I have never been on a diet. My Mom tried to get me to do some sort of fat and toxin flush thing with her once that was supposed to make my belly flatter, but I refused. No way am I downing nothing but some lemon-cayenne pepper-who knows what else drink for a couple days.
I've observed other people and their dieting ups and downs though, and I have to admit it's amusing, in a rather pathetic way.
The thing about diets and dieting is that typically people are looking for a quick fix, so they down nasty concoctions or don't eat enough, and then at the end they say, "whew" and get back to their old habits, only usually they're so relieved to be done with the diet that they double their comfort food intake. Often times they end up MORE overweight than before.
The saddest thing is when people who are a perfectly healthy weight decide they need to diet. They get on the yo yo diet Ferris wheel and end up fat and sad because for some reason they didn't love themselves the way they were.
I believe in adopting these simple rules to eat healthier all the time, and then I don't have to worry about dieting, and I am a healthy, happy weight.
#1 Be happy with who you are. When you don't like yourself, you wander around in this nasty miasma of unlove that affects everything you do. You don't take care of yourself, you surround yourself with people who confirm your self-hate, you eat bad foods, and you just keep spiraling downwards. Change the spiral. Make it a rule that until you learn to like yourself you are only allowed to say nice things about yourself. Get rid of the people in your life who constantly criticize you. (If you can). Pick a couple things that make you feel like you're really taking care of yourself, like a bubble bath or a hike in the woods, and do them at LEAST twice a week. When you love yourself and are sure that you are awesome, then you can start carefully allowing in criticism, but remember that for every negative word, (and all criticism is negative. A little is necessary but only a very little. Don't ever buy that constructive criticism garbage), you need at LEAST ten positive ones. More is better.
#2 Avoid processed foods for the most part. Even "health foods." Granola bars contain tons of sugar, margarine is loaded with trans fat, flavored yogurts contain all kinds of junk. Don't buy things if they have all kinds of weird chemically sounding ingredients. Even if the label says it's supposed to be good for you.
#3 Pick whole foods most of the time. Whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, milk, plain yogurt, unprocessed cheese, plain old meat without all the preservative junk, herbs, olive oil, butter, stuff like that. The less that's been done to it before you get it the better.
#4 Learn how to cook those whole foods so that they taste good! Food is supposed to taste good. If it tastes bad, you don't enjoy it, and then you go looking for something you WILL enjoy. Like a pint of ice cream. If you hate vegetables, don't keep avoiding them. Experiment with trying new vegetables, or cooking vegetables in different ways. Take a cooking class if you have to. It's worth it. Your body will thank you.
#5 Don't cut the things you like out entirely. Just cut back a little bit, and find alternatives that make you happy. Do you love butter? Use butter most of the time! If you love Italian and eat lots of buttery, cheesy garlic bread, try replacing it with this occasionally: toast a slice of sourdough or some other sturdy bread, cut a garlic clove in half and rub the cut side against the hot toast, and then drizzle with olive oil. It's good. I promise. Do you love pumpkin pie? Make yourself a pumpkin pie from scratch, instead of buying a pie, and then take half to the neighbors! Can't live without soda? Try mixing your soda half and half with 100% fruit juice. And every now and then go ahead and eat a whole tub of ice cream for lunch with your husband. And don't feel bad about it. Enjoy every second. Because when you don't deprive yourself totally of the things you love, they lose that forbidden fruit attractiveness that they gain on typical diets.
#6 Remember that God gave us all kinds of veggies and grains for a reason. He also gave us ice cream for a reason. Food is SUPPOSED to be a nice experience. But we're also supposed to eat right and take care of our bodies. They don't have to be mutually exclusive ideas. We just need to learn how to cook what we've been given, and balance our ice cream intake with our veggies and whole grains intake.
#7 READ LABELS!!! Just because it SAYS whole grain doesn't mean it's not mostly nutrient devoid white flour. Just because it SAYS trans fat free doesn't mean it IS. See, if the trans fat per a serving is under a certain amount, they are allowed to say trans fat free. So they get sneaky and pick a small enough serving that they can say it's trans fat free, even if hardly anyone eats a serving that small. So keep an eye out for those hydrogenated oils and fats. IF it contains that, it has trans fat. Not to say a little dose every now and again is terrible for you. Just be aware of when you're putting it in your body.
#8 Eat at home most of the time. We eat restaurant food on average once every two weeks. Eating out, especially fast food, is a recipe for unhealthiness. If you must eat out often, try to pick healthier restaurants like Taco Time or Wendy's, and then try to pick healthier choices, ones with more veggies and less meat and mayo and deep fat frying. If you eat out rarely, when you do go for what you really want, even if it does have five layers of bacon.
