My Eating Clean Journey

It was right after I had Mia, about 5 years ago, that I first starting changing my eating habits.   Before I got pregnant, my eating habits were horrible.  I would go out a lot, drink a lot of beer/alcohol, eat something greasy late at night, eat a bunch of fast food and hardly ever make a home cooked meal.   While I was pregnant, my eating habits changed a bit -  but not drastically.  The first six months were hard because I had morning, noon and night sickness.  I could barely hold down any food, no matter what it was.  Instead of gaining weight, I lost weight. In my first trimester, I had to go to the emergency room, it turned out I had a UTI (Urinary Tract Infection) which is very common during pregnancy.  I avoided any and all caffeine.  During my third trimester, I was finally able to eat – and boy did I eat.  I thought I would lose the weight quickly since I had been stick thin my entire life, but I was wrong.  That’s when things changed for me.  It started in small steps, although I have to admit there were so many times I would be dedicated and then fall of track.  It was hard trying to balance out this new life of mine and trying to make time for myself.  I just didn’t have the time anymore.

After I had Mia, I went back to work and slowly started drinking coffee in the morning and enjoying a soda every now and then.  After experiencing another UTI, I said “This is it. This is annoying and I DON’T want to deal with this anymore.”  So I stopped drinking caffeinated drinks cold turkey.  It was a process, but to this day I do not crave sodas.  And although I drink coffee, I always get decaf.  So there went caffeinated drinks – now my food intake had to change. Since I had a family of four now, I had to start making dinner every night.  It was way too expensive to eat out every night.  For the most part, I would try to make something easy and quick, but I later realized quick and easy usually means you’re eating something that’s not good for you.  In the summer of 2009, I started getting these really bad chest pains late at night.  It got so bad one night that I had Chris take me to the hospital.  It turned out I had gallstones.  Gallstones were a blessing in disguise (just like the UTIs) because it helped me change my eating habits. I avoided high fatty foods, fast food, and anything greasy.  Even though I changed my eating habits so I wouldn’t have any more of these attacks, I ended up having to get my gallbladder removed.  I continued to avoid those foods even after the surgery. I just didn’t want to risk any other health issues.

I have to also acknowledge that once Mia was able to start drinking milk and eating table food, I became so picky as to what I gave her.  Since Mia was able to drink  cow’s milk, I have only given her organic milk.  And yes, it’s a little more expensive, but the cost doesn’t matter when I look at the benefits of organic milk.  Organic milk is free of antibiotics, agri-chemicals and artificial hormones.  Another advantage organic milk has over regular milk is the shelf life.  You can usually have it in the fridge for almost two months.  Since Mia was little I was extra careful making sure she didn’t eat too much candy or junk. I also avoided giving her any kind of soda.  She eats lots of fruits, yogurt, steamed rice and chicken as well as lots of vegetables that I would not have eaten at her age. 

I have become just a little obsessed with flipping over every food at the grocery store to read all the nutritional facts – I look at sodium, sugar, trans fat and calories.  I get criticism every now and then from people who think I’m some kind of crazy health nut or think I want to keep losing weight (which is NOT the case) or thinking that I spend hundreds of dollars on food just because I try and buy more organic and natural products.  The truth is I just want my family to be healthy.

If you’re interested in knowing what foods to avoid, just visit this link:

Five Foods That Should Never Be In Your Grocery Cart