Adventures in BabyFood-ing.

This past weekend, I came across a nice little addition to change up my meals: baby food.

Perhaps I should back up and provide a little explanation first... Doug needed some small glass jars for one of his art classes and decided that baby food jars would be the perfect size, while also remaining pretty darn cheap. So, we went to the baby section at the store and picked out a few flavors. I must admit, when my younger sister was born, my curiosity got the better of me and I found myself sampling some of her baby food and remembered that some of it (mostly the fruit-based varieties) wasn't half bad.

Not ones to waste food, we picked out flavors that we would actually eat. I got sweet potatoes and tried them yesterday with lunch. I added some cinnamon, splenda, Special K granola and some raisins. Still tasted like sweet potatoes, but in pureé form, so I think I'll get some more and try it with oatmeal. I think it would also work well when baking quick breads or pancakes/waffles.

This morning's breakfast was even better. The other flavor I picked was oatmeal with applesauce & bananas. I mixed it with some cottage cheese, cinnamon, ground flax seed and a bit of Splenda. OMG! Soooo good! I know it sounds like a weird combo, but I'm always experimenting with cottage cheese mix-ins and so far, this is probably one of the better ones. Needless to say, baby food will now be a part of future grocery lists, despite the fact that I have no babies and don't plan on having any.

As for the weekend overall, it was good. I overate a bit here and there, but no out-of-control binges. I also kept up with my workouts and felt pretty good. I managed to avoid a binge yesterday whilst at the grocery store; temptation was everywhere (especially with all of the Valentine's Day candy out), but instead of wasting money (and later guilt, shame and calories) on unnecessary crap, I bought fresh spinach, more Jazz apples, some organic cinnamon raisin bread that was on sale and a sample of almond butter. Instead of simply "treating myself," I decided to treat myself better. This meant enjoying fresh fruits and veggies and trying new healthy products (like almond butter).

I left the store junk-free and went home to make quite possibly one of the best pizzas I've had in a while (low-fat/high fiber tortilla, mozzarella, spinach, red onion, tomatoes, mushrooms, parmesan, garlic, italian seasoning and feta). It was delicious, filling and a reminder of how healthy foods can also be indulgent. In fact, I plan on repeating that meal for dinner today!

Tonight, I'm going to read more of a new book, Eat What You Love, Love What You Eat. The first chapter quickly pointed out my current eating patterns and the feelings attached to them, so I'm anxious to read more. I know it probably sounds silly, but one of my main goals in life is to become a mindful, instinctive eater. I'm terribly jealous of people who are naturally instinctive in their eating habits, so I hope that by reading this book, I'll not only learn what it takes to eat instinctively, but also stop being jealous and focus my attention to other things in life besides food and exercise.

Recovery is bound to be a long journey, but it felt good to finally make some progress this past week.