How do you eat healthy? What are some of your favorite healthy recipes?
Showing posts with label health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label health. Show all posts
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Some things to do with whole wheat flour.
I have a flour mill. I LOVE it. So does my husband. He loves it because of the things I do with it. Like make all our bread from scratch. And homemade whole wheat tortillas. (Never had one? AMAZING good!). Things just taste better with fresh, living flour, not the dead, rancid whole wheat flour that's been on a shelf for half a year. Also, with my wehat flour I can grind pastry fine wheat flour, SOO much different than the stuff at the store. Anyways. Best 180 dollars I ever spent.
Some things about wheat flour:
It soaks up more liquid than all-purpose flour. So I like to mix things up a little on the wet side, then let them sit for a couple minutes and see if they need more flour or not. 99% of the time, not.
It's just a little bit harder to get the gluten going. Which makes for more tender pastries, but if you don't develop the gluten enough bread will be dense and crumbly.
It tastes really really good!
Recipe #1: Tortillas!
2 c whole wheat flour
salt,
a big spoonful of shortening
warm water
Mix the flour with a little salt. I find that everyone has different preferences about how salty they like their bread, so I'll let you decide how much to use. I use about a half a teaspoon.
Cut in a spoonful of shortning. I use a little more shortening when I want a super flexible tortilla, and less when I want a thicker, more rigid tortilla. No more than a quarter cup though, or you will have a very tough piece of pie crust not a tortilla!
Stir in warm water to make a soft but kneadable dough. Knead a little bit. Break into walnut size lumps. Pinch each lump into a ball. Roll out quite thin.
Put a large pan on medium heat. (I prefer cast iron, but not everyone has it). Place a tortilla on the pan. When you can feel the heat of the pan through the tortilla, turn it over, let it sit briefly, and then take it off the pan and start the next one. If your tortillas are not flexible, you are cooking them too long!
Recipe #2: Drop-biscuits
2 c whole wheat flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 c shortening
1/8 c molasses
Milk or water
Mix together flour, baking powder and salt. Cut in shortening. Add molassess, and milk to make a soft dough. Spoon onto cookie sheet, bake at 350 approximately fifteen minutes. You can bake these biscuits longer or shorter, depending on how crunchy you like the crust. Serve with butter and jam, honey, or syrup, or serve alongside soup, or with stew or chili spooned over them, or split in half to make a sandwich or however else you want!
Recipe #3: Dumplings
Same as drop-biscuits, except drop spoonfuls into boiling hot soup, cover tightly, and cook for about ten minutes (I think? I always just sample a dumpling to see if they're done). You can add herbs with the flour to make herbed dumplings. (sooo good!!)
Recipe #4: Pancakes
2 c whole wheat flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/8 c molassess
Milk or water
Optional, cut up fruit, raisins, nuts, spices, dried fruit, grated cheese, chocolate chips, leftover taco meat, leftover rice, or whatever else you want.
Mix together flour, baking powder and salt. Add molassess, and enough milk or water to make a batter. Heat a frying pan on med heat, grease with oil, butter, or leftover bacon grease. Fry pancakes as usual. Adjust heat and batter thickness as necessary. Serve with butter and syrup, honey, or jam, or fresh fruit and whipped cream. (or if you mixed in leftover taco meat, try with grated cheese and salsa. MMmm!!!)
Eventually I will add my bread recipe here, but I would like to add photos and some video clips so you can see how it works. It's really good bread!!
Do you have good whole wheat recipes? Please share!!! Have you tried one of these recipes? How did it work for you? What changes did you make?
Some things about wheat flour:
It soaks up more liquid than all-purpose flour. So I like to mix things up a little on the wet side, then let them sit for a couple minutes and see if they need more flour or not. 99% of the time, not.
It's just a little bit harder to get the gluten going. Which makes for more tender pastries, but if you don't develop the gluten enough bread will be dense and crumbly.
It tastes really really good!
Recipe #1: Tortillas!
2 c whole wheat flour
salt,
a big spoonful of shortening
warm water
Mix the flour with a little salt. I find that everyone has different preferences about how salty they like their bread, so I'll let you decide how much to use. I use about a half a teaspoon.
Cut in a spoonful of shortning. I use a little more shortening when I want a super flexible tortilla, and less when I want a thicker, more rigid tortilla. No more than a quarter cup though, or you will have a very tough piece of pie crust not a tortilla!
