The Whole30 Kool Aid is DELICIOUS.

The Whole30 is changing my life.

Not only is it making me less up in arms about the horrible shit show that is our political nightmare (because I am hungry and also thinking about what the hell I am going to eat next), but it is doing exactly what it promises to do, and it is changing my relationship to food.  Seriously, this plan promises total food freedom, and I GET IT.  On the one hand, I am even more enslaved to food because I am trying to figure out what in the hell I can eat and when I have time to cook and eat it, but in a larger sense, I am free from french fries (and donuts and brownies and mindless handfuls of kid food all day long) because those things are literally off the table for me.

I LIKE coconut milk in my coffee BETTER than cow's milk.  When I am hungry, a handful of almonds or cashews and a couple of cuties is the perfect snack.  A bowl full of berries mixed with almond butter is heavenly.  When I eat eggs and meat for breakfast with lots of veggies sauteed in lard, I am not hungry until mid-afternoon.  I am going through spinach by the pound, and I eat protein at every meal and snack.  These are wonderful, healthy habits that I think I will be able to put into practice for the rest of my life.

Also!  Larabars at the world's perfect snack, especially with a piece of fruit and some more nuts.

It's nice to never have sugar crashes, and my cravings are basically gone.  When the rest of the family devoured 3 boxes of Girl Scout cookies last week, I was momentarily jealous, but the feeling passed quickly, and I had an extra cutie or two as I cleaned up dinner.  I have made pancakes and brownies and sugar cookies and bread machine white bread and garlic bread and stuffing and basmati rice and mac and cheese and frozen pizzas, and none of it calls to me.  Harry's blueberry bagel slathered with cream cheese looked pretty effing delicious this morning, and my mouth even watered a little, but I sat down to two eggs scrambled with spinach, onion, green pepper, and chicken apple sausage plus a huge bowl of mixed berries with almond butter, and I felt great.

But seriously.  This barbecue sauce is coming back to my life in March.  And the occasional donut.

Jack was on a student panel at a parent forum at his school last night, and he was predictably adorable.  When asked how to improve the school, he suggested that all students be allowed to use the elevator.

V-Day (and also PJ day) in this one's class today.  I felt a little guilty because Cooper's friends all gave little trinkets with their cards (their special snowflake preschool does not allow candy), but I purposely didn't buy anything because I didn't want to give people more plastic junk.  Dorothy is also taking Valentines sans trinket, but it's kind of an unprincipled stance because I totally let the big kids take Nerds and suckers.

back to obsessing about food AND politics because have you seen the headlines today?