Recently a personal trainer/author came to Tyler's work and gave a motivational speech about being healthy. Tyler bought the book, which I quickly read, and then we were both so inspired to change our lives. And by that, I mean in moderation. I already know that if I tried to cut all sugar out of my life, I'd fail in like the first day. So here's what we're doing. Eating more vegetables and fruits, having more healthy dinners (e.g. no more of the types of dinners where you mix up chicken with cream cheese and stick it in rolls that are drenched with butter), cutting out white flour products, cutting out unhealthy snacks like chips and delicious, processed, sugary foods, and cutting back on sugar. Mostly, it is a lifestyle of more moderation. Try to be as healthy as possible, but don't go healthy crazy because that never seems to work. And really, when it does work, how happy can the people be? No ice cream and happiness just don't work out together.

It's only been about a week, but we already both think we're in better shape, because we're eating so healthy it feels like we have to be healthy. Although  a lot of eating healthy feels like being hungry. Anyways there's two issues I've run into already. The first is that I love eating. It's like honestly one of my favorite things to do. (In my defense, just so people don't think I'm a disgusting pig, I follow the eat less and often rule. I don't like feeling full, so I don't generally overeat, but then I also get hungry like every three hours at which point I have to eat again. It works well for me.) And the thing is, I love eating junk food. Hamburgers, ice cream, cookies, cake, cereal, white bread, candy, donuts, pie . . . and things like broccoli don't have the same appeal. So that's been difficult. Again, we're trying to eat more healthy foods and limit unhealthy foods, not stop eating them altogether (except for chips which almost always make me feel gross anyways). My solution has been to try to find healthy substitutes for my favorites foods, and wait for days that we can cheat, which include birthdays, holidays, and other special occasions. So far, my healthy solutions have been inedible. First off, I made brownies, which were actually really healthy. They included a cup of zucchini, a banana, unsweetened applesauce, 100% whole wheat flour, baking soda, cocoa powder, and less than a cup of sugar. I happen to like my baked goods slightly undercooked, and unfortunately that is disgusting when  you're eating healthy. So the brownies were kinda weird. I ended up sticking them in the freezer and they're slightly better frozen but I think they don't have enough sugar.

The next thing I tried were these healthy "cookie dough" balls. Yeah, that was a lie. Supposedly if you mix almond meal, honey, butter, vanilla, and chocolate chips, it will taste like cookie dough. Well that is a big fatty lie. Or maybe the author of the recipe just doesn't actually know what cookie dough tastes like. They looked like cookie dough. I will admit, I altered the recipe slightly. Almond meal is over ten dollars for a little tiny bag (yeah, don't tell me you can eat healthy and cheap at the same time) so of course I didn't buy it. Instead I used my 100% whole wheat flour (which I totally love because I feel like as long as I use it instead of white flour, the food turns out healthy. Don't ruin my happy bubble of ignorance) and let me tell you, either you can't substitute whole wheat flour for almond meal or you just can't substitute healthy foods at all and expect to get a delicious food. So those were a failure.

In a last desperate move to keep from breaking down and buying ice cream, I made oatmeal cookies. How bad can those be, they have three cups of oats, and everyone is always going on about how healthy oatmeal is. Plus I used 100% whole wheat flour (health points!) and semi-sweet chocolate chips (anti-oxidants!). They are delicious.

The second major issue we have with healthy eating is that I am not a good cook. If you ask Tyler, he will lie because he always looks for the best in everyone, which includes thinking I'm a good cook. (In case you're wondering, here are some examples which show otherwise: putting a metal bowl in the microwave, making cupcakes without eggs and wondering why there was so little batter, wearing protective glasses while cooking anything on the stove which could spatter, overcooking chicken every time because I'm so afraid of raw chicken, leaving an entire pan of lasagna out overnight, making numerous meals so gross that I refused to eat it at all, etc.) What I've learned is that cooking healthy is even harder than cooking normally. Yesterday I made almond chicken, which is supposedly as simple as grinding up almonds, putting them on chicken, and cooking them in coconut oil. What a disaster. The almonds ended up literally everywhere except the chicken. When I began cooking the chicken, the almonds began to burn while the chicken stayed raw, and then all the almonds fell off anyways. I ended up sticking the chicken in the oven instead. Again, Tyler said he liked it.

So this is the beginning of our journey towards healthiness. I will try to keep updates on it to ensure that we don't give up after the next month. Suggestions and advice are welcome as long as it's not stop eating sugar because that's not going to happen. However I am open to healthy dessert recipes, and dinner recipes. Wish us luck! I'll need it.