Fine Then

Yesterday I woke up and my eye was all red.

I finally admitted defeat and went to the doctor. Now I am armed with eye drops and an antibiotic and I'm all set to get well already.

And Still Sick...

So I'm still sick. This cold seems to just bounce back and forth from one nostril to the other with no sign of leaving. My voice sounds so bad that the other day a client who I was talking to on the phone told me I should go home. I don't feel that awful, just not up to my best, I'm tired, and my voice sounds totally thrashed.

I feel so pretty!

My eating has been middling. What that means is I'm having a treat here and there leading up to the whole Halloween thing, but overall I'm eating healthy. I wish I had taken better advantage of those scant few weeks in between the bronchitis and this cold and worked out more. I'm feeling doughy. Bleh.

Once I finally get well, I'll be back in the game. Here's hoping I'm able to kick off November with a bang.

Go Figure

So I've been eating crap, not eating as regularly since I got back to work because I'm so busy, not exercising, and yet my freshly-washed jeans are loose (I'm almost exposing my belly a bit today. Note: need longer shirts.)

Huh.

No gym this morning because I woke up with a pounding sinus headache. One side of my face is feeling a lot of pressure today.

I don't know what is going on with my immune system this year. For the past 10 years or so, I have hardly been sick. Jason has had a couple of severe colds since we met 4 years ago and I've had no problem getting close to him and taking care of him because I never caught anything. When I was younger I was a mess of bronchitis and regular bouts of strep throat (I had strep 7 times one year!). I have just assumed that I got out all my being sick when I was little and now I'm immune to everything.

Only this year that has not been the case. Let us review:

1. In February I got the flu, which not only pulled me out of work for 2 1/2 days (unheard of!), but led to a cough severe enough to crack a rib, putting me out of commission for several weeks.
2. In August I got bronchitis, which derailed my workout momentum and made hiking an absolute misery. Finally recovered enough lung capacity to work out sometime in September.
3. Tuesday morning I woke up with that soreish feeling in the back of my throat that I implicitly know is the precursor to sickness. I've been in denial as I've been blowing my nose for the past few days, and except for the headache and pressure this morning, it hasn't been too bad. I'm hoping the strength of positive thinking will keep this cold from taking hold.

My office building is offering flu shots next week and I think I may get one. Not H1N1, just the regular flu shot. I never get a flu shot, but am thinking maybe I should since my immune system is such crap lately.

Silence

Sorry for the radio silence. I've been out of town. And a slacker. My birthday was Saturday and I had lots of ice cream this weekend.

Unlike prior years, I will be continuing my working out post-birthday. We took the red eye last night, so I think tomorrow I will need to sleep in a bit. But Friday, I'll be at the gym. And if the weather cooperates, I'll walk to work too.

Alanna Asked...

No, I didn't get to the gym this morning.

But here's my excuse. Ready?

A car alarm woke me up at 4:09 (yes, I looked at my clock). There is this car in my neighborhood whose alarm goes off ALL THE TIME. Big truck goes by: alarm. Bee flies by: alarm. It goes off pretty much every night. I've gotten good about sleeping through it, but last night there was an added perk. Along with the alarm, the horn was blaring. A constant, piercing bleat in the night.

It woke Jason and I up, and Tiny woke up and went running around the apartment crazily, virtually begging us to make it stop. I decided that if it went on for 15 minutes, I would call the cops. Someone beat me to it. About 13 minutes in, Jason looked out the window and saw a cop car sitting next to a parking lot across the street and shining its light on an SUV with two guys running around it in boxer shorts. At least it woke the owners up too.

I seriously wish someone would just steal that car already and put us all out of our misery.

Of course, then I was all riled up and couldn't get back to sleep for an hour. So I walked to work. It was a perfect crisp fall morning. Lovely.

Gym Blues

Seriously, I CANNOT wake up lately. Every night I go to bed and set my alarm to go to the gym. Then I wake up and realize I've been hitting snooze for an hour. THEN I fall back asleep and wake up with just barely enough time to catch the last reasonable bus to work.

It may have something to do with not getting to sleep until 11:30 or 12 at night. I'm realizing that I need at least 7 hours of sleep or I feel seriously deprived. When I go to sleep at 12, I don't really want to wake up at 5:45. Call me crazy. It's hard, though, when Jason doesn't get home from work until 8:30 or so and I want to spend a little time with him. I've tried to talk him into going into work a bit earlier (like before 10:30 or 11) and getting home a little earlier, but he will have none of it. I may just need to stick to my guns and figure I won't see very much of my husband during the week.

