Eating clean on a Budget

Lets face it. Todays economy is tough enough as it is without having to worry about eating healthy. And to be honest eating healthy and clean can be quite expensive. Alot of web site will tell you that it is actually cheaper to shop organic and eat healthy than to indulge in boxed and canned food, and although on some levels they are right, you and I both know that when your on a tight budget and it comes to pasta sauce one thats organic and costs $4.00 or one thats not and costs $1.00, were most likely going to forgo the healthy organic option and take the less healthy option in order to save a couple dollars.
I myself as a single parent, am broke. To be honest I probably live on or just under the poverty line. But I have found ways to still be able to eat clean and healthy. Here are a list of ideas on how to shop and save money and still be healthy.

1. SHOP IN BULK:
 A lot of times shopping in bulk may seem more expensive but it is not. I tend to hit up costco for my meats in bulk. At a local grocery store, one might pay almost $8.00 for two chicken breasts. At costco I can get approximatley 12 for $20.00.  One small freshly cut piece of fish could cost around $10.00, at costco I can get enough to make five or 6 meals for around $16.00. By buying your meats in bulk it saves alot of money for a person on a budget. And once you have the meat, its very easy to seperate and portion out all the meat for meals. I typically spend about $60-$100.00 on meat at costco but that easily lasts me a month or more.  It is also important to be aware of what is a deal and what is not a deal. Shopping in bulk stores can be tricky if you do not know the prices of the items at other stores. One fabulous deal i have found at costco is on their greek yogurt. In a regular grocery store one container of liberte greek yogurt is around $5.00. At costco I can get two of them for the same price.

2. BUY STAPLE ITEMS THAT CAN MAKE A VARIETY OF MEALS:
 Buying items like quinoa or beans can keep your meals healthy and can be used in a variety of ways. I personally love quinoa. It can be used in hot or cold meals. You can use quinoa as a meal itself or as a side dish. By having items that can be used in a variety of ways, you can still eat clean and healthy and not get bored of the same meal over and over again. You can add beans to your chicken, use as a side dish, make a salad out of them, or mix them in with quinoa. Other staple items that can add flavor and keep your  meals healthy is investing in extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar. These two items can make a variety of sauces and flavours  with your meals, and tend to be longer lasting then unclean and sugary items like dressings and sauces.

3. BUY FORZEN FRUITS AND VEGETABLES INSTEAD OF FRESH
 Often for those of us who are on a budget, it is hard to keep buying frsh fruit and vegetables every week. Or if we do buy fresh food, it sometimes goes bad before we can use it, which is a waste of precious money we dont have to waste. Buying frozen is actually cheaper, and because the fruit and veggies or flash frozen, there is actually more nutrients found in the food. Not only will the food last longer but its just as healthy. I tend to buy alot of frozen veggies and fruit and use them as needed. It saves me quite a bit of money when i am not having to spend money every week on fresh veggies.

4.BUY ONLY WHATS IN SEASON
Alot of times we want to have fresh veggies and fruits and that is totally okay. But if money is tight, then stick to the fruits and veggies that are in season. These tend to be priced the lowest, and will save you much more money than indulging in fruits and veggies that are being imported from other areas or countries.

5. FOOD BANKS: SHOPING WISELY
With the economy there are unfortunatley many more families having to use food banks to get buy, and I am one of them on occasion. There are certain things to look for when at a food bank. Most of the food is canned and boxed, and so it can be difficult to eat clean. But here are some ideas. Sometimes food banks will have fresh veggies. Stock up on those. Veggies can be frozen and used later so take what ever you can thats alottted. Canned veggies are not ideal, but are a healthier choice than canned spaghetti. Just try to read the labes and see if any of the veggies are low in sodium. Pasta is usually redially available. Try to find whole wheat pasta instead of white. Also canned tuna or salmon packed in water is a great choice as well. Look for low sodium and low fat soups to use if you can, and if there is bread being offered than see if there is any whole wheat options available. If you know what to look for, you can get healthier food to get by on.

This is just a suggestion as to how to start to save money on food. By being knowledgable and getting staples that dont get used up fast, one can still eat clean and be healthy on a budget.

