21 days of Food days 4-9

Hello friends! So glad to be on here. Thanks for the encouraging comments. I am so glad that you all haven't given up on me.

So We are on day 11 and I have to say I see a dramatic improvement in my family.

Joslyn: My daughter's reaction to my meals was the main reason we started this so I will start with her progress.
When we started Joslyn would have a mini meltdown when I would announce what was for dinner and told her that she would have to eat it. Then she would proceed to refuse to try and if we got her to take a bite after an hour she would pretend she was throwing it up or would actually throw it up. Since then we have noticed huge changes. Now when I announce 'What's For Dinner" or lunch, I get an oh man, and then she proceeds with a sly smile to convince me to make her something she loves. We have obstained from having hotdogs and chicken nuggets, which was my go to food, when I haven't wanted to cook something, these are her favorites and she still asks for them but I have held out. She was having huge issues with meats and swallowing them. It would literally take  hours for her to swallow one small piece of meat. Now I have learned to chop them up much smaller than Jaxon's size pieces and we play beat the timer. Today every piece eaten was done under 3 minutes and most under two. She will now ask how many bites she has to eat of each thing and depeanding on the meal it is usually 3 to 5. If I don't put her too much she will take those bites, but she still wants me to feed her. Dinner isn't a fun time yet with Joslyn, but we are getting there and I am proud of her progress.

Jax:
This kid has always been a good eater and besides getting him to eat with a spoon and not to drop his food to the dogs for entertainment, we have no issues.

John: There has only been one dinner daddy didn't make it to. Eating as a family has really changed the dynamic of this family. Thank you to a wonderful shift change to his schedule. He has enjoyed making fresh rolls and biscuits. This we have enjoyed very much.

Me: Well I am always the problem child. Especially since i have food issues, but I have found positive changes in me too. During dinner and lunch I sit with the kids and the tv is off. Some breakfasts we sit together, but breakfast is my enemy. I had trouble with coming up with healthy breakfast ideas, (please share some if you have any). So besides the pancakes and occasional muffins, its normally cereal or pop tarts. John is the breakfast maker in the family. Thankfully we get good breakfast on the weekends.
Most dinners have some sort of vegetable like green beans, peas, corn or broccoli/cauliflower. We also have had carrots. Next paycheck I plan on including asparagus into the mix. This is a good thing since we rarely had vegetables  before with our meals. I plan on adding a new fruit to our breakfasts.
I have noticed that my daily schedule has changed for the better and I spend less time in the kitchen. My portion sizes have gone down we rarely go back for seconds. I have to give the credit where credit is due. This all comes from my provider  Jesus Christ. I am working hard on changing my spiritual habits and amazing how my daily habits change too. Things I still have to work on include: adding fruit to the menu, come up with breakfast plans, still need to make a menu beyond that day. continue to work on my eating habits and slowly cut down my portions more. We also need to explore more variety in our dinners. The pic is of our dinner last night, pot roast is a splurge for us, but oh it was good.


I have been trying to come up with our next 21 days topic and I would love help with ideas. It has to be a small change, some options are: read 2 books as a family every night, add teeth brushing to our nightly routine for the whole family, say something positive about each other everyday. Any other ideas? I will leave you with a pic of a canvas I did for a friend. This one isn't done in sequins but just paint.

Love you guys! TTYL!

Teresa

21 days

As a person in recovery, I hear so often the saying it takes 21 days. 21 days to incorporate a new habit into your daily routine. 21 days to quit an old habit. 21 days till something temporary gets a chance to become permenant. The blue chip in Celebrate Recovery is important, because if you never surrender the bad hang-up, habit or hurt you can't have recovery in it. But the RED CHIP! Now The Red chip is often the most longed for chip. It means 30 days. 30 days of sobriety. 30 days of not taking that drink. 30 days of not throwing up your food. 30 days of not people pleasing. 30 days of trying to take better care of you. Whatever it is, 30 days should be celebrated.

At my house we are working on food. As a family together working on our food issues. We are trying to make food a family event. Food as a family choice. Healthy food slowly becoming more the norm and hotdogs and chicken nuggets and french fries becoming less of a choice. Right now we are working on making sure the entire family eats one meal.

We are on day 3 of chaos and crying and torture in our house. Day 3 of tantrums and dissension and heartache. But its only day 3. 21 days! It takes 21 days as my mother gently reminded me after I called to her and complained of my woes.

Being a mother is hard. I mentioned this to a soon to be mother yesterday as she witnessed me staring down my 3 year old over a plate of untouched beef stew. No judgement on either part but gentle understanding flowed through our conversation. This soon to be mom, was only 24. But the whole time I have known her I have said how mature, how wise, and how in-tuned to the Holy Spirit she was. It's so true. Because yesterday, while I battled my child over whose strong will will win, we spoke of how children and husbands are God's way of sanctifying us. Gently molding us into who he wants us to be. My strong will that I battle with the Lord is often like my daughter's strong will that is battled against us.

But we are only on day 3. I don't expect that we will be completely healthy when 21 days is over. But I do think we will be a little bit healthier and a little bit closer to where God wants us.

Before we started: I would make unhealthy snacks for dinner or lunch when I didn't want to cook. We as a family would sometimes choose to go out to unhealthy places instead of cooking. Jaxon would eat most anything we would put on his tray but I would choose to op for easy convenient foods instead of choosing healthy. We had no menu, or always had unhealthy choices that I was comfortable cooking. Daddy worked nights so we ate lunch together some meals but most dinners we ate alone. Joslyn would only eat about 5 foods that she was comfortable with and wouldn't try or eat food we made. Joslyn would sit at the computer and eat her foods and daddy and I would watch a movie while eating.

My goals: Daddy and Mommy plan the menu together. Plenty of fruits and veggies at our meals. Joslyn and Jax eating fruits and veggies and the meals I make without too much complaining and eaten in a timely manner. Everyone sits at the table at dinner and the tv is off and we come up with a family dinner tradition. Daddy and mommy learn to cook healthier foods. Family meal time becomes a happier time.

Day 1-3
Joslyn and Mommy power struggle with food. Joslyn goes from not trying anything to being bribed or scolded into trying new foods. She now takes no less than 2 hours to eat a meal she does not like but she will reluctantly eat things she does not like. We do not have the tv on anymore. I will start eating at the table tonight with the whole family, even if I have to move the livingroom around to do it. (We don't have enough chairs at the table without pulling from other areas.) Daddy has been making more bread related things. We need to find better healthier carbs.

I will update you with the next few days. Please As a side note - If you have any advice about how to get children to eat meals, please don't tell me. We have a plan okayed by our doctor and we are sticking with that. Other encouraging words or healthy food ideas are welcomed and encouraged. I would love to take a healthy cooking course or have a friend come show me how to cook healthier.

As far as the issue of why I haven't been blogging lately. Dont ask! I''m still in DENIAL about the reason why and I like it there.

Thanks for not giving up on me friends.