The Total Whole Foods Makeover (Part 1)
So, I've been on a mission lately.
For those of you that don't know, my eldest daughter is currently on medication for intestinal issues. I would like for her to get off of those medications as soon as we can possibly do it.
The only way I can see that happening is to super-healthify our diets.
It's not that we weren't eating healthy before. My kids like a variety of foods and eat pretty well for the most part. But there was the occasional hot dog. And pizza. And probably a few too many sweets. And not enough fruits and vegetables. We just weren't getting the most nutritional bang for our buck at most meals.
So, basically, here's my plan: I'm trying to cram as many fruits, veggies, and super-foods into our diets as is possible in a day.
(Additionally, although not quite as important: I'm trying to up our protein intake a little, since we're tightwad semi-vegetarians. With M and I exercising quite a bit I knew that our muscles could use some better high-protein recovery foods.)
But here's the thing. I don't want this to be a fad diet that we will be on for a few weeks and then we'll all get sick of it and go back to the way things were.
So how do you make such a diet change sustainable?
You focus on making things that are really delicious.
So I sat down one day and scoured the internet. There is a WEALTH of information out there on healthy, delicious recipes out there if you just go looking for it. But still, I worried about three things.
1) Will my kids dig all these new foods? Is Mikey going to like this?
2) Will all of this food preparation make a lot of extra work for me in the kitchen? Ain't nobody got time fo dat!!!!
3) Will I be able to find delicious whole foods at a price that won't stretch our (very limited) food budget too far?
Well, hopefully I'll answer those questions as I start this series of blog posts on how we "made over" our diets, one meal at a time.
Greek yogurt with blueberries, and chocolate cashew flax breakfast cookies. (I substituted peanut butter for the cashew butter... and I just threw all ingredients in the food processor and pureed rather than chopping or mashing.) When the cookies first came out of the oven, L remarked, "It looks like poop!" but that was the only objection... they were a big hit!
Here's Mommy's personal favorite: oatmeal made with vanilla soy milk and sprinkled with cinnamon, blueberries, and chia & flaxseed for extra protein. Man did this taste good after my run in the cool blustery wind this morning. (I've also done some overnight oats too... de. lish. shus.)
We've also done a couple of days of just scrambled eggs, Super Fiber Bread toast, and fresh (or frozen) fruit.
Oh and sometimes we have greek yogurt with quinoa granola (see the family recipes tab).
So... now the answers to the burning questions...
1) Does Mikey like it?
So far, yes, for the most part. N is the one who is putting up the most resistance. She's older and smart, and she quickly wised up to the fact that I'm making food changes, and now she's automatically suspicious of anything that I put in front of her. She otherwise might have liked all of these things just fine; it was perhaps just too many new things at once. Breakfast has been the easiest adjustment for her, though-- there's a pretty good mix of the old and the new in there. I'm confident that she'll adjust if we just stick with it. The other two sisters have not batted an eye and regularly clean their plates at breakfast.
2) Anybody got time fo dat???
There has definitely been more prep work for Mommy at breakfast time. Making scrambled eggs obviously requires a bit more work (and cleanup) than pouring cereal in a bowl and slapping some milk on it. But at least I have easier options, like the smoothie and toast route, and if I prep things the night before (make the breakfast cookies or throw the oatmeal in the CrockPot) it makes breakfast fairly simple. I think I'm willing to go the extra mile here because I've seen a huge improvement in our morning moods and energy level, and throughout the day as well, with a healthier breakfast. Sometimes we're not even hungry for a morning snack... so in my mind, it's worth it to put for a little extra effort at breakfast time.
3) Does the diet change meet our budgetary needs?
Yes... absolutely. I'm actually saving money on this meal by not buying expensive cereals. It turns out that healthy actually equals cheap when it comes to breakfast.
I'll be covering our lunch changes soon in a separate post. Stay tuned!
For those of you that don't know, my eldest daughter is currently on medication for intestinal issues. I would like for her to get off of those medications as soon as we can possibly do it.
The only way I can see that happening is to super-healthify our diets.
It's not that we weren't eating healthy before. My kids like a variety of foods and eat pretty well for the most part. But there was the occasional hot dog. And pizza. And probably a few too many sweets. And not enough fruits and vegetables. We just weren't getting the most nutritional bang for our buck at most meals.
So, basically, here's my plan: I'm trying to cram as many fruits, veggies, and super-foods into our diets as is possible in a day.
(Additionally, although not quite as important: I'm trying to up our protein intake a little, since we're tightwad semi-vegetarians. With M and I exercising quite a bit I knew that our muscles could use some better high-protein recovery foods.)
