When hard times come

So what do you do when you lose your job, your weekly budget is really tight, or your air conditioner broke and you don't have enough to fix it? Well most people need to cut back on food spending in this case. Now if there are other areas to cut back on such as eating out, cable, games etc then do that first please. However if you have already done all that and you still need to cut back that's ok.
Now if you simply can not afford any organic fruit or veggies I still want you to buy fruit and veggies conventionally raised is much better than none at all! Bread(good bread) can be expensive so instead of opting for the super cheap white bread think about getting brown rice and cooking it yourself it's super cheap and super filling serve with a simple salad or some leftover fruit and veggies for lunch and you just saved a lot. Now when you really have to cut back and the ten cents you save buying white pasta instead of wheat really matters do not feel bad. Everyone has or will be there sometime! You do what you can when you can. The important thing is to get creative use your leftovers or freeze them if you are not going to eat them use the same amount of meat but twice the amount of spaghetti sauce and use it twice. Check the store out for mark downs this can be really helpful. If you find marked down bread with a sell by date of today buy it and freeze it! When you are ready for it just lay it out to thaw that morning. If you have to really cut back and fresh fruit and veggies are not at all in the budget please do think you can't have them at all. The frozen vegetables are often really inexpensive and are just as good if not better sometimes for you than fresh because they are picked and frozen immediately instead of being transported and sitting on a shelf.
Now if you find yourself in a situation where you are using WIC or are recieving donations from a food pantry I want you to know there is no shame in that! Everyone needs help in some way at some time. You are doing your best to feed your family and if that means can green beans and instant mashed potatoes that's what you have to do. One tip I do have is to rinse off your can vegetables and fruits so you take some of the sodium and sugar off of it!
When you get back on your feet(like I know you will) then you can start worrying about going back to where you were. It will be ok this slump will not ruin you nor will it ruin your children's eating habits.
I would like to challange you to not start eating out at fast food restaurants thinking you are saving money. You can cook food at home just as cheap or cheaper and you will remain fuller because your body has the nutrients it needs. If you fill up on junk your body still needs nutrients and will signal that you are hungry even if you had a ton of calories. Then you will eat more and buy more. Try to still eat real food lots of produce(fresh, frozen, or can) whole grains(rice, etc) and protien(think beans for super cheap).
For any questions on this please email me!

Remember you can do this!! You and your family are worth it!!

The comparing game

So this week is all about comparing yourself to those around you. You know what I'm talking about you look at your sister, your best friend, your neighbor and you size yourself up based upon what you see in them. Today I want to specifically talk about how negatively this can affect your nutrition.
If you are doing great and reading labels and eating tons of fresh raw produce you may start to get a little proud and look around at all the crap everyone else is eating and say wow look at me and what a great job I'm doing feeding my family. While I know you need a pat on the back and some good old fashioned encouragement sometimes this can lead to laziness. Yes you heard me right laziness. You start to think I'm doing so great it's OK if I slide this once. It's OK if we eat one or two candy bars and while this is true and it's OK to splurge it can lead to more and more splurges and they eventually become normal. Not to mention how will you ever help anyone else that is not as far on this journey as you if you are mean and prideful about it.

Now the other extreme in comparing is saying how you could never do that good. You can't afford organic and the produce in your area is expensive, you can't cook well and you just don't know what to do. So you don't do anything. This is not at all the right way to go about things. Everyone has to start somewhere and your time could be now. Make some small goals and stick to them. Do not look at what everyone else is doing look at your improvement.

If you are just really competitive and need a good challenge then I want you to set goals no matter how well you are doing and track your progress. Compare how well you are doing compared to how you were doing last week or month instead of how much better or worse you are doing than those around you.

Remember you can do this! You and your family are worth it!!!