A Healthier Life...care to adopt my family?

[simka2]

Okay, here's the scoop! We are an active family, I love to cook, and my kids eat just about anything. That said, I am wanting to make some healthier choices for us.

 

If you health nuts could change one thing we eat, what would it be?

What is the one thing we should implement 1st, 2nd then 3rd?

[AuntieM]

Swap out your whites for browns - whole grain bread, brown rice, sweet potatoes, honey instead of granulated sugar.

 

Swap soda and fruit juice for water and/or unsweetened tea.

 

Give up obvious corn.

 

Give up anything with HFCS on the label.

 

Fruits become desserts. Or, true sugary desserts only on the designate desserts night.

 

Serve salads and fresh veggies as appetizers, so hungry kids eat more of those than other starchy sides.

 

Have fruits and cut fresh veggies ready and easy to grab at snack time.

 

If you already do all that, you are beyond square one!

[Tap]

Look at the first thing you put in your mouth in the morning and make it as healthy as possible. Breakfast is notorious for being sugar laden, white carb rich, and heavy in fat.

 

Start by planning your breakfast like a real meal and do prep work the night before.

[angela in ohio]

Swap out your whites for browns - whole grain bread, brown rice, sweet potatoes, honey instead of granulated sugar.

 

Swap soda and fruit juice for water and/or unsweetened tea.

 

Give up obvious corn.

 

Give up anything with HFCS on the label.

 

Fruits become desserts. Or, true sugary desserts only on the designate desserts night.

 

Serve salads and fresh veggies as appetizers, so hungry kids eat more of those than other starchy sides.

 

Have fruits and cut fresh veggies ready and easy to grab at snack time.

 

If you already do all that, you are beyond square one!

 

I agree with all of these.

 

I'd add switching to olive and other healthy oils from mragarine and the like.

 

Also, add fish to your diet.

[simka2]

Look at the first thing you put in your mouth in the morning and make it as healthy as possible. Breakfast is notorious for being sugar laden, white carb rich, and heavy in fat.

 

Start by planning your breakfast like a real meal and do prep work the night before.

 

 

So, what are some really good family friendly breakfast ideas? Esp. ones I can prep the night before!!!

[bry's-gal]

:lurk5:

[Rosie_0801]

Look at the first thing you put in your mouth in the morning and make it as healthy as possible. Breakfast is notorious for being sugar laden, white carb rich, and heavy in fat.

 

Start by planning your breakfast like a real meal and do prep work the night before.

 

Yep. We're working on this atm, having fallen off the bandwagon for a bit too long ;)

 

We're making dough for flatbreads the night before. If we soak chickpeas for a full day, they cook up in half an hour, and are done in about the time it takes to make and the breads. Add some salad greens (I'm growing a new batch of sunflower lettuce in the kitchen window) and we doing nicely with our new breakfast mantra: grains, beans, greens :D

 

I'm hoping to find a recipe for raw hummus, but haven't looked yet. That'd make it even better :)

 

When we get sick of this, we think we'll do chilli, cornbread and greens, and by the time we get sick of that, we shouldn't be sick of plan #1 any more :)

 

Rosie

[bookfiend]

Look at the first thing you put in your mouth in the morning and make it as healthy as possible. Breakfast is notorious for being sugar laden, white carb rich, and heavy in fat.

 

Start by planning your breakfast like a real meal and do prep work the night before.

 

Never thought of taking breakfast this seriously before. Other than egg casserole, what can you really do ahead? Just looking for ideas, I can resource my own recipies. Thanks

[fairytalemama]

My vote would be to check some vegetarian or vegan cookbooks out at the library and try a few recipes. We're eating a lot more vegetarian meals now and eating healthier all the time.

 

Two books that have been helpful and that I've cooked a lot of recipes out of are The Occasional Vegetarian by Karen Lee and Cooking the Whole Foods Way by Christina Pirello. Christina Pirello also has a great website at http://www.christinacooks.com that has lots of recipes on it.

[Peela]

Base 80% of your diet on plants in their least processed forms. Any meat and dairy and processed foods are in the 20%.

 

It's what you dont eat, often, more than what you do eat, that keeps you healthy. If its in a packet with numbers on the side, or sugar added, it should be in that 20%. Soda is one of the worst things you can do, and so is anything with artificial sugars in it. Even juice in a packet is a processed, concentrated food high in natural sugar (it is pasteurised so it is cooked. Who wants cooked juice? )

 

Green Smoothies. (fruit, water, handful of greens- you can't taste the greens). Most people do not eat enough vegetables, especially greens.

 

Eat something raw with each meal, and eat a variety of different colours.

 

For breakfast we do eggs. It's easy, quick, high protein, and sustaining. On a lazy day, it's a quick fried egg on healthy bread. On other days its poached or scrambled eggs, mushrooms, tomato, sometimes liver or bacon for me, a handful of baby greens.

[simka2]

This almost deserves it's own thread, but I am really enjoying the healthy breakfast ideas!!!

[JoyfulMama]

On the healthy breakfast note... and ideas for doing ahead...

