Down with junk! Yay, Mac and Cheese!

I love food.  This simple fact is the sole reason I had to join Weight Watchers.  It's why I felt it necessary to lose 20 pounds.  And, its the reason I started running (however, not the reason I keep running).

Now that I'm 20 pounds down, nothing has changed.  I still like to eat.  I salivate over cookbooks.  I plan out my grocery lists based on all the delicious meals I plan to cook.  The one thing that has changed is what I choose to eat.  Gone are the days I buy packages of Swedish Fish from Fry's and down them in one sitting.  Buying Grande Caramel Frappucinos is over too.  I could, if I wanted to, but the desire is just no longer there.

I recently started reading the book, The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan. The section I'm at now describes the gastrointestinal limits of cows and just how many things you can derive from a single cob of corn.  The book has already started me thinking about what I eat and, in particular, how many processed foods I consume.  I lost a lot of my weight by replacing sugar with sugar substitutes.  Real food with highly processed, lower calorie... well, junk.  I now crave real food.  Which is why, I am loving cooking right now.

Tonight's meal: Chicken with creamy mushroom sauce and peas over whole wheat linguine.  The creaminess comes from fat-free half and half which admittedly is quite processed.  Maybe I can replace it with yogurt in the future....

Cam loved it!

Ok, I lie.  Getting a toddler to eat well is like giving a cat a bath.  The most I got her to eat was the spaghetti.  The little smidgen of mushrooms on the side of her plate was all I could put on without greatly offending her.   At least I can still get a "Good job, Mama" when I make her Kraft Macaroni and Cheese.

Hard to start my new "more real food" kick when I still feed her that stuff.