My Real Food Journey, Guided by Trina Holden

Photo Credit: notarim via Compfight cc

My Food History

When my husband and I were first married, I was a full time student so our meals revolved mostly around things that were easy and affordable. We ate Pasta Roni with vegetables, and boxed cheesy potatoes and mac & cheese. We were smart enough to realize how important fruit and veggies were, so we ate lots of those too.

Over the next few year we made some adjustments to our diet. We added more whole grains, we used fewer boxed products. Then when I became a stay at home mom and keeper of the finances, I went on a quest to save us money by eliminating as many store bought products as possible. If it could be made from scratch, I tried it. Something stuck around, like homemade bread. Others were passing fads, like homemade croutons and crackers. (We eventually stopped buying both).

Things Get Stickier

Then our second child was born. Suddenly life became much more difficult. I stopped making homemade bread and started resorting to more convenience type foods, like boxed pancake mix and granola bars. When our son was underweight I spent all my time feeding him, nursing, pumping, making high fat solid foods (like avocado and sweet potato with olive oil). I needed to have healthy things like store bought yogurt and Kashi pizzas at the ready, because otherwise I didn’t eat. And if I didn’t eat, I didn’t make milk. Suffice to say if I didn’t eat, my son didn’t either. Finally last summer I started trying to find normal again. Continuing to eat healthfully (I thought) I put on 10 pounds after weaning. I have gained another five since then. I’ve lost a few here and there but always gained them back. I trained for a 5K, lost no weight and then injured myself. I currently workout 5 days a week minimum and for a long time I couldn’t lose weight or inches.

Searching For a New Path

I don’t eat many processed foods, but I figure that having a few around for weekend meals is better than fast food. I also need to find a way to have ready snacks that my kids will eat, that are healthy that don’t cause me to go crazy. My kids are hungry all the time, I’ve tried cutting out snacks and they will literally weep and hang on me until I give them something. They are very active kids and I think they just can’t eat enough at one meal to keep them going to the next one. But I also can’t be in the kitchen constantly, I’ll go crazy.

Plus, my son has food allergies and part of his desensitization protocol for dairy is certain baked dairy foods. I’ve tried making him muffins according to the requirements, but he won’t eat them. So I usually give him whole grain Goldfish crackers, which also satisfy the requirement. I’d use other options if I could think of any. Because of his food allergies, other easy real food snacks like cheese sticks (whether homemade or store bought) or apples and peanut butter (he also has a peanut butter allergy) aren’t an option.

I thought I’d found a way of eating that worked for us. But, I’m not able to maintain a healthy weight and I feel like my children don’t have very well balanced diets either. So I have to find something new that works for us.

Enter A New Voice

When I began reading Trina’s book I immediately sensed her gentle heart. Her desire is clearly to educate not convert. I could be wrong, but I can’t imagine this sweet woman condemning me occasionally getting Chick-Fila or giving my kids Kashi bars. The spirit of this whole book has felt like kind friend trying to help me along my food journey. We may not all make the journey in the same way or have the exact same destination in mind, but our goals are the same. Healthy family and healthy life.

Do I agree with everything Trina says in this book? No, and you probably don’t either. If you did you probably wouldn’t need to read it. But there is a great deal of logical good food wisdom in this book that almost anyone can benefit from.

So for the next couple of weeks I’ll be talking about Trina’s amazing book and how it’s helped me along my real food journey.

 Fats, Dairy and Other Changes: My Real Food Journey Part II

Disclaimer: I received this book for free in order to review it. But my opinions are my own. However, this post may also contain affiliate links. Thanks for your support.