Stir in warm water to make a soft but kneadable dough. Knead a little bit. Break into walnut size lumps. Pinch each lump into a ball. Roll out quite thin.
Put a large pan on medium heat. (I prefer cast iron, but not everyone has it). Place a tortilla on the pan. When you can feel the heat of the pan through the tortilla, turn it over, let it sit briefly, and then take it off the pan and start the next one. If your tortillas are not flexible, you are cooking them too long!
Recipe #2: Drop-biscuits
2 c whole wheat flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 c shortening
1/8 c molasses
Milk or water
Mix together flour, baking powder and salt. Cut in shortening. Add molassess, and milk to make a soft dough. Spoon onto cookie sheet, bake at 350 approximately fifteen minutes. You can bake these biscuits longer or shorter, depending on how crunchy you like the crust. Serve with butter and jam, honey, or syrup, or serve alongside soup, or with stew or chili spooned over them, or split in half to make a sandwich or however else you want!
Recipe #3: Dumplings
Same as drop-biscuits, except drop spoonfuls into boiling hot soup, cover tightly, and cook for about ten minutes (I think? I always just sample a dumpling to see if they're done). You can add herbs with the flour to make herbed dumplings. (sooo good!!)
Recipe #4: Pancakes
2 c whole wheat flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/8 c molassess
Milk or water
Optional, cut up fruit, raisins, nuts, spices, dried fruit, grated cheese, chocolate chips, leftover taco meat, leftover rice, or whatever else you want.
Mix together flour, baking powder and salt. Add molassess, and enough milk or water to make a batter. Heat a frying pan on med heat, grease with oil, butter, or leftover bacon grease. Fry pancakes as usual. Adjust heat and batter thickness as necessary. Serve with butter and syrup, honey, or jam, or fresh fruit and whipped cream. (or if you mixed in leftover taco meat, try with grated cheese and salsa. MMmm!!!)
Eventually I will add my bread recipe here, but I would like to add photos and some video clips so you can see how it works. It's really good bread!!
Do you have good whole wheat recipes? Please share!!! Have you tried one of these recipes? How did it work for you? What changes did you make?
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Creamy salad dressing
I used to think salad dressings were one of those things that you couldn't really make from scratch....before I learned that there isn't really anything you can't make from scratch.
I like this dressing, because it's made with stuff you probably have on hand, it's really easy, and it tastes good.
Creamy salad dressing
Mayonnaise. (the real stuff. Miracle whip or anything that tastes similar won't work. Besides, it's nasty......)
Lemon juice
Milk
Paprika
Garlic powder
Italian seasoning
Put mayo in a bowl. 1 large spoonful makes enough for two meals of salad at our house. Add some lemon juice. More lemon juice makes a nice lemony dressing that's good on chicken, less lemon makes it kind of like ranch dressing. Add milk to get the consistency you want. I tend to make it thinner so that it coats the lettuce easier. You're probably not going to get that super-thick store dressing consistency, but I don't like it that way myself so I don't care. Add the seasonings to taste. Whisk until smooth.
Something I like to do with this is take two frozen chicken breasts, coat them with the dressing and then breadcrumbs, dot with a little butter, and bake at 350 until the meat is done. It's not very crispy, but it has a lovely flavor and the chicken stays pretty juicy even if you overcook it a bit. (It will get dry eventually, but you have to REALLY overcook it.....)
I like this dressing, because it's made with stuff you probably have on hand, it's really easy, and it tastes good.
Creamy salad dressing
Mayonnaise. (the real stuff. Miracle whip or anything that tastes similar won't work. Besides, it's nasty......)
Lemon juice
Milk
Paprika
Garlic powder
Italian seasoning
Put mayo in a bowl. 1 large spoonful makes enough for two meals of salad at our house. Add some lemon juice. More lemon juice makes a nice lemony dressing that's good on chicken, less lemon makes it kind of like ranch dressing. Add milk to get the consistency you want. I tend to make it thinner so that it coats the lettuce easier. You're probably not going to get that super-thick store dressing consistency, but I don't like it that way myself so I don't care. Add the seasonings to taste. Whisk until smooth.
Something I like to do with this is take two frozen chicken breasts, coat them with the dressing and then breadcrumbs, dot with a little butter, and bake at 350 until the meat is done. It's not very crispy, but it has a lovely flavor and the chicken stays pretty juicy even if you overcook it a bit. (It will get dry eventually, but you have to REALLY overcook it.....)
Friday, December 2, 2011
Challenge the status quo.
