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Sunday, April 6, 2014

"Seven" week 1 wrap up




We are closing our first week of seven today - the Food week. I'm fairly certain that food is my biggest decadence stronghold. I just love food. I love eating out so I don't have to cook it. I love watching Food Network while I'm at the gym so I can plan how I'm going to gain all those calories back. I really love enjoying food with others. But, guess what? This week was hard, but it was more of a blessing than a difficulty.
No Spending
We chose the "don't spend any money on food for the week" route. Coincidentally, everyone we know, near and far, wanted to get together over a meal this week. Yes, we had to turn down a few invitations and rethink a few others, but we survived. If this hadn't been "food week" in Seven, it would have probably been a very expensive week for us.
Yes, I got grumpy when we ran out of fruit and flour. Yes, I had a few pregnant lady cravings (I'm expecting in October, by the way, for you newbies). But mostly, I was humbled and grateful. I can't believe how negative my attitude often is when I'm grocery shopping. We are pretty hard core about our budget, and I more often than not grumble while I'm shopping about how our budget is impossibly small for a family our size and I miss eating and cooking for  pleasure instead of budget/time/health constraints in mind. I just "can't afford enough of the food I want". Waaah. Please, stop wiping your tears everyone. I know it's a sad story.
Well, it's been two weeks since my last grocery trip now, and guess what? I'm absolutely positive we could go at least another week and no one would even remotely starve. We still have meat, frozen veggies, cheese, rice, beans, corn chips, and more. We are totally out of eggs, milk flour, and the all important breakfast cereal. We don't have crackers, bread or much fresh produce left. But we have so much food. I suppose I should really look at my weekly grocery trip and my cart full of more than enough with a heart of thankfulness.
No Tossing
We also made a new rule in our house - no throwing away edible food. This part of the fast I plan to continue to build into a habit.
One of the biggest eye openers for me this week the effort to not throw any edible food away. I challenge you to try to implement this rule into your home. I can't believe how wasteful we can be, especially with our children. A few times, Izzy complained that she didn't want what was on her plate, and Korban threw a fit. (I took care to make sure and never offer them anything I knew they didn't like, and never more than 2 bites per serving. This isn't about a power struggle. Sometimes, I threw away those last few bites during nap time and pretended to forget about it.) For the most part, though, after some initial "discussing", Izzy realized that there would be no snacking until her plate was cleaned. It was hard to think for a moment that they might go hungry, and it made me think about how painful it must be for mothers who have to send their kids to bed hungry on a regular basis, not because of picky eating but because there simply isn't any food available. 
What I'm really seeing, though, is how much I tend to let go bad because "I'm tired of eating that". I have worked hard this week to either eat everything or freeze what was left. Sometimes, I had to apply the same rule to myself and eat leftover lunch for a snack at 3pm because I didn't "clean my plate". You know, I'm sure this is one of those situations where leading by example is a great way to teach your kids what is acceptable behavior. No, I didn't want that cold pizza or leftover casserole again, but it filled me up instead of the trash can, and I'm proud of myself.

So, anyways, that's how it went down at our house. Our "live" book study is not meeting this week, as we meet on Sundays and that falls on father's day this week. Some of us are going to continue our food fast, and others are moving ahead to week 2 - clothing. We'll pick back up on June 30th to officially begin "Clothes" week.
So, you have plenty of time to order yourself a copy of "Seven" and catch up by then. ;)
Did you fast in any way this week? Have you ordered the book yet? Are you kinda thinking about it, or do you think it's a silly idea altogether? I'd love to hear you thoughts!

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