My experience as a SAHM.

I'll start off by saying this: I am SO blessed, you guys. I have only had to spend a few short months of my motherhood going to school and working. My oldest son is 4 and my youngest just turned 1. And I have not missed very much of their lives because I have had to work, and I am very happy to be able to say that. BUT! Let's get real for a minute, mamas. We all know that being a Stay At Home Mom is a job.

It's a full-time, 24-7, no holidays, no breaks, no sick days, up-all-night, abusive, stressful, tiring, and wonderful job. 

Now, before I go on to tell you about some of my "driving the struggle bus" moments, I want to say that working moms are amazing, too. You guys have TWO jobs, and you don't always get to be with your kids as much as you like, and I know you beat yourselves up so badly over it. Please, stop doing that. You should all be proud and know that anyone with any sense doesn't look down on you, but they respect you. I can't tell you how many times I have said, "I HAVE TO GET A JOB! I need to do something! I'm losing it!" And then about an hour or so passes and I realize how selfish and awful I sound because I know there are working moms who wish they could be in my shoes, and that I take so much for granted. Cheers to you, working mommies!! You da bomb!

Okay, now that I've gotten all of my disclaimers out of the way...let's get down to business. Here are my top ten "Precautions of Being A Stay-At-Home-Mom": 

1. Your house will NEVER be clean enough. I'm going to blame this on Pinterest, and all of the silly, UNREALISTIC ideas that they flood our minds with. No, ma'am it's not possible to "Keep your house spotless in 10 minutes a day or less!" Get out of here with that! And stop showing me pictures of your house that you took when your kids were gone to their grandparents for the weekend, because I KNOW you did not do all that with those kids there. These are the chores that I am realistically able to get done daily: dishes and laundry. Wiping, swiping, sweeping, dusting, mopping...none of that will get done and then last long enough to prove that you actually did it. I mean, don't get me wrong, you have to do those things to keep a clean house, but just don't expect it to stay spotless for more than about 2 minutes. This alone is enough to drive a woman mad! And also...you will pick up the SAME mess more times that you will be able to recall within about 4 hours. 
2. You lose the ability to speak. Have you ever gotten tongue tied and mixed up your words or forgotten someones name? That happens to me about 200 times a day. In my house, I have a husband, 2 sons, and a puppy (and a fish but for the purpose of this article, he can be left out). At any point in time, if I get upset at any of them, I start to say ONE of their names and it comes out like this, "Ke...Jac...ugh..Stit...LIAM!!!" It is the most frustrating thing ever when you know who you mean to yell at, but your brain can't catch up. This is a phenomenon caused by motherhood, and it is irreversible. 
3. You WILL be judged. I don't care if you are that mom who gives their kid a bath every night (I don't, I shoot for every other night..ha!) and your kid knows how to multiply by the age of 4 (mine doesn't.) Someone will always be better than you. Yes, even you strict, serious, "perfect" moms...there's still someone out there who is crazier than you. Stop beating yourself up over what they're "supposed" to be doing or the things that they "need" to know before Kindergarten in accordance to Google. It will come. Your hair will be lost, but their education will happen. All in due time, my dear.
4. You will feel lonely. Sure, you are surrounded by chaos and noise, dirt and demands at all times, but when it's coming from a toddler, it doesn't count as communication. We NEED adult time. We need to be talked to in a normal voice. We need to be able to sit down from time to time without having to get up and retrieve an item that is perfectly within their reach. We need to complete a task without someone yelling at us about how "mean" or imperfect we are. We need to be able to have a conversation. Like, a real one. With sentences and stuff. And we need to feel like we are part of the world outside of our mommy job. ARE YOU LISTENING, DADS? 
5. You will not be able to control your emotions. I'm not sure if it is the hormonal imbalance or just the pure, sickening love that you have for your child, but it really screws with your head. At one moment, you are sure that you could absolutely kill your husband (simply for putting the baby's diaper on differently that you do). And then the next you are filled with so much love, joy, and thankfulness that you're not quite sure you'll be able to go on. You will. And this will probably happen for the next 20+ years. 
