Easy Change #11: Start Eating Breakfast

This is part of my Easy Changes series. Want to take a small step toward better health? Check them out and make an easy change today!

 

I've always been a breakfast lover. My mom still jokes that even when I would sleep in until noon as a teenager I would wake up and eat breakfast, not lunch. It always felt wrong to skip breakfast, no matter what time it was.

And what's not to love? Warm, comforting oatmeal with cream and maple syrup.  Fried eggs sprinkled with sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Homemade bread lightly toasted with butter melting all over it. Crispy, chewy, smoky bacon. Potatoes, greens, onion, and herbs in a flavorful frittata topped with cheese browned from the broiler. French toast, pancakes, waffles, sausage, and oh my, Eggs Benedict!

But I realize that not everyone feels the same way I do (what are you, crazy?). Do you wake up starving, like I do, or are you the type of person who can go a few hours before eating? If you think that you are just "not a breakfast person" I beg you to think again.

Three Reasons to Start Eating Breakfast

#1. Eating breakfast boosts your metabolism.
Starving yourself is no good for your metabolism. And even if you're "not hungry" right when you wake up, not eating until lunchtime is just not wise. If you skip breakfast to "cut calories", I encourage you to rethink this whole calorie restriction thing. A healthy body is a well-fed body, and not eating enough to satisfy your hunger is not a good plan for long-term health. (Check out 180 Degree Health for more info on metabolism.)

#2. Eating breakfast balances your blood sugar.
If you skip breakfast, you set yourself up for a big blood sugar plummet, which may cause binging on unhealthy foods throughout the day. When you eat a breakfast full of protein and healthy fats, your blood sugar will stay balanced and you'll have more energy throughout the day. And who doesn't need more energy?

#3. Eating breakfast helps your brain to function well.
It has been shown that children who eat a good breakfast do better in school, and I'm sure the same goes for adults! Whether you are a student, a stay-at-home mom, or someone who works outside the home, you need a well-functioning brain in order to do whatever it is you spend your days doing.

"But I'm not Hungry!" 

 

Some of you are going to argue that you are not hungry and food doesn't sound good in the morning. It could be the case that years and years of starving yourself have lowered your metabolism and caused you to not be hungry for breakfast. You may want to start taking your temperature throughout the day; if it is consistently below 98.6, your metabolism is low. You need to eat more food, not less! I encourage you to just try eating a little in the morning, and gradually increase it until you're eating a decent sized meal.

Also, caffeine is an appetite suppressor, so if you are drinking coffee in the morning, it could be masking your hunger. You may want to cut back on the caffeine a bit and see what happens. 

What Makes a Healthy Breakfast?

 

All three macronutrients - fat, protein, and carbohydrates - are important to include in a healthy breakfast. So skip the fat-free yogurt! (And skip the cereal, too.) Here are a few ideas:

• Pastured eggs, fried in butter, with soaked, sprouted, or sourdough toast
• French toast with butter and real maple syrup (or French Toast Frittata)
• Fried Eggs with Vinegar and Garlic
• Whole milk yogurt with homemade soaked granola
• Soaked Oatmeal with raw milk, butter, and honey
• Soaked pancakes or waffles (try the recipe in Real {Fast} Food) with local pastured bacon or Frugal Homemade Breakfast Sausage
• In a hurry? How about a smoothie with whole milk, coconut oil, egg yolks, and fruit (try my Pumpkin Spice Smoothie, Strawberry Orange Julius, and How to Make an Awesome Smoothie)
• Quiche: make it for dinner, and the leftovers make a super quick breakfast!
• If you're in the mood for something sweet but healthy, try my Peach Coffeecake Muffins, Rhubarb Coffeecake, Cranberry Orange Ricotta Muffins, or Breakfast Brownies. Eat with a side of scrambled eggs to make sure you're getting enough protein to keep you going!

So tomorrow morning, get up and make yourself some breakfast. It is SO worth it!

Do you eat breakfast? If not, what's stopping you?

 

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This is part of: Simple Meals Friday, Freaky Friday, Fight Back Friday, Farm Girl Friday, Fresh Bites Friday, Natural Living Monday, Monday Mania, Hearth and Soul, Fat Tuesday, Tiny Tip Tuesday

Easy Change #10: Just Say No to Coffeemate

This is part of my Easy Changes Series. If you want to take baby steps toward better health, check them out here!

