Easy changes in your diet & Recipe

Sometimes changing your eating can be intimidating, especially if you are a picky eater or just not used to some of the more healthy choices. Just like the workouts, change can take time but there are 3 simple changes I found were not only easy for me but even easy for my kids (and I have 2 very picky eaters).

The first change is two fold,
 #1 eat salad EVERYDAY or close to it. We almost always have a salad as a side dish with our dinner and if we don't have it with dinner I have it for lunch. But here is the important part and is truly not as painful as it may sound. Get rid of the ICEBURG! This lettuce has very little nutritional value. Some say they use it because it has practically no calories but lets think wisely here. 2 cups of iceburg may not have more than 10 calories but it also has almost nothing else for your body whereas 2 cups of organic baby spinach only has 20 calories but also Vitamin A 110% and C 40% as well as calcium 8%, protein 3g, potassium 13% and iron 15%. And baby spinach is exactly what I am suggesting you change to. Some of you may be thinking, "but I hate spinach." I am not a huge fan of cooked spinach but I can tell you from experience that I instantly LOVED when I switched our salad over to baby spinach and my kids didn't even skip a beat, I said it was salad and they ALL ate it and never said a word about it tasting different.




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Also I get the plastic tubs of spinach which I buy Natures Promise organic baby spinach 1lb tub. It usually costs me about $5.99 at Martin's but do not be fooled,  this tub is magical and even though it may not look like a lot at first, I am telling you it just keeps giving. I feed my family of seven salad 5 times a week and one tub will do that! They really pack that spinach in there!


Change #2
Eat less meat! It is important to get protein daily but it does not always need to be from meat. There are so many other great healthy sources out there like, beans, lentils, nuts and eggs. If you think about it, most people eat meat 1-2 times a day, maybe a turkey sandwich for lunch and then chicken and potatoes for dinner. Meats take longer for you system to digest because the protein molecules are bigger and more complex, it will usually stay in your stomach for about 4 to 5 hours before it begins to move on into your small intestine. So if you had meat for lunch you would scarcely had gotten this out of your stomach  and into your small intestine by the time you eat another serving of meat for dinner. This can lead to bowel issues as well as an overall sluggish digestive system. It helps to give your body a break from some of the "heavier" stuff and instead of eating meat that day give it simple, easy and digestive friendly things like beans for your protein which will aid in cleaning out your bowels. Don't get me started on the amount of crusted fecal matter the average american has stuck to the walls of their colon, it is shocking and gross and this is a food post so I will not mingle the subjects but I will tell you some people have several pounds built up and studies have shown heavy consumption of meats with little fruit and veggies is a BIG cause for this excess and toxic weight in your gut. Anyway moving on, my family and I do not consume meat everyday. In fact we probably consume meat only 4 days a week. This was a slow and sometimes tough process for the hubby but even he has embraced it since he now sees and feels the impact on not only his health but on our bank account! (meat is expensive) 


Change #3
Choose fruits and veggies for your snacks rather than carbs such as crackers or chips or other such things. You will not only save yourself lots of calories but it will help you get your full servings in of fruits and vegetables. You really can not eat enough of these two things. If you are hungry for a snack grab and apple or peach or a handful of carrots and celery and snack on that. If you are still hungry after that then you can move on to some carbs but you will find you will eat less of them thus helping you keep your caloric intake in check. My family eats organic apples and carrots DAILY, they are almost always present for snack and with  lunch in some form or another. I thought surely my kids would tire of this but I have yet to ever hear one of them say, "Oh NOOOOOO, APPLES" Instead the are reaching there little hands up while I cut them and I have to remind them they will lose a finger and to just wait until the apples are ready. I must say I have found a big difference between organic apples and non-organic. The organics are just more flavorful and tender and this is an item to consider buying organic especially because it is usually the same price if not maybe slightly higher. I get a 3lb bag for 4.99 which works out to $1.66 a pound, pretty good in my book and we go through 2 to 3 bags a week. There is a reason the saying "An apple a day keeps the Doctor away" came into being!

So there are some simple changes anyone can make and if your not a big fan of the items I listed just try it for 2 weeks and watch your taste buds adapt, it is amazing. Play around with things find out what the right stuff for you is. Everyone is different but what I challenge you to do is to stick to whole foods,  READ LABELS and really pay attention to what you are putting into your body. Your food is your fuel and your first source of vitamins, minerals and medicine. So many people struggle with illnesses that could be corrected if they would only look at their diets and make healthy changes.

Below I have listed 2 salad recipes (ideas really) as well as a homemade dressing recipe that is so very yummy! Enjoy

Spinach Apple Salad

Organic baby spinach, thinly sliced apples (I use a potato peeler to get the slices very thin), sliced onion, your choice of nut or seed ( I really like pumpkins seeds or sunflower)
Dressing - Newman's Own all Natural  Poppyseed dressing or this Homemade Berry Vinaigrette
  Berry Vinaigrette
1/2 Cup Vinegar
1/3 to 1/2 Cup Extra Virgin Organic Olive Oil or Grapeseed Oil
1/2 Cup honey ( I use a little less then half)
2 cloves garlic
2 tsps Onion powder
1 cup of fresh strawberries (or you could do raspberries but my kids like the strawberries)
1 1/2 tsp poppy seeds

Blend all ingredients in blender except oil and poppy seeds, add the oil a little at a time to the blended mixture and then add the poppy seeds and pulse a few times until mixed

Southwest Spinach Salad

Organic baby spinach, thinly sliced red and green bell peppers, sliced carrots and onion. 

Dressing mix 2 Tlbs of organic ranch dressing with 1/2 cup homemade salsa (click the link for the yummy and super simple recipe) Shake together in a bottle or whisk in a bowl, drizzle on salad. I sometime also take a few Kirkland Organic Tortilla Chips ( from Costco) and crush them over my salad for some yummy crunch that fits perfectly with the southwest taste!

I would love to hear if you implement these changes and how it goes!