Photo: Lea on Flickr

I have a confession to make: I just ate Mini-Man’s half-eaten pizza for dinner. In fact, I have subsisted for days at a time on nothing but kid-leftovers. It’s true.

I hate food.

There was a time I loved food – as evidenced by my not-so-svelte waistline – but those days are long gone. Now, food is a necessary inconvenience. With a 4 year old and a 7 month old, I feel like all I ever do is nurse, prepare food, feed someone and clean up afterwards. The other day I sat down to eat for the first time at 6:30pm and that was while the small one was crying from his bed. Not exactly my idea of an enjoyable meal.

I suppose they don’t make feed bags for children huh?

My normal day looks like this:

• 5:30am – Sit kid #1 down in front of the TV with a yogurt (yeah, I’ll do a whole post on TV use another day) and make coffee for me
• 6:00am – Nurse kid #2
• 6:30am – Prepare breakfast for kid #1
  *after this is the time I may – or may not – fit in a shower*
• 7:30am – Prepare solid food meal for kid #2 and feed it to him
• 8:00am – Nurse kid #2 and put him down for a nap while I clean up from his meal
• 9:00am – We go out… if we’re not out of the house by 9am I don’t get anything accomplished
• 11:00am – Back home again; nurse kid #2 and put him down for his main nap
• 11:30am – Prepare lunch for kid #1 & shovel something into my own mouth
• 12:00pm – Convince kid #1 to take a nap then clean up from his lunch
  *when both are asleep I may get a nap or I may clean up random coloured debris strewn across my humble abode*
• 1:30pm – Nurse kid #2
• 2:00pm – Prepare snacks for both kids and get out of the house for the afternoon
• 4:30pm – Return home and prepare and feed solid food dinner to kid #2
• 5:00pm – Prepare dinner for kid #1 while trying to entertain a fussy, tired kid #2
• 5:30pm – Put kid #1 down in front of the TV with his dinner (I know – mother of the year, right?); get kid #2 ready for bed then nurse him again
• 6:00pm – Put kid #2 to bed; he is often exhausted and over-tired at this point. Crying may ensue all around.
  *this is also when I try and shovel some more food in my own mouth – usually cold since it’s been sitting since 5:30 or earlier*
• 6:30pm – Put kid #1 in the bath and either continue trying to console over-tired, teething kid #2 or clean up from dinner.
• 7:00pm – Get kid #1 ready for bed
• 7:30pm – Finish cleaning up from dinner.

Now, I have been very successful at ensuring both my kids are in bed, quiet with the lights out by 7:30pm so that I have my evenings to myself. This schedule evolved naturally out of Mini-Man’s natural inclination towards an early bedtime as an  infant. But I thank God for that quiet time in the evenings. Dave and I used to sit down to dinner together after Kai was in bed… at least up until he was old enough to benefit from eating with us. Then we had to start eating at 5:30/6:00-ish.

I think that’s when I lost my love of food.

The Proposal

I have a proposal: I would like the world’s finest medical researchers and food scientists to develop an IV or injectable substance that provides all the nutrition and energy we need to maintain optimal health. Wouldn’t it be great if we coud just plug in to a little machine… kind of like an insulin pump… and have it feeding us all day long every day? No blood sugar fluctuation, no one would be overweight or have high cholesterol… we could basically rid the world of the consequences of poor nutrition. If I never had to eat again I think it would be awesome… I think of all the extra time I’d have to enjoy life!

In the meantime, I wonder if I’ll ever enjoy a nice meal again…

Without kids it’s easy to just work your butt off in thr gym to shed the extra weight but with a preschooler and a newborn I’m lucky to get a shower every day let alone time at the gym. So you have to make adjustments.

The Book: Master Your Metabolism

I’ve just read Master Your Metabolism By Mariska Van Aalst & Jillian Michaels (on my iPhone using the Kobo app). Jillian Michaels, as you probably know, is the hardcore ripped trainer from The Biggest Loser. I have to be honest with you… I have a bit of a chick crush here. She is definitely an authority on diet and exercise if her own physique (and those of countless Biggest Loser contestants) is any indication.

The premise of the book is that many of us who have dieted have royally screwed up our endocrine systems by severely restricting calories, eating non-foods, being over-stressed and not getting enough sleep. Here’s an excerpt from Master Your Metabolism; I won’t copy the content as it would be copyright infringement, but definitely give it a read. I think everyone who has ever struggled with their weight should read this book.

Not only are these extra pounds bugging me, but I can feel the unhealthy cycles in my body yet I feel pretty powerless most of the time. See, I know I don’t drink enough water and I know I eat when I’m tired. Two truths.

When I get dehydrated I crave sugar. Usually I’ll reach for a coffee (because I take sugar in it, right?) which will dehydrate me which will make me crave sugar… so then I move on to more sugar which makes me crash so I go for more… you can see how this could be problematic, right?

What I should do is drink more water and get more sleep.

But, with a 2 month old baby, sleep is elusive and it’s hard to drink the 3L of water I should be each day given my baby is exclusively breastfed. So that contributes even more to the dehydration. Which sends me reaching for yet more sugar…

The Diet: 1) From the Ground or 2) Has a Mother

So for the last few days I have pretty diligently followed Jillian’s advice to eat only things that grew from the ground or had a mother. Seriously. Reading this book has really turned me off processed foods in a big way. The hormone disruption going on in our bodies from eating these non-foods is unreal! And I’m beginning to feel the rewards from my body from having avoided them for just a few days: I’ve already noticed less mood swings, better hydration, a better awareness of my appetite/satiety and better regularity. Having had Gestational Diabetes twice now it’s pretty safe to say I’m at risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes at some point and this actually isn’t too far off the diet I followed during my pregnancies. Having said that, I definitely used packaged foods, something I’m now trying to avoid.

So here’s a sample day’s menu (today’s menu, actually):

Breakfast:
Coffee with cream & sugar (I said I’m working towards a total shift… this will likely be the last vice)
3 Ryvita fiber crackers with natural peanut butter & a glass of milk

Lunch:
Grilled chicken breast, baby carrots, grape tomatoes, mixed berries, plain non-fat yogurt with mango purée (from fresh), edamame beans (photo above)

Snack:
Apple, coffee #2 with cream & sugar

Dinner:
Basa filet with citrus salsa, steamed kale and brown/wild rice blend

There are a few non-natural foods that I haven’t given up: the ryvita crackers, sprouted grain bread, Grape Nuts cereal, sugar in my coffee, wine, chocolate, cheese… but then this is a process. I have to get much better in the kitchen if I’m ever going to figure out what to do with quinoa and bulgur. Plus, there are just some things I probably won’t give up in the end. But the way I see it, any shift away from processed foods, pesticides, plastics etc. that are messing with my hormones the better. I may never get to where I buy all organic and I may never stop using plastic (something Jillian advises against) but I will take baby steps.

I’m enjoying the challenge… and the rewards.