healthy eating ideas, please

[AliceandBrian]

I'm looking for ideas on how to begin eating healthier at a very slow pace. (Like starting with one small thing only one day a week). In the past as I've tried to lose weight, and eat healthier it has never lasted very long. I "fail" at whatever plan I've tried and then end up eating even worse than before. Now that I'm starting Tapping, I know I cannot focus a lot of my energy on food, as my priority right now is the exercise part. I have no intention of cutting out sugar completely, or white flour..or whatever.

I'm wanting ideas on VERY simple and SLOW ways to begin eating better. The smaller, the better, actually. I think if I start with tiny changes, they will last and I can build on them. I'm not in a race to eat in the best way. Does that make sense?

I know that the food I eat will have some affects on the results I get in Tapping, so I am ready to make some changes...but only small ones at a time. It needs to be things that I won't have to spend much mental energy on to keep at it. And if I end up being stressed by it, I'll drop it since it affects my mothering. I don't want to be cranky with my kids because I feel deprived. If I get that way I stop whatever I was trying, because it's not worth it if it negatively affects my family, you know?

I'd appreciate any thoughts you have!
Thanks,
Alice

[AliceandBrian]

I thought I'd give you an idea of where I am now with nutrition! The only things I consider I've got down consistantly is that I only buy whole wheat bread for sandwhiches and such, and I only buy natural peanut butter. I will never buy sugary peanut butter again! I love the taste of the natural stuff (as do my kids), and it's nice to know that at least my kids aren't getting sugar in that. I will buy French bread and rolls and things like that. It's only in the "regular" bread department that I stay strictly to whole wheat. Oh, and I make homemade pancakes with freshly ground whole wheat. But besides that we'll eat chips, cookies, soda (but not much of that), pizza and just about everything else...and not just on special occasions!

[BlessedMama]

Alice, I think the first best baby step would be to add Green Smoothies to your eating! Even if you "only" get 3 a week in.

Think of adding good things before "taking out" the less-than-good.

I started with eating less bread. Then quit taking seconds. Switched to dark chocolate from milk chocolate. Add a veggie I liked (instead of making myself eat something I didn't like!)

The result of this, after 4 years of T-Tapp and little choices along the way, is I was actually ready to do something more drastic for my dds' sakes. And here I am, eating no grains, no starches, honey as my only sugar (other than fruits and naturally occurring sugars) and I honestly can say I could sustain this long term! Don't get me wrong, I still have treats now and then, and have even "cheated" a few times, but it didn't send me into a tailspin of wanting more more more.

Be patient with the process, add nourishing foods to your diet, little by little, and keep on Tapping. Those combined will eventually find you eating healthier than you ever imagined--and loving it!

Something that I just heard that really keeps me motivated is a df from church was telling me how our pastor's wife told her I and my girls were just "glowing". She thought that was strange! One day she caught a glimpse of one of my dds and she said all she could think was, "Cindy's right! They just glow!"

She's known us for 3 years, so she has a "before" to compare to! She said it's "like the picture of health"!

That is a reminder to me that good health and good color and tone come from the inside out! But it takes time to get there, and I certainly had my setbacks!

Start with green smoothies! Then maybe evaluate if you can cut back on bread a bit (or maybe not so much jam on the bread!) Might seem like very tiny changes, but just like 1/4" here and 1/2" there---they add up!

HTH!

[serialspinner]

One single thing that can change your life is to eliminate sodas and fruity drinks. You would be amazed to know just how much sugar you are getting in each soda. Replace with water. A little lemon in the water is nice to give it taste.

[AliceandBrian]

Thank you for the advice. Tiny changes are what I'm looking for! So what exactly do you mean by Green Smoothies? Oh, and I have a juicer that I got on one of my health kicks, and I just got a dehydrator (I love dehydrated apples, so I'm excited about that).
Oh, and I just thought of another healthy thing I do, though it is small. I add stevia extract to my coffe instead of sugar! Thanks for your encouragment in making small changes!
When you were starting to change your eating, did you give yourself a time frame (like for the next month I'm going to do this one thing), or did you just add in the next change when you felt you really had down the previous one, and no longer had to think about it?
I don't care if it takes me on a 5 year treak to good health. Taking that long is better than never getting there at all!

