We took a trip to East Memphis last night to visit Whole Foods. That store was actually Wild Oats the last time I went, but Whole Foods took over recently. I definitely like it better now...there seems to be more variety in the products they sell, and the prepared foods bar is pretty impressive. What amazed me was the produce section. Not only did they have a huge selection, but you can really SMELL the fruit just from standing near it. I'm not saying I'll be making bi-weekly visits to East Memphis just for fresh produce, but I'll definitely be going back more frequently than when it was Wild Oats. I'll probably visit a couple of times a month for organic stuff I can't find near home. It was super crowded last night - that's what we get for going on a Saturday evening.

I'm on day number 3 with no soda and no artificial sweeteners....it's not as hard as I thought it would be. I don't feel groggy or drowsy as I feared I would from cutting waaay down on the caffeine. I'm learning all I can about the vegetarian diet. I never in a million years thought I'd be considering giving up meat and milk, but...here I am. Baby steps.

This is going to be a battle with Savy. In some ways it won't really affect her...she doesn't like meat anyway (except for chicken and the occasional hot dog), and she's accustomed to drinking water at home. I'm glad that she never liked hamburgers to begin with - ground beef is the first thing I've given up. The problem is that she doesn't like fruits and vegetables either. I don't want to force her to eat things she doesn't like, but I'm not going to continue giving her things I know are unhealthy...Scarlett as well. She won't starve herself....will she? I'm not saying I'm never going to let her have another piece of chicken, but our diets are going to become mainly vegetarian. Anyone out there who is vegetarian with children, I welcome advice about how to make this easier on the kiddos!

Jon is being a pretty good sport, but I doubt he'll be giving up meat. I introduced him to quinoa last week (my favorite new protein source), but it didn't go over too well.

I'm grateful to have such great friends and family who are supporting me through all this. Special thanks to Jen and Val who have helped me with information on diet.