In Perspective: Real Food

I have an all or nothing personality.

If I'm going to do something, I'm going to give it my all.  If I can't give it my all, I'm not going to do it.

I'm going to be a teacher - then the curricula isn't good enough for my precious students.  I must use a variety of sources to create my own.  I'm going to grade all the papers myself.  I'm going to have daily contact with all 30 sets of parents.  Oh, I want to be a mom?  Then I can't teach because there aren't enough hours in the day to give 110% to my students and a 110% to my child.  Oh, someone is stopping by the house?  I must clean the house from top to bottom (which may take days!) even though they may only set foot into the kitchen (I am, by God's grace, getting much better at this!).

This is a little peak into how my crazy mind works.

It's not good, it's not bad, it's just me.

So when it came to my discovery of the Real Foods, I nearly went crazy.  Only 5 ingredients?  Organic?  No whole foods stores within 200 miles?  Baking (I hate baking)?  Only grass-fed meat?  Oh no, what do I do with the hundreds of $ of corn-fed, hormone injected beef and hog in my freezer?  Stressed. 

The LORD has helped me put my desires for real food in perspective; He has helped me see how much real food, realistically, our family can eat (based on availability of non-processed ingredients (Northern Iowa, you suck), Mama's energy, best use of time & money, Daddy's love for processed foods, etc.).  I've stopped freaking out (if I die of cancer from processed foods, it's OK - God is Sovereign).  In fact, Aidan and I recently had two lunch dates: one at the DQ and one at McDonalds (where we share a two-cheeseburger meal and a high-fructose-corn-syrup drink).

While I'm not all or nothing about non-processed foods anymore, there have been some significant changes in our eating habits:

-We eat a lot more fresh fruits & vegetables (they make up at least 1/3 of my grocery bill each week).

-We eat a lot of green smoothies.

-I check the ingredient list of everything I purchase.  I do strive to only purchase items with less than 5 ingredients or ingredients that I recognize (and I'm not a chemistry major).

-I've added a number of Lisa's (from 100daysofrealfood.com) recipes to our meal planning list.  Some favorites include: 

Alfredo 

Chicken Enchiladas 

Banana Pancakes 

Pizza Pockets

-When I am using a "normal" (normal is defined as a recipe from anywhere other than 100daysofrealfood.com) recipe, I do my best to make sure all of the ingredients are as "real" as possible.

I'm continuing to trust the LORD, as in all other areas of life, with our eating and health.  He desires us to honor Him with our bodies so that we can serve and glorify Him in all we do - being super stressed and Nazi-ish about real food eating wasn't honoring to Him.  Thankfully, now He's helped me put it into perspective.  May the Lunds honor Christ through our eating (that includes even being thankful for the stores that are in the area and not grieving over the ones that aren't (yes, I may have had a slight (or complete) meltdown on the way home from Fareway last week).  If you live near a Trader Joe's, Jumbo's, Earth Fare, Whole Foods, etc., be thankful!

I appreciated your helpful comments in my last post.  If you have any other ideas or recipes, I'd love to hear from you!  Thanks!