[ayj67]

Adding beans to your diet if you don't have an allergic reaction. Beans has resistent starch (a fiber that cannot be digest, therefore slowing down glucose conversion), eaten with sugary things still can stablize blood sugar. Cinnamon also has blood sugar effect, having 1/4 teaspoon a day also can stablize blood sugar. My mother's diabetes is stablized by having a handful of beans for morning, lunch and dinner (she hates cinnamon).

The resistant starch might causes gases in the beginning, so adding a little in the beginning. After a while, the resistant starch will help you have beneficial gut flora.

Then, add yougurt or kifir to your diet.

I will suggest to try one vegetable that you have never eaten or like before in your life to zest up things. You might find your taste buds change and things you dislike before are actually tastely (not to say healthy). Strive to eventually have the color of rainbow in your meals everyday.

[BlessedMama]

I really didn't have a time frame. I just made little changes along the way. I thought, "Hey I don't need to have a roll AND pasta!" Or I would share mine with the youngest. Then I thought, "I'm not breastfeeding full time now, I don't really need two portions." I have set myself up for a fall by having a "time frame" in the past. Although I realize that having a goal is nice! If you can hold your goals loosely so they don't rule you and discourage you, and they are realistic, then go for it!

Green smoothies---I started out just adding some greens to my milk/fruit based smoothie! Then I started more greens and a small portion of cucumber. Then gradually got brave enough to use water as my base and eventually could cut the honey out. I don't even need as much fruit anymore. But that took place over 2 years' time!

Ayj is right--adding probiotic foods is good. Good yogurt--not the sugar/HFCS kind. Or get a plain yogurt and add your own sweetener. I started actually with Dannon vanilla because it didn't have HFCS although it did have regular sugar. Then Stoneyfield vanilla was available locally, with evaporated cane juice. Each was a little step closer.

Kefir is really good, too!

Make sure you are getting plenty of good fats--that is what helps you feel full, and many health-conscious experts are saying the body was made to burn fat not carbs. I still think we need carbs, but not sugar, white bread and HFCS! But when you feel satisfied, you're not rummaging for more food, and usually we "find" something less than healthy!

If we don't give our body the balance of nutrients it needs (protein, good fats, good carbs, non-starchy veggies), it will tell you you are hungry, keep eating.

A bad example of this is a df of mine who eats fruit and maybe cottage cheese for breakfast, a big salad for lunch, nothing else, and by 4 p.m. is getting a Starbucks and/or chocolate and for "supper" making cookies and eating a dozen!

What we eat earlier in the day will have an effect of what we eat later in the day! I'm working with her (she asked me to!) to change her thinking. She knows the cookies a dozen at a time are not good for her! But it's hard for her to realize she needs protein and good fats throughout the day, small snacks between good meals to help keep blood sugar stable and let the body know there is a constant supply of GOOD food. Believe me, I have been where she is at!

So make sure you are eating well throughout the day. Eating a great breakfast and then skimping the rest of the day won't help any more than eating hardly anything all day and thinking a good supper will keep you out of the ice cream at bedtime! Nope! The body needs quality food throughout the day.

I have a cousin who is a personal trainer, and he told his mom, who is prone to not eating until the afternoon, "Mom, do you know how they train Sumu wrestlers? They eat one meal a day, and very high carb!"

I don't know about you, but the Sumu wrestler look is not what I'm after!

So don't just evaluate your food choices, also look at when you're eating, how often, etc.

HTH!

[ayj67]

There were plenty of studies out there, giving full access of food anytime any amount to high school teenagers. The ones who eat a higher protein breakfast ends up eating less food and more lean and healthy after a few month's studies. The high carb, low fat, low protiens breakfast eater eating a lot more food and more high carb food throughout the day, and they gain a lot of weight after a few months.

Adelle Davis said: Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper.
If you want to eat sweet, eat it during lunch after good protein, good fat and good fiber is consumed, you still can burn it off before bed. If I want dessert when I go out for occassions, I will forgo subpar bread/pasta and save my carb for dessert.

[BlessedMama]

Very true, ayj! My cousin the personal trainer also told his mom, "If you want to have your chocolate, make sure you eat some nuts or other protein with it!"

[AliceandBrian]

Thank you all for your suggestions. I'm going to make a list of them all, and decide where to start. Does it matter what kind of bean? I've found I really like Great Norhern (I think...are they considered white?). Do you have any ideas on how to add them into my diet? I didn't grow up eating beans unless it was in chili, so it's an area that I'm clueless about.
Thanks again!