Day 15

Sing it with me..."OOOOOH, we're halfway there...whoa livin' on a prayer..."  It's day 15 people!  I cannot believe I'm halfway through this Whole30 journey.  What a journey it's already been, and how much more do I have to learn? A lot I suspect - God never does anything halfway.

I went out to lunch with my husband today.  He let me choose the place so I chose Subway and got a big chopped salad with all my favorite veggies and grilled chicken on it.  I brought my own dressing (homemade italian-yum) and it was really good.  Then I spent the afternoon grocery shopping and errand running.  It felt good to buy new veggies and to get some ideas for new recipes as I walked through the store.

 I read a lot of labels now. It's blowing my mind how many things have soy as an ingredient.  I picked up a box of flavored green tea and guess what it had in it? SOY! What the monkey?  and it wasn't one of those disclaimers at the bottom that says: "MAY have come in contact with traces of soy" that keeps them out of court with highly allergic people.  It was one of the main ingredients!  Wowzers.  Who knew?

I treated myself to a healthy dessert tonight.  I am limiting fruit per the Whole30 way, but for fun on this Friday night, I took a peach and sliced it in half.  Removed the pit and sliced up the peach and tossed it with a little clarified butter and some cinnamon and popped it in the microwave for 1 minute.  It was a daggone little party in my mouth!  I have a friend who does this on the grill (sans butter) and I think she might add nuts to hers.  I'll have to try that next time I am treating myself to fruit (did I just say TREATING myself to FRUIT? WHAAAAAT? I do not even know myself anymore!!!)

My favorite part of today was sitting at lunch with my man answering his questions about how this thing is going and how do I feel and then him saying how proud he is of me and that he sees me working so hard to stick with this and still feed the family.  Those words were huge for me.  He has watched me fail at this thing so many times but I know he is in my corner this go round.  I also have moments when I really think I can feel God's pleasure at my choices.  That means more than anything.

The temptations are EVERYWHERE.  But each time I don't lick that spoon after putting away the leftover mac and cheese; each time I turn down one of my kids' offers to share something with me...fries, candy, etc....I get this twinge in my heart and I know it's God saying, "atta girl.  One more step of obedience. That macaroni doesn't love you like I do!"  I know it sounds silly to think of it that way, but when you've gone to food for your comfort for over 40 years, it starts feeling like a friend rather than a fuel.  Food is NOT my friend.  Jesus is my friend and overindulging in time with Him will not leave me feeling shameful and lacking.  "The Lord is my shepherd.  I shall not want." Psalm 23:1.  

My goal for this next week is to incorporate more of my healthy recipes into the mainstream family meals.  I've made small changes for them (without their knowledge), but I'm going to try some new things on them and see how it goes.  Keep praying!