Some things that have been ingrained into our systems have been good, are good, and always will be good. Like looking both ways before we cross the street, or that making an effort to eat at least a few veggies is good for us.
Some things we take for granted aren't good for us though. I wish more people would stop saying "Of course it's good! That's how it's done!" and get out and educate themselves.
I want to tell you at the very beginning here that I am not out to make you believe what I believe. I don't want you to be a blind follower. I want you to get out there and ask your own questions and form your own opinions. Read studies, compare philosophies, take what you deem good and reject the bad. I've cobbled together my own idea of what's right from a lot of different sources, but I'm quick to reject any part of a philosophy that doesn't jive with my research or my common sense.
In the tips I'm including some examples of opinions I've formed and some of the information behind them. I don't want you to just accept what I say (I could be wrong and I don't want that kind of power!), or reject it. I want you to say "huh, I wonder?" and go find out things for yourself. You might come to a completely different conclusion that me. And that's fine. But you will have gone out and actually made an informed decision that I can respect. I can't take seriously the opinion of people who blindly say, "but that's normal." Just because it is doesn't mean it SHOULD be.
Tips:
1. Studies can help you get more solid proof than just people's opinions. However, studies CAN be skewed to get desired results. When reading studies, look at who was included, how many were included, what factors were controlled for, things like that. A blatantly skewed study from the seventies concluded that home-birth was dangerous. If you actually look at the study itself, you find that their definition of home-birth was any out-of-hospital birth. Included were planned hospital births that didn't make it on time, unattended home-births by drug addicts and such, and even MISCARRIAGES!!! A different study from the 70's that compared the perinatal mortality rate of 1,046 planned home-births to 1,046 planned hospital births, all the mothers from both groups being low-risk, concluded this: "'The hospital-birth women were more likely than the planned home birth mothers to have had the following: five times more likely to have high blood pressure in labor, nine times more likely to have a severe perineal tear, three times more likely to have had postpartum hemorrhage, and three times more likely to have had a Cesarean.' The babies born to the hospital birth women also had a higher complication rate than the babies born to home birth women. In the hospitals, the infants were six times more likely to have had fetal distress before birth, four times more likely to have needed assistance to start breathing, and four times more likely to have developed an infection. There were no birth injuries at home, but thirty infants in the hospital suffered birth injuries." - quoted from Birthing From Within by Pam England CNM, MA, and Rob Horowitz PHD.
2. Compare both sides of an argument. Really listen. Ask questions. Who has concerns about valid problems? Can those problems be minimized by certain actions? Is either side supported by good information? Is someone just using opinions? Is someone using scare-tactics? Are those scare-tactics well-researched and warranted? Or are they just throwing out a few rare examples? Does either side have a vested interest in a specific outcome for political or economic reasons? Is either side ignoring or obfuscating important evidence against them? Be willing to switch sides if you find you're wrong, or find a balanced middle ground between both camps if your research takes you there. My Mom believes in homeopathy. I don't. I believe in some parts of naturopathy, but not homeopathy. I haven't found any good evidence for it or against it really. I do find that homeopathic companies tend to make rather outlandish claims about their product on what seems to be a whim. This makes me feel that they are snake oil salesmen and I don't trust what they're selling. I am welcome to receiving better information for or against. I think it's a wonderfully cool idea.
3. Take a look at the history and science behind something, in our own culture and others. For example, the routine use of modern circumcision techniques on boys was started in the Victorian era to prevent masturbation. (it doesn't). The original Jewish circumcision only removed the loose tip of the foreskin that extended beyond the glans. Modern circumcision involves forcibly peeling the entire protective foreskin from the mucous membranes of the glans (to which it is naturally adhered to at birth, separating later as the boy matures), turning a sensitive area into a large open wound, and then cutting off the entire foreskin, which normally functions for the glans kind of like the eyelids for the eyes. The cons of this procedure are the risk of infection and surgical error possibly resulting in permanent dysfunction or even death, and to be perfectly honest, you just cut off an area that when intact is responsible for a great deal of sexual pleasure, and the procedure can often reduce the mature size of the penis. (Yeah, they don't know what they're missing, but is it fair to deny them the opportunity to find out?) As for the pros: over the course of the years people keep throwing out ideas as to why circumcision should still be performed. None of the ideas have been substantiated, and almost all of them have been repudiated. Female circumcision (the removal of the clitoris) is done in some third world countries and hailed to be an incredibly cruel and barbaric act by us enlightened societies. I can't see that male circumcision is all that much different. America is the only first world society that still does routine circumcision on boy babies.