6. You will learn the words to EVERY Disney song ever made and sing them in public..."M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E!!!" And if you do not learn these words, you will be frowned upon. And some may believe that being banished is a blessing in disguise, but what it really means is watching this "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" show on repeat for 3 hours. Even after you've learned the song. Not fair. What's worse? You will make up songs to the tune of this beat during your daily routine. "O-M-G Please stop this. N-O-W. Now! that's NOW!" Something along those lines. What's even better is when your husband makes up words to the Disney songs and they are highly inappropriate. Ha! Brilliant. 
7. You will make up curse words to cover up what you really want to say. "Horse-feathers!!" "What the Max and Ruby??" "Why the push-pop did you do that??" I mean, you can really fill in the blank with whatever you want. It never feels as good as saying the real thing. Even though sometimes the real things slip. We're not perfect!! 
8. You will partake in a scavenger hunt every day. I never cease to be amazed by the random items I can uncover throughout the house. Your kids may also decide to mess with your head and hide items and then act like they have NO idea where they are and then scream and cry like they cannot live without this item. That's a real cute game, kid. Touché.   
9. You will depend on your kids. I'm a type 1 diabetic, and I have all kinds of problems. BUT...I have two beautiful, healthy boys to look after every day, even though sometimes I need some help myself. Sure, I hate that Liam needs to know how to dial "911" before the age of five, but that is my life (he's never had to do this though, for the record). The fact that he knows how makes me feel better, in some way. But it also makes me proud to know that when I say "Mama's sugar is low.." he knows to go and get the chocolate milk or juice. He understands how to help me. I hope that compassion stays with both of them forever, even when they don't have to worry about helping their mother anymore. But that is just my example. Some moms need their kids to help them pick up because they have pains and can't always do everything they need to. Some moms have to work overnight, and can't always remember to throw an ice container in the lunch box to keep the yogurt cold. Some moms have husbands halfway around the world and just need their kids to cuddle and love them at bed time, before they turn out the lights. We need them, even if its just for something simple or for something major, we need them. 
10. You will never have any greater responsibility. You're allowed to mess up. You're allowed to yell and get frustrated. You're allowed to lose it on this job. You're not allowed to ever un-love your children. It honestly cannot happen. I've seen parents go through absolute hell with their kids and come out loving them with every fiber of their being in the end. A parent's love is like God's love: unconditional. So, sure...you had a child that was unexpected, or you had a child who is defiant, or you had a child who has a mental issue, or who cannot hear, or a child who cannot walk...it doesn't matter. You had a child. And they are yours and you are theirs. You are all they need, want, and know from the very beginning. Take pride in that, because you will never be loved like that again as long as you live. But they will grow older, and they will not always be your baby. You are who they will model their lives by in the future. Ultimately, we are sculpting everything we complain about. So we need to choose our words wisely and our actions even wiser. Because even when we don't realize it, our kids are watching and listening to us, and we need to be sure that what they're taking in is positive.

All my love,

Paige xo

It's Not Too Late. 9/11*

Well, today is the 14th Anniversary of a day that I know none of us can ever forget. It was absolutely a horrible, sad, sickening day all across, not only America, but also the whole world. Fear hit hard that day, and we were all absolutely shocked. I hate this day so badly for the families who are still grieving for their lost loved ones and for the responders and the victims who are still trying to recover and stay alive. I hope they can feel all of the prayers that I know many of us are sending up for them, especially today. 

I do not want to recount all of my bad memories I have from 9/11. From watching the news in my 7^th grade Spanish classroom to the moment my mom came to pick me up from school so she could explain to me herself exactly what was happening, and so I wouldn’t have to be scared…

