foodcrazyfamily

I am a mom of two, an eight year old boy and a four year old girl.  For privacy purposes I will call the boy, “Fred,” because I use that as a nickname for really no apparent reason.  The girl I will, Pony,” simply because she really wants to change her name to Pony.  My husband’s name is John, and we are closing reaching forty (I am a little closer which I get reminded of often). I work part time during the school year and have summers off.   About nine years ago we made a decision to raise our son vegetarian.  Once he started to eat solid food, his diet pretty much consisted of soy nuggets and fries.  I tried some complicated recipes and always went back to the easy convenience foods.  My husband and I even toyed with vegan.  I am proud to say we lasted a full two, yes TWO weeks.  Convenience always reigned supreme.  I knew it was not the best, but it worked.

Over the last years we have consumed mostly a vegetarian diet.  There has been some chicken and an occasional burger thrown in here and there for good measure.  I was not trying to necessarily eat healthy, just feed my family.  Every once in awhile I would get this great idea to only eat healthy food.  Each and every time it would end pretty quickly with me always feeling like a failure.  One thing that has come out of my multiple attempts to eat only plant based, healthy food is the “tweaking.”  Each time I tried to go cold tofurkey; I kept up one of the habits.  For the last nine years I have added to my ability to eat healthy.  January 1, 2013 we are a vegan family as far as food consumption goes.  I am not eating animals, but not exactly ready to send my leather boots to the local charity.  It may come, but I am focused on the food end right now.  Let me list a few things we will not be eating that are still considered vegan:  Margarine, shortening or any types of hydrogenated oils, oils, sugars.  We of course will not be consuming any animal based products.  If it had or came from something that had eyes, we will not eat it.

My goal is to spend a few minutes each night to let you how my journey is going.  What concoctions received a “thumbs up” and what will never be served again?    Basically I want you to understand that any change I the right direction is good change.  In my experience trying to do it all at once will cause failure.  Focus on your successes and set reasonable goals.  Maybe cut out pop or the afterschool sugary snack.  Start small and you will gain ground.  Remember, here a tweak, there a tweak, everywhere a tweak tweak and you will find success.  One thing I really thing you should do is watch Forks Over Knives.  It will rock your world.  We watched in online, and then purchased a DVD to share with our parents.  Oh yes, we actually were able to get the parents that thought we were neglecting our kids by not giving them chicken nuggets are now on board!