Feel free to add any tips I may have missed in the comments section!
Some things we take for granted aren't good for us though. I wish more people would stop saying "Of course it's good! That's how it's done!" and get out and educate themselves.
I want to tell you at the very beginning here that I am not out to make you believe what I believe. I don't want you to be a blind follower. I want you to get out there and ask your own questions and form your own opinions. Read studies, compare philosophies, take what you deem good and reject the bad. I've cobbled together my own idea of what's right from a lot of different sources, but I'm quick to reject any part of a philosophy that doesn't jive with my research or my common sense.
In the tips I'm including some examples of opinions I've formed and some of the information behind them. I don't want you to just accept what I say (I could be wrong and I don't want that kind of power!), or reject it. I want you to say "huh, I wonder?" and go find out things for yourself. You might come to a completely different conclusion that me. And that's fine. But you will have gone out and actually made an informed decision that I can respect. I can't take seriously the opinion of people who blindly say, "but that's normal." Just because it is doesn't mean it SHOULD be.
Tips:
1. Studies can help you get more solid proof than just people's opinions. However, studies CAN be skewed to get desired results. When reading studies, look at who was included, how many were included, what factors were controlled for, things like that. A blatantly skewed study from the seventies concluded that home-birth was dangerous. If you actually look at the study itself, you find that their definition of home-birth was any out-of-hospital birth. Included were planned hospital births that didn't make it on time, unattended home-births by drug addicts and such, and even MISCARRIAGES!!! A different study from the 70's that compared the perinatal mortality rate of 1,046 planned home-births to 1,046 planned hospital births, all the mothers from both groups being low-risk, concluded this: "'The hospital-birth women were more likely than the planned home birth mothers to have had the following: five times more likely to have high blood pressure in labor, nine times more likely to have a severe perineal tear, three times more likely to have had postpartum hemorrhage, and three times more likely to have had a Cesarean.' The babies born to the hospital birth women also had a higher complication rate than the babies born to home birth women. In the hospitals, the infants were six times more likely to have had fetal distress before birth, four times more likely to have needed assistance to start breathing, and four times more likely to have developed an infection. There were no birth injuries at home, but thirty infants in the hospital suffered birth injuries." - quoted from Birthing From Within by Pam England CNM, MA, and Rob Horowitz PHD.
2. Compare both sides of an argument. Really listen. Ask questions. Who has concerns about valid problems? Can those problems be minimized by certain actions? Is either side supported by good information? Is someone just using opinions? Is someone using scare-tactics? Are those scare-tactics well-researched and warranted? Or are they just throwing out a few rare examples? Does either side have a vested interest in a specific outcome for political or economic reasons? Is either side ignoring or obfuscating important evidence against them? Be willing to switch sides if you find you're wrong, or find a balanced middle ground between both camps if your research takes you there. My Mom believes in homeopathy. I don't. I believe in some parts of naturopathy, but not homeopathy. I haven't found any good evidence for it or against it really. I do find that homeopathic companies tend to make rather outlandish claims about their product on what seems to be a whim. This makes me feel that they are snake oil salesmen and I don't trust what they're selling. I am welcome to receiving better information for or against. I think it's a wonderfully cool idea.
3. Take a look at the history and science behind something, in our own culture and others. For example, the routine use of modern circumcision techniques on boys was started in the Victorian era to prevent masturbation. (it doesn't). The original Jewish circumcision only removed the loose tip of the foreskin that extended beyond the glans. Modern circumcision involves forcibly peeling the entire protective foreskin from the mucous membranes of the glans (to which it is naturally adhered to at birth, separating later as the boy matures), turning a sensitive area into a large open wound, and then cutting off the entire foreskin, which normally functions for the glans kind of like the eyelids for the eyes. The cons of this procedure are the risk of infection and surgical error possibly resulting in permanent dysfunction or even death, and to be perfectly honest, you just cut off an area that when intact is responsible for a great deal of sexual pleasure, and the procedure can often reduce the mature size of the penis. (Yeah, they don't know what they're missing, but is it fair to deny them the opportunity to find out?) As for the pros: over the course of the years people keep throwing out ideas as to why circumcision should still be performed. None of the ideas have been substantiated, and almost all of them have been repudiated. Female circumcision (the removal of the clitoris) is done in some third world countries and hailed to be an incredibly cruel and barbaric act by us enlightened societies. I can't see that male circumcision is all that much different. America is the only first world society that still does routine circumcision on boy babies.
Feel free to add any tips I may have missed in the comments section!