A Happy Healthy Mothers Day

Today is mothers day. Being a mother is probably one of the hardest jobs in the world. A mother has to wear many hats. Maid, caregiver, chef, taxi driver, lover, boo boo kisser. It frankly can be exhausting. For me, although I love every minute of being a mother, being a mother has been especially hard and difficult for me. I have been on my own since i was six months pregnant with my son. Long story of the short of it, i left an extremely abusive relationship and never looked back. Do i regret that choice of taking the hard road? NOT one bit. It has meant peace, tranquility and a safe home for my child. But it hasnt  been an easy one. Infancy was partyicularly hard, especially as I was the only one waking and feeding the baby. I sometimes went over 24 hours without sleep, let alone a break. Add post partum depression, and it was not a piece of cake. There have been many unique struggles that I have faced as the one and only parent. Job hunting has been a particularly sticky issue. Because i only have reliable day care from Mon-Fri, it has been difficult for me to find work that will accomadate my day care issues. Most people dont care, understand, or care to understand that I dont have a husband, or father to help, I also dont have inlaws to help out as well. And with my immiediate family busy and not always avaialble, being available nights and weekends is especially trying. But I keep pushing through and I keep my head up and keep telling myself that things will work out and get better. I think alot of mothers start off fit and faboulous and through out the stresses and daily demands of raising their children, we start to lose ourselves. Maybe we start off not wearing make up as much, are clothes become more comfortable (and less stylish) as we focus on our children, and I think for many, we start to put on the weight and become unhealthy. With busy lives, such as managing work, child sports and dance class, we become quick to pull out that box of frozen pizza from the fridge, or grab take out to feed our family on the go. Between our careers, taking care of the children's needs, keeping up our homes, and what ever other busy things we keep ourselves overwhelmed with, some of us even start to pack on the pounds. And before we know it, we look in the mirror and we've becomea totally different person than we once were. But I think its important that we try to keep ourselves up. Not for anyone but for ourselves. I lost myself too. I gained weight, lost any sense of fashion and lost any interest in myself.Thats why I have been on this journey to a new and improved me. To find my old self again. To feel good about myself again. To look good again. But it really isnt just about me, its really about my son. As a single mother I need to be healthy and change my habits. I am his only parent and as his mother, I owe it to him to be the happiest, and healthiest I can be. And with change comes great things. As I continue on my journey to lose the weight and become healthy, I have become happier. I dress up now, I do my hair, my makeup, and I wear heels sometimes too!!! And my little guy sees the positive changes in me. I am setting an example of what living healthy and happy can do for him. So for mother's day I think the biggest gift is to give back to us, so that we can be the best mothers we can be. Lets continue to have more mothers decide to get fit and healthy and set an example of healthy living for our children.
Happy mothers day everyone!!!!!!!

Book 2-Still Alice

This was the second book on my reading list and it was FANTASTIC. Its about a 50 yr old women named Alice who is a Harvard Proffesor. She has her PHD in Psychology and specializes in linguistics. She starts to notice that she is forgetting things that she once knew so well, and one day gets lost on a run. She soon discovers that she is diagnosed with eary onset Alzheimers disease. The book takes you through her progression of the disease and looks at the toll it takes not only on her family and children, but also how the disease begins to define who she is. The story was incredibly impactful, and makes you think about the person and not the disease. It gives you an eye opening experience to what it would be like to be fully aware of losing your mind.
***** (5 Stars out of 5)

Have you read this book, what are your thoughts on this???

Book 1: The Help

Loved Loved Loved this book!!!! For those of you who haven't read this yet, although the movie was fantastic, the book is even better. I could not put this book down. I found it to be very insightful into the lives of black women before there was equal rights. There were hilarious and poignant moments. It was a fantastic book to start off with for my summer reading list.

For those of you who havent read the book, its about a white women who wants to be a writer and decided to interview the black maids in her community about what it is like to be a maid to white folks in their community.

The book was eye opening and I think the book gets *****

How did you enjoy this book?

My Summer Goals and The Book Club

When I was a little girl, I loved to sit in my room and read. I couldn't get enough of immersing myself into these imaginary worlds. I would spend hours and hours reading. Sometimes I would read a couple novels in a day. At first when I was little I loved to read Nancy Drew, Goosebump Series, and The Babysitters club. As I grew older I became a fan of Stephen King and True Crime Novels. Reading was a passion of mine. But then life came along, and reading was only something I did, when I had a chance to do. University meant reading texts, and more texts, which left me little urge to pick up another book to read, especially since that's all I did was read texts. The early twenties was filled with bar hopping and going out with friends, working and staying out late, and sleeping all day, and then to get up and do it all over again. There was little time or place in my life to pick up a book and read. I have to be honest that even now, in my early thirties, reading has not been a priority in my life. Don't get me wrong, I still loved to read, and I read the entire Twilight series in a week over Christmas break a couple years ago, but it wasnt in on my priority list. As I have been reexamining my life in the last several months, and making positive changes, I realized that besides the unhealthy habits that I had let go, I had also let go of doing something I enjoyed. My life had been about stress, work, school, more stress, eating badly, and drinking alcohol to cope with the stress. There really wasn't any room in my unhealthy lifestyle to do the things I once enjoyed so much, But alas this has been the year for positive change. And I have decided that this summer is going to be one of relaxation and enjoyment rather than one of stress and anxiety. Although my summer job is stressfull (I waitress in a tourist area in the summer), this summer I have vowed to make it more enjoyable. No longer is alcohol a part of my life anymore, but so is the stress. I have learned that when making positive choices and changes in your life, in order to live a life of peace and tranquility, one needs to make time for themselves and do something they like. So this summer I have decided to read. I am hoping to read at least a book or two a week. As I was soaking in the tub the other day, finishing up my second book off my reading list, i decided to use this blog as a forum to start a kind of book club. I am hoping that some of you will be inspired by the books that I have been inspired by, and that I can be inspired by books off your reading list. So I will be dedicating some blogs to the books I have been reading and will rate them out of five, and I hope that you will comment and leave books for me to read!!! I say enjoy the summer and happy reading everyone.