It may also have something to do with the nights getting cooler and the mornings getting darker and my bed feeling so cozy... But, no! I am not going to fall back into this not working out until January - maybe February - pattern.

I wish I had a gym buddy. Then I would know that I have to get up because someone will be there to meet me. My secretary walks with her mom in the mornings and it's a great motivator because she knows her mom is waiting for her to swing by and pick her up, so she's there, every morning. A girl from Jason's lab just joined my gym, but we have completely different schedules and she likes to work out in the evening. I just have too many things pop up and know that if I planned to work out in the evenings, I would get to the gym MAYBE twice a week. Maybe.

I know the answer, of course. I have to fight the tired one morning and then that night I'll want to go to bed by 10:30 or so and then I'll be able to wake up more easily the next morning and so on. It's that first early morning that's a bear, though. OK, I'm committing here to all of you. That morning is tomorrow! Thursday! It all starts coming together on Thursday.

Daily Exertion

I'm getting back into thinking about ways to fit exercise into my daily routine. Today I walked to work and I plan to walk home (mainly because it's a beautiful day, but also spurred along by the fact that I can't find my bus pass. Maybe it's in my coat I wore on Friday...). After walking home, I planned to get in the car and drive to Whole Foods, just down the hill from our house.

Then it occurred to me (because I'm brilliant) that if I slightly modify my route home, I can just walk to Whole Foods then walk the rest of the way home. This is the way I want to think. I want to be on the lookout for those little ways to increase my activity since I spend most of my day on my bum in an office chair.

Monday September 28
Breakfast: scrambled eggs with 3 egg whites, 1 egg, Jones all natural sausage crumbled up and cheddar. I discovered that crumbling up some sausage into my eggs gives them enough flavor variety that I'm not so tired of them anymore. That should last a couple of weeks. I planned to eat a Chobani yogurt this morning, but for whatever reason I'm not very hungry today.

Lunch: 2 baked skinless chicken thighs; salad with spinach, red leaf lettuce, feta, real bacon bits and a tiny bit of tomato and vidalia onion vinaigrette (tiny not because I'm concerned about the fat and calories, but because this dressing packs a flavor punch).

Snack: rooibos chai tea with 1% milk; 1 oz almonds; maybe the Chobani if I get hungry.

Dinner: French onion soup in the crock-pot with gruyere cheese melted on top in my most adorable soup bowls (NOTE: when we got married, the soup bowls were brown with cream undertones, instead of the other way around. Personally, I like the brown ones better. So great, now I'm scared I might break one). I just put the soup recipe in a recipe calculator and realized it has hardly any calories. Huh. Maybe I'll have some extra cheese. And a protein smoothie.

Hangover

This morning it was so hard to get out of bed. I felt hungover - or at least what I imagine that feels like. And here, my friends, is why I've determined my body does not like carbs. Yesterday, I had a fancy lunch with clients and a fancy dinner up in Boston with our entire department. Lunch wasn't too bad - one piece of French bread was really the only obviously carb-loaded thing. I also had tomato and dill soup and a salad with scallops and shrimp. Yum! But at dinner they served this amazing focaccia bread in little buckets and then I ordered the gnocchi with wild mushrooms. It was all delicious and I have no regrets (although I tasted someone else's braised short ribs, which I was also thinking about getting and it was absolutely amazing. Should have stuck with the protein after all, I guess).

This morning, though, I felt like I had been run over. I wanted to walk to work, but couldn't drag myself out of bed in time. Even taking the bus, I was still late to work. I thought to myself, 'why do I feel so yucky?' and then I remembered all the food I ate yesterday.

So yeah, moderation is key when it comes to me and carbs, apparently. It's kind of amazing to me when I discover these things about myself. I find it fascinating, though I know it's just a bunch of navel-gazing.

Food Food and More Food

I'm continuing with my lowish carb lifestyle - at least during the week. This past weekend we went to Texas Roadhouse on Saturday with a couple of good friends and I had to have a couple of their rolls. Because their key ingredient is crack, basically.

Saturday night I made banana bread for the girls at church and left a couple of pieces for Jason and I to enjoy. I have determined that this is the best way to make baked goods: give most of it away. Then I still get some, but not so much that I wind up with a sugar buzz. Also, I used half whole wheat flour and halved the sugar in the bread recipe and it was perfectly fine. Bananas are sweet, yo.

FYI, with this whole heavy on the protein thing, I'm getting tired of eggs. Does anyone have any good protein-based breakfast ideas that don't involve eggs? I don't think they exist. It's eggs or Lucky Charms - those are our choices in America. I am a big fan of Greek yogurt too, the only problem is, I can't just eat plain yogurt (because I don't like it) and all of the yogurt additions (honey, strawberries), up the carbs. Not that I'm not eating the yogurt with the honey and the strawberries, I'm just making an observation.

The Food Journal
I've blogged almost all of the September weekdays so far and I must say, there isn't much I've been ashamed to put in here. Honestly, I think overall, I eat pretty healthy. Go me.

Monday, September 21
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with 2 eggs, 2 egg whites and .5 oz feta; non-fat Chobani with honey.
Lunch: 1/2 baked skinless chicken breast; salad with romaine, feta, bacon and lite olive oil vinaigrette.
Snack: 5 bacon-wrapped scallops (went to a work thing at 4 PM at a country club where they had bacon-wrapped scallops, which I ADORE); handful of potato chips.
Dinner: Salmon; roasted broccoli and cauliflower.
Evening snack: Sugar-free chocolate fudge and cheesecake puddings, mixed with a bit of whipped cream to make chocolate cheesecake mousse. Love. I understand pudding is not a whole food. Whatever, it's awesome.

Tuesday, September 22
Pre-Workout Snack: 1 Cabot cheddar low-fat snack pack.
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with 2 eggs, 2 egg whites and .5 oz feta; smoothie with strawberries, blueberries, almond milk and whey protein.
Lunch: Mexican salad of black beans, chicken, cheddar, sour cream, salsa and lettuce.
Snack: 2 slices colby jack cheese; 1 oz almonds.
Dinner: Pan-fried hamburger patty (left over from Sunday's BBQ); stir fried sweet onion and zucchini.
Evening snack: Sugar-free chocolate fudge and cheesecake puddings, mixed with a bit of whipped cream.
Workout: Swim 72 laps.

Wednesday, September 22
Pre-Workout Snack: 1/2 oz of almonds (I think it's time to throw that bag of almonds away. I'm pretty sure I had a rancid one and my stomach has been a little squiffy ever since)
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with 2 eggs, 2 egg whites and .5 oz feta (can you see why I'm getting sick of the eggs?); smoothie of strawberries, pineapple, almond milk and whey protein.
Lunch: Baked skinless chicken (2 thighs, 1 leg); salad with romaine, cheddar, tomato and Italian dressing.
Snack: 1 oz almonds (from a different bag); maybe some Madagascar Vanilla Red tea.
Dinner: Probably Boston Market because we have coupons and I feel lazy. I just discovered the brisket has only 280 mg of sodium, which is about a quarter of the sodium content of pretty much everything else at Boston Market. Maybe it was a typo.
Evening snack: Probably the pudding thing again.
Workout: 30 min on elliptical; strength exercises at home (crunches, push-ups, squats, bicep curls, etc.)

Pumpkin Bread and Weight

I posted the pumpkin bread recipe.

In other news, I think I may be losing weight, which is kind of amazing. My weekly weigh-in I was down 2.4 pounds, and it was below the low point of my plateau so I think it might be for real.

Woo hoo!

New Clothes!

Well, I did it. A coupon for a free tote bag plus buy one get one 1/2 off on sweaters lured me into the Dress Barn just around the corner from my office.

I really hate the name "Dress Barn".

Despite the name, I bought 4 sweaters and a dress and came away with my free green croc tote bag. And the saleslady didn't automatically give me 1/2 off the 2 cheapest sweaters, which is what I was expecting. She paired the two cheap sweaters and gave me half off one and then gave me half off one of the more expensive ones. Excellent.

Two of the sweaters are nice enough to wear with a suit or at least layered under a blazer and since they're new, they're not nubby and faded yet like all my other sweaters, which is a bonus.

I almost bought a skirt, but decided in the end that it made my bum look just a little too lumpy. I always have a hard time finding bottoms. Today I tried on 2 skirts, 2 dresses and 5 pairs of pants that all managed to convey the message, "Hi, I have HUGE thighs. Particularly the upper bits. Check those out."

One of the sweaters is my official favorite sweater of Fall. It's brown and warm and cozy and I really hope it's cold enough when we go apple picking in October to wear it.

Food Journal

Thursday, September 17

Dinner: Potluck! I just totaled up my calories on SparkPeople and even though I felt like I was munching a lot last night, calorie-wise, I was way low. I ate 2 eggplant feta rolls, which we brought, a small slice of veggie/tofu lasagna, 3 crackers with brie, a bunch of green salad and a couple of bites of a tiny sliver of pie. I took 2 slivers of 2 different kinds of pie and ate one bite of each because, frankly, they weren't very good. In the past, I might have mindlessly just shoveled them in my mouth, but I really thought about whether I actually wanted to eat them. The answer was no.

Friday, September 18

Breakfast: scrambled eggs with 2 eggs, 2 egg whites and 1/2 oz feta; Chobani nonfat Greek yogurt with honey.

Lunch: crock pot chicken (the chicken that keeps on giving) - 1/2 thigh, 1/2 breast; salad with cheddar and balsamic vinaigrette.

Snack: Almonds

Dinner: salmon; roasted broccoli and cauliflower; collard greens cooked...some way. The Farm Share is winding down a bit with regard to selection and kale and collards seem to be the featured vegetables lately. When I tried to make collards in June, they gave us a bit of gas. I know, TMI. I'm hoping I can cook them longer this time or figure out what it takes to make that not happen, or maybe I should just take some Beano.

Food Journal & Pumpkin

Wednesday, September 16
Snack while walking to work: Cabot 50% reduced fat snack pack.

Breakfast: scrambled eggs with 2 eggs, 2 egg whites and 1/2 oz cheddar; smoothie of 1 C. milk, 1/2 scoop whey protein, ice and vanilla.

Lunch: skinless crock pot chicken - 1/4 breast, 1 leg, 1/2 thigh; salad of spinach, bacon and feta with 1 T. lite Italian dressing.

Snack: 2 T. natural peanut butter.

Dinner: salad with lettuce, tabbouleh, hummus, falafel, gyro meat, tahini and tzatziki.

Thursday, September 17
Breakfast: scrambled eggs with 2 eggs, 2 egg whites and 1/2 oz feta; flax muffin.

Lunch: skinless crock pot chicken - 1/2 thigh and 1/2 breast; salad of spinach, bacon and feta with 1 T. lite Italian dressing.

Snack: 2 T. natural peanut butter.

Dinner: TBA. We're going to a potluck so we'll see what's there.

So last night I made pumpkin muffins for the 12-17 year old girls I work with at church. First of all, none of them had ever had pumpkin muffins before! Or pumpkin bread or anything else made with pumpkin other than pie. We were planning our activities for the rest of the year and the week before Thanksgiving we're going to cook. One girl wanted to cook a turkey and I told her that might be a little involved for the hour to hour and a half we have. I suggested pumpkin pie and one of the girls piped in with, "Can we make these pumpkin muffins?" Absolutely! I told them it was my great-grandma's recipe and they were suitably impressed.

Anyway, I didn't eat any. I made muffins out of half the batter, and then put the other half in the freezer, with the hope that when my birthday rolls around in October, I can make myself some muffins (OK, technically, we'll be in California on my birthday, but maybe I can make some muffins to bring with us). I did lick the beaters because I figured I could have a little treat, but the girls ate all the muffins except for a couple that I left for Jason - which he ate.

And now that I've been talking about the pumpkin muffins, I should probably post the recipe over at Bee's Knees. I'll do that later and let you all know when I do.

Food Journal

Tuesday, September 15

Breakfast: scrambled eggs with 2 eggs, 2 egg whites and 1/2 oz feta; flax muffin (Note: eggs + flax muffin definitely helped me stay more full today. Flax muffin recipe below.)

Lunch: 2 skinless baked drumsticks; 1 stuffed summer squash (I substituted 2 T. flax seed meal for the bread crumbs. Because I'm brilliant.)

Snack: 2 T. natural peanut butter; Madagascar Vanilla Red tea with a splash of 1% milk.

Dinner: I have a work meeting at 7 and I'm pretty sure they're going to have pizza. I brought a chicken breast in no sugar added tomato sauce with some parmesan sprinkled on top, which I will try to eat before I leave work. I may have some edamame when I get home. Mmm, fiber...

Evening Snack: If I'm still hungry after all of that, I might make another smoothie with unflavored whey protein, 1 C. milk, Stevia and vanilla. That turned out GOOD last night. Like a vanilla shake.

Individual Flax Muffin
(for the life of me, I can't remember where I got this recipe last summer, so my apologies to whoever invented it)

2 egg whites
1/2 packet Stevia or Splenda
1.5 t. cinnamon
3 t. plain yogurt
.5 t. baking powder
3 T. flax seed meal

(when not so hot and bothered about carbs, I use 1 t. agave nectar as the sweetener, cut the yogurt to 2 t. and sometimes throw in some raisins or Craisins just for kicks)

Spray a microwave-safe ramekin or small bowl with cooking spray (or use a muffin liner). Mix the egg and sweetener until well combined. Add yogurt and blend well. Mix in the ground flax seed, cinnamon and baking powder until well combined. Pour in ramekin and microwave on high for 1 minute, 30 seconds (note the ramekin should be no more than half full since these do rise a lot, if it is too small they will overflow).

Obsessed!

Jason informs me that I appear to be unhealthily obsessed with food.

In other news, the sky is blue.

Actually, I took affront to his comments initially, but I realize he's probably right to a degree. Granted, if you just read this blog (which is what he was doing at the time), I come off as thinking and talking and living for food and exercise only. I do have another blog. I do have other things I do. For instance, the other night while Jason worked on a paper, I listened to ghost stories on my ipod and crocheted a couple squares for a baby blanket I'm making.

Really, what I'm trying to do here is figure out what works for my body. What makes me feel the best I can. Thus far, I have discovered that eating a lot of sugar/white flour on a regular basis makes me feel like crap. I have discovered that a higher protein diet gives me more energy and keeps me more full (I mean "diet" in the what I eat every day sense, not the restricting calories for weight loss sense).

This blog has been useful recently to vent my frustrations about not losing weight. But also to celebrate my victories - particularly with regard to what I can accomplish physically. OK, not so much since I got bronchitis, but before that I was having a lot of fun doing new things with my work outs.

The thing is, I come by my food issues naturally. Both of my parents have been obese for as long as I can remember. Their weights have been up and down for years. My grandpa was obese. My grandma was obsessed with her weight and always made sure to comment on whether it looked like I had lost weight or not. In addition to food issues, there are also alcohol and drug issues and other signs that maybe my family hasn't quite figured out how to cope with things yet. For me, my issue is food, and I know that. Maybe it would be alcohol, but I don't drink. I find that when I give myself license to just eat whatever, I do exactly that. Having a sugar restriction helps me keep that under control. I try to limit the sugar in our home. I mean, if I was an alcoholic would I buy big bottles of vodka on a regular basis, just to have around, just in case?

Frankly, judging by the rapid disappearance of a giant bag of Red Vines, I don't think Jason is such a paragon of self control. So I think it's best we just don't bring it into the house.

I'm trying to get to a place where I can eat healthy without thinking about it and not be tempted beyond what I can bear by a tray of mini desserts (like, ahem, on Friday night). I think generally I do pretty well with that, but sometimes I go off the wagon in a big way. So for now, maybe this blog will reflect a bit of an obsession. I'm working on it.

OMG

I don't want to jinx anything here, but this morning I weighed in at 186.8. That's the first time I've been below 188 in about 4 or 5 months.

OK, acting calm...

Food Journal

I am not very good with the consistency over the weekends. Oh well. We'll call this the weekday food journal.

Monday, September 14
Pre-Workout Snack: Cabot reduced fat cheddar snack pack.
Breakfast: 2 eggs and 2 egg whites scrambled with feta; 1 C. 1% milk.
Morning Snack: 2 T. natural peanut butter (because the eggs - not enough to hold me until lunch. Need to reassess breakfast); Madagascar Vanilla Red tea with a splash of 1% milk (I forgot how much I LOVE this tea).
Lunch: 2 baked skinless chicken thighs; salad of mesclun mix with mozzarella and a little prosciutto with balsamic vinaigrette.
Snack: Chopped cucumber with a bit of feta, drizzle of olive oil and a splash of balsamic vinegar.
Dinner: Crock pot rotisserie chicken; stuffed summer squash; roasted broccoli.
Evening Snack: smoothie of whey protein, milk, ice, splash of vanilla (honestly, this will probably be my "fixing dinner snack" since Jason probably won't be home until 8 and it's 6 and I'm already hungry).

If you can't tell, I am really working on minimizing the carbs right now. Need more vegetables. And eggs.

When Do I Buy New Clothes?

