quitter, and probably wont end up doing any of these ideas. It's so easy to be a quitter cause when you don't tell someone of your plan then when you stop no one can hold you accountable for what you are doing and push you to keep going even when you feel like you have nothing left to give. WELL not this time, Im gonna do it, Im going to make changes in my life for myself, my husband, my children and most of all for God. So like Jen in her book she has council of friends that will help her through her seven month journey, I too will have a council but instead of having a bunch of friends, Im going to choose 1 friend for each month that I believe will really encourage and push me to keep going. I even will allow this friend to yell at me (if need be) during this month but after that month it's on,haha. Now I havent chosen my council yet, but they will find out soon as I read more of the book. I have chosen my Food council person she just doesn't know yet. Hmmm I wonder who it could??? I know you all want it to be you so you can yell at me.

So this is my first post, after I talk to my first council person and they agree to be that go to person I will come back and talk about my first month. If any of you want to help me along please pray for me. Pray that I change my life, pray for my family as it's not just a change for myself but for my children, pray that through this journey I can help others, and pray that my eyes be opened.