(source)

The title of this post is not: "Easy Change #10: Just Say No to Coffee."

Sometimes I'm tempted to write Easy Change posts that are not actually easy. So I'm not asking you to ditch coffee, even though I lean in the direction of believing it's not great for you. After all, I'm still drinking it, so I'm not gonna ask you to stop!

But I am asking you to ditch the fakey-fake creamer. Here's how.

How to Ditch Your Fake Creamer

Step 1. Read the ingredients.
Do you know what is in your coffee creamer? Read the label to find out, and then see how you feel about it. Do you feel good about putting that in your body?

Step 2. Throw it away. 
I'm not a fan of throwing away food...but this is not food. So just do it. Toss it. You'll feel better afterwards, I promise.

Step 3. Replace it with one of these alternatives.

• Good: Half & half or whole milk
• Better: Organic Half & half or whole milk
• Best: Unhomogenized cream or milk (that's the kind where the cream rises to the top)
• Best of the Best: Grass-fed raw cream, skimmed off the top of your raw milk

Step 4. Sweeten if needed with a healthier sweetener.
If you're used to sweetened creamers, I'm sure you'll want to sweeten your coffee a bit. Try one of these alternatives:

• Sucanat (unrefined sugar)
• Raw Honey
• Real Maple Syrup

Where can you find these healthy sweeteners?
If you have a local farmers market, that's a great place to look for honey and maple syrup. You can also buy them directly from farmers. Try doing a search on Local Harvest to find some in your area! Or just get the best you can find at your local grocery store or health food store.

Sucanat can be found at a health food store or ordered online. I get mine from Country Life Natural Foods, which has the best price I've found. It's a great resource if you're in West Michigan!

You can also add a little less sweetener every day to train your taste buds to like it less sweet.

Are you a coffee drinker? What do you put in your coffee?

This is part of: Real Food Wednesday, Whole Foods Wednesday, Healthy2Day Wednesday, Fight Back Friday, Natural Living Monday

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Easy Change #9: Make Desserts Less Sweet

Don't forget about the Sale on Simply Summer today through Saturday! ENDOFSEASON at checkout will get you 50% percent off of this great real food resource!

This is part of my Easy Changes series. Want to take a small step toward better health? Check them out and make an easy change today!

Ever since my road to healthier eating started a few years ago, I've been trying to train my taste buds to be satisfied with less sugar. 

Basil-Lime Avocado Salad Dressing

If you want to learn more about delicious, nourishing, real food without the guilt trip for everything you're not doing right, hit that "like" button on the right, and subscribe to my posts by e-mail or reader feed so you don't miss anything. Thanks for stopping by!

Check out those pastured egg yolks. They are almost orange!

I love my standard Balsamic Vinaigrette, but sometimes it's nice to have something different atop my plate of greens. This unique and nutritious dressing was delicious with a salad of romaine lettuce, cherry tomatoes, red onion, radishes, bacon, and hard boiled eggs.

Why make your own dressing? 

 

Homemade salad dressing is easier than you think! With just a few basic ingredients you can whip up something much tastier and healthier than anything that comes in a bottle. Trying to avoid high fructose corn syrup and polyunsaturated oils? Make this easy change to improve your family's health, and you might just end up enjoying salads more, too!

Easy Change #8: Cut back on Microwave Use

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This is part of my Easy Changes series. To see other easy changes you can make today, go here. And if you like what you're reading here at Plus Other Good Stuff, click "like" on that box to the right!

I mentioned in my recent meal plan that we don't use the microwave to heat up leftovers. Let me clarify: we still have a microwave. But it's in the basement.

Why We Moved Our Microwave to the Basement

1. To free up counter space. 
We have a small kitchen. Now I have more room for kombucha and water kefir on my counter!

2. To encourage us to use it less.
When the microwave was right there, we used it to heat up leftovers all the time, even after I decided to try to cut back our usage. I realized the only way for us to use it less was to move it somewhere less convenient. So down it went.

The Best Reason to Stop Microwaving Leftovers

 

I'm gonna tell you why microwaves are scary in a minute. But first I want to tell you an even better reason to stop using your microwave to heat up leftovers, that has nothing to do with your health.

Microwaved food tastes gross.

Microwaved pizza turns all floppy and squishy. Microwaved beans and rice heat unevenly. Meat gets rubbery. Your food will go from still cold in spots to burn-your-tongue hot in seconds. Then it gets cold much faster than food cooked in an oven and you have to stick it in again.