I am tired of most of my clothes and, frankly, a lot of them are starting to look kind of raggedy. As an attorney, I need to look polished and pulled together, so I've become hyper-aware of how my clothes are faring over time. I have been putting off buying new clothes because the plan was to lose weight. I didn't want to buy new things, only to turn around and bestow them on friends who can use them, sell them on Ebay for way less than I paid or just ship them off to Salvation Army. In the past when I've been losing, that has happened many times and I have bid farewell to super cute items that I only got to wear once or twice. We're in money-saving mode right now so I want the dollars I spend to go as far as possible.

But, of course, this year I'm not losing weight. I've been holding off on having a shopping trip through Spring and Summer. Now we're entering Autumn and I'm pulling out the same raggedy sweaters that I've had for 3, 4, 5 or more years. I call my style "classic" so it's not like I'm concerned about being out of step with trends, but the items are starting to show wear.

I'm hoping that I will actually start losing weight again at some point. I don't want to spend $98 (!!!!) on a pair of nice slacks at Banana Republic, only to have them not fit in a month or two.

(Also, I probably won't be spending $98 on a pair of slacks. Hello, Banana Republic outlet! But it's the principle of buying something that I won't get the full use of.)

What do you think? Should I bite the bullet and go spend a couple hundred dollars so I look nice, knowing that there's a chance I might be doing it all over again before the clothes have worn out?

Food Journal

Wednesday, September 9 (last 1/2)
Dinner: salmon, roasted broccoli with parmesan and a leftover scallion pancake from the Chinese take out we got after driving home from Vermont.
Snack: 4 cinnamon graham crackers and 1 C. milk.

Thursday, September 10
Breakfast: plain Chobani Greek yogurt with 1 T. honey, 1 C. Fiber One with 2/3 C. milk.
Lunch: whole wheat crepe with mushrooms, chicken, spinach and bechamel sauce.
Snack: Apple Pie Larabar.
Dinner: ground beef soft tacos (leftovers from camping).

I JUST discovered that Fiber One has aspartame in it. I glanced through the ingredients to make sure that there was no HFCS without even noticing. I'm bummed because I like Fiber One a lot and wow, does it have a lot of fiber, but I don't really want the extra aspartame.

Friday, September 11
Breakfast: Dunkin Donuts turkey sausage egg white flatbread (apparently, it's the official sandwich of the New England Patriots).
Lunch: leftover salmon. I figure I should have something else - but I'm not sure what. I'm not really feeling food so much today. You know those days where you're just not really interested in eating?
Snack: Chobani Greek strawberry yogurt.
Dinner: unknown. We're going to a work function tonight. Last year at this event they had pasta bars, which would have been ok except for they mixed up all the ingredients in about a cup of oil. This is after I told the chef to go easy on the oil. I tipped my plate sideways to let the oil drain to one side, while I ate the pasta off the other side.

How Do You Eat Healthy For Cheap?

Yesterday, Jason sent me a link to a blog post with the subject line: "this is amazing". The blog is one of his favorite economic bloggers and he happened to be talking about a woman who spends less than $10 a week to feed her family of 6. The section about the "Queen of Coupons" includes some of the receipts and a picture of all of the food she bought.

Only, here's the thing. It's all crap. Well, except for the milk. I don't think she had a coupon for the milk, though.

Here's what I wrote back to Jason:

"What would really impress me is someone who feeds her family for super-cheap without having to buy only processed food. There are never coupons for fresh produce or meat, and very rarely for beans. If you look at those receipts they include fruit juices (which are less healthy than fresh fruit because you get all the sugar with none of the fiber), sugary cereals, sugary jelly, salad dressing, noodles, peanut butter that includes sugar and preservatives, Aunt Jemima ready-made pancakes, etc.

This is why it's hard to eat healthy when you don't have any money."

I had the same reaction when I went to a local store that several people I know had praised to the skies for their cheap prices. I will grant that they have a fair produce section (no organics, of course) and great cheese and meat choices if you want to cook Latin American or Portuguese cuisine. However, most everything else was the boxed processed stuff you find in the middle aisles of your average grocery store. They did have one Kashi cereal and some plain shredded wheat, but all the other stuff was the opposite of healthy. But it was SOOOO cheap. So there were all these moms with their kids hanging off the carts, piling the carts full of processed, sugary crap because that's what they could afford to feed their families.

I'm sure they like the processed food. Heck, I like processed food. However, overall I like it less now that I know how bad it is for me. I have these discussions with my friend Rachel about where the problem lies in all of this. Farm subsidies. Lack of education. Powerful, powerful food lobbies. There are so many pieces at play, but it all adds up to, it's hard to eat healthy on a budget.