The newest edition to the NF

No we aren't having another baby and we didn't get a cat. We did however get a juicer. An extremely large contraption that takes up half a cabinet and is a much better use for the space than the pressure cooker that used to live in it's home. Mark and I are turning over a new leaf or should I say I'm flipping back a few pages in the way I eat. When I was a kid there was no junk in the house, well my dad couldn't resist potato chips and red vines so there was some junk but my parents shopped at the health food stores before there was a Trader Joes or Whole Foods in sight. We always had the weird peanut butter with the natural oils on top and forget about sugar cereal. Salad every night. College was probably my turning point. I tried to continue to eat healthy and mostly I did but it's when things started to creep in. Soda was the big one. I didn't really want to drink soda but the water in Fort Worth was so disgusting that I couldn't drink the tap. I still don't drink a ton of them but I do like to have a few a week.


While most people probably think that sailing keeps you in great shape and super healthy in reality it doesn't. You actually sit a lot. We just did that four day passage and we didn't move. We do do a lot of walking (and biking before MM) but that will only do so much. When we were home we were going to the gym without a problem and Mark was biking almost every day. We know we should be better about daily exercise out here but it's hard when you can't really get a regular routine going. The bigger issue for us is that we eat a lot of junk and in a lot of restaurants. We are so often in touristy areas that it is so easy to just grab something out and if we aren't going to be in a touristy place then I assume we aren't going to have good grocery options either so I pack the boat with tons of canned goods. None of it's really good for us but when you're crossing an ocean opening a can is really a fantastic thing. I've tried a few times to cook better but lets just be honest I hate to cook and I'm not good at it. When I was in college and living in NYC I would spend a whole saturday every so often cooking the few things that I can actually make and then freezing them in individual portions so I could just throw them in the oven when I got home. On the boat there are two problems with this. First is that freezer space is at a premium and it usually goes to having fresh meat on board. Second is that I fear a lot of energy (and money) would end up overboard. When we come into new countries customs will often take fresh items from you and anything that I cooked myself in the freezer would count. So if I filled it up with my cooking they may just take it away. They never do this with canned goods unless of course you can them yourself.

A few months ago I watched "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead" like so many others have and decided that I really wanted to try and up my fruit and veggie intake. But how? Juicing didn't really seem like a feasible idea for the boat and I knew I couldn't switch to a juice only diet while being pregnant or nursing. I mentioned the idea to Mark but it didn't really take and I knew I wouldn't be doing anything without him. We eat all our meals together and I eat way more than I used to because of it. Before Mark I would eat some cheese and crackers and a bag of carrots for lunch. Now I actually eat lunch. It took me mentioning that I though we should start juicing a few more times and then all of a sudden a few weeks ago Mark agreed it was a good idea. I set out on a hunt to find a good but not Australian ridiculously priced juicer before he could change his mind. I was super excited when I found the one I had been looking at in a plastic instead of stainless version (better for boat corrosion) and even better was that it was on sale for a great price. I snagged it up and got to juicing. I'm now juicing a couple of times a day.   We have something in the AM and usually around lunch time. If we want something else we have it to but usually the juice does it for us (I had some cheese and crackers today) and then we have a full dinner. I tried to go vegetarian once and got super sick plus I'm still breastfeeding so I want to make sure that I'm still eating well rounded for MM. Sometimes we'll even have a late night juice snack.

It's been a great switch on the boat. Sure there are some issues, I have to turn the generator on to use it but we have more time because we aren't shuffling around trying to figure out what to eat or running out to get something. I have to clean the machine a few times a day but it really isn't that big of a deal now that I have the routine down. Grocery shopping is easy because I just have to hit the produce section for the most part and if there is something you can always get no matter where you are it's fruit. And of course the best part is that we are feeling really good and losing a ton of weight (that's right take that baby belly). For the most part everything has been pretty tasty but yesterday I did get a batch of "what the heck did I make?"

Next step: Try to reduce the canned goods we eat on board. I think it's gonna be harder than I think. I wanted to make tomato sauce for pasta the other night (I bought tomatoes) and almost every recipe I looked at told me to open a can of tomatos...why not just open a jar of spaghetti sauce instead? What's the difference. Anyone have any idea where to get some good easy recipes that I might actually be able to cook. Please remember that I am very seriously cooking impaired.