NCDR: clean eating

unaveragejane · February 2013

Based on the "going green" posts, I feel like several mamas here probably can help with this. I really want to start eating more natural foods and eliminating processed foods from my family's meals. I am just so overwhelmed about where to start. I feel like I need to throw out all of the junk food in my pantry just to force myself into the change, but I hate to waste the food. How did you pick a place to start? Snacks? A certain meal of the day? Cutting out particular foods or ingredients?

unaveragejane · February 2013

secondaryPULSE:
My recommendation would be to check out "Nourishing Traditions" by Sally Fallon. I'm not sure what you mean by "clean eating" in regards to incorporation of animal products, but IMO, this book/concept based on Weston Price's research is a great way to boost health and have a lesser impact on the environment.

DH would flip his lid if I took all the animal products out of the house. I guess I am aiming more toward eliminating highly processed foods like white flour, table sugar, etc. Thank you for the book rec. I will definitely look it up!

YellowLily2013 · February 2013

Just dont purchase anymore junk food. And decide to start making things from scratch.
You can still eat and finish off what you have and it will give you some time in the transition.

Ducktale · February 2013

YellowLily2013:
Just dont purchase anymore junk food. And decide to start making things from scratch. You can still eat and finish off what you have and it will give you some time in the transition.

This, exactly. That's what we did. And no need to cut out animal products, but we aim for high quality, local, grass fed animal products, which tend to be more expensive, so we have definitely cut back.

Ducktale · February 2013

Oh, and I recommend Michael Pollan's books, particularly Omnivore's Dilemma and Food Rules. I never looked at my pantry/the food we eat the same. And as PP recommended, nourishing traditions is a good blog, as is 100 days of real food (still my go to resource! Very accesible)

S & R + r · February 2013

Since you don't want to throw away any foods I would just continue what you're eating but next time you go to the grocery store start buying healthier options. Over time your home will start decreasing in processed food and increasing in healthy foods.

Don't be discouraged if you're not a fan of all the clean eating at first. You will be. Just stick to it. After a while you'll notice how great you'll be feeling, sleeping, and looking. You just need to give it time to kick in.

My advice on determining what foods to eliminate or continue eating would be based on your own personal health issues. I noticed if I cut out sugar I feel a lot better on a daily basis. Once I eat something with sugar in it I start to feel dizzy and sleepy. Others have eliminated dairy to feel better. It really varies on yourself. Just experiment with foods and pay attention to how you feel after you eat something.

Some snack ideas you could start with are organic fruits and veggies, tortilla chips and fresh salsa, avocado on toast with olive oil, nuts, hummus and pita chips. Also you can try to substitute canola oil for coconut oil, milk for almond milk, juice for coconut water, peanut butter for almond butter, sugary cereals for high grain cereal with honey, sugar for raw sugar. Try some out. If you don't like it, you can always switch back.

I would also recommend maybe investing in a juicer. Lots of people are able to juice large quantities of leafy greens, veggies and fruits. You would be amazed by how many greens you can juice into one glass. It's an awesome way to get your greens in for the day. There's a lot of recipes online too.

Anyway, just start substituting with healthier options and over time you'll get there! Good luck to you! Good health is the best gift you can give to yourself and your family

Oh and when I want to get inspired I read posts from rawforbeauty on fb. They have awesome information about foods. (Sorry the link is not clicky)

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rawforbeauty/222272341214778

Into+the+Kitty · February 2013

S & R + r:
:words:

I have such a love hate relationship with my juicer.

If you don't want to keep certain foods, you can donate them to a local shelter.

violajack · February 2013

I cleaned out our diet in anticipation of starting BLW with DS. I wanted to cook stuff he could eat too. Several of my family members have done the paleo diet, so I figured I'd give it a shot too. My mom recommended a book (The Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf). I just followed the meal plan for a week and a half until I got the hang of it.

I'm the kind of person that was paralyzed by the "what do you want for dinner" question, so the whole "just buy healthy food from here on out" never worked for me. I needed something that told me exactly what to eat without complicated recipes, until my body reset. I was super tired for the first few days while my body detoxed, but I feel so much better now. I think about food differently now and now I have the tools and confidence to cook things I've never had before.

Once I started to get ides of how to handle random vegetables and meats other than chicken, I subscribed to a local CSA also. Having a box of random, local, seasonal vegetables show up weekly really helps me maintain the healthy eating.

TJ1979 · February 2013

I started with no processed sugar for a month. Then I did the Whole30 challenge. It's 30 days of no dairy, no grain, no legumes, no sugar, no alcohol. It was killer, but I knew it was ONLY 30 days. You can do anything for 30 days. But funny thing... By the end of it I couldn't imagine going back to eating crap when I had been eating real food for 30 days. I'm doing paleo now and feel so much better. My stomach is in so much better shape. There are lots of paleo recipe blogs, I like nomnompaleo and paleomg. GL, I hope it makes you feel as great as I do!

hst · February 2013

I love the magazine, "Clean Eating" the recipes are really good, you don't feel deprived. Personally I just avoid processed food. I don't believe in restrictive diets, I don't want to obsess over food. I feel like since I've adopted that attitude my weight and health have improved.

unaveragejane · February 2013

Thanks for all of the input, ladies! I think we're going to start off gradually and go from there. I will look into the resources mentioned. I am a lot like the PP who mentioned doing better with a menu plan with recipes to get the hang of cooking with real veggies. Beyond steaming is beyond me right now, but I am game to try!

