SO, I am wanting to share my absolute joy and astound-ment at how my second pregnancy is going. Besides the fact that I have felt MORE sick with this kiddo than my first (though I KNOW it is the elevation of living at 7000ft, because EVERY time I go down below 4500ft, I feel like a normal person, UGH!) BUT, that as knocked off at 20 weeks, just as it did while carrying my Leenah girl, lol
FIRST, since we have been on a 100% organic and unprocessed diet at home, but not including the 1-2 times we eat out at our FAVORITE mexican food place (Tacos Los Altos westside, I can't give you up!) or are visiting family who have conventional/processed foods, I have gained HALF the weight that I did when carrying Leenah, AND I thought I was eating "healthy" while carrying her!!
Sure sheds light on how transformative a "food journey" can be!
BUT, I was sitting 6+ hours a day at an office, 4 days a week, with my first pregnancy, and even though ALL my snacks were considered "healthy" by most all doctors/obgyns and "healthy" people (carrots, apples, flavored Sam's Club water, and chocolate covered raisins), these snacks were still processed AND the fruit was not organic. HUGE difference with organic produce folks!!
The nutrition level spikes through the roof with organic produce, as the pesticides kill off a LOT of the things your body is supposed to be absorbing (makes sense, since it kills the bugs too, right?)
ALSO, that flavored water had "natural flavoring" which means, chemicals of unknown origin!! and those chocolate covered raisins also had a LOT of fake "hydrogonated" lab created oils!
SO, by the time Leenah came, I was at 50+ lbs, had a double chin, flabby arms...I looked icky, and felt gross too, not as bad as I COULD have been, but I didn't feel attractive, which I am beginning to believe IS possible when prego!!!
I am now 27 weeks, feel like I hardly have a belly to deal with, my arms are great, still nice and trim, my chin check is still holding, AND I have only gained about 15-18 lbs!!! THOUGH, I am sure my two year old has partly to do with keeping me on my toes, I notice this is NOT the same for a lot of second time moms. Here is the other totally interesting funny part about eating UNprocessed. We are eating FULL FAT everything!!! SO, I have wonderful free-range bacon with Leenah 2-3 times a week for breakfast...and then throw it into dinner for some things too...we drink at least a glass of WHOLE RAW milk a day...if not more...and I have been sneaking in organic strawberry ice cream at night too, 2-3 times a week (and you know what is so kewl about some of these Organic companies? They are obvious about their flavorings and colorings, in fact this delcious Elden's brand ice cream colors their strawberry ice cream with BEET juice! BRILLIANT! I love it!
OK...so for snacks, we do the usual fruit of oranges, bananas, kiwis and apples (however they ARE organic!) AND we do smoothies just about every day, which are those fruits, frozen berries, organic whole fat yogurt and/or coconut water with a bit of spirullina (green dried sea algea) for the extra immune boosting power! Also, dates...loving dates, they help with the sugar cravings and supposely (scientic studies back this) help make labor and delivery EASier!! I am LOVING my homemade chocolate AND the XOXO brand chocolates too!
Other than that, it is EGGS for every breakfast, and if not, Leenah and I MUST have a hardboiled eggs before Lunch to make it through the day. Plenty of FISH and sushi, and beef! AS much as I usually LOVE chicken, this baby PREFERS beef and fish! SO, I saddly have been totally bulking up our dinners with one or the other, while I would usually just use chicken! SO, you see the beauty of "unprocessed" eating, is the FACT that you then replace allll those processed items with FULL FAT items. OH, and we have full fat organic butter ON EVERYTHING!! And guess what? we AREN'T overweight. Leenah is gaining the weight SHE needs to right now, due to the bacon, lol. BUT, Beau and I aren't gaining the weight like we did WHEN I was carrying Leenah and we shopped at Sam's Club for all our produce, meat, and dairy needs! SO, while we pay a bit more for our "quality source" food items (which, honestly we have learned, we DO NOT pay more than our neighbors ALL across the nation who are also shopping strictly organic/local/free range, farm raised, CSA)... is it NOT worth it to use our money to "invest" in our health as a preventative rather than buying the cheapest food available and then having to "pay" once our health has declined? Which will be in MANY various forms, that range from "chronic" to "life threatening", weight gain being the simpliest and most obvious sign of poor quality food. We have learned that if you are eating good food, and not OVER eating, but also eating 5-6 times a day (3 meals with snacks in between), you can NOT gain weight easily, especially if you are eating more plant based anyhow! Exercise or NOT. Nutrition is 80% of healthy living. SO, exercise for the enjoyment and stress relief, NOT for the weight loss aspect, because THAT is stressful, because if you are exercising to LOOSE weight, when you do loose that weight, your "cheap food" diet is going to just put your RIGHT back to where you started when you can't keep up the hours of exercise that keep the enourmous amount of calories from processed foods, at bay in your body!
ALSO, here is another fat fighting tip, coconut oil actually HELPS fight the fat, and can keep your tummy trim! So, use coconut oil in your cooking instead of canola...or at least olive oil!!
Now:
THink about it! Every time you by local or "free range" brown eggs...even though you will be paying an extra $2-3 dollars a dozen, you KNOW how good it feels to be buying happy chicken eggs (BTW, I off set this cost BY having my own chickens, who cost less than owning a cat or dog, they eat your veggie scraps, keep your weeds down, AND are less maintenance than a cat/dog AND get along with kids;) Also, think about the fact, that EVERY time you decide to buy organic produce, you aren't only keeping your kids away from pesticides, but you are ALSO protecting and investing in the workers that pick the produce you JUST bought, without having to wear a gas mask or biohaz mat suit! Every time you buy food in it's most NATURAL and happy form, you are not only protecting your family and investing in YOUR health, you are investing in a farm, a worker, and the future of our children's families future, for a better life and health as well!
OK, so how much DOES it cost to go completely organic then? In the winter, is costs between $140-$160/week here in Flagstaff. Bountiful Baskets would probably drop this down to $125/week. Once the season turns warm, these figures will start to drop, across the country, (and for you, especially if you start to grow your own food!) to $110-$125/week. SO, no matter what food, and GOOD food is going to cost...just remember, everything comes at a price. While we pay $600-$800/month for food and make an allowance for this in our budget, our medical cost for the entire year of 2012 was $0. OF course this is also because we invest in learning about home remedies for the cold/flu and everything in between too!
I am getting off track here. I just wanted to share that with this pregnancy, I am feeing great...and weighing less, looking good (and YES, I would actually consider wearing a sexy bikini to a pool right now!!!) AND, enjoying this part of the pregnancy, and not feeling bad about indulging in conventional foods while visiting family, because 80% of the time, I am eating un-processed, and my body is handling it GREAT!
SO, eat well my friends, and PLEASE start learning/asking where your food comes from. I guarantee, that if you go to Safeway/Walmart/Frys and asked where their London broil steak or boneless chicken breasts came from, they would say..."uhh it's Johnson brand, can't you read the package?" which means, factory farm YUCK. While, if you go to your local CSA, or natural grocery store, there will be a SMALL farm name you have never heard of, as of yet, and a website or employee of the store will be able to get you the info ON that farm, just in case you wanted to visit it (because that farm will most likely be within a 200 mile radius!) I AM LOVING this journey of supporting these small farms, soooo excited to know where my happy animal meat/dairy is coming from, and paving the way to a really healthy future for my kids and my community!!!
OK, that is all for now;] xoxo EAT WELL my lovlies!
