Who doesn't have the goal of eating healthier? I don't think I've ever heard anyone say, I want to eat more junk. But eating healthier is so subjective. Everyone's version of healthier is going to be different based on their normal diet. My healthy might be your bad, or vice versa.
Despite the specifics of each person's diet, some gluten free, dairy free, nut free, enter whatever your item is _______________ free, I believe eating the most unprocessed cooked at home version of whole foods is going to be the healthiest. And while I don't have it all figured out, over the past three years, we've made a huge revolution in the foods we eat and how we prepare them at our home.
Here's my tips to help those of you wanting to kick the processed boxed food life and get on to eating healthier.
1. Plan your meals. So simple, it couldn't make that big of difference, right? Yeah. It really does. If a whole month scares you, start with just a week. Even your snack food. You don't have to write it out, but know you'll eat two snacks a day (or however many snacks you normally eat). As snacks, we do a fruit (I usually eat half a piece of fruit per snack) and some nuts, or the natural peanut butter (or almond), some type of fat or protein with the fruit. Sometimes it's an avacodo. I multiply out how many pieces of fruit I need for me and my husband and the kids. I purchase a variety and we can decide during the week which day to eat which thing.
2. Prep your food. This seems like another obvious, but it will be a big deal to your success. Whatever day you have off, take time to chop or slice up your veggies for the week. Cook ahead some quinoa, rice, and or beans to use as sides for meals. I like to make a big pot of refried beans in 10 minutes (homemade is cheap and healthy, without the extra fat from store bought varieties or weird ingredients) up to toss in with eggs for breakfast, or on top of salads, as a dip, or in a tortilla. If you've got food ready to eat or cook with in the fridge (rinsed and chopped/diced) when you're pressed for time, you won't fall back on your non-healthy quick grab items.
3. Get rid of your biggest temptations. While you may not be able to afford to throw out everything you've got in your pantry at once that isn't healthy, get rid of the items that hold the most temptation for you. I happen to like salty potato chips. I don't buy them. If they're not in my house, I can't eat them. After you use up an unhealthy item, replace it with a real whole food version, or learn to make it yourself with better ingredients. For example: tortillas. Store bought tortillas are filled with GMO ingredients and aren't very frugal. Use a lettuce leaf to make a wrap, or make them yourself. I've done a sourdough or whole wheat version that rocks. Crackers, yep, I make them at home, too.
4. Keep it as close to nature as possible. Vegetables, fruits, and meats that don't come in a package with an ingredient list. Best is homegrown heirloom organic, but I don't produce enough to make us completely self-sustainable (though I do with our natural grass fed beef and eggs). We still purchase chicken meat, and fresh fruits and vegetables in the off season months. I do my best to purchase the dirty dozen fruits and veggies organically.
5. Flour (for those of us not sensitive to gluten) I purchase our organic wheat berries from our local co-op, though you can also order from places like Azure Standard, to grind our own wheat. If you're not ready to grind your own wheat, start by using unbleached organic all purpose flour, or try using organic pastry ground whole wheat. For a good all-purpose flour, I can't say enough about spelt. Spelt is a personal favorite as it is non-hybridized, primitive, and it's gluten levels are lower like ancient grains. Meaning it's not been hybridized and turned away from the way God made it. Spelt works well in breads and in pastry recipes. I make all of my cookies, pie crusts, and muffins with spelt flour. Here's a large 25lb pound from our affiliate partner Amazon Vitaspelt Organic Flour, White, 25 Pound and a smaller bag if you just want to give it a try Bob's Red Mill Organic Spelt Flour, 24-Ounce (Pack of 4)
5. Read your labels. When I first started reading labels, I was shocked at the things snuck into seemingly healthy foods. High fructose corn syrup, soybean oil, canola oil, and food dye to name a few. We try to go as GMO-Free as possible, here's a chart to help you know what to look out for. A great rule of thumb is if it has more than 5 ingredients and something you don't know what it is or can't pronounce, put it back. I still purchase my spaghetti sauce from the store. Though this year I'm putting up a greenhouse and will have enough tomatoes, (please don't let this be famous last words). However, I buy organic tomato sauce in glass jars. I can usually get it for $2.99 and I save and reuse the jars for other food storage or projects.
6. Cook ahead of time. I cook our main meat for the week on Sunday's. This varies from our own beef in either a pot roast or taco meat, a whole chicken or large amount of chicken pieces, a turkey, a ham, or fish. We eat it with sides that night, making sure I have enough for leftovers the next night. I then plan the rest of our meals for that week (or as far as I can stretch the meat) with the left overs. Taco meat works great as tacos, taco salad, in scrambled eggs, etc. Chicken or turkey works in soups, casseroles, on top of greens in a salad, and I use the bones to make broth.