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Eat cheap food. Cook from scratch.
I get that we have a busy, fast paced culture and sometimes people are tired. So convenience food sounds like a great idea, right? Well, think again. My husband and I get pretty adequate nutrition for about 20-30 dollars a week. More like 35 or 40 if we're feeling indulgent and decide to make things like homemade hamburgers. (Do homemade hamburgers and you can feed your whole family for what it would have cost for just you and your husband!) Think about how much you spend on food. How much of it is convenience/fast food? be honest! Now convert that into hours worked. Scary, huh? So, basically, you COULD be working less, and eating better. If you wanted to.
A typically weekly grocery trip for us looks like this:
Milk
Eggs
Frozen chicken breasts
Margarine (I prefer butter because of the trans fats margarine contains, but when things are tight you gotta do what ya gotta do)
Lettuce
Squash
Tomatoes
Onions
Celery
Apples
Bananas
A couple pantry staples such as soy-sauce or lentils
We have a wheat grinder and I make all our bread 100 % whole wheat from scratch, and all our other baked goods from scratch. Buying a fifty pound bag of wheat occasionally is not very expensive at all.
Here's a typical menu for a few days with prep times:
Day one
Oatmeal with milk and banana slices: 10 min
Apple slices with peanutbutter: 2 min
Egg salad sandwich with lettuce: 5 min if eggs are already boiled and bread is already baked.
Chicken grilled with a little olive oil, green salad with homemade dressing: 45 min
1 hr two min. + 40 min active time to grind wheat and bake bread in the morning, and 10to boil the eggs. Less than two hours total.
Day two
Whole wheat pancakes with margarine and low sugar peach jam we canned in the summer: 15 min
Oatmeal cookies and a banana: 1hr, but most of that the cookies are baking and you're doing other things. So we'll call it 15 min
Leftover salad with leftover chicken and some sauteed onion added: 10 min
Homemade chicken soup with squash, onions, tomatoes, celery, carrots and anything else I have and feel like in it, and a slice of bread: 30 min, but you'll want to let it simmer for a while for the flavors to meld, so we'll call it an hour, but I bet you'll read a book and not stare at the pot.
2 hr 10 min
Day three (we'll assume I'm busy or not feeling great, so it's pretty low key)
Eggs and buttered toast with the option of jam or cinnamon sugar. (three eggs, two basted easy for him, one fried over hard for me): 10 min
Leftover cookies and carrot sticks: 5 min
Peanut butter and banana sandwich, celery sticks: 5 min
Leftover soup and bread: 10 min (to heat up the soup on the stove since we don't have a microwave)
30 min
So for about two hours a day you can eat healthy, or you can work for four hours a day or more to eat junk food and die of clogged arteries or diabetic complications. With this kind of diet you can cut out short-burst energizers like coffee, soda, or excess sugar, because you'll be eating great and working less, so you'll have WAY more energy. You can even wear the cute skinny person clothes you've always wanted to! You could eat this way, and still work the extra two hours a day, and save up for the downpayment on that house you want. You will have far fewer medical expenses in the long run, so you're saving yourself money in the future too.
When you eat this way, you don't have to worry about crash diets or anything like that. My husband has been slowly but steadily losing weight since we got married. It was a lot more at first, and now it's leveling off. He's a healthy weight now, and feels great. I'm gaining the weight I should be for our baby, but not too much. When you're eating healthy foods prepared properly, it's a lot easier to regulate your eating without even having to think about it. Convenience foods are typically overly processed foods that contain too much sugar, fake things like sucralose and trans fats, and too few nutrients. When your body isn't bombarded by pseudo-food, but real, fresh, natural ingredients, it tends to choose to eat the right amounts. And as you can see, you can still indulge in things like cookies, popcorn, etc. But when you're making them at home with real ingredients, they're better for you. Try it and see.
Tips:
1 You don't have to worry about couponing your groceries, because honestly you will hardly ever buy anything someone would bother publishing a coupon for if you live like this. (coupons are a marketing ploy to get people to buy stuff they don't really need, like name brand toilet paper or toaster strudel pastries) Sometimes you can use one to get a sweet deal on toothpaste, but usually they're not worth the trouble.
2 Avoid shortcuts. If a recipe says to use lipton onion soup mix, or condensed cream of mushroom soup, or half a bottle of salad dressing, you're not really cooking from scratch. You're assembling convenience foods with a few real ingredients to make pretend from scratch food. It takes like, TWO minutes to look up how to season a dish properly, or whip up an easy white sauce. (well, maybe five for the white sauce). And think of all the preservatives and other guck you're adding to your food!!!!
