Do you eat enough plants?

Kids and I grew a watermelon - in our shady Toronto backyard!
It wasa teeny but tasty. October 2010

I've been a vegetarian for 20 years, but until recently I didn't eat enough plants. I ate a lot of carbs, a lot of cheeeeeese and a lot of treats. Surprise, surprise - I put on a lot of weight. 

I've overhauled my diet in the last two years and definintely eat a more balanced diet. I regularly struggle with keeping on track after so many years of bad habits, but overall I'm eating well.

Meanwhile - my children are also vegetarians, and I've always made sure to feed them well even in the days when I wasn't taking as good care of myself. We talk a lot about nutrition and healthy eating, and I hope I'm giving them the tools to make good choices about what they eat.

So far, so good. My favourite part of summer is watching the kids go out to the garden to snack on the fruits and veg that we grow in our teeny back yard. We don't have a lot of space, but we've made room for a raspberry bush, a blueberry bush, a strawberry patch, an apple tree and a cherry tree. Every spring, I also have the kids choose a plant or two that they want to grow. This year, they planted snow peas, cucumbers, carrots and watermelon in addition to the tomatoes and red peppers that I planted. All of this variety means that from May to September, there's always something ready to be picked and nibbled on.

Ahhh summer. You seem so very far away. Oh well. Winter gives me time to plan out the changes that I want to make in the flower gardens in the spring :-)

Here's a recap of this week:



Last raspberry of the season - October 2010

Saturday - Curves workout in the morning; took the kids swimming for an hour in the afternoon.



Sunday - Nothin' much. Cleaned the house, then subway'd it downtown with my sister-in-law to catch a performance of Wicked. Great show!!!

Monday - Stairs to 7 in AM; 1.1K walk and stairs to 12 at lunchtime.

Tuesday - Stairs to 7 in AM; 1K walk and stairs to 12 at lunchtime; Curves workout after dinner. Parked the car a few blocks away from the gym so got in a 6 block round trip walk in too.

Wendnesday - Day off. 1K walk at lunch.

Thursday - Stairs to 7 in AM, 1.5K walk and stairs to 7 at lunch. Curves workout after dinner.

Friday - Stairs to 7 in AM, 1K walk and stairs to 7 at lunch. Starting to get bored with this routine so better start shakin' things up a bit. Good news - only 2 more weeks until the skating rinks open!

What I'm reading this week: The Girl Who Played with Fire. Looks like I'll be reading the entire series.