Where did time and the summer go???

WHOA! The summer flew by and it has been months since my last post. Not really acceptable but I'm gonna cut myself some slack. To say I've been busy is an understatement. The fired my co-worker so I took on all of her work, we've been traveling, camping, hiking, and we got a puppy! So, that's where the busy came from.

The other area I am going to cut myself some slack is the clean eating area. We completely fell off this summer and have eaten pretty crappy. We've been feeling terrible lately (lethargic, bloated, lazy, etc) and we knew it was time to get back to our healthy eating lifestyle. The break has been long enough and quite frankly, I am tired of eating crap and feeling like crap. The processed and bad foods are like putting poison into my body. Enough is enough.

That being said, we (Pete and I) agreed that we wanted to jump in 110% and do it as a team. We work well together like that! I made up the excel spreadsheets and took Sunday afternoon to prepare a meal plan for the week, to go shopping, then do the prep work. SUCCESS!!! Today I am back on track and feel fantastic, though I will admit, I did feel a little sad passing Starbucks knowing that I wouldn't be getting my coffee and breakfast sandwich. My tummy wasn't sad, though, because it was full of scrambled egg whites and oatmeal. YUM!

I do want to comment on my checkout experience at the grocery store yesterday. I want to preface this by saying that we all know I am in no position to judge others and I have been keeping that in mind. As I loaded the contents of my cart onto the conveyor belt, I glanced at what the people in front of me had put on the belt. Multiple packages of cookies, candy, ice cream, soda, etc. I didn't see one vegetable or fruit. I then glanced over, without meaning to, to check out the owners of the yummy looking but poisonous goodies. I have to say I wasn't surprised when it was a VERY obese couple. Immediately my heart sank. For some reason I felt guilty for having a conveyor belt of fruits, vegetables, and clean foods lined up. I think this is because I didn't want them to feel bad about themselves. I've been there and it sucks. I also felt like I held some knowledge that maybe they weren't aware of. Now, we all know that probably isn't the case, I am just the ultimate excuse maker and was trying to find something to make myself feel better. One thing I can say is that the experience made me hyper aware of why it is I chose the clean eating lifestyle and how important it truly is to me and my family's well being.

I know this is yet another post where I am talking about re-starting this endeavor. I definitely feel like I keep "falling off" but the one thing I am proud of is that I stand right back up, dust myself off, and go at it again. Many studies show that people trying to quit smoking try up to 13 times before actually quitting. So, I feel like if they can do it, I can succeed at making the clean eating program an actual lifestyle. Practice makes perfect, right?!