3 Shop the edges of the store. It's where they keep the real food. Avoid the middle like the plague except to dart in commando-style and grab things like molassess and oatmeal.
4 Be wary of frozen vegetables. Compare prices. Sometimes they're a better deal, but a lot of times buying fresh is best. Fresh vegetables tend to be more versatile too, because their cell walls haven't been broken down by the freezing process. And no matter what anyone tells you, you can't really make a proper stirfry from frozen veggies!!!!!!
5 If you cannot resist your children's pleas for cap'n crunch, or your husband's sneaky slip-the-chips-in-the-basket-while-she's-not-looking maneuver, don't bring them with you! I do all the shopping and cooking in my home. We eat what I make. I accomadate my husband's tastes a lot (homemade pizza anyone?), and I buy special treats for us occasionally (he likes that aerosol cheese on crackers....he'll eat a whole can in less than an hour), but our basic diet is what I buy and make. I'm not saying to deprive them of food they enjoy and make them subsist on gruel. My husband thoroughly enjoys what we eat. But if they're the ones loading the cart with too much garbage food, leave them home.
6 Don't shop hungry. I always eat right before I go, because if I don't, all those quick snacks start looking miiiiiiighty tasty!!!!!
7 Don't shop while you have to pee. My Mom told me once that I should always use the bathroom before a job interview, because when you gotta pee you talk to much. I've found a lot of other things just work better on an empty bladder. I think something about excess urine short circuits our brains.
8 Decide how much you want to spend before you go. I draw up a list of what I need to buy before I go and calculate how much it should cost. Some people keep a lot of fancy charts and lists, but I just guesstimate. I don't get specific over my produce either. I tend to just allocate a certain portion of my chosen amount for the trip. Say, five dollars for fruit and six for veggies. If I can buy what I have on my list for less than I've calculated, then I might let myself splurge on something I wouldn't normally buy. Or I put the money aside in my fun money stash.
9 What are you willing to spend? I don't usually let my weekly produce expenditure average out to more than a dollar a pound. That doesn't mean I don't occasionally buy things like strawberries or out of season peaches, but I tend to balance it by choosing things that are far less than my desired price per pound for the rest of my purchase.
10 Shop in season. A general rule of thumb is if it's cheaper than usual, it's in season. That's why you shop in season. Exploring the produce section regularly will help you learn what typical prices are, and help you notice when they've gone down.
How do you eat? What do you do to save money, eat healthier, or save time cooking? What's your favorite recipe? Let me know!
A typically weekly grocery trip for us looks like this:
Milk
Eggs
Frozen chicken breasts
Margarine (I prefer butter because of the trans fats margarine contains, but when things are tight you gotta do what ya gotta do)
Lettuce
Squash
Tomatoes
Onions
Celery
Apples
Bananas
A couple pantry staples such as soy-sauce or lentils
We have a wheat grinder and I make all our bread 100 % whole wheat from scratch, and all our other baked goods from scratch. Buying a fifty pound bag of wheat occasionally is not very expensive at all.
Here's a typical menu for a few days with prep times:
Day one
Oatmeal with milk and banana slices: 10 min
Apple slices with peanutbutter: 2 min
Egg salad sandwich with lettuce: 5 min if eggs are already boiled and bread is already baked.
Chicken grilled with a little olive oil, green salad with homemade dressing: 45 min
1 hr two min. + 40 min active time to grind wheat and bake bread in the morning, and 10to boil the eggs. Less than two hours total.
Day two
Whole wheat pancakes with margarine and low sugar peach jam we canned in the summer: 15 min
Oatmeal cookies and a banana: 1hr, but most of that the cookies are baking and you're doing other things. So we'll call it 15 min
Leftover salad with leftover chicken and some sauteed onion added: 10 min
Homemade chicken soup with squash, onions, tomatoes, celery, carrots and anything else I have and feel like in it, and a slice of bread: 30 min, but you'll want to let it simmer for a while for the flavors to meld, so we'll call it an hour, but I bet you'll read a book and not stare at the pot.
