Hi everyone. My name is Emily and I’m a junk food junkie and so is my husband. He’s the chips and pretzels guy and I have a sweet tooth that will lead me straight to the bottom of a pint of ice cream. We try to eat as healthy as we can during the week, but we really go off the rails on the weekends. I’m talking Skyline for lunch, LaRosas for dinner and cookies before bed off the rails. Friday afternoon hits and our ability to control our portions and cravings disappears faster than the cheese-covered coneys on our plate.
Our son has just started with finger foods a few weeks ago, and we found ourselves reading labels on everything he eats. Checking sugar, protein, artificial ingredients, dyes and flavors. Not only washing, but scrubbing and inspecting our produce (which we were buying organic for the first time.) Hesitating to give him anything processed, especially if we couldn’t pronounce the ingredients. This got me thinking: Why were we so vigilant about what we fed the baby, but had no problem plopping down on the couch with the remote and a bag of Doritos?
While we’ll both admit that we’re total junkies, we’re both also unapologetically competitive. When we booked our summer vacation a few months ago we decided to see who could lose 10 pounds first through a better diet and more exercise. So I set out to design a challenging, but realistic, new diet for the two of us to take on during Lent this year. I wanted to bypass all the unhealthy “cleanses” or quick fix diets that are out there and really change our eating habits. I landed on a Paleo/Whole30-ish mashup that I’m pretty excited about, but that also terrifies me slightly. If you’d like to follow along I’ve listed some of my favorite websites for recipes.
Our rules for the next 40 days:
- Little/No sugar
- Little/No dairy products
- Little/No bread and pasta
- No processed snacks
- No alcohol
- More veggies
- More water
- More exercising
- More protein
- More new foods (Jungle Jim’s, here we come!)
Instagrams to follow:
About Emily:
Emily grew up just north of Cincinnati in Hamilton, OH and now lives in Western Hills with her husband Jim, their son James and their lunatic yellow lab, Rosey. Emily graduated from Xavier University (Go Muskies!), and is now a stay at home mom after working in marketing and promotions for local radio and TV stations.
Emily spends most of her free time visiting the manatees (James’ favorite) at the Cincinnati Zoo, shopping at local antique shops, or singing Beatles songs with James who typically just stares at her like she’s crazy. Emily hopes one day he’ll join in but for now she enjoys his giggles. She also enjoys photography and has quickly turned into a Pure Barre addict while trying to melt away the daily milkshakes she consumed while pregnant. So far it’s going well, but Skyline frequently gets in the way.
Emily loves to write and is looking forward to connecting with other Moms in Cincinnati while writing for Cincinnati Parent.