beautiflaw · February 2013

I started learning about eating cleaner/greener a couple of years ago but only made the commitment to it in the last year. I read French Kids Eat Everything and that was what cemented my decision. I don't everything it says to do in the book but I it has completely changed how we eat. Look it up on Amazon. I also have a blog I just started which is all about how my family eats if you are interested. https://duncanfamilyeats.blogspot.com/

I started small. I definitely don't have money to waste so we ate all the processed foods and junk over a period of time. I just didn't go to the grocery store at all until it was all gone. It did mean that we had some interesting combinations at meal times, but once it was all gone I started planning meals. I looked online for easy and fast recipes and now I have a few "emergency recipes" memorized for those nights when I needed dinner ready 10 minutes ago. We let go of snack foods first. For sweets I make a batch of something on the weekend, and we only allow one snack around 3:30 pm, between lunch and dinner. At snack time and for dessert after dinner we have sweets.

Some things I always keep on hand are those microwave steamer bags of organic veggies. Those make a quick side dish. If DD doesn't want to eat the veggies plain I can sprinkle an eeeensy bit of sea salt on them and she gobbles them up. Or if I mix the vegetables in with some rice or couscous she will eat it.

Instead of regular potato chips we converted to tortilla chips or sweet potato chips. Food Should Taste Good is a brand of sweet potato chips that we like. They are kind of expensive for chips, so it forces me to savor them and eat only a few here and there instead eating a ton all at once.

Basically for me, having the fridge and cabinets full of nothing but healthy options is what is working. At the store, I kind of have to fight with myself. I try to make a grocery list and force myself to stick to it. For us the important thing is not to worry too much about completely abstaining from all processed food, but rather reducing the amount to less than 10% of our intake. We are a busy family and sometimes we just have to grab something and go. That's just life. I don't feel bad about it since I know that most of our food is prepared from scratch and is almost all organic.

beautiflaw · February 2013

Ducktale:
YellowLily2013:
Just dont purchase anymore junk food. And decide to start making things from scratch. You can still eat and finish off what you have and it will give you some time in the transition.
This, exactly. That's what we did. And no need to cut out animal products, but we aim for high quality, local, grass fed animal products, which tend to be more expensive, so we have definitely cut back.

We did this too. We have "vegetarian/vegan" days. It definitely added a lot more variety to our diet since we've had to find alternative ways of getting enough protein.

&orchid& · February 2013

piffle42:
Please do research on different options. I would also encourage you to talk with a Registered Dietician. There is a difference between Dieticians and Nutritionists. The former requires college and passing tests to be registered while the latter requires nothing. Also, Paleo is not a healthy diet. It is not good for your body. You want to make sure you're eating a well rounded balanced diet. Just cutting out junk food, soda, etc. And watching portion sizes could make a big difference.

I really disagree. Can you elaborate as to why you feel this way?

Paleo is about eating things that our bodies evolved to eat. Veggies, berries, nuts, fruits, fish and meats. I am stunned to think that anyone would say it's not healthy eating.

YellowLily2013 · February 2013

Also I want to stress moderation. This is the key to anything successful diet wise.

I allow myself to go out to eat occasionally, to eat work treats that are brought in, and eat socially at other people's houses and such.

There's only so much you can control!! At these places you can still control one or half a donut or bagel instead of 3! Also if you have found out that certain things dont settle well after eliminating them don't feel bad about saying "no thank you". Also, if your going to someone's house its always appropriate to bring something, so bring something that is healthy and you can snack heavier on that if other options are not in line with what you want to eat.

stoneycakes · February 2013

PPs all have lots of good advice! I just wanted to add that I've had success with change by going in with the attitude of adding good things rather than eliminating bad things. Eventually, as you keep adding in more healthy snacks and meals each week, the majority of the bad stuff will disappear on its own.

I had to make some major changes to my diet when I went dairy free for DS. I already cooked quite a bit from scratch but I still relied on a lot of prepackaged things for convenience. When I actually read all of the labels on the things we were eating, I knew I wanted to make more of our food myself. Now, after about three months, I have transitioned to making almost everything from scratch, even our bread and pasta. I just took it one recipe at a time and slowly expanded my repertoire. I can't even believe how much I've learned by trial and error in such a short time. You can do it!

TJ1979 · February 2013

&orchid&:
piffle42:
Please do research on different options. I would also encourage you to talk with a Registered Dietician. There is a difference between Dieticians and Nutritionists. The former requires college and passing tests to be registered while the latter requires nothing. Also, Paleo is not a healthy diet. It is not good for your body. You want to make sure you're eating a well rounded balanced diet.

Just cutting out junk food, soda, etc. And watching portion sizes could make a big difference.
I really disagree.  Can you elaborate as to why you feel this way?  
Paleo is about eating things that our bodies evolved to eat.  Veggies, berries, nuts, fruits, fish and meats.  I am stunned to think that anyone would say it's not healthy eating.  

I'm curious as well. How can a diet that consists of meat, fruits, veggies, and nuts be bad? I feel so much better after cutting out dairy, grain, and sugar and my daughter is much happier and gaining weight much better than before.

TJ1979 · February 2013

I don't tolerate gluten well and my daughter doesn't tolerate dairy. This is the healthiest way I can meet both of our needs. And by eating this way, we have both been able to completely get off of our stomach medications. Thanks for wishing me heart disease and osteoporosis though, that was thoughtful.

Want a personalized experience?

NCDR: clean eating

Re: NCDR: clean eating

Choose Another Board

Search Boards