7. Use your slow cooker. Is there anything better than a slow cooker? I can't think of anything I use more in my kitchen than mine. I can walk through the door and have dinner waiting, kind of like a personal chef. I usually plan a slow cooker supper in the middle of the week, when I've exhausted all of our leftovers from Sunday night. Two of our favorites are Ham and Bean Soup and Slow Cooker Cabbage Rolls (both are gluten free, but we just like them because they taste awesome). Need a bit more inspiration? Check out these 80 Gluten-Free Slow Cooker Recipes.
8. Use your freezer. Double up your recipes and freeze one of them. There are tons of websites out there dedicated to freezer cooking, here's one I like from Once A Month Cooking 31 Back to School Freezer Recipes. I usually freeze the veggies and meat. Any tomato sauce based recipes tend to hold up really well, like lasagna, cabbage rolls, enchiladas, but I've even froze my cheese and dairy without a problem. Here's my recipe page with over 44 real food versions of different main dishes, snacks, sides, veggies, and breads to get you started.
What are your tips to eating real healthy food? Did I forget anything? Is there an area you'd like to know more about or to have covered in a bit more detail? Let me know, I want to hear from you.
My biggest problems with trying to get where *I* ultimately want to be in healthy eating has to do with my food allergies. I am allergic to a little over 30 foods (all nuts included) and have gluten intolerance AND have fructose malabsorption. One of those many foods I’m allergic to is oats too plus all the other alternative foods people use for flour – almond, coconut….so I get so stuck as to how to make my own gluten alternatives. (Plus, the fact as I mentioned on your FB status that I don’t overly enjoy baking.) Then for snacks I’m really suppose to stay away from high fructose foods. Um, any fruit out there without that? *sigh* Very often I find myself just eating foods I’m not supposed to be eating resulting in bloating or gas. I don’t eat the ones that “really” hurt me. I had a friend tell me she’d read that a lot of people’s food allergies stem from their gluten intolerance so I keep meaning to research that and cutting gluten out. I do eat gluten free for the most part but many of the GF items I’ve bought to substitute just aren’t good – GF pasta and GF sandwich bread being the main ones. That’s why I need to find someone who likes to bake and has a good GF bread recipe that is also oat, coconut and almond flour free so I can make them a meal for a trade off. Ha ha!
I do grow organically and plan on putting up more foods (freezing and canning) next year. We’re also hoping to get our own beef cattle in the late spring so I can have my own grass-fed beef. I buy hormone free, free-range chicken already and have just started making my own chicken broth (overnight in the slow cooker – it’s wonderful and so simple!). So while I’m making steps, I really want to get to that level I wish I was at already. 😉 I guess it’s good to keep goals, right? Sorry for the long rant/whine about my “real food” problems.
Leslie, what about not trying to replace foods that are normally made with gluten? I found I had to do that myself in the beginning of my journey that started 3 1/2 years ago. Anything that normally goes on bread goes great with lettuce (wraps, salads) and spaghetti squash or zucchini noodles are a fine substitute for pasta. Cucumber slices are a good substitute for crackers, too. Have you heard of autoimmune paleo? Google recipes that fit that — although it excludes some things that it sounds like you may not need to avoid (it excludes nuts, grains, legumes, nightshades, eggs, and dairy). I know there are grain-free nut-free recipes out there (although most don’t classify coconut as nut since it isn’t technically a tree nut — it is it’s own allergen separate from tree nuts). Also if you can do dairy, there are some South American bread recipes that use tapioca (aka manioc/yuca/cassava — all the same thing, just gets a different name based on the country you’re talking about) starch plus dairy — for example Pandebono from Colombia or Pao de queijo from Brazil. I live in Miami and get to eat these breads at bakeries, they are GOOD and I know there are recipes online for them.
And regarding food allergies — they are a symptom of gut dysbiosis and can absolutely be reversed if you take care of yourself AND avoid the allergens during the healing process. I used to have TERRIBLE gluten intolerance (diarrhea and vomiting for up to 3 days after ingestion) and now I can eat it without any negative effects whatsoever.
Good luck to you! And how awesome that you are going to raise your own beef — that is a dream of mine (a little hard to do from a condo in Miami Beach, though haha). But the next place I move will have land for animals and a garden 🙂
P.S. Chinese Medicine can help you resolve your food allergies. So can a procedure called NAET (which many Chinese Med doctors get certified in). I’ve utilized both things in my healing journey and they’ve helped TREMENDOUSLY. If you don’t live in a city, though, it can be hard to find a qualified practitioner. I live in Miami like I said but I drive up to Gainesville FL (5 hrs away) to see my Chinese Med doc — but she’s also my friend so it’s a little different 😉 But she has other patients (that she only knows as patients) who drive from several hours away to see her. It can be worth it for the right doctor. Alternatives are a naturopathic doctor or a functional medicine MD — but again, they are usually found in larger cities, not small towns.