I want to look back on that day and I want to tell you that I woke up that morning, and it was a beautiful day. It always seems like September 11th is a wonderful day for weather. It’s just starting to get a little chill in the air, and the sky is always so clear. I’m sure I was dreading school and being short and snappy, because I was always a brat in the mornings. I don’t remember all the moments leading up to hearing the news, but I know that in my classroom there were at least a handful of people that I didn’t get along with and they certainly didn’t like me either. I remember when our teacher told us what’s happening and turned the TV on CNN, every bit of hate or meaningless drama or bullying completely left that room. It seriously evaporated, it was kind of eery. We all sat there in silence, and when the bell rang to go to the next class, we all stood shoulder to shoulder and we couldn’t have cared less if we were touching someone we didn’t like. We glanced up at those people we'd had issues with all year, and we gave them a smile. I don’t think that the true gravity of it all had hit us, but we knew this was something we needed to stand together for. Once I got home and watched the news with my mom and sister, I remember seeing all the outpouring love from the people in New York, around the ruble, covered in ashes just clinging to each other. Skin color meant nothing on that day. Religious views meant nothing on that day. Political affiliations meant nothing on that day. Sexual orientation meant nothing on that day. We were America and we were standing together. Out of something so tragic and horrific came a huge outpouring of love, understanding, and unity. Our neighbors, families, friends, coworkers, police officers, firemen, doctors, nurses, servicemen/women, and teachers...they meant everything to us that day.

"If we learn nothing else from this tragedy, we learn that life is short and there is no time for hate." -Sandy Dahl, wife of Flight 93 pilot, Jason Dahl

Look at us today, 14 years later, compared to how we were then. Are we really doing these victims and their families any justice by tearing each other apart? Why are we so busy with attacking each other, and forgetting to stand together as a nation EVERY DAY? Not just on 9/11, but every single day. We could be so much further ahead than we are now if we would have kept that love and unity going strong from 2001 until now. But it’s not too late! It’s never too late to start over again and throw the hate away and let the whole nation be overcome with love, unity, and pride all over again. That’s my prayer today. That we can all find the good sense, and the forgiveness in our hearts to move forward, come together, and stand as one for all of those 2,977 people who can no longer stand here with us. It’s not too late.

  

All my love,

Paige xo

Rape Is An Occupational Hazard?

I watched a documentary film called "The Invisible War" tonight. What brought me to watch such a film isn't really important here. But as the film began, and as I heard the basic opening statements, I thought, "This is wrong, no doubt! Horrible. But, these women are walking into a male-dominated environment that has a history of female abuse. I just can't believe that they would subject themselves to sexual assault if they are scared of it happening." Please, stay with me. I realize how wrong ignorant I am in thinking this, but these were just the first honest things that crossed my mind within the first 5 minutes of watching the documentary. I said these words out loud to my husband who mostly had a similar thought pattern. Again, stay with me, don't judge me. It's all about to take a major turn...

I do NOT have any extremely "close" military ties nor do I have any family history to speak of. What ties I do have are males. I respect them, I do not think badly of any of them AT ALL. I have respect for any serviceman or woman, unless I know for a fact that I should think otherwise about them.

This blog was never meant to be about political issues nor to discuss any gossip or tabloid topics. That's not what I want to do on a weekly basis, there's enough of that out there as it is. But after watching this film about female (and, surprisingly a huge percentage of male) sexual abuse and rape in the military, I could not stop myself from writing about it. It's that powerful, guys. The stories and the consequences that these victims have had to go through is completely undeserving, unjust, unfair, and also mostly, unpunished. These women and men love their country and its people so much that they want to sign up to risk their lives for it. For us. When something bad happens to them, we need to give them our best to help no matter the cost. The timeless quote goes, "God, country, family..." This is the order in which most of these wonderful people place their dedication and priority. Thank GOD we have people like this, or at this point, America would be wiped off the map. Do you understand what I am saying here? I appreciate them SO much, and I'll never say that I don't.

HOWEVER... 

After seeing these numerous accounts of rape, violence, threats, and assault upon women and men who are serving in all branches of the military, I am seriously disgusted and disturbed. How can we ask anyone to risk their lives for us if we can't promise that we will provide a just system and appropriate personnel to look after them while they are preparing to go into a war zone? We can't do that. IT IS NOT RIGHT. Now, let me address my initial thoughts, since I've already strayed so far away from them: I had no idea that within the military, commanding officers are given the power to decide on whether or not to take further action when a rape or sexual crime (or any other issue) is reported (1). Also, most of the rapists in these cases ARE the commanding officers or higher ranking personnel (2). So, naturally they aren't going to nail themselves to a cross and admit to any wrong doing. They're going to pull their rank and threaten these victims with being beaten, mistreated, embarrassed, reduced in rank, or dishonorably discharged (3). So, 25% of rape cases in the military go unreported until the victims are no longer active (4). Also, there were TWO women on this film who were charged with adultery for claiming a commanding officer (who was married) raped them, even though neither of these women were married at the time. Absolutely insane. These victims have PTSD from their rape, not from battle. They are not taken seriously by Veterans Affairs because the issue was never properly reported to begin with. Either due to the victim being terrified to speak up or because of evidence or proof being "lost" or "misplaced". 

