Remember, every step you take toward healthier living DOES COUNT! Our bodies were created to be healthy and to heal themselves so every single item we feed it that promotes health makes a difference. For this reason, do not get discouraged when you feel you blow it. Just hop back on the train and keep going. It's not about perfection, it's taking one step at a time in the right direction. We'll reach perfection in heaven.
1. Water, water, water
Replace juices, sweetened drinks, energy drinks, sports drinks, and soda with WATER. Try to start with 1 liter or 32 oz./day. If you are like me and detest water, try adding some fresh lemon or lime to it, even a little squeeze from an orange helps!
2. Get the "white" out!
One step to decreasing sugar intake is to get the "white grains" out of your diet and home and replace them with rich, wholesome, nutritional whole grains. White grains are made from (if you could really call them grains) enriched flours that are processed with chemicals at high temperatures which leaves them void of nutrition and gray, and then re-whitened with bleaching agents (yes, actual bleach and other highly poisonous chemicals) so they appear white again.
Not only are these grains lacking any nutrition whatsoever, they contain nasty chemicals, and very readily break down in to simple sugars in the body which leads to rapid spikes in blood sugar levels. This, in turn, triggers the release of insulin which starts a viscous cycle. Also, 20 minutes later, you are hungry again.
So, even though you may not be feeding your child a donut, the peanut butter and jelly on white or other enriched grain product acts like a donut in your child's body.
To find true whole grain products, there is a symbol on the side of the package that says 100% whole grain. Learn to read INGREDIENT labels.....not the calorie, fat, protein label, but the actual ingredient label.
It took a couple weeks for our taste buds to adjust but now, even our kids cannot stand the taste of the mushy white rices and pastas they used to crave.
Here is a list of some replacements:(see Recipe index for simple whole grain recipes)
100% whole wheat, spelt, or sprouted flour pastas
Basmati brown rice, brown jasmine rice, wild rice, forbidden rice, other organic brown rices
Ezekiel bread products
Organic rolled oats or steel cut oats instead of cereal or instant oatmeal
Homemade granola
Pastured, antibiotic free eggs
Organic plain yogurt mixed with unsweetened applesauce, flax, and cinnamon
Spelt pancakes
3. Replace unhealthy fats with healthy fats
Unfortunately, we have been led to believe that many of the synthesized fats and oils available on the grocery shelves today are healthy alternatives to what, I'm not sure.....
The fact is, many of the fats we consume today are deadly and even poisonous for our bodies. Also, like sugar, they are in everything! These fats are high in omega 6 fatty acids and many of them are in an oxidized state (unstable which means they easily turn into dangerous compounds within the body). Our bodies do need omega 6 fatty acids, however, the ratio between the omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids in our bodies is way out of proportion.
So, your new goal is to reduce or eliminate the following from your diet:
fast food
vegetable, corn, canola, peanut, cottonseed, rapeseed, and safflower oil (all are highly processed and unstable)
margarine
These fats lead to heart disease, cancers (especially the deadly forms of skin cancer), obesity, coronary artery disease and hypertension, skin disorders such as eczema and psoriasis, increased food sensitivities and allergies, arthritis joint inflammation, digestive and reproductive disorders, and a plethora of other disorders....many starting in childhood and teen years.
Replace these fats with healthy fats that truly benefit your body:
organic coconut oil
organic extra virgin olive oil (at temperatures below 320 degrees)
organic ghee
organic butter
flaxseed, flaxseed oil (never heated), pure high quality fish oil supplements or wild caught salmon from pristine cold waters, chia seed, hemp seed
raw, organic nuts, pure nut butters (no sugar or oils added) and other seeds
avocado
lean, pastured, hormone and anti-biotic free meats
These fats are wonderful for your body, consumed in small amounts. They promote health and healing to your joints, organs, skin, cells, and metabolism.
4. Healthify your meals instead of eating processed food from boxes and cans
Processed food, even the "healthy"versions have no nutrition in them. Most, are laden with chemicals.
Next time you are looking for a rice or pasta mix, read the ingredients label.....you know you are in trouble in there are more than 7-8 ingredients listed. Beyond the number of ingredients, however, is the list of what is actually in the box.......which of those items listed are actually food? Exactly....few or none. Scarey!!!!!
I remember the day not that long ago I was in a hurry and longing for the yellow Mexican rice I used to make every week....I thought, it's just one box. Then I looked at the ingredients list and seeing probably over 50 ingredients, most of which I could not pronounce, I decided to put the box back and we had tacos instead.
This is a term I thought i coined but I actually hear it often in the whole foods world. The process of healthifying actually helped me tremendously in the beginning as we transitioned to more and more living foods and whole foods in our diet.
The basic idea of healthifying is making meals you already enjoy and replacing the unhealthy ingredients with healthier ones.There are a number of healthified recipes available on this site.
Each week we still add a couple meals into our food plan that are prepared this way -- Mexican nite, "hamburger helper", macaroni and cheese, pizza nite, etc. This makes healthy eating so much simpler!
5. Eat more fresh organic fruits and vegetables!
Goal: start with trying to reach 5 servings/day, raw, and increase from there
This is usually the hardest part! The MSG and sugar that pervades most of the typical American diet messes with out taste buds in a serious way! It usually takes 3-4 days to change that once you begin eating whole foods instead. I really detested most fruits and veggies so I can honestly say we used to NEVER eat them -- weeks and weeks at a time without fresh raw produce.
In all of our defenses -- your and mine -- I will, however, say that most produce does actually taste terrible! That is, until you start consuming freshly picked local chemical free or organic produce. I don't have words to express the difference!
Most grocery store produce is picked weeks before it reaches the grocery store shelves, travels more than 1500 miles, and changes hands numerous times. Not only has it most likely been sprayed with hormones, colorings, pesticides, and herbicides, it has also likely been genetically altered in some way for mass production. Yum?
The principle is this -- it's God's principle and has always been and always will be: what you sow, so shall you reap. Living foods yield life, dead foods yield, you guessed it, death and disease. So, the more living foods you consume the better.
Living foods are those that come in their raw state, in their own natural shell or wrapper:
fruits, vegetables, raw nuts and seeds, many fermented foods like organic yogurts, kefir, kombucha, etc. These foods promote health, healing, and restoration in our bodies and should be the most consumed food of the day.
How do I get it into our family?
1. Have it on hand.
2. Make it easy to access.
3. I try to keep bowls of fruit, chopped fresh veggies in the fridge with hummus or organic dressings or peanut butter for dipping.
4. Make 1/2 of each meal raw by adding a plate of raw fruits and veggies on the table to every meal, adding salads, adding bowls of yogurt topped with fruit to your meals.
5. Make raw treats like protein bars, peanut butter-honey balls, etc.
6. Try green smoothies and fresh made juices!
Get creative, the list is endless!
What are some ways you have found to increase the raw produce in your home? Are you willing to share -- I'm always looking for new ideas!
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