For me, planning ahead is more important than doing ahead. However, there are some things you can do to make your morning run more smoothly. You can mix batter for pancakes and muffins the night before, and refrigerate. You can bake ahead and freeze, then reheat. Soak your oats overnight (you can use hardier cuts this way, too). Make sure you have juice/fruit ready for breakfast sides.

I don't like to think too much first thing in the morning. Therefore I like to know what the breakfast plan is when I walk into the kitchen. We have a simple breakfast menu plastered on the front of the fridge, with the breakfast plan for each day. All days are items we have on hand every single week. (There are NOT 7 different breakfasts.) If it's a muffin day, I grab a bowl and make the muffin batter, dump it in the pan, and stick it in the oven. Same with pancakes - make the batter, get out the griddle, and start flipping. Eggs? Great - start cracking!

Now, we all have those days where we need to be up and out the door, right? You know those muffin days? I always make a double batch, and freeze half. Two breakfasts done! I do the same with pancakes.

[Rosie_0801]

For me, planning ahead is more important than doing ahead. However, there are some things you can do to make your morning run more smoothly. You can mix batter for pancakes and muffins the night before, and refrigerate.

 

You don't need to refrigerate pancake batter ;)

 

Rosie

[alexia]

For breakfast or anytime snack I hardboil 18 organic eggs at a time(from costco) and keep in in ziplock bag in refrigerator. I let kids have mix of a half of yoplait yogurt and a half of Fage a greek yogurt from Costco(no added sugar, they wouldn't go for just the greek yogurt!).

When we have frozen strawberries or blue berries (organic) they mix in those as well. They also like the swiss lowfat cheese triangles(forgot the name). Some whole grain toast or waffle too.

 

Another option is to make wraps(whole grain) with scrambled egg+mushroom,onion,bell pepper stir fried, salsa,shredded chees,. when we have bacon(I try to buy the uncured kind at whole foods) we add those too. Whatever we happened to have in the refrig. we can add in.

[happi duck]

great thread: :bigear:

[Jen in PA]

I often make a big batch of pancakes on Sunday morning. They might not be health food, but they are made with real ingredients. I like to make fruit sauces for them using fresh or frozen berries and no added sugar, or homemade applesauce, also without sugar. DS likes natural pb on his pancakes. They can be reheated in the microwave later in the week. Oatmeal also reheats very well, and it's easy to add all sorts of fruits, nuts, and spices to that. I make eggs most mornings, and they take less time than making toast.

 

We are big time grazers around here, so I put a lot of energy into having healthy snacks on hand. Lots of fruits, veggies, nuts, whole grain crackers, homemade yogurt, hard boiled eggs, cheese cubes, etc. I mainly try to make sure that we aren't eating packaged items.

[dhudson]

Here's my favorite overnight oatmeal recipe! So easy and then you can use the leftover oatmeal to make leftover oatmeal bread.

 

the oatmeal...

 

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/overnight-oatmeal-recipe/index.html

 

and the bread...

 

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/leftover-oatmeal-bread-recipe/index.html

[Dinsfamily]

We make a huge batch of multigrain pancakes on the weekend and then freeze the extras. The boys eat them as sandwiches with natural peanut butter in the morning and some fruit. Yum!

[Barry Goldwater]

Give up anything with HFCS on the label.

 

 

 

:iagree:

I lost 8 unwanted lbs when DW started baking our own bread and we eliminated store-bought bread. Nothing else was changed in my diet.:tongue_smilie:

 

I believe it was the HFCS found in the bread at the store...so we went about eliminating it from our ketchup, soups, processed foods, etc (there are options) and I'm feeling great!

 

We have an excellent, easy bread recipe that requires no kneading, virtually no effort...

 

Also agree w/ PP that recommended eating pure foods as much as possible (eggs, veges, unprocessed meats, etc.) Stuff that won't rot even after a year on the shelf might be worth avoiding

[missiemick]

Organic, raw, whole grain.

 

If you wanted to extend beyond food -- I would cut out toxic cleaning supplies, watch your beauty/bath products, and wear natural clothing.

[AuntieM]

:iagree:

I lost 8 unwanted lbs when DW started baking our own bread and we eliminated store-bought bread. Nothing else was changed in my diet.:tongue_smilie:

 

I believe it was the HFCS found in the bread at the store...so we went about eliminating it from our ketchup, soups, processed foods, etc (there are options) and I'm feeling great!

 

We have an excellent, easy bread recipe that requires no kneading, virtually no effort...

 

Also agree w/ PP that recommended eating pure foods as much as possible (eggs, veges, unprocessed meats, etc.) Stuff that won't rot even after a year on the shelf might be worth avoiding

 

Of course this means we'll have to test your claim...:lol:

 

Recipe, please?

[Barry Goldwater]

Of course this means we'll have to test your claim...:lol:

 

Recipe, please?

 

PM'ed you.

[Melinda S in TX]

So, what are some really good family friendly breakfast ideas? Esp. ones I can prep the night before!!!

 

Switch breakfast and supper. Have chicken whatever in the crockpot when you wake up and make breakfast for supper.

 

Blessings,

Melinda