More musings on FOOD

Turkey Spaghetti Sauce is really yummy and low fat - but not low calorie!

Still on the subject of food, probably for months to be honest.

As I work on my new commitment to use fresh, local, natural food, I am also working on cultivating more appropriate eating choices and habits. It's funny - or maybe sad - or maybe just a sign of the times, but after all these years, I find that developing menus and cooking is just not at the top of my list. I was very much the menu planner meal cooker grocery shopper for years - all the years of kids in the house, to be honest. And now that the kids come to dinner one night a week, I do focus on the menu for that night. But beyond that, I am tired. I want to read. I need to create. I need to scrapbook and research and write. I need to spin. I don't want to think about it. I just want the meals to happen. Cheerios for supper is A-OK with me.

HA.

Add to that the desire to get healthy, eat better, be more environmentally thoughtful, and I think I need a nap.

But then, a dear friend of mine turned me on to a great website - SparkPeople. This web site is focused on helping people develop good eating habits and a healthy lifestyle - and guess what. There are menus for weeks on end, all customizable with your favorites (like less beef or more fish or whatever). Sounded like a good idea to me. And so I joined sparkpeople, and checked out the menus and was delighted with the results. I printed off the menus for a week, developed a shopping list, and cleaned out the refrigerator. Ah, how nice!

We try to go to the grocery twice a week, so I split the list in half and away I went. Somehow I still hated the grocery shopping. Maybe I miss taking the little kids with me, when everything in the grocery store was an adventure. It took me a full hour to get through the store with my list, but I felt pretty good at the checkout with all the healthy things in my cart.

Now for the discipline of the week to stay on track, eat according to the plan, make the healthy meals, keep the focus and energy up. To be honest, I don't know if this will work for me, although I want it to - I certainly want it to. I think I may need more imposed structure. Prepared dishes. Premeasured portions. ARGH. I will let you know.

Right now, I want a cookie.