There must be one thing you can do right. [Monday's Challenge]

 I’ve been having this conversation with myself lately. I invite you to listen in.

Me: This healthy eating stuff is just too complicated.

There is no way to do it 100% right all the time. It’s just not possible.

I might as well just eat what I crave and stop worrying about it.

The other me: What do you crave?

Junk food.

Did you know that eating junk food is likely to make you crave more junk food?

Uh, yes, I know that very well. I’ve been living it.

And also, to put it mildly, that’s not so good for your body?

Yes. You’ve told me this, and you’ve given me plenty of guilt about it, you goody-goody you. But it’s just too complicated! I have no idea where to start!

Well, let’s start where we are. It’s almost dinner time.

Ok…

Can you think of ONE healthy dinner that you could have today?

One. Um… Yes.

Ok then. Start there.

One thing at a time.

This is so important for us to remember as we try to make healthy changes. So often I find myself getting overwhelmed, and I want to give up, to crawl into bed and pull a large Pizza Hut pizza over my head, and pretend this conversation never happened.

I could do that.

Or, I could ditch the perfectionism, and simplify.

familiar food is good food

I have 104 new recipes I’d like to try on Pinterest, but I'm not making any of them today. Trying new things takes planning, and energy, and brain cells, and all that while taking the risk that your entire family will hate it. I just can’t do that every day.

And really, I don’t have to.

A friend said to me, “This shouldn’t really be that hard. You’d think we could come up with 14 meals, just 14 meals, that are reasonably healthy, that our family already likes. If we can find fourteen, then we have accounted for two weeks of meals, and we can rotate through those.” And then of course, we can try new things as we go, when we are able.

Genius! I thought.

So I spent a few more days eating junk food, and then finally, I sat down and made my list.

What’s healthy?

In this house, I am trying to move us away from processed foods and toward real foods. So, for me, healthy doesn't necessarily mean low calorie, but rather, natural, simple, or whole. Your health needs may be different, but that’s where we’re starting.

And guess what? I came up with fourteen. Not fourteen perfect meals, but fourteen meals I can work with. Fourteen familiar meals that can be tweaked, gradually, as we go along. (Not ruined, dear husband, do not worry! I’ll just be adding whole wheat flour, brown rice, homemade chicken stock, fruits and veggies, etc)

 

Your challenge this week

Think of something that is good for your family, that you know they already like.

How many of these things can you come up with?

Write them all down.

You might be surprised at the choices you already have, before you even try to do anything new.

Remember, that little voice in your head, telling you that you might as well give up if you can’t do this perfectly 100 % of the time- that voice is not the boss of you. You do not have to scour the internet for something every time you eat. Start with what you know, and like, and maybe even have in your cupboard already.

Start with this list: Meals I can make that are good for us.

And then we’ll go from there.

Do you feel like giving up when you have too many choices?

What’s on your familiar, reasonably healthy list?

(My list is in the comments)

Weak and Lovely- Read the series here
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