Eating Healthy

I wish eating healthy came natural to me, but it doesn't at all...for lots of reasons....

1.  I guess I could call myself a picky eater.  I don't really branch out and try new foods,  I'm trying but I just know I won't like it!  I really do need to try different things because I always feel like the child who needs the kids menu when we go out to eat with friends or family....especially if the restaurant is fancy!  My husband is way more willing to try new things.  Foods that he doesn't necessarily like he will eat if it's in a mixture of some sort, like soups, stews, casseroles.  Me on the other hand if I know it's in there I will pass....I know I'm crazy!  Although, I'm a picky eater I do love a variety of veggies, but David does not.  His vegetables include green beans, corn (not really a vegetable) peas, and he'll occasionally eat some salad.  Between me being picky and not wanting to venture out and him pretty much only eating green beans means I don't really prepare super healthy meals.

2. Another issue is I LOOOVE some carbs with my meal.  I Believe a meal is not complete without carbs.  I'm not talking good carbs....I want potatoes, pasta, rice, all the good stuff!!  In the whole 9 months we've been married, I've only cooked a meal without carbs once!  That is crazy to me.  My goal is at least 3 times a week only cooking a protein with veggies and no carbs.  This is difficult though when David isn't a huge fan of vegetables.  So we made a deal.  He wants to eat healthier as well; and loves fish.  Therefore, he wants me to start cooking fish.  I'm not a huge fish person and have no idea how to season or cook it.  But I told him I would start cooking fish once a week if he would start eating "new" vegetables once a week.  Perfect compromise to me!  We'll see how it works.

I cooked this parmesan crusted tilapia last week and it turned out really well!

(Source: Pinterest)

This asparagus was on the meal plan for this week, but David's shift changed and I haven't been feeling well at all!  But it will get cooked next week!

(Source: Pinterest)

3.  Sometimes people think eating healthy and dieting are the same thing.  I would have to disagree; I definitely don't ever use the word "diet" because if I do I definitely fail. When I have tried to diet in the past and tell myself what foods I can't have, I crave them soooo much.  I am not disciplined enough to not have it, so I eat it and a lot of whatever it was I wasn't supposed to eat to begin with.  This to me is stupid because I eat more of the bad foods when I diet than when I don't.  That is the numero uno reason why I don't diet anymore.  Also, I think of a diet as being temporary and I don't want something temporary I want a bit of a lifestyle change!  I'm not necessarily wanting to lose weight, I want to maintain and just feel better after I've ate a meal instead of miserable!

4.  I have the biggest sweet tooth ever.  (I get this from my mom.)  My husband also likes sweets.  Every night about 45 minutes after dinner we're looking at each other wondering what we want for dessert.  This is not good!  The bad thing is that almost always there is something sweet in the house, it's normally cookies, ice cream,  or some dessert I've made from the weekend.  I guess this fix is to not buy sweets every week when I go to the grocery store = problem solved :)

5.  This last reason is one of the harder reasons why I have such a hard time cooking/eating healthy.  I never thought growing up I would like to cook as much as I do, but I love it!!  I also love to bake.  My mom, granny, and my Aunt Cindy and Aunt Teresa have had the most influence in my cooking.  None of their cooking I would classify as "healthy."  It's not super unhealthy, but I don't remember Granny ever checking labels to see how much saturated and trans fats there are in the ingredients.  My Granny especially had the most influence mostly because almost every Sunday we had dinner at her house and there were hardly ever any leftovers.  She was an amazing cook as most grandmothers are!  I admire her and look up to the person she was so much and want to be like her in so many ways.  One of those ways is how great of a cook she was; her food always brought people together and was so comforting.  That's what I want to do!  I have so many recipes from them all and I sometimes feel when I stray away from their style of cooking I'm losing that family tradition in what I cook.  Since this is something I'm having hard time with I'm hoping I can find some type of balance between wanting to make a lifestyle change and eat better so that we can lead healthier lifestyles, but also still throw in some old, homemade recipes from my family.  After rereading that sentence it doesn't make sense, it's very contradicting.  Oh well....

Hopefully I can find some type of balance.  Both David and I really do want to start eating better, but at the same time I do not want the style of cooking and types of food I grew up with to be lost.  I love being able to carry on family recipes and traditions!  One day I hope to tell my kids... this is what my granny used to do when making this, or Aunt Cindy taught me that, or I got this recipe from Aunt Teresa and it's a family favorite, or your Mimi (my mom) showed me how to make this!

Any suggestions or advice about eating healthy is welcome!  I hope I'm not the only one with conflicting feelings about eating healthy but wanting to stay true to your family roots when cooking and baking!