Sometimes I DON'T want to cook!

I control our kitchen.  I grocery shop, I cook, I hand out snacks, desserts and plan the breakfasts.  I make sure our food is pretty healthy...lots of whole grains, organic dairy and produce, REAL food ingredients.  We don't buy anything with hydrogenated oils or high fructose corn syrup.  I avoid food coloring since there are SO many studies that link RED dye 40 with ADD and ADHD.  I have the power to decide what goes in our bodies in our home. 

We do love to go out to eat and we have our favorite places we go and the places we avoid.  We have a local organic restaurant that caters fresh foods to meet every dietary need.  I can go there and see what meals are vegan because they are labeled right there.  We also love ethnic cuisines that embrace vegetarianism and veganism.  We like to go to the Indian buffet or to middle eastern restaurants.  The kids are getting really great at trying new things.  We like *some* mexican restaurants but sometimes our requests get lost in translation....

When we travel, eating out can be really difficult.  So if I know in advance where we are going, I usually look up the menu online and figure out what I will have from there.  Lots of restaurants now list the nutritional and allergen contents so if you are dieting, have food allergies or just limited dietary needs, you can find out what food on that menu will work for you.  :)

So yes, we eat out.  Yes I will order french fries if I feel the need and YES, I eat a ton of food (portion control is *NOT* my strong point!).

We do NOT eat at McDonalds.  Not only is there not a single thing I can eat there (the french fries are coated with hydrolyzed beef protein), I read entirely too much of Fast Food Nation to turn a blind eye.  I will not go into specifics here because my goal here is not to make you feel bad about your eating or family choices, but if you want some of the info email me...it is pretty bad.  We try to avoid a lot of the fast food industry but if we get stuck, we hit Subway. 

I cannot entirely control the food that my kids eat at school, but I can teach them the art of moderation and how to make good choices.  Instead of Cheetos, they can have regular Lays or Baked Lays with their sandwiches when we are out.  I can help them learn that too much of the stuff that we put in our bodies can be filled with chemicals and can cause sickness.  I let my kids have a cupcake at birthday parties.  I let them have candy at Halloween and I don't freak out about it.

I just provide good healthy food in our home.