2 hr 10 min
Day three (we'll assume I'm busy or not feeling great, so it's pretty low key)
Eggs and buttered toast with the option of jam or cinnamon sugar. (three eggs, two basted easy for him, one fried over hard for me): 10 min
Leftover cookies and carrot sticks: 5 min
Peanut butter and banana sandwich, celery sticks: 5 min
Leftover soup and bread: 10 min (to heat up the soup on the stove since we don't have a microwave)
30 min
So for about two hours a day you can eat healthy, or you can work for four hours a day or more to eat junk food and die of clogged arteries or diabetic complications. With this kind of diet you can cut out short-burst energizers like coffee, soda, or excess sugar, because you'll be eating great and working less, so you'll have WAY more energy. You can even wear the cute skinny person clothes you've always wanted to! You could eat this way, and still work the extra two hours a day, and save up for the downpayment on that house you want. You will have far fewer medical expenses in the long run, so you're saving yourself money in the future too.
When you eat this way, you don't have to worry about crash diets or anything like that. My husband has been slowly but steadily losing weight since we got married. It was a lot more at first, and now it's leveling off. He's a healthy weight now, and feels great. I'm gaining the weight I should be for our baby, but not too much. When you're eating healthy foods prepared properly, it's a lot easier to regulate your eating without even having to think about it. Convenience foods are typically overly processed foods that contain too much sugar, fake things like sucralose and trans fats, and too few nutrients. When your body isn't bombarded by pseudo-food, but real, fresh, natural ingredients, it tends to choose to eat the right amounts. And as you can see, you can still indulge in things like cookies, popcorn, etc. But when you're making them at home with real ingredients, they're better for you. Try it and see.
Tips:
1 You don't have to worry about couponing your groceries, because honestly you will hardly ever buy anything someone would bother publishing a coupon for if you live like this. (coupons are a marketing ploy to get people to buy stuff they don't really need, like name brand toilet paper or toaster strudel pastries) Sometimes you can use one to get a sweet deal on toothpaste, but usually they're not worth the trouble.
2 Avoid shortcuts. If a recipe says to use lipton onion soup mix, or condensed cream of mushroom soup, or half a bottle of salad dressing, you're not really cooking from scratch. You're assembling convenience foods with a few real ingredients to make pretend from scratch food. It takes like, TWO minutes to look up how to season a dish properly, or whip up an easy white sauce. (well, maybe five for the white sauce). And think of all the preservatives and other guck you're adding to your food!!!!
3 Shop the edges of the store. It's where they keep the real food. Avoid the middle like the plague except to dart in commando-style and grab things like molassess and oatmeal.
4 Be wary of frozen vegetables. Compare prices. Sometimes they're a better deal, but a lot of times buying fresh is best. Fresh vegetables tend to be more versatile too, because their cell walls haven't been broken down by the freezing process. And no matter what anyone tells you, you can't really make a proper stirfry from frozen veggies!!!!!!
5 If you cannot resist your children's pleas for cap'n crunch, or your husband's sneaky slip-the-chips-in-the-basket-while-she's-not-looking maneuver, don't bring them with you! I do all the shopping and cooking in my home. We eat what I make. I accomadate my husband's tastes a lot (homemade pizza anyone?), and I buy special treats for us occasionally (he likes that aerosol cheese on crackers....he'll eat a whole can in less than an hour), but our basic diet is what I buy and make. I'm not saying to deprive them of food they enjoy and make them subsist on gruel. My husband thoroughly enjoys what we eat. But if they're the ones loading the cart with too much garbage food, leave them home.
6 Don't shop hungry. I always eat right before I go, because if I don't, all those quick snacks start looking miiiiiiighty tasty!!!!!
7 Don't shop while you have to pee. My Mom told me once that I should always use the bathroom before a job interview, because when you gotta pee you talk to much. I've found a lot of other things just work better on an empty bladder. I think something about excess urine short circuits our brains.
8 Decide how much you want to spend before you go. I draw up a list of what I need to buy before I go and calculate how much it should cost. Some people keep a lot of fancy charts and lists, but I just guesstimate. I don't get specific over my produce either. I tend to just allocate a certain portion of my chosen amount for the trip. Say, five dollars for fruit and six for veggies. If I can buy what I have on my list for less than I've calculated, then I might let myself splurge on something I wouldn't normally buy. Or I put the money aside in my fun money stash.
9 What are you willing to spend? I don't usually let my weekly produce expenditure average out to more than a dollar a pound. That doesn't mean I don't occasionally buy things like strawberries or out of season peaches, but I tend to balance it by choosing things that are far less than my desired price per pound for the rest of my purchase.
10 Shop in season. A general rule of thumb is if it's cheaper than usual, it's in season. That's why you shop in season. Exploring the produce section regularly will help you learn what typical prices are, and help you notice when they've gone down.
How do you eat? What do you do to save money, eat healthier, or save time cooking? What's your favorite recipe? Let me know!