I've been upset about the way veterans are treated in this country for a while anyway. But this type of problem (or epidemic as the film calls it) is completely unacceptable. These people are committing suicide or trying to, anyway because no one will help them. These men and women are made to feel like it was their fault or that they are weak or cowardice. When in reality, its the rapist who fits that bill.

"A Navy study found that 15% of incoming recruits attempted or committed rape before entering the military. Which is twice the percentage of the equivalent civilian population." (5)   

Professionals on this film claim that the military CAN BE a potential hunting ground for "serial" rapists to exercise their problematic behavior. Because there is no legal system in place for these servicemen and women, any commanding officer can sweep a report under the rug, or make it seem that the crime was never actually committed. They are "in charge of appointing the prosecution, defense, investigator, they appoint the police force, and they are the judge. They own everything." (6) How terrifying is that? Can you imagine going into a workplace where you know that rape or sexual assault is a very high possibility, and then not being able to do anything about it? Would that not discourage you from entering that workplace? I know that I would definitely steer clear of it! As citizens we have the power to go to the police and report these crimes, hire a lawyer, file a lawsuit...whatever we need to do. These armed forces victims do not.  If I knew that anyone, a manager, owner, or trainer had THAT much power over me, I would not want any part of that career. Can you imagine if this is how restaurant workplaces, news casting stations, or teaching and educational positions were handled? There would be an uproar, as there usually is when any type of rape story hits the news or social media. Why don't we care as much about these people? Is this what we want when we are needing recruits to sign up to serve our country? Do we want men and women to feel scared or discouraged to serve a country that they clearly love just because we don't have the correct resources in place (or backbone) to keep them from being assaulted? Sure, there will be plenty of people who don't see this film or who don't understand (just as I didn't) how the hierarchy can be used against you in the armed forces when they sign up. I pray they never have to know this type of treatment or harassment because they deserve SO much better. 

(If you are interested in learning more, I'm listing sources for this information below. All quotes or stats came from the film or their website.)

We are better than this, America. I know that it seems like the world is going down the drain, and in a lot of ways, it is. But we can honestly do much better than this. How is it fair to prosecute a normal citizen and give him/her jail time for the same crimes that officers in the armed forces are committing, and then walking away without even a warning? At the end of this film at least 2 of the offenders were awarded promotions or medals during or after the time of these reported assaults. This isn't right. You do not get to do as you please and rise above the law just because you wear a badge and have served our country well. There are rules of conduct, you know? No one is above the law. Let's just keep that in mind. 

I don't know about you, but I'm taking this time to pray for those who have been affected by this problem in our armed forces. Just because they may have been let go from their duties which they signed up for, doesn't mean that they haven't given their all. I pray that they turn to God with their struggles and that they can find peace with Him. I pray that these issues will not haunt them for the rest of their days and that they can still hold their heads high knowing that they signed up to help our country and to be respected. The consequences of others actions cannot be placed on them (the victims). I know this was a long post, and I appreciate anyone who has read this far with me and who will eventually go on to watch the film. I think it's something we all need to see.

**Here's a few links that I thought may lift spirits or help those who have experienced this tragedy:

"It Is Well With My Soul"

"Praise You In This Storm"

"Man Of Sorrows" 

"Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)"

All my love (and respect),

Paige xo    

Sources 1-6  (and many used within textual reference) -http://www.notinvisible.org
This is a great one to learn more and get involved -http://www.protectourdefenders.com
Help Veterans however you can! - http://www.dav.org/help-dav/volunteer/volunteer-locally-help-the-va/

Fruit-Flies. My arch nemesis.

