Chow time at the Edwardsons

Since Rick's sister Becky was diagnosed with Cancer for the second time in October of last year, she has done a lot of research on healthy eating and so on. So, she gave me a book for christmas which I have read and found very interseting. It inspired me to cut out a lot of foods that are in our diet. So, since my kids are young, they have no say in the matter. I got rid of anything processed...you know, pretzels, goldfish, crackers, anything store bought that is "snack-like." That includes cold cereal. I have replaced it with fresh fruit, vegetables, yogurt, string cheese and that's about it. It has definitely made more work for me...especially in the morning for breakfast. But, I now have them eating oatmeal, and whole wheat pancakes and/or waffles, and once in awhile, a healthy muffin that I have concocted. For snack, they don't have to nag me any more for fruit snacks, or crackers or anything else because they know they can have whatever they can find...which is only healthy stuff. Surprisingly, they have complained very little. Not once has one of them asked me when I'm going to buy fruit snacks or goldfish. I do splurge on Saturdays and buy them a box of cold cereal (so they'll leave us alone and we can sleep in) and on Sundays, I make a nice breakfast since our church isn't till 11:00. For an added treat on Sundays, I always make some kind of tasty something like chex mix or rice krispy treats or something so they don't feel deprived. They really look forward to the Sunday treat. It makes not having it all week long not too bad. Surprisingly, even my pickies eater (Carter) has started to enjoy fruits and vegetables a lot more. It's good too because I don't care how much they snack. No kids is going to get fat eating a bunch of fruits and vgetables. I just thought I'd share what we're doing...I really thought there would be more mutiny than there has been. It's been good for us. Of course next weekend when we're in Valencia, my kids will probably gorge themselves on anything tasty they can find....And, for you unbelievers out there...this was the kick in the pants I needed to drop the diet coke habit. Yes folks, I believe I have kicked it. I still drink it when we go out to dinner (like once a month) but other than that...I'm clean. Can you believe it? And, I'm still here to tell about it. Well, happy Sunday