**Thursday dance!**
Though I hate to shove my fabulous collegiate schedule in your hardworking faces, I am so ecstatic to be just two classes away from the weekend. Does anyone else feel as though this week was super long? February is just dragging!
Today I have some important matters to discuss with you, but first – guess what I did yesterday?!
Made a new lunch.
AND took pictures of it.
*yay me*
I basically just copied Caitlin’s lunch from the other day, subbing whole wheat pasta for black bean spaghetti and used mushrooms and frozen peas. With some crackers on the side…
I think I needed more hummus, it was missing the creamy factory. Regardless, it felt nice to “cook” and have something other than a sandwich for a change.
Which brings me to my next point…
The past few days I’ve been debating joining Bobbi’s 100 days of Real Food Challenge but I just can’t seem to come to terms with how I feel. Being an avid lover of lists, I’ve compiled a set of pros and cons.
Pros to the RFC
- Might save me money on groceries: While I knew produce can be fairly expensive, I already buy a lot now and just compliment them with processed foods. For example, take my breakfast from the other day for example.
Berries galore + a trader joe’s grahams. Rather than the grahams, I could have replaced this with a drizzle of honey and some flaxseed on my oatmeal. Make sense?
I also think I could start saving money by buying in bulk and loading up on simple foods like oats, nuts, and veggies.
- Loss the “calorie” mindset: A huge reason why I tend to gravitate towards pre-packaged foods is because they provide me with a number to go off of. Oh, a 170 calorie lunabar? That sounds appropriate for an afternoon snack. Instead, I want to be able to eat food for the sake of nourishing my body rather than being so consumed with numbers. Rather than, let’s say, a granola bar or bag or pirates booty, I think perhaps an apple with a handful of cashews and dark chocolate would be a good substitute.
- Inspire me to cook more for myself: Admittedly so, a main reason why I tend to stray away from recipes is because I can’t gauge the caloric content. Although it’s so much easier to grab a “400 calorie Amy’s meal”, I feel like I’m being deprived a bit. I see so many recipes around the blogosphere that I want to make and I hope that finding peace in real foods with help me to do that.
- Help me to get in more nutrients: If you follow me on twitter you’ll see that I sent out an SOS last night abuot needed to incorporate more saturated fats in to my diet. (Which, for the record, are not as bad as everyone thinks. In fact, they’re essential to the body). I’ve been feeling really lethargic and to be honest, a little unhappy, as of late, and I thnk this is attributed in large part to my diet and lack of certain nutrients. I think starting to eat real foods like butter, cheese, coconut, etc. should help with this.
Cons
- I don’t really have a strong opinion against processed foods, and I don’t really want to. I don’t want to begin labeling foods as “good and bad” or “acceptable and “unacceptable”. It would be easy to eat real foods when cooking for myself, but if I’m out with friends or family I don’t want to feel like I can’t have a a few handfuls of chips or a slice of birthday cake if that’s what’s available to me. Also, one of the fundamental rules of the challenge is to avoid food with 5 or more ingredients, but there are foods out there that I know are “healthy” and don’t necessarily follow this rule. Take my beloved Ezekial bread for example: it as *gasp* 6! I don’t want to start being a prisoner to food labels and ingredients list, religiously counting how many ingredients a certain product has.
Clearly the “pros” outweigh the “cons” but I also think the one hesitation that I do have towards joining this challenge is really significant and worth a lot of consideration. Bah, I don’t know what to do!
If you all have any advice/thoughts I would really appreciate it!
Oh, and don’t worry – if I do choose to undertake the real food challenge, I’m not planning on a blog name change. JERF just doesn’t have the same ring to it as KERF 
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Hope you have the loveliest of days, beauties
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