I don't know about you guys, but in my house, I have a lot of fruit. I mean, it's summer time and the fruit is abundant! Yummy, juicy, delicious FRUIT!! Ah, I just eat it up I love it so. Okay, so I said all of that to say this: You know what comes with all that glorious fruit in your house? Fruit flies. Aka the scum of the earth. The dirtiest of beings. The smallest, biggest problem in my home throughout the summer months. Just, ew! Fruit flies are highly frowned upon in this establishment. I really don't understand their purpose at all, but I'm not gonna start asking God silly things like that...I'm just gonna lead them to temptation, and then their demise.

I've seen a few suggestions on ways to attract and ultimately murder fruit flies. All of them are pretty simple, so one day I got so fed up with the little demons that I thought, "Tis time! Let the scheming  begin!" I was dead serious, too. I think I used a British accent in my mind (and possibly out loud as well.) My plan was to try 3 different methods and see which one worked best. And since I had a small colony of the little buggers, I thought I might as well give it my all in an attempt to wipe out the whole population. Muahaha!!

The three methods that I chose to use are as follows:

Phone photography is terrible. Breaking out the Nikon ASAP.

1. The "beer and plastic wrap" method. For this experiment, you take a small container fill it about half way full with a fruity-ish beer and then add a bit of dish soap and swirl it around. Cover the container tightly with plastic wrap and then take a toothpick and poke a couple of holes in it, just big enough so that the tiny vermin can get in and get trapped! Apparently, these things are incredibly dense, and they can find their way into this mixture but they can't find their way out. Works for me! 
2. The "white wine vinegar and dish soap" method. This is pretty much the same as the beer method, just with vinegar. According to Google, fruit flies are attracted to fermented fruits (or fruits that are in the process of being over-ripe.) So beer and vinegar (even wine) are good liquids to use for fruit fly booby traps, because fermentation. You follow the same process as the first method: fill it a little over half full, add some dish soap, and a splash of water, and then cover it with plastic wrap and poke holes. Little dummies, I can't believe they can't figure their way out of this. 
3. The "non-stick spray and a paper plate" method. This one seemed odd, and I didn't have very much confidence in it, but for kicks and giggles, I tried it. So, what you do is take a paper plate and spray it with non-stick oven spray. You go over to the landing zone of the flies and get them all stirred up and flying around. Then, when they least expect it, you take the plate with the spray and start waving it in the area. The flies stick and they can't fly away. Boom! I did this one as I was moving the fruit around in my container that sits on my counter, and I actually landed a few hits! I assured myself that the survivors would be lured in by my other two methods, so I let them escape. 

At the end of the day, the winner is...White Wine Vinegar. There was seriously no comparison! The beer mix had 2 flies in it, though so it wasn't a complete failure. But the vinegar mix had TEN flies in it. TEN!!! I did a fantastic happy dance. I tried to whip, and hurt my nae nae. I'm so glad that I know what to do at the first sign of these critters from now on! All hail vinegar!! ;-) 

Oh, I also left the two containers out over night after I took this photo, and the next day the total count was Beer: 5 Vinegar:14!!!!! I'd love to know any tricks you guys have tried too!! 

All my love, 

Paige xo

Fed Up Challenge! Day 2.

I...have a confession. I messed up! But I can explain! I woke up at 4:00am today because my new puppy had made a (very smelly, disgusting) mess in his crate. So I had to get him out, clean the crate and then clean the dog. All before the sun came up! >.<

So, my husband always makes a pot of coffee before he leaves for work at 5am. I lost my mind, you guys! I just totally blacked out. I'm gonna blame it on lack of sleep. But this happened...

Whoops!!! ;-)

Okay, so I clearly came to my senses before I drank the whole cup, because I took this picture. But that didn't stop me, it was already too late to go back. It's like placing a bottle of Jack in front of an alcoholic. I had zero control! But anyway, here's how the rest of the day went...

Breakfast:

Spinach, feta, mushroom omelette

1 small apple

(and obviously my boo-boo, coffee. Sorry, not sorry.)