But if you heat up your leftover mac & cheese in the oven...it turns into baked mac and cheese! Your oven roasted potatoes get a little extra crisp! Your pizza still tastes like pizza! You may actually start looking forward to eating those leftovers!

(Here's a great post highlighting more ways that not using your microwave can make your life easier and tastier!)

Why Microwaves are Scary

I don't want to fill you with fear, so I'll start by saying that we still use the microwave. We didn't get rid of it because it still comes in handy once in awhile.  Like when you're pregnant and you need a bean and cheese burrito (that you so shrewdly made ahead and put in the freezer) at 11 PM. There is no time to wait for it to heat up in the oven! You are hungry now! (In that case, it's actually convenient that the microwave is in the basement, because that's where the chest freezer holding the burrito is too.)

Nonetheless, microwaves kinda freak me out. Research is conflicting (when isn't it?) but there are enough people out there telling me that microwaves are dangerous for me try to use mine less. If those people are right, the possible dangers of the microwave include:

• denatured food (loss of nutrition and changes to the molecular structure)
• radiation which may cause cancer and miscarriage

 

How to Heat up Leftovers without a Microwave

If you're the slightest bit worried that microwaves may not be safe, try heating up food without one. You can do it! Yes, even you! (Stop avoiding eye contact. I'm talking to you.) Here's how.

1. Use a pot on the stove. This works especially great for soups, stews, curries. And it is seriously fast! Yes, you dirty an extra dish, but it's worth it, even to me, and I hate doing dishes.

2. Use the oven. The most common way for us to heat leftovers is to put them in a bowl or on a plate and put it right in the oven set to 350 or so. It takes 10-20 minutes, but there is plenty to do while we wait. It's a great time to catch up on dishes, nurse the baby, or play with the 2 year old. We then (carefully) eat right out of those dishes.

3. Use your trusty iron skillet. Do you have a trusty iron skillet? If not, go buy one. Sometimes you can find one at a thrift store, but I got mine at Bed Bath & Beyond for 20 bucks minus 20% with a coupon. It never leaves my stove top because we use it so frequently. Yesterday we heated up leftover spaghetti and meatballs on it because we didn't have time to wait for the oven. I just put in a little olive oil, plopped in the food, covered it, and stirred it every couple minutes.  It took no more than 5 minutes.

4. Get a toaster oven. I hear these are great for heating leftovers instead of a microwave. They do it faster than an oven and without heating up the whole house. We don't have one now, but it's on my wishlist for someday when we have real jobs and a bigger kitchen. :)

 

Other Common Uses for Microwaves, and How to Make the Switch

 

1. Popcorn. Stove-popped popcorn is delicious! We had some at a friends house last night popped in lard and it was seriously amazing. Good-bye "butter flavor," whatever you are!

2. Steaming Vegetables. If you have eight dollars, buy a steamer basket and steam your vegetables on the stove in a pot. It's fast and easy!

3. Melting Butter. Get some stainless steel measuring cups. (They last longer than the plastic ones anyway.) Put that half-a-stick of butter in to the 1-cup measure and put it right on the burner. Turn the heat as low as it will go, and watch that butter melt away. Or, melt butter in an-oven safe dish while the oven preheats. (Maybe even in the dish you're going to make something in. Then pour it into your mixing bowl, and what's left behind just greased your pan!)

4. "Baking" potatoes. Peirce potato with a fork. Put potato directly on oven rack. Bake potato at 400 until tender. Read a book while you wait.

5. Heating Water for Tea. We used to use a regular tea kettle, which works just fine. Then it got gross so for awhile we used a plain old pot. Then we asked for this electric tea kettle for Christmas. (Thanks mom and dad!) We were shocked at how fast this thing heats water! Some people who have real jobs and houses use something called a hot water dispenser. Looks like it would be super convenient, though I'm very happy with our tea kettle. :)

 

The Challenge

 

I challenge you to try it. You don't have to throw away your microwave, or even move it to the basement. Just try to use it a little less. Choose one of my suggestions and try it out. It's easier than you think!

Do you use a microwave? What do you use it for most? Share in the comments!

 This is part of Monday Mania and Real Food Wednesday, and Simple Lives Thursday.

 

Easy Change #7: Start Meal Planