I love cheese so much, but it is one of those foods that is pretty calorie dense, so I don’t get to enjoy it as much as I used to. Panera has given me a way to indulge!

I got a cup of their broccoli and cheddar soup (340 calories) I may have these new cheddar croissant twists, that come in a pack of 2 and they’re 90 calories a piece 🙂

I ate them both! That’s a tiny bit higher number than what I like to eat for lunch, especially because it’s that low in protein, but it doesn’t hurt to indulge sometimes.

These are the days that I have my 30g protein clear drink drinks. I’ll probably do another drink this afternoon just to get in that extra 30g. That’ll have me sitting close to 80g for the day without even having dinner yet..

For dinner I’m making Gary and I some Rosemary Chicken and Sweet potatoes.

That should push me over 100g and I’ll have a Mango protein shot for dessert so I should end up with 140g of protein and 1600 calories today. That’s a pretty solid day.

We have slowly been replacing most of our food in the pantry and fridge with much healthier choices not only for us for the kids. It’s probably the most extreme I’ve ever been with it, but everyone seems to be on board so far. They kids have finally reached an age where they’re talking about food dyes, and chemicals that are in our foods that they’re afraid of because they’re learning about it in school and on the Internet. They are things that I have tried to tell them for years, but for some reason, kids seemed to hear it better when it comes from another source rather than their parents.

I’ve always tried to find some kind of balance in it. We don’t do sugary breakfast cereals, or ultra processed chips. I’m very particular about the drinks I let them have, and I have always limited candy for their teeth.

But this is a little different. I am taking away a lot of their comfort foods. Their processed chicken nuggets, corn dogs, and a lot of other things in the freezer.

I’ve gone to the Real Good and Bare nuggets and I’ve quit buying corn dogs, processed lunchmeat and hot pockets.

I only buy chips that are baked with avocado oil, the Goodles Mac and cheeses, fair life ultra processed milk and granola cereal now. Yogurt instead of ice cream. Ezekiel Bread (which they hate) and healthy pitas. Rotisserie chickens instead of lunch meat. That’s a few examples.

I know it can’t be fun for them, but they do seem to understand and get it. I told them there will still be times that we will go out to eat and they can order whatever they want. We quit drinking sodas ages ago, so that’s always a treat for them when we go out. The same will go for food. I think it’s important that when they’re at the home they have more healthy options.

I think they know me well enough to know that I will give them treats from time to time, but we need to start making better choices.

I believe all the things that are in these processed foods are killing us. The new studies show that people as young as 20 years old have almost a spoonful of micro plastics in their brains. A spoonful. Obviously people wanted to think that it was plastic containers and food storage but it’s not (well it is, but on a much smaller scale) – now they know it’s primarily ultra processed food.

We’re being poisoned.

We live in times that we have so much information that it is very stupid if we don’t take it and use it for our benefit.

I don’t buy any means have a perfect diet, but I am really trying. I still consume a lot more chemicals than I should, and a lot of that comes from my protein drinks. I would love to get to where I could solely meet my protein needs with food, but right now that seems almost impossible.

The important thing is that we’re moving in a positive direction. It’s not like I’m stupid enough to go through and throw out all of our food and waste it, so by no means does as our pantry look like a health food store, but I’m going to continue to slowly replace things with healthier options. Hopefully they will continue to support it.

It doesn’t matter if they do or not because this is what we’re doing, but it’s a whole lot easier when they are on the same page!!

We sure have a lot of things we have to worry about in this day and age. It’s a shame we have to put this much thought into what we eat.