But here's the thing. I don't want this to be a fad diet that we will be on for a few weeks and then we'll all get sick of it and go back to the way things were.
So how do you make such a diet change sustainable?
You focus on making things that are really delicious.
So I sat down one day and scoured the internet. There is a WEALTH of information out there on healthy, delicious recipes out there if you just go looking for it. But still, I worried about three things.
1) Will my kids dig all these new foods? Is Mikey going to like this?
2) Will all of this food preparation make a lot of extra work for me in the kitchen? Ain't nobody got time fo dat!!!!
3) Will I be able to find delicious whole foods at a price that won't stretch our (very limited) food budget too far?
Well, hopefully I'll answer those questions as I start this series of blog posts on how we "made over" our diets, one meal at a time.
I'm gonna start with breakfast.
Our previous breakfasts:
Cereal.
Basically, cold cereal with milk was it.
I occasionally made popovers or oatmeal or cornmeal mush or veeery rarely I might have made muffins or pancakes. And of course, Saturday is always waffle day when Daddy is home to make them. But we mostly ate store-bought cereal... you know, Raisin Bran, Cheerios, etc.
Not only was there no fruit/veggie option with breakfast for the most part, but there was no protein, other than a small amount in the milk. Every single member of our family would burn right through that cereal and be hungry again (and grumpy) within 1-2 hours.
Our new breakfasts:
Green smoothie (1/2 cup peanut butter, 1 banana, 1 1/2 cup almond milk, 2 cups kale, and three or four shakes of cinnamon from the cinnamon shaker... did you know that cinnamon can help stabilize your blood sugar? Who knew!) with homemade bread, toasted. I modified my favorite homemade bread recipe into Super Fiber Bread by reducing the sugar, and adding chia, flax, and flaxseed meal. It's way cheaper than store-bought fiber breads and doesn't have any of the preservatives. A couple mornings we've substituted our standard favorite Blueberry Banana smoothie with peanut-butter-spread toast. (If you're looking for delicious smoothie ideas, here's a great resource.)
I didn't get a picture of this one before C completely devoured it. It's greek yogurt, banana slices, and Elise's crockpot steel cut oats. Did I mention that C loves mushy stuff? N and L were not big fans of the steel cut oats. L has never liked oatmeal and N couldn't deal with the chunks. Mommy & Daddy loved it, though... so we're going to keep trying it!
Greek yogurt with blueberries, and chocolate cashew flax breakfast cookies. (I substituted peanut butter for the cashew butter... and I just threw all ingredients in the food processor and pureed rather than chopping or mashing.) When the cookies first came out of the oven, L remarked, "It looks like poop!" but that was the only objection... they were a big hit!
Here's Mommy's personal favorite: oatmeal made with vanilla soy milk and sprinkled with cinnamon, blueberries, and chia & flaxseed for extra protein. Man did this taste good after my run in the cool blustery wind this morning. (I've also done some overnight oats too... de. lish. shus.)
We've also done a couple of days of just scrambled eggs, Super Fiber Bread toast, and fresh (or frozen) fruit.
Oh and sometimes we have greek yogurt with quinoa granola (see the family recipes tab).
So... now the answers to the burning questions...
1) Does Mikey like it?
So far, yes, for the most part. N is the one who is putting up the most resistance. She's older and smart, and she quickly wised up to the fact that I'm making food changes, and now she's automatically suspicious of anything that I put in front of her. She otherwise might have liked all of these things just fine; it was perhaps just too many new things at once. Breakfast has been the easiest adjustment for her, though-- there's a pretty good mix of the old and the new in there. I'm confident that she'll adjust if we just stick with it. The other two sisters have not batted an eye and regularly clean their plates at breakfast.
2) Anybody got time fo dat???
There has definitely been more prep work for Mommy at breakfast time. Making scrambled eggs obviously requires a bit more work (and cleanup) than pouring cereal in a bowl and slapping some milk on it. But at least I have easier options, like the smoothie and toast route, and if I prep things the night before (make the breakfast cookies or throw the oatmeal in the CrockPot) it makes breakfast fairly simple. I think I'm willing to go the extra mile here because I've seen a huge improvement in our morning moods and energy level, and throughout the day as well, with a healthier breakfast. Sometimes we're not even hungry for a morning snack... so in my mind, it's worth it to put for a little extra effort at breakfast time.
3) Does the diet change meet our budgetary needs?
Yes... absolutely. I'm actually saving money on this meal by not buying expensive cereals. It turns out that healthy actually equals cheap when it comes to breakfast.
I'll be covering our lunch changes soon in a separate post. Stay tuned!
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