We are on day 11 of our Real Food challenge. I know I said it was a 10 day challenge, but I also said I would blog about it daily. And well, you see how that went! Life intervened. But now that we're done with the first 10 days, I can give you a recap! Forgive my horrible memory, though. I'll do the best I can.

We started our 10 Days of Real Food challenge by nixing everything boxed, bagged or processed in any form. Well, I take that back. If it was processed, it was minimally, and all naturally. (See previous post for the Rules!) But most of our food came from the outskirts of our local Publix - fruits, veggies, grass-fed/free range meat with no hormones, antibiotics, etc. No food dyes, no preservatives, no extra nothin'! We had to make a few trips to Whole Foods, but by the end of the week I had found everything I needed at a DIFFERENT Publix. Turns out they carry items based on the demographics of the market. And Vestavia seems to enjoy more natural products than Pelham!

The first few days were difficult. O and I were NOT excited while all that sugar left our system. But we muscled through it. The girls didn't know the difference - except that their beloved "Go-Fish" were gone. Have you seen all the ingredients in those Goldfish? Yuck!

I found a lot of recipes on the 100daysofrealfood.com website, and on foodnetwork.com (from the 5 Ingredient Fix show). The best of the week was the Dad's Chicken Salad from 5 Ingredient Fix. We put it in whole wheat pitas, added a little spinach and honey, and had it for lunch.

Breakfast all week was typically whole wheat waffles, though I altered the recipe to make them more fluffy - a tad more baking powder, a tad more baking soda, a tad less oil and a tad less milk. Each time you make it you can change it up and figure out the best for your family.

Along with the waffles, O, AF and I had eggs (SG didn't care for them), and SG had plain whole milk yogurt with a little maple syrup to sweeten (AF didn't care for it!). And various fruit on the side.

At the beginning of the week, lunches consisted of chicken fingers, Dad's Chicken Salad or leftovers from the previous night's dinner. It got expensive. But then we discovered Whole Foods, and acceptable lunch meat (which I later found at Publix). They also have acceptable Big Sky Bread (also at some Publix'). Along with the sandwich is a cheese stick and some steamed veggies courtesy of the Beaba that I still use just for steaming veggies for the girls.

Mid afternoon snacks are usually some fruit, or a smoothie (which is difficult to get the girls to drink!).

For dinner we've tried various recipes - from Citrus Garlic Roasted Chicken (I loved, O not so much). We tried the tuna from this recipe with some rice and veggies. Ehh. It was alright. Basic steak/chicken on the grill too. Nothing too crazy for dinner. Oh, and there is acceptable pasta (you just have to search for it unless you're at Whole Foods), to which we added peppers, onions, sausage and acceptable sauce (from Whole Foods).

By the end of the week I had gotten smart and creative, and started making acceptable meals from non-acceptable recipes. You just have to think about it and substitute things. Like use Greek Yogurt when it calls for mayo. Regular yogurt when it calls for sour cream/ice cream. Honey instead of sugar. And stock up on your spices.

During my last shopping trip I found some crackers for the girls, and some chips and salsa for O and me. Which makes for happy snacking.

The lessons we learned were this: It's EXPENSIVE to eat healthy. But if you use coupons, and plan your meals a week at a time (plan everything - breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner), you can do it a little cheaper. The mistake I made in the beginning was not planning, and I ended up at the store every night and spent WAAAYY too much money. Plan for those "grazing" times when you're bored or just need to munch on something. Those cost me in the beginning because the food I had planned for something else usually got eaten during those grazing events!!

Also, plan to get to know your kitchen. The only gadgets I needed were my waffle iron and my smoothie blender. You could make pancakes though, and not need the waffle iron, and well, if you want a smoothie you'll need a blender.

But I'm now spending a ton of time cooking, planning and preparing (not in that order!). I do alot during nap times, after the girls go to bed and early in the morning before they get up. You can also make things ahead of time and freeze them for later. Keeping dinner simple - like chicken/steak and veggies makes for quick prep/quick cooking meals.

In 10 days I lost 5 pounds AND I'm wearing a belt for the first time since middle school. I lost the first 3 without even lifting a finger. I think I kept it all off this week by working out a few times a week though. O lost weight too, just not sure how much. But the girls - are gaining. They have more energy, they are happier - FAR less tantrums - and get full faster and stay full longer (we all do).

The entire process has really made me think about what my family puts into their bodies. I feel like a better wife and mother for providing healthy meals that will keep everyone satisfied.

Many have expressed an interest in this challenge, and I would encourage you to give it a try! If you're up for it (and your family is up for it!), start with the 10 Day Challenge. Get to know that website and read over the rules! I made a binder to keep acceptable recipes and lists of "ok" food.

Make sure you share with your entire family that you are doing this. We eat out or over at the parent's house alot, and they have had to alter their meal plans to accommodate us! So make sure anyone you eat with regularly is supportive of your efforts, or even that they are ok with you cooking or bringing your own meals, or else you're sure to slip! Hey, you could even try to encourage them to do the challenge along with you!

But if you're not up for the entire challenge just yet, but are still interested in making healthier choices, there are small steps you can make on a daily basis to ease into things. Click here and scroll down to the links to each week. Week 1 - add 2 fruits/vegetables to each meal. Do this for a week. Then move on to week 2 - the more difficult - "Real" beverages. And so on. By the end of it, you'll be on your way to only eating real food!

And as the title of this post says, we are on Day 11. We have decided to make this a life change (for now at least), though I'm sure we'll have a few times here and there where we slip! But just to let you know how serious we are...I have had a 5 pound bag of m&ms and cake pops (frozen from the girls' birthday party) in my house for the past 11 days, and we haven't touched them. Nor have we wanted them.

I think our tastebuds have changed. For the better.

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