"Cucumbers under the carpet"

I told you that today I was putting my family on a diet. No processed foods. No bread. No sugar.

Jonathan was grilling cheddar BBQ burgers (without the bun). He had this tiny leftover piece of meat so he made this miniature hamburger.  Chris walks into the kitchen and says, "Thats what we're having?!?!?! Little tiny hamburgers?!?!?"

So, its been like a drug rehab center around here today..  The first couple hours of withdrawel when everyone realized you couldn't go to the pantry and grab a bag of chips, or have an ice cream bar after lunch sent us in "oscar the grouch and visibly shaking mode."  As I was listing what they could have today for snacks - apple slices, string cheese, shelled peanuts - one of my children just looked at me increduously and said "Those aren't snacks!" (Oh my gosh I have messed up my kids-I'm sure some of you really good moms out there are just cringing.)

I will tell you that this is hard.  And expensive!! (Did not save on the grocery budget!) Although it is not cheaper to buy completely fresh, I still stayed within my grocery budget.  I just spent my money on healthy things to eat instead of the normal Zluticky stash of junk food.

We are a couple days into this by the time I'm finishing this post and there are some things I am learning about putting a family on a radical diet.  Be prepared for psychotic behavior - sheesh! I even scared myself! But as a couple members are biting the dust and having a couple little cheats I know that radical doesn't work - it freaks you out before you even start and you get obsessed about what you can't have.  We'll finish the week out because we have no junk food anyway -  then go our seperate ways to camp, the lake, etc... where we are at the mercy of other people's cooking.  Once we are back we will set up a realistic plan that will be less brutal. (Listen to me, you'd think I made my family fast for 30 days or something...)

I thought maybe I could get little E in on the action. I gave her a cucumber and I thought she ate it. I was so excited for more reasons than one. I was happily clapping and cheering for her as she smiled and crawled away. A few minutes later, I found a little pile of chewed up cucumber sticking out from underneath our throw rug. That was the work of my Elisabeth. She said "no way, no how am I eating this -give me back my cheese puffs!"