Snack:

Cottage cheese 

4 sliced strawberries

Lunch:

Sandwich made with: 

Ezekiel bread, Boar's Head Smoked Turkey, lettuce, spicy mustard and tomato

1 sliced red bell pepper

Handful of grapes

Dinner:

Pan seared scallops

Roasted summer squash

Roasted asparagus with shaved parmesan 

Handful of blueberries for a sweet treat

• Side note: if and when you make scallops, here's a few tips: fill the skillet with olive oil and get your skillet pretty dang hot (medium high heat until the oil barely starts to smoke). Wait to make the scallops until the very last minute, because that's seriously all the time it takes! You pat them dry, season them with salt and pepper and a little garlic powder on one side, then place them in the pan. Watch the clock for 1.5 minutes, flip them to the other side for 1.5 minutes and get those babies out of there. Voila! 

Oh, my. Delicious you guys!! 

The kids were kind of off and on today. I'm almost totally out of fruit, so I'm going to be making a second trip to the store probably tomorrow! But I did what I was supposed to do...mostly! And today, there were no headaches. But I did feel good and I had more energy than usual, which was unexpected since I woke up so early! I'm really liking this so far! :-)

All my love,

Paige xo

Fed Up Challenge! Day 1

Well, I woke up this morning already dreading this for one reason only: I knew I couldn't have my coffee with Splenda and Italian Creme creamer. So that just had me in a bad mood anyway! However, after I put my big girl panties on, I looked in the fridge to decide what I wanted to make for breakfast. I've been on a low carb diet (not very strict) for a long time, so when I opened the fridge and saw that it was full of fruit, I thought seriously about eating every single bit of it until it was all gone! That's the bad thing about low carb, you can't eat fruit. So, I've missed it. A LOT. Eventually I stopped drooling and went to work on the meal:

Breakfast

Scrambled eggs with avocado and homemade salsa 
1 slice of Ezekiel bread
A handful of blackberries (one of my favorites!)
3-4 sliced strawberries

• My kids will eat all of these things as well, so this one was a big win for me. However, Ezekiel bread is found in the freezer section of your stores so once it's thawed out the texture is very different from regular sliced bread; it isn't very soft. It seems better if you warm it in the microwave for a few seconds! Maybe that was all in my mind? I'll never know. But, like I said I've been doing low carb for so long that I was happy to eat a slice of bread, regardless of the texture! And fruit...Amen. 

Snack

Handful of almonds 
Handful of grapes
2-3 cubes of cheese 

• The kids (especially my 4 year old) snack ALL day long. My plan was to just offer them cheese or fruit when snack time rolled around but as the day went by, I realized that I would be out of fruit before the day ended if I did that. So, I caved for them and gave them yogurt (stop judging me) and some crackers with almond butter. I am bound and determined to stick to this, so my snack that I listed above, was different.

Lunch 

White bean, garlic tapenade hummus
2 celery stalks 
Handful of baby carrots
1/2 sliced cucumber 

• I wasn't really all that hungry at lunch time, so I just went with more of an appetizer approach with the hummus dip and veggies. It was still good though! No complaints. My 1 year old had a smashed sweet potato and my 4 year old had a grilled cheese with sharp cheddar that I grated and Ezekiel bread with some grapes. The bread is still an adjustment for him! 

Dinner  

Baked chicken breasts (marinated in Olive oil and spicy brown mustard, salt & pepper)
Sautéed veggies (zucchini, squash, cauliflower, carrots) with Italian seasoning
Brown rice with Olive oil, garlic powder, and chopped sautéed onion

• I totally forgot to add brown rice to the grocery list post that I made yesterday! But that is allowed in small portions. This meal was REALLY good. Both my kids like rice, and my youngest loved the veggies. But again, my oldest insisted upon eating something else: Annie's Alfredo and Pasta (this has about 4g of sugar for a cup of cooked pasta and sauce, so it's not TERRIBLE.) But he's definitely going to be the one that I'm going to have to ease into this change more so than anyone else. At least he didn't eat pizza or chicken nuggets, I suppose. And when he asked for dessert, he was completely satisfied to have strawberries! Yay! 

