Clean Eating vs. Sloth: My Dilemma [Journey From Sloth and Despair, the Beginning]

Oh, what a sloth I devolve into.

'sup?

I am very lazy and self-indulgent by nature, and I really have to psych myself up in order to get ANYTHING done.

My dog Teddy is really living the life I would enjoy.

My doggie, Teddy.  He had a paw bandaged because of a minor incident. He's fine now.

Waking up to go potty and have breakfast, and then lay down in a patch of sunshine for a nap, waking up again for a potty break, and then some scritching behind the ears and maybe some snuggling.  Then a quick drink and another nap.  Repeat as needed.  Insert occasional trips in the car to the bank or the park, and perhaps a random episode of wild running around and barking at the wind or squirrels.

So, with the additional activities we've had of late (concerts, out-of-town trips, parades), my slothlike identity is making itself known.  I've been eating (and -- horrors -- feeding my children) pre-packaged food, fizzy drinks, and sugary desserts.  Pizza.  Pierogis.  FROZEN DINNERS.  Toaster Strudels.  Ice cream.

Oh, the shame.

Ugh.  It's horrid.  I've FELT it.  It's so gross to think of what I'm doing to my digestion, my health, THEIR health, my weight, and all those blood tests (cholesterol, sugars, etc.).

In the newspaper this morning, there was an article about "Whole foods" (not the store, the idea), and eating clean.  I remember back a few months ago when I devoted myself to shopping well and eating only real food.

Mmmm.  Veggies.

It made SUCH a difference in how I felt, how I looked, and the pride I enjoyed as a result.


In my mind, there are three main categories food can fall into.  Well, four, I guess.

1:  REAL food.  That's where the food is made of ... only itself.  Chicken.  Oats. Carrots.  Strawberries.  It is what it is.  Nothing has been done to it.  Now, I must admit that you can take this category MUCH further than that by going organic, cruelty-free, local, non-pesticides, etc.  But for my purposes, I'm going to just allow myself to say "real" has no ingredients.  They ARE the ingredients.


2:  NEARLY whole food.  This is where the food is ONE step away from being itself.  For instance, cheese.  Used to be milk, but has gone through one change.  Also, whole wheat pasta.  Not the 'faux' stuff, but where whole wheat was turned into pasta.  Or maybe whole-fruit jam where it was cooked and maybe pectin was added.  Salsa -- the fresh kind.  Chicken broth.  You get the picture.

3: NASTY food.  This is where you don't know what's in it, but it still resembles food.  Like frozen dinners, frozen pizzas, Chef Boyardee crap, "Box Dinners," chikin nuggets, etc.  Most fast food falls into this category, as well as most boxed or plastic-bagged foods.

4:  FICTIONAL food.  This is stuff that bears no resemblance to food, but is still marketed as edible.  Cheetos.  Fruit roll ups.  Kool-Aid.  Pretty much anything with a cartoon character on the label falls into this category.

"food"

I rarely branch into the Fictional Food category, because even I, at my most slothful, realize that this is unacceptable.  It's like trying to tell yourself that it's o.k. to eat Play-Doh because it's non-toxic.  Crayons in tacos!  Newspaper smoothies!  Um. Don't think so.

Lately, as I mentioned above, I've been hovering in the "Nasty food" category due to ridiculous slothfulness.  I can feel the difference.  My digestion is ... crappy. (Ha! get it?)  My energy is around my ankles.  Ugh. And I have The Shame that I have allowed my darling children to eat this junk.  Sigh.

My resolve is to move back up the ladder.  I want to get to 70% from Category 1 (Real food) and 25% from Category 2 (Nearly whole) with a smattering from group 3 and even group 4.  (Cool Ranch Doritos, why do you taunt me so?  Reeses Cup?  Foul temptress.) Wait.  Did that math add up?

I want to try to write a series of posts describing my journey back from Sloth and Despair.  What shall I call this?  "Journey From Sloth and Despair" you say?  Well, then there it is.

Now I must go make lunch for my kiddos.  Sigh.