Oh That Plateau!!!!

Only three months into my journey of weightloss and Ive already hit a plateau!!

As the great Homer simpson once said "DOH!!!!!" I cant even begin to describe how incredibly frustrating this is. Ive managed to get from 180 lbs to about 162, in which i hover between that and 160. And for the last three weeks i have been at this number and NOTHING and i mean NOTHING is making that scale budge. It really gets my mind turning. I ask myself questions like "Am i meant to never be skinny"  or "what am I doing wrong" and in my darkest moments "Maybe I should give up". But then I think about it and I know I am not doing anything wrong. I am working out 5 to 6 days a week. I eat clean. I eat every two hours to keep my metabolism up. So I know I am doing things right and I am not sabatoging myself in any way. Someone recently asked me about my calorie intake, to which i replied I dont keep track. I was very interested to find out that I was consuming daily about 1200-1300 calories a day when infact my body actually required around 1800, so infact I had my body in starvation mode. So now I am stepping up my calorie intake, and Ive also stepped up my workout regimine. I am amping up the weights and trying to include more intervals in my cardio. I am hoping this will work. It is so frustrating to not be able to move down the scale. I see on the internet all these great success stories of women who have been able to lose hundreds of pounds and end up with a slammin body, and i start to question my ability, like why isnt this working for me, maybe I am not meant to have a great body, maybe Its not in the cards for me. On the other hand I know that I must not give up and keep pushing through, because if I dont, change wont happen and I wont be able to show my 6 yr old boy what hard work and determination can do. So I will continue my journey onward and upward, and am crossing my fingers that I will move down to the 50's, which is my next short term goal!!!

Love You Like a Fat Kid Loves Cake but Your Not Gettin The Cake

So yesterday I am shopping at Costco, getting some healthy groceries for myself and my lil guy and after a hard day of shopping I decided to treat myself and cheat and have a slice of pizza. Now everyone is allowed a cheat day, and yesterday was my cheat day. This does not mean I cheated all day, just the moment I ordered pizza. Anyways I digress. So I am enjoying my pizza when I notice what looks to be a 16 yr old boy, so obese that he must use a motorized scooter to get around the warehouse. This saddened me immensly. It also made me think about just why are so many kids obese like this. This boy shouldnt be in a scooter but walking, playing football, and trying to hit on girls. I noticed next to him was his sister, also obese and looked to be about 12. She wasnt as obese as her brother, but she was well on her way, and then I saw their mother, also obese. All three of them sat and munched down on fries, pizza, and pop, and other goodies. It struck me as so sad, because these children didnt have a chance.  Have I been overweight? YES!!! have I been obese???? NO. Is my son overweight???? Not even an once of fat on the kid, hes got the metabolism that all women would die for. But I couldnt help but feel anger towards the mother. If the mother wants to fill her stomach full of fatty stuff thats her perogative, but her children were so obviously obese to the point one could barely walk, and shes feeding her children with junk????????? Even if these poor kids wanted to be healthy how can they? They dont buy the groceries, and by the looks of it, these children just eat what their mother supplies them with...junk. It boggles my mind as a parent, that if you saw your child getting that big, that you wouldnt change their diets and get these kids to eat healthy and start moving. Doesnt this parent want their children to be healthy??? But perhaps not. If the mother is unhealthy and obese, then perhaps she doesnt see the benefits of happy healthy children. I am by no means a perfect mother, but when I see children so big they cant walk, it makes me want to scream at the parents. I can understand where in some places children's services have been called on these families, because in a way it is like abuse. To not put your child's health and well being first, and to continualy set your child up for failure, and poor health is negectful at best. We wonder why there is an epidemic of obese children in America, but the target shouldnt be to the children, but rather to the parents. Because it is the parents who feed their children, and it is the parents who buy the groceries and the fast food,and it should be the parents who are making sure the food going into their children are healthy. Now I realize there are children who suffer illnesses and are on medications that can cause weight gain, and that is something both parents and the children have no control over, but is the parents who feel Mcdonalds and pizza are better choices than chicken and veggies that get me burning. Everyone is entititled to a treat here and there. Hell i just treated myself to a slice of pizza yesterday, but its in moderation. I really pray for that child I saw yesterday and that one day he can lose the weight and live a long and healthy life, but I know that as long as his mother is sabatoging his chances, the poor boy will likely suffer from an aray of health conditions and it may be too late before it happens.