I think most people want to eat healthy, or if they aren't eating healthy, they want to improve their diet. I am not a dietitian, and this is not advice from a registered dietitian. If you need one of those I highly recommend
Preferred Nutrition, Marilyn "George" Dahl is amazing and so is her staff. If you have a medical condition or eating disorder it is imperative that you regularly consult with a registered dietitian, ask your physician to refer you.
Most of my information is common sense and from my own experience, speaking with our pediatricians from the time our children were born, consulting with our Mayo Clinic physician and reading a lot! The first thing I will tell you is to read labels, if the product you are considering putting in your cart and feeding to your family has long, hard to pronounce names and you don't know what they are, don't eat it. Try to avoid high fructose corn syrup, white sugar, white bread, white pasta and white rice, instead look for whole grains. Never drink soda, ever, and never give it to your children. My kids won't touch the stuff; I tried to give them Sprite and ginger ale once when they were sick. They had never had soda, were not used to so sweet a drink and carbonation, they refused to drink it.
So what, you might be thinking, should I drink? Water mostly, also iced tea, iced green tea, hot tea, and for a special treat have a club soda with a splash of 100% juice. Club soda/seltzer water comes in cans for travel which is handy. For kids, you can give them a choice of water, milk or juice, watering down juice and limiting it to once a day. All juice should be 100% juice, check for high fructose corn syrup. To sweeten your drinks you can use a natural sweetener low on the glycemic index, my favorite is Agave Nectar. You can also use sugar in the raw or honey, use all sweeteners very sparingly.
What do we eat at our house? We try to eat a lot of whole foods, fresh fruits, vegetables, lean meats, some fish and whole grains. Several times a week we do our best to eat meatless dinners, it is less expensive, good for the planet and our bodies. When possible, we avoid processed food, but it is good in a pinch and for a treat. During the week at breakfast we often rely on processed cereals, cereal bars and frozen waffles in addition to fruit, lunch meat and cheese sticks. We try to limit snacks to fruit, yogurt, and nuts/trail mix. I always try to mix a complex carbohydrate with a protein to give the kids long lasting energy. If you are using syrup on your pancakes, waffles etc. try to use natural syrups like maple syrup; the major table brands are filled with high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Be aware that many of the studies that show that high fructose corn syrup is not so bad were sponsored by the beverage industry,
Mayo Clinic talks more about that on their page on HFCS. Our pediatrician has urged us to avoid HFCS since our kids began to eat. Don't forget to add some healthy fat to your diet with a few nuts and healthy oils like olive oil.
How do we shop healthy on a budget? Here is what I buy where:
Costco (approx 1x month):
Organic Beef-3lbs $12.99 (individually packaged in 1lbs)
Aidell's Chx and Apple Sausages-no gluten, no nitrates or nitrites-$12.99 2 packages of 8 sausages
Chicken breasts-not organic, it's just too darned expensive
Loaves of bread
Polly-O string cheese
Bunny Luv organic baby carrots
Eggland's Best eggs
Coleman's nitrate/nitrite free hot dogs (sometimes they have, sometimes not) buy a lot and freeze when they do
La Croix Seltzer water
Honest Kids drinks for travel/in case lunch drink containers are dirty (Super Target has these too but they are more expensive)
Whole Foods (approx every 2 weeks):
How to keep it from becoming whole paycheck!
(their generic brand is 365, most of these are organic but some are all natural)
generic brand cereals
Puffins Peanut Butter cereal if on sale and I have a coupon
generic brand cereal bars
generic brand toaster pastries for UberGeek only, kids don't get these
generic brand mac & chz
generic snack foods
generic organic fig newtons (also perfect snack for long runs 1/2 and full marathons)
Pirate's Booty
generic brand condiments
generic brand maple syrup
generic brand strawberry jam large jar (UberGeek says this is THE best strawberry jelly ever)
generic brand frozen cheese pizzas
generic brand frozen waffles
generic brand frozen organic french fries or tater tots
generic brand frozen organic veggies
generic brand frozen organic fruits
generic brand organic milk
Applegate Farms Stadium Style hot dogs
Do not, I repeat, do not go in that store hungry. If you do, buy a slice of pizza and pack a sandwich for the kids. If you eat at their delicious take out bar it will tack on another $30 to your bill. See produce section at bottom.
Walmart (approx every 2-3 weeks):
frozen veggie burgers: Boca Burgers All American Flame Grilled and Morningstar Grillers Prime
those two types of veggie burger are pretty yummy for a fast dinner with a whole grain bun, cheese, produce etc.
3lb bags of organic apples
Jones Farm all natural frozen precooked breakfast sausage links no nitrates/nitrites(taste even better than fresh, UberGeek's fave!)
frozen Kashi meals for quick lunches at work
frozen Amy's organic meals for quick lunches at work
Publix (every week) our local grocery store:
lunch meat
Produce: I only buy what is on sale. Kiddos come with us and indicate vegetables that they want to try and that look interesting. They know what the yellow Whole Foods sale signs look like. Oranges, bananas and apples are almost always cheap. When deciding whether to buy traditional or organic produce it can be tough. Some organic produce is very expensive. The
Environmental Working Group produces a free pocket guide to the 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables and the 12 least contaminated. Try to always buy the most contaminated ones organic. Also, farmer's markets often have local produce that is not certified organic but many of the growers did not use chemicals on the plants. You can also plant a tomato plant in spring,
Costco had them this weekend, in pots, with tomatoes already on the vines for $10 a piece. They will certainly pay for themselves. It does mean getting creative with food that is in season and on sale but it can be fun for you and your kids. Eddie Haskell recently discovered that he really likes grilled onions and eggplants. He just saw them in the store, they were cheap and he announced that he liked onions and eggplants. Of course we have had a lot of refused food too. I always try to put one or two things on the kids' plates that I know they will eat in addition to the main dish. They won't starve but I am not running a restaurant, we serve one meal, eat it and enjoy. When you have your own kitchen you can cook what you like.
Really think about what you are eating, this is part of mindful eating. If you pull up to a fast food restaurant, start to think about how the ingredients to your meal got there, the animals that produced the meat, the vegetables, who is in the kitchen preparing it, who will serve it to you. Take a good look back in the kitchen. When you receive your meal, really taste it, slow down and chew it. How does it taste? Visit the fast food place's web site and read the nutritional info for the items you ordered. This can cut back on many of your fast food trips and save you a lot of money! We are often guilty of being in a big hurry and pulling through the chic-fil-a drive through, which for fast food is the top of the crop as far as I am concerned. The kids get the small nugget meal though with fruit and white milk, I get a kids meal but can't resist the fries and the lemonade! No one is perfect but we keep on trying.
This blog post is dedicated to Colette. I figured you might not be the only one who was wondering. Thanks for all you do for the kiddos!