Thanks for the info, Amanda. I really need to see if I can abstain from gluten and just start out small 2 weeks or longer. I’m not a big bread eater but do love pasta. I know there’s GF pasta but the one brand I tried was not good. I know it takes time, patience and maybe even some money to invest in my health finding a GF pasta that does work or buying whatever foods are healthier for me. I think it’s hard because my family isn’t all on board and I have other things in life that seem to take priority.
I wanted to add that I have read a few articles on reversing gluten intolerance. Did you have any other food allergies that went away when you healed your gut?
Leslie,
I never had anything as bad as the gluten intolerance, but after I started seeing my Chinese Medicine doc she did NAET diagnostics on me and found that I also had animal fat and egg allergies (just great for someone like me eating a paleo diet, animal fats and/or eggs every single day!) After seeing her and having the NAET allergy clearing, I DO notice I digest those foods much better. I can’t recommend finding a competent alternative medicine practitioner to help out, especially if you have so many known allergies — I wish I had started seeing someone a lot sooner!! Would’ve saved me a lot of stress, money (on wasted self-experimentation), and I would’ve felt a lot better a lot sooner. I’ve heard Cappello’s is a good brand for pasta but I haven’t tried it myself and I think it is very expensive. I say just go with zucchini noodles or spaghetti squash to be frugal, and arguably healthier.
Whoops — I meant I can’t recommend it *enough*.
Leslie, what about not trying to replace foods that are normally made with gluten? I found I had to do that myself in the beginning of my journey that started 3 1/2 years ago. Anything that normally goes on bread goes great with lettuce (wraps, salads) and spaghetti squash or zucchini noodles are a fine substitute for pasta. Cucumber slices are a good substitute for crackers, too. Have you heard of autoimmune paleo? Google recipes that fit that — although it excludes some things that it sounds like you may not need to avoid (it excludes nuts, grains, legumes, nightshades, eggs, and dairy). I know there are grain-free nut-free recipes out there (although most don’t classify coconut as nut since it isn’t technically a tree nut — it is it’s own allergen separate from tree nuts). Also if you can do dairy, there are some South American bread recipes that use tapioca (aka manioc/yuca/cassava — all the same thing, just gets a different name based on the country you’re talking about) starch plus dairy — for example Pandebono from Colombia or Pao de queijo from Brazil. I live in Miami and get to eat these breads at bakeries, they are GOOD and I know there are recipes online for them.
And regarding food allergies — they are a symptom of gut dysbiosis and can absolutely be reversed if you take care of yourself AND avoid the allergens during the healing process. I used to have TERRIBLE gluten intolerance (diarrhea and vomiting for up to 3 days after ingestion) and now I can eat it without any negative effects whatsoever.
Good luck to you! And how awesome that you are going to raise your own beef — that is a dream of mine (a little hard to do from a condo in Miami Beach, though haha). But the next place I move will have land for animals and a garden 🙂
Thanks for the info on the spelt flour! A couple of years ago, when I was learning to be more frugal out of necessity, I asked myself what the one thing was that kept me from cooking dinner every night. It was the prep work. I didn’t like doing it at all. Every Monday, I have forced myself to spend time making our fresh salsas and chopping up veggies for the week. I even pre-zest and juice our citrus fruit for dressings and marinades. Great advice! We don’t even like to eat dinner out anymore because we like our own cooking better because we can control our own ingredients.
I liked how you mentioned “healthy” is relative. I grew up in the Midwest with Sicilian Pioneer women (there’s such thing, haha) who cooked from scratch. They were the heartiest eaters I knew and the healthiest!
I appreciate your willingness to share information with others. I have one more question. Besides butter, what can you replace margarine with in baked goods that will yield the same results? Still coconut oil? Is there something in “stick” form to purchase that you feel is natural and safe to eat besides butter? Thank you, Melissa.
Kerrie, we rarely eat out either. Part of that is because we live very rural, part frugal, and part because, like you, we like how good our homemade food tastes. 🙂
I never ever use margarine. We use real butter, coconut oil (or you can try coconut butter), if you don’t want to buy coconut butter, purchase flaked unsweetened coconut and blend it up in your food processor to make homemade coconut butter (I haven’t tried this yet as I have a couple of tubs of coconut oil, but I saw it from a blogger friend and though what a great and easy idea), and then I’ve been using my home rendered lard. The lard is interesting and I like it best in things like tortillas and cracker, more savory items, but it’s good in pancakes as well. I did make a pie crust with all lard, but I had to add more flour, so next time, I think I’ll do half butter and half lard. I know Fred Meyer carries lard and it’s pretty inexpensive if you don’t want to make your own yet. 🙂
Great tips. I’ll have to look for spelt flour. I’m assuming it’s something you’d only find in a health food store. Is that correct?
Holly,
I’ve been able to find it at our local co-op, so basically a health food store. You might find it in the organic section at a Fred Meyers. I also link up above to Bob’s Red Mill from Amazon. Let me know if you try it.
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