Better eating…week 1

Week 1 of our familiy’s better eating is done. Phew! Besides the fact that I am having to be a lot more creative and spend more time planning our menus, I have come out relatively stress free. The other members of the family are adjusting surprisingly well, but they are still skeptical about making this a long term plan. Hubby person expressed last night that changing our eating seems like another stress on top of everything else right now. I bought him no sugar added fudge-sicles today.

So here are the major changes we have made on our road to healthier bodies and minds.

• No white sugar….and ESPECIALLY no high fructose corn syrup. Sorry corn industry, but your commercials lie. My boys brains have enough challenges without having to figure out how to process your corn product. Our substitutes at this point include honey, stevia,  and sweet n low (I know, I know, but even my nurtition teacher said that if you choose an artificial sweetner, this is the safest. And don’t even get me started on the evils of sple*da) I am looking into agave nectar etc…and still trying to figure out how to convert to healthy baking for treats. The biggest change for the boys has been letting go of their sugary breakfast cereal, but I am making my amazing home made granola tonight, so I suspect they will forget all about their cocoa-whatevers.
• No white flour or potatoes. This one was really easy because we eat a lot of whole grain things anyways. I’ve started making our own bread in our handy dandy bread machine, and even found a great recipe to make our own hamburger buns. We are also already huge fans of sweet potatoes, so I am finding all kinds of new ways to use them. Do you have any favorite sweet potatoe recipes that don’t call for a butt-load of extra sugar?
• Replacing unnecessary carbs with vegetables whenever possible. This one we are still working on. We do eat a lot of salads though, and I found out that our local restraunt supply store sells baby spinach for a ridiculously low price. Like $5.99 for a 3 lb bag. You can’t even get a lb for that at the local grocery store. That’s a whole lot of spinach. I’m trying to like green smoothies, but…ick. Trying to figure that out.
• Choosing lean proteins instead of red meats. Again, this was not difficult because we eat a lot of chicken already and were already choosing ground turkey for things like sloppy joes and spaghetti.

So that’s the general plan. I am so thankful that I love all kinds of veggies and fruits already. Good job, Mom and Dad!

A huge help for creative ideas has been Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld. There’s a recipe in there for home made ketchup, which, sadly, is a huge source of HFCS. Ick. But I LOVE ketchup!!! I’ll let you know how it is. Anywho, I love that book.

So, all you healthy eating families out there, share the wealth of knowledge. What do your meals look like?

Blessings!

Hannah

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