Overall, I was happy with how the day went. I didn't get off track at all, and I'm really the one who is focused on seeing how this whole "diet" makes me feel. So I'm the test subject, and as long as I stay the course, it'll all be okay! I'll say that I have had a headache today. I think this is just from skipping the coffee that I usually drink in the morning. If I don't drink it at home, I go order an iced coffee from Starbucks. So this was the first full day I've had in a while without coffee/Splenda/creamer. I'm just going to chalk it up to that! If I get really desperate, I may try drinking my coffee black tomorrow, but we will just have to see! I will add that it's nice to go an entire day and know that you've eaten nothing but fresh, whole foods and that your kids have (mostly) done the same. So if for no other reason than that, I'm happy with today!! Also, I'll try to remember to take pictures of the food we eat on Day 2, sorry! ;)

All my love,
Paige xo

Fed Up Challenge! Shopping list.

I watched a documentary on Netflix not long ago called Fed Up. This film discusses the issue of childhood obesity and its causes. Namely processed foods and SUGAR. I watch plenty of documentaries on Netflix. My queue is full of them, and everyone thinks I am super weird. But let me say, if you only watch one documentary in your life, watch this one. Especially those of you who have kids! I thought that I was really doing things right, and buying good foods for my kids, making better choices than just chips and candy, and that I was a step ahead of the game. Nope.

Apparently there is so much sugar in ALL of the foods we generally buy that you wouldn't really even think about. Like bread, for instance. I think of carbs, yes. But not added sugar! I let my kids eat oatmeal quite a bit for breakfast..loaded with sugar! And wow, salad dressings and condiments are probably the most mind boggling. You know how everyone got obsessed with "Low fat/Low calorie" foods? Well, guess what they added to those things when they took out the fat? SUGAR. So, in reality these products are worse for you than full fat options because of the way our bodies process them. Oh! Milk also has about 6g of sugar per 8oz! And, this probably goes without saying, but soda is a HUGE no-no. Even (and almost especially) the diet ones. This film discourages any artificial sugars. Say goodbye to Splenda, and the like! Wahhhhh! How will I live without my coffee, sweetener, and creamer?!?

Apparently we are only supposed to consume 4g of sugar a day to be healthy! This is starting to get tricky, right? At the end of the film they encourage you to take the Fed Up Challenge, which means no processed foods, added sugars, or fast food. It's a 10 day clean-eating challenge, and basically you can only eat vegetables, very few whole grains, fruit, nuts, and lean meats and proteins. All of these need to be organic and with no added sugar or flavors. And you can only drink water. Seems okay. Until you get to the store and start to check labels!! Nuts can have added sugar, deli meat has added sugar, peanut butter has added sugar...forget about yogurt, cereal, oatmeal, and most bread. After reading A LOT of labels and spending about an hour and a half in the grocery store, this is the list that I came up with for good/acceptable foods:

Produce:
Apples
Watermelon
Cantaloupe
Strawberries
Blackberries
Blueberries
Grapes
Lemon
Spinach
Salad mix
Avocado
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Peppers
Cucumbers
Celery
Zucchini
Squash
Bag of baby carrots (for dipping)
(Basically, almost anything in this category goes)

Meats:
Salmon
Scallops
Shrimp
Chicken breasts
Chicken tenders
Ground turkey and chicken
 LEAN, SUGAR FREE deli meat (Boar's Head seemed to be the best)

Dairy:
Cottage cheese
Eggs (lots of eggs)
Most cheeses are fine. I went with fresh mozzarella because I can generally eat it on anything.
Block of Monterrey jack (to cut up for snack)
Hummus (check labels!!) or make your own!

Miscellaneous:
Dry roasted all natural almonds
Olive oil/Vinegar (to make your own dressing, add lemon if you like)
Seeds
Ezekiel Bread 4:9 (they also have a few pasta and wrap options if you need those!)
Bags of frozen veggies (for quick dinner sides)


This was just my list that I used on my shopping trip. I'm sure if you put more time and effort into it, there are plenty more options! So, here goes nothing!! Next post will be about my Day 1 meals and how I'm feeling after cutting out the sugars and processed things. I'm excited! Let me know if you're following the challenge along with me!!

All my love,
Paige xo