Fresh Produce

I have always been one to eat my vegetables. My parents always made sure there were vegetables at lunch and dinner. There was always a raw vegetable plate out among the treats at family get to togethers and holidays. Unfortunately, because my dad was picky about his vegetables, it was always the same ones.  Peas (which I actually don’t like. Never have), corn and yellow wax beans for dinner. Raw carrots or broccoli for lunch. Carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms and cherry tomatoes for veggie platters. That’s it. 17 years living under their roof and that is all I was exposed to.

When I lived on my own all I ate was canned corn, canned green or yellow beans, broccoli and carrots. And they weren’t often. I lacked on my vegetable intake big time.

I was never one to eat fruit. I was a sugar junkie and choose to eat fruit flavoured candy instead. Bad move.

Even when Hubby and I moved in together we didn’t buy too much fresh produce. If we did, it was after Monkey #1 came along and he got the fresh stuff.  I make my own baby food. Always have since the first monkey. Don’t go thinking I’m one of those moms who thinks jarred baby food is nothing but crap. It might be, I don’t know. I’ve never looked into it. I looked at price point. It was, and is, a heck of a lot cheaper to make my own baby food than to buy it done. Sure, it’s a little more time consuming. But I don’t mind that. Parents do what works best for their families. For me, it’s making my own baby food. And I’ve gone completely off topic here. Where I was going with this is that I would take the time to pick good looking, fresh produce for my baby, but I didn’t bother to for myself of Hubby.

No wonder we gained weight!

Our grocery bill is much different now. We pile up on the fresh stuff. We love trying new vegetables and fruits. And yes, I eat fruit now. We bypass canned vegetables and fruit cups, opting for frozen instead if the fresh doesn’t look too great.

Once upon a time, our plates were half protein, nearly half starch (potatoes or rice) and just a touch of produce. Now it’s half produce, a bit of weighed out protein and just a touch of starch. Sometimes we leave out the starch. I love potatoes. I thought I would always eat my weight in potatoes. We didn’t have a single potato last month while Hubby was trying out the Paleo diet. I didn’t miss them. Of course, when we cooked up potatoes on the BBQ last weekend, they tasted heavenly!

We’ve really changed the way we look at produce. I love seeing all the different colours in our fridge and in our fruit bowl. I love that everyone in our house reaches for carrots, berries, apples, oranges, etc before reaching for the pudding, crackers or fruit roll up.

I’d also like to add that I love how we no longer eat until we feel full. We eat until we feel satisfied. Such a better feeling than feeling full. Honestly, I never want to feel full again. That’s yucky bloated, heavy stomach feeling is a thing of the past.