You want me to eat what?

Food is a serious issue around our house. We love it! We live to eat all the way. We love bacon and sausage and pancakes and roast and fried chicken…you get the point. Southern comfort food is a must! Saturated fat is a food group in our home. But that is changing…

Nate recently had to undergo some testing due to some liver issues. There was a little blood work, an ultrasound, and ultimately a biopsy. The diagnosis was on the better end of liver problems. Best-case scenario was nothing…next best case was fatty liver. And that is where we landed. Medically speaking it is steatohepatitis. Basically, fat has accumulated around his liver and caused inflammation. His doctor has prescribed prednisone, but I have prescribed a diet overhaul. Apparently, fatty liver disease is becoming pretty prevalent due to the rise in obesity and diabetes. One site I found even referred to it as a “rich country disease.” Apparently, our food group of saturated fat hasn’t been pairing too well with Nate’s liver.

So, with the power of food in my hands at home, I am off on a mission. In our seven years together, we have had small journeys of eating healthier. Usually those journeys are short-lived as he longs for something greasy and I long for something sugary. His health is serious though. He has too many things going against him not to get healthy…and I could lose a few lot of pounds, too.

I know the best way to do this is Clean Eating. If you haven’t heard about it you can check it out HERE. I did this about six months after having Lily to lose weight...until J.J. decided to make his presence known and I quit. The general idea is to eat foods that are as whole and natural as possible. Processed foods are horrible for our bodies and one of the main reasons our country is suffering so much with nutritional and health issues. (I know lots and lots about nutrition and fitness and yet put none of it into action.)

So anyways, Nate is completely aware that I’ve been working on new menu plans and trying to find a plan for his new healthy liver! I’m a planner and when I start planning…it’s all about business. So, I get my stuff together and I’m somewhat ready for my grocery trip. Let me repeat, Nate is completely aware that I’m going towards a whole foods eating plan. We discussed this while I spent two hours on the couch Monday night making meal plans. We did discuss gradually easing into the plan. For example, really focusing on drinking only water. (Which I’ve been doing for about one or two weeks now.)

So, how we both found ourselves in complete and utter shock when he met me at the grocery store yesterday I will never know. He arrived and I was pretty much finished with my shopping at Food City with a cart full of fresh fruits and vegetables. This was good stuff and I was pumped! He looks at me with this glazed look and said, “I thought we were going to ease into this?” And I say, “We are. We’re not completely clean eating.” So, he requests for my meal plan. “Well, it looks like we’re completely clean eating to me.” And then I say, “I told you I was working on a plan and this is just preparing us. You sat there for TWO hours while I talked with about meals that would be OK with you.” So, he’s just bumfuzzled. “So, what part of this is not clean?” My reply (snicker, snicker), “Well, I’m not buying bee pollen and we’re not doing natural nut butters, yet.”

So, I admit it. I have a plan and my test subject is not being compliant. Apparently, he declares he has a food allergy to whole foods. So, after a day of good clean eating meals and snacks, he gets some meatball subs for dinner to make him feel more like he's easing into it. (BTW- 44% DV of saturated fat...makes me SICK! Food labels should definitely be a MUST in all food facilities.)

And besides, when have I ever eased in to anything? Remember…?

I don't wanna do iiiiittttt!!!

Today marked a beginning of an interesting endeavor. After a wonderful weekend of hay rides, wedding receptions, and pumpkin carving, my husband drops the bomb on me. We’re happily riding in the car, I’m munching on some Cracker Jacks, and he decides to, not ask, not suggest, but to demand that we are going to start working out and eating healthier. Hmmm. My reply is simply, “No.” As he urges on, my inner Stuart breaks out to argue.

For those of you who are not familiar with Stuart, meet him here in one of my favorite clips. The video will make your stop by the blog worth it all. For years, Nate has insisted that when I don’t want to do something, I completely and utterly turn into Stuart. “Noooo, I don’t wanna do it….” And “Leave me aloooonnne.” My voice changes and I become the whiner of all whiners. I am here to tell you, when I don’t want to do something, chances are I am not doing it.

And “I don’t’ wanna do ittttttt” is the way I feel right now about being healthy. I have not always been this way. Actually, the opposite is true. From my late teens until I had my first baby, I was a pretty active and fit person. Let me take a glory trip for just a moment to state my case. I started lifting weights and working out when I was seventeen. I was an amateur runner completing a half marathon in 2004. And the very week I conceived my first child I received my black belt in Taekwondo. I loved to workout. Although not a materialistic person, I was obsessed with my body image. I tracked calories in and calories out constantly. I have notebooks everywhere with food plans and workout plans. I even did the South Beach diet, which worked very well by the way. I know what it means to clean eat and at one time would have loved to be dedicated enough to do a fitness show.

After having Lily, I still had the longing to get myself back together and managed to run a 5K about eight months after she was born, even though I wasn’t sure I would ever function at all until about month six. I worked out pretty good until month ten when I found out I was pregnant again. It’s been all down hill from there.

I, honest to the Good Man above, DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES want to workout or eat healthy. I have not a single cell in my body that desires to workout. I, for the first time in my life, am perfectly content eating chocolate continuously throughout the day. I am perfectly content being active only when I’m chasing my two year old and six month old around. I am for the first time, perfectly content being me. I do plan on working out again at some point, just not now. I know I need to be healthier and could lose twenty. (BTW- I’m at my pre-preg weight but the body changes so much during pregnancy that it appears my body has morphed into a floppy sack of fat.)

Let’s go back to the endeavor. He wants a week. One week he says. He says one week and if I still feel this way, I don’t have to do it. And all I can think is…. “I don’t wanna do iiiittttt!”
I’ll keep you updated.