Vegetables provide most of the vitamins and minerals our bodies need. And Fruit provides complex carbohydrates and natural sugar that can easily converted into energy. (It is harder for your body to convert natural sugar into fat so, it would rather have you expend the energy than to convert it. That's why those who eat this way have more energy! We can't help it. haha.)
We need complex carbohydrates because they provide necessary energy for our bodies. When we eat whole-foods, plant based, it is like a symphony going on in our bodies, so many things working together to provide the cells with what they need.
Natural antioxidants found in the food shields (or the color part of the food) help our bodies with the free radicals, which our bodies cannot help combat on it's own.
Processed can be kind of a loose term. If you do any thing to food (i.e. grind wheat) you are risking some nutritional value being lost. It is for the fact that most of the "american diet" food we buy and eat has been stripped of these complex carbohydrates which are GOOD for us leaving simple carbs, the empty carbs, then, because they don't really taste good anymore are shot with either salt, refined sugar, MSG and a whole host off additives and shelf stabilizing preservatives.
So the idea of being processed is OK (I make my own whole wheat bread, I cook vegetables), but over the years of eating most commercially processed foods, is what has caused our bodies to gain and keep weight, cause diseases, disorders and cancers.
So a few things to mull around...
We must start to think what are the worst things I could be putting in my body? And thinking of was to use them less and less. Kind of like self weaning. (I can give you some starters)
And two-if anyone in your family says they are allergic to vegetables :). Trust me, I know the feeling! To me a vegetable ONLY tasted good it it was SMOTHERED in Ranch (Hidden Valley of course :)
If we or they don't like the regular taste, I don't blame us. So, what are you going to do about that? Welcome to the wonderful world of herbs and spices. When they are prepared at home in all of their loving glory that you can put into them, we will like them, trust me. In addition to herbs and spices, buying Extra Virgin Olive Oil-Cold Pressed, and natural sugar (like honey, agave nectar, 100% pure maple syrup) are excellent choices to flavor veggies.
(And these natural sugars have a low glycemic index so it doesn't give you the spikes in insulin and you don't have to use as much because it's sweeter. I recommend finding some of these and using them instead of white, brown or powdered sugar.)
It's really quite easy! All I do is spend a little more time in the kitchen preparing whole-foods, plant based, and bingo, yummy meals!! There was a 3-4 month learning, preparing and buying curve to this and wow, what a short investment for yummy food and healthy eating!
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
the basic idea
So where to start? First let's look at what you like. My taste buds may be different from yours. I enjoy dinners that have very full and distinct flavors, sometimes more salty. I really enjoy beans and melons. I am a snaky person and like to eat things between meals so I have to make sure to have easy delicious things on hand. It's just me. And that is the whole point. I can be me and healthy at the same time.
Part of the learning process is like a dance, learning when the F and V's are ripe enough and what day you want to eat them. Which ones can be stored in the fridge and which ones better on the counter? You might already know most of this stuff, but I've had to learn it and still occasionally have to throw a few things away. That's OK.
I wanted to give you a little background first, now. Let's talk about grocery shopping to help you get started. Let's see, fresh, fresh!
Where I think you're going to end up, if you choose, is a grocery cart of basic things like fruits and veggies. And as needed cupboard items such as vinegars, oils, natural sugars, herbs and spices, canned or dry beans, brown rice, nuts, oatmeal and flours made of whole wheat/corn and the like. At least, that is where I am right now.
I've built up a store of those cupboard items over these past few months and have found it helpful to go to the store 2 times a week to get my fresh F's and V's. Grocery shopping could possibly be done only once a week, if we didn't like bananas so much! :) Although, I have those special bags which can reduce the carbon output of F's and V's to make them last longer. I'll have to try that.
For breakfast I choose fruit, 2-3 bananas and a glass of 100% OJ. The fruit gives me my carbohydrates and sugars to make into quick energy I'll need at the start of the day with my girls. My health teacher at BYU-I liked a bowl of oatmeal and a banana. Joe and the girls eat cereal with soymilk. If you do choose cereal, look at the labels too see which ones are better for you. Oftentimes stores show which ones are approved by WIC and those tend to be the healthier ones.
Lunch varies with us. Sometimes it’s yummy leftovers, other times I make a sandwich with whole wheat bread and homemade Almondaise (mayo-like made out of almonds and de-lsih) with tomatoes and avocados on it. Or we have bean and tomatoes. Or spinach with homemade dressings. Whatever whole-foods I have around and feel like!
For snacks I like nuts and fruit, I even make dehydrated fruit and granola bars to have on hand.
For the grocery list put some of your favorites on there, ones you know they will eat in a given time period, then you can do one of two things for dinner (which centers around 1 or 2 vegetables:
1. I usually look through my favorite healthy cookbook (or website) and see which vegetables I want to be the "Star" of the meal and put that on my list, then and take a look in my cupboards to see if I have the spices etc. listed in the recipe and put that down too. Or,
2. Just go to the store and pick up any new and exciting vegetable and when I want to use that for a dinner, look up a recipe and go for it with what I have, or completely make something up.
They key to grocery shopping is simple. Keep it simple! Once you've found your usual's and which items are healthier, you won't be spending hours in there trying to make decisions.
This is the first month that we have actually been under budget for food, which is exciting because I was determined to prove that eating healthy is cheaper. There are other factors in consideration to this, but for this month, the Black family can say SUCCESS! Of course, other months will ultimately prove it's validity.
Remember, this is all a progression. Like most people who want to quit smoking, most people it takes time and small goals others can do it all at once and not have a regression. Eating healthy is the same way! So start where you want with the meals choose and choose to buy less of the things that you know are really bad for you. Would you like to know what some of those things are?
Remember, this is all a progression. Like most people who want to quit smoking, for most people it takes time and small goals, others can do it all at once and not have a regression. Eating healthy is the same way! So start where you want with the meals you choose and choose to buy less of the things that you know are really bad for you. Would you like to know what some of those things are?
Did this help you or would you like more direction? My Mom wants me to come up with a grocery list so she can start building her basic cupboard items...
Part of the learning process is like a dance, learning when the F and V's are ripe enough and what day you want to eat them. Which ones can be stored in the fridge and which ones better on the counter? You might already know most of this stuff, but I've had to learn it and still occasionally have to throw a few things away. That's OK.
I wanted to give you a little background first, now. Let's talk about grocery shopping to help you get started. Let's see, fresh, fresh!
Where I think you're going to end up, if you choose, is a grocery cart of basic things like fruits and veggies. And as needed cupboard items such as vinegars, oils, natural sugars, herbs and spices, canned or dry beans, brown rice, nuts, oatmeal and flours made of whole wheat/corn and the like. At least, that is where I am right now.
I've built up a store of those cupboard items over these past few months and have found it helpful to go to the store 2 times a week to get my fresh F's and V's. Grocery shopping could possibly be done only once a week, if we didn't like bananas so much! :) Although, I have those special bags which can reduce the carbon output of F's and V's to make them last longer. I'll have to try that.
For breakfast I choose fruit, 2-3 bananas and a glass of 100% OJ. The fruit gives me my carbohydrates and sugars to make into quick energy I'll need at the start of the day with my girls. My health teacher at BYU-I liked a bowl of oatmeal and a banana. Joe and the girls eat cereal with soymilk. If you do choose cereal, look at the labels too see which ones are better for you. Oftentimes stores show which ones are approved by WIC and those tend to be the healthier ones.
Lunch varies with us. Sometimes it’s yummy leftovers, other times I make a sandwich with whole wheat bread and homemade Almondaise (mayo-like made out of almonds and de-lsih) with tomatoes and avocados on it. Or we have bean and tomatoes. Or spinach with homemade dressings. Whatever whole-foods I have around and feel like!
For snacks I like nuts and fruit, I even make dehydrated fruit and granola bars to have on hand.
For the grocery list put some of your favorites on there, ones you know they will eat in a given time period, then you can do one of two things for dinner (which centers around 1 or 2 vegetables:
1. I usually look through my favorite healthy cookbook (or website) and see which vegetables I want to be the "Star" of the meal and put that on my list, then and take a look in my cupboards to see if I have the spices etc. listed in the recipe and put that down too. Or,
2. Just go to the store and pick up any new and exciting vegetable and when I want to use that for a dinner, look up a recipe and go for it with what I have, or completely make something up.
They key to grocery shopping is simple. Keep it simple! Once you've found your usual's and which items are healthier, you won't be spending hours in there trying to make decisions.
This is the first month that we have actually been under budget for food, which is exciting because I was determined to prove that eating healthy is cheaper. There are other factors in consideration to this, but for this month, the Black family can say SUCCESS! Of course, other months will ultimately prove it's validity.
Remember, this is all a progression. Like most people who want to quit smoking, most people it takes time and small goals others can do it all at once and not have a regression. Eating healthy is the same way! So start where you want with the meals choose and choose to buy less of the things that you know are really bad for you. Would you like to know what some of those things are?
Remember, this is all a progression. Like most people who want to quit smoking, for most people it takes time and small goals, others can do it all at once and not have a regression. Eating healthy is the same way! So start where you want with the meals you choose and choose to buy less of the things that you know are really bad for you. Would you like to know what some of those things are?
Did this help you or would you like more direction? My Mom wants me to come up with a grocery list so she can start building her basic cupboard items...
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Fat and Calories
Eat More, Weigh Less By Dean Ornish M.D.
(I haven't edited this one yet...)
A fat calorie is not the same as a calorie from protein or carbohydrate, either in the number of calories it contains or in the way it is metabolized by the body.
Fat has over twice as many calories as either protein or carbohydrate. (Fat has nine calories per gram, whereas protein and carbohydrate only has four calories per gram.) So, when you reduce fat consumption from the typical American intake of 40% of calories down to the 10% fat levels in what we recommend, you can eat one third more food yet take in the same amount of calories. Put in a more healthful way, you can consume the same amount of food yet take in fewer calories.
Your body eaisily converts dietary fat calories into body fat. One hundred fat calories can be stored as body fat by expending only 2.5 calories, whereas your body must spend twenty-three calories- almost ten times as much- to convert one hundred calories of dietary protein or carbohydrate into body fat. Only about 1% of dietary protein and carbohydrate end up as body fat, because your body would rather use them up right away than waste energy to store them. So,by keeping fat consumption low not only do you tend to consume fewer calories, but also those calories are less likely to be conberted into body fat.
The reason your body converts dietary fat into body fat so eaisily is that fat is how your body stores energy. Calories are stored energy, like batteries. Since fat stores nine calories per gram, where as protein and carbohydrate store only four calories per gram, then your body can store over twice as much energy in the form of fat. Until a few hundred years ago or so, most people ate this way. Even now, the majority of people on earth still do. They just happen to live in less affluent and less industrialized countries.
Your body only needs about 4 to 6% of calories as fat to synthesize what are known as essential fatty acids. Eating about 10% fat provides more than enough fat, without giving you more than you need. It's the excessive amounts of fat and cholesterol in your diet- that is , more than 10% of calories as fat- that lead to excess weight, heart disease, and other illnesses. When you eat primarily fruits, vegetables, grains, and beans that's what you end up with.
WoooooHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(I haven't edited this one yet...)
A fat calorie is not the same as a calorie from protein or carbohydrate, either in the number of calories it contains or in the way it is metabolized by the body.
Fat has over twice as many calories as either protein or carbohydrate. (Fat has nine calories per gram, whereas protein and carbohydrate only has four calories per gram.) So, when you reduce fat consumption from the typical American intake of 40% of calories down to the 10% fat levels in what we recommend, you can eat one third more food yet take in the same amount of calories. Put in a more healthful way, you can consume the same amount of food yet take in fewer calories.
Your body eaisily converts dietary fat calories into body fat. One hundred fat calories can be stored as body fat by expending only 2.5 calories, whereas your body must spend twenty-three calories- almost ten times as much- to convert one hundred calories of dietary protein or carbohydrate into body fat. Only about 1% of dietary protein and carbohydrate end up as body fat, because your body would rather use them up right away than waste energy to store them. So,by keeping fat consumption low not only do you tend to consume fewer calories, but also those calories are less likely to be conberted into body fat.
The reason your body converts dietary fat into body fat so eaisily is that fat is how your body stores energy. Calories are stored energy, like batteries. Since fat stores nine calories per gram, where as protein and carbohydrate store only four calories per gram, then your body can store over twice as much energy in the form of fat. Until a few hundred years ago or so, most people ate this way. Even now, the majority of people on earth still do. They just happen to live in less affluent and less industrialized countries.
Your body only needs about 4 to 6% of calories as fat to synthesize what are known as essential fatty acids. Eating about 10% fat provides more than enough fat, without giving you more than you need. It's the excessive amounts of fat and cholesterol in your diet- that is , more than 10% of calories as fat- that lead to excess weight, heart disease, and other illnesses. When you eat primarily fruits, vegetables, grains, and beans that's what you end up with.
WoooooHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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