I hope everyone has had a good weekend! We have been really busy. Kip has mostly been studying, but we have been able to sneak in some fun things too! His test is THIS FRIDAY!!!! I'm not sure who is more ready for it to be over with, him or me :) Plus, I can't wait to catch him up on alllllll these thoughts that have been going through my head over the past month. I have tried to only discuss important things that we have control over right now rather than all my swirling thoughts that jump into my brain. I don't want to distract him in any way! He has asked me time and time again to please update him on some of these things but I said no! He's so sweet. Just wants to make sure that I'm okay. I am. Most days. I did have a little break down Friday night (after his studying was done for the day) and he was right there by my side to comfort me. He's my favorite :)

Since we don't seem to have enough going on in our lives right now, I decided to accept the challenge from my BFF Jen and try the 100 days of real food challenge. Tomorrow (August 3, 2015) marks Day 1.... I have clued Kip in on this one. Annnnnd he is not too thrilled about it. But he's coming around. I made some pumpkin muffins from a recipe out of the book and got a 2 thumbs up from him. The butter in them helped win him over

This morning I sat down and got serious about figuring out our next 100 days. I went ahead and enjoyed a cup of coffee (with my favorite ingredients added in) for the last time while I read about how bad they are for me. Regardless of how guilty I felt, it was still my favorite kind of morning. Kip was here studying in the chair next to me, sipping his coffee and we got to engage in some chit chat here and there. I was snuggled under a blanket with my coffee and book (remember, we keep our house a little on the coooooler side so a blanket was necessary) 

I'm just joking. I didn't feel bad about my coffee because this book allows you to eat delicious, non-time consuming, healthy meals...without making you feel bad. The author, Lisa Leake, is very realistic. And, the best part is.... she not only gives you the recipes, but the grocery lists to go along with the meals!! Here is a little looksie at what the "pledge" to the 100 days look like.... 

I think I am more prepared for this than Kip. But, like I said, he is coming around. As the homemade meatballs are finishing up baking (and they smell delicious), he is becoming more and more okay with this lifestyle change I'm throwing us into...

 Let me give you a little background info on myself. In college, I was a double major in health promotion and nutrition. It was going to take me 5 years to complete both majors. My 4th year, I decided nutrition just wasn't for me. So I dropped the nutrition and graduated at the end of my 4th year with a degree in health promotion and psychology. I then completed my BSN in nursing through the accelerated program (13 months since I already had my 4 year degree)  I had decided during that 4th year that I wanted to be a nurse instead. Why didn't I want to continue with the nutrition you may be wondering? Well, I took it too far. I grew up in a household where we enjoyed food, didn't count calories (we were thankfully blessed with good metabolisms) and basically ate what we wanted. Well, through my majors I learned about different disease processes and how your diet can effect those processes. That is when I started to take it too far. I can remember standing in the pantry at night, hungry, with a calculator and calculating how many grams of such and such I had eaten that day. What did I have left over? How many calories had I consumed and how many had I burned off? (I knew the amount of calories because I measured everything out) I wouldn't eat something that wasn't good for me or that had been "overly processed." That was not a healthy way of life for me. It is one thing to eat well for health reasons. It is another thing to eat well and then obsess over what it is doing in your body and deprive yourself. I slowly but surely pulled myself out of that lifestyle, became a nurse and forgot all about it all! Now, I don't just pig out on whatever I want. I still maintain a pretty healthy and balanced diet, but I also buy a cookie cake (with as much icing as possible, for Kip) every week at the grocery store. Through everything we have been through the last 2 years, I keep saying I want to get healthy again. But my schedule has prevented me from doing that. But not anymore. It is time. Not time to obsess and take it too far; but time to treat my body like the temple that it is. I always said when we have kids I want to have them eat organic, wholesome food. Well, why not do that ourselves too? When you think about it, a product on the shelves that has an expiration date 2 years from the time you are buying it obviously has preservatives in it. What do you think it is going to do inside your body? It is going to preserve! So, for the next 100 days...we will eat "as close to the ground" as we can. No preservatives. No ingredients we have to sound out. No meat that has been shot up with steroids.

Oh! Another great thing about this book, it isn't overly expensive! I was terrified at the grocery store checkout this morning of what this was going to do to our bill.... only $15 more than our usual. And I bought spelt flour, more milk than usual and the hubby some beer to enjoy Friday when he is DONE WITH HIS TEST!!!!!

I'm working the next 3 days so I probably won't be updating before Thursday. But, I promise to return with an update on how we are surviving so far! Wish us luck!