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| The new food guide focuses on proportions. notice that veggies take up the most space. |
Make Meals Healthier: Change your
mindset: “I want that, but I can't have it" to "I can have that, but
I don't want it." The more you eat healthy foods, junk food loses its
appeal (Hungry for Change).
What led me to make changes in my diet?:
I had 30 extra pounds
of weight 6 months after I gave birth to Caleb. Much of it was because I was
substituting food for sleep, and I had a lot of stress moving to CO. I’ve never dieted because I’ve known dieters who
had such negative food views and I wanted to set a good example for my kids. I have always tried to be physically
active. I ate pretty healthy, I thought,
but my exercise routine wasn’t getting results. I saw Fat Sick and Nearly Dead. I realized my diet was out of balance.
"The best strategy we've got is to
just add in the good stuff!
Eventually it's going to crowd out the bad stuff."
Eat more Whole Foods. Why?:
-How do you lose weight by eating more? If you want to lose weight many of us think
we just need to eat less…. What’s the problem with that? We’re hungry! The solution: eat more volume of food while
consuming fewer calories…. How do we do that?
Eat whole foods especially vegetables.
Many processed foods are also calorie dense. Making it much
easier to over eat!
Eating processed foods can be very tasty but you’re still
hungry… (your body is not getting the nutrients it needs) We can be overfed but nutritionally starving. Our bodies change food into different
compounds for energy and to renew itself. Processed foods lack all the pieces it needs
to be used properly by our bodies.
Substitute Whole Grains and add them in: You’ll
be full faster and stay full longer.
-Whole grain pasta vs. plain white flour pasta: made the switch and the kids didn’t notice
and my husband likes it too
-Tacos with corn tortillas or whole wheat flour tortillas
-Brown rice for white rice:
My preference is short grain brown rice.
It’s tasty and not as coarse as long grain.
-Buy whole grain breads.
Eventually you’ll find white bread less appealing.
-Add Flax Seed (awesome super food) to everything. Pancakes,
cookies, pie crust, cereal, yogurt, sprinkle on baked goods
-Quinoa is a seed that cooks up in less than 20 minutes, makes
a great side, and it’s also a complete protein.
Add Veggies: try to eat more vegetables
than any other food group
-Spinach!: Eggs are always green at my house I use a blender
or little processor. They are moist and the kids gobble it up. I add spinach to macaroni and cheese (whole
grain noodles).
-Plan your meal around the vegetables. Make sure there are plenty to go around. Bountiful Baskets is a great way to get out
of a rut, or buy the produce that’s on sale that week at the grocery store and
build your meal around it.
Legumes: They are so satisfying, wholesome,
nutrition-packed, and BUDGET friendly.
Soups are a healthy way to eat legumes!!
-Beans: Look up Crock-pot bean recipes. You can make them while away
and come home to a fragrant home.
-LENTILS!: Lentils are a lot like beans, but they cook so
much faster. Like instant beans. I have
recipes here and here.
-We eat a lot more legumes and are eating meat much more
sparingly. Grocery shopping is a lot
cheaper this way.
Wean off of Sweet Beverages:
1- If you serve juice add water until it’s just slightly sweet.
You’ll quench your thirst with less calories.
2- Put a full glass of water at each setting. When they’ve
downed a glass of water then they can have some juice. We also tend to confuse our thirst cravings
for hunger cravings and overeat because we’re thirsty. It’s wise to start every
meal with a tall glass of water.
3- They'll get used to drinking water. Eventually you can stop serving sweet drinks.
Nature always puts sweets with FIBER! So try to eat sweets
with Fiber (like in fruit). It’s better
for your system.
Fat vs. Sugar:
Not all calories are equal
-Don’t eat more sugar trying to avoid fat (it’s a marketing
scam). Compare lowfat yogurt to fat free yogurt (same amount
of calories one has more sugar).
-Our bodies metabolize sugar and alcohol the same (very
taxing on the liver)
-Fructose is like poison: it is hard on the liver (cannot be
metabolized by the body and is turned into liver fat)
-Eat fats in moderation to help you feel satisfied. Calories still count.
-Refined grains and
sugars are what our body transfers into fat (because they are hard to
process and leave a foreign substance that our body wraps in fat and stores it
(to protect us from it because it doesn’t know what to do with it). Making fat is one of our body’s defense
mechanisms.
-Healthy Fats: You aren’t what you eat,
you’re what your body does with what you eat.
Fat satiates your appetite, feeds your brain, and allows our bodies to
absorb vitamins. Every cell is made of fat which it needs to function.
-Eat foods containing healthy fats: avocados, olives, nuts, seeds,
fish, meat. Try not to add lots of fat
to foods (oils, deep frying, etc).
God created our Earth and the plants in it. He packaged food
in a perfect form.
Eat more whole foods!
Recommendations:
Quiche: If I find I have veggies that need to be eaten, I
make a quiche. 4 egss, 1 cup milk, 1 cup of cheese, plus as many veggies as I
can find (precook onions and peppers).
Press a layer of cheese on the bottom of the crust fill with veggies
pour beaten eggs/milk (w/ salt & pepper to taste) until within ½ in. of
crust edge. Add more cheese. You can add any pre-cooked meat. Bake 425, 15
min. then 325 for 25more. Serve with
fruit and toast (or roast potatoes at the same time).
Want to learn more: Check out the "Reads" and "Videos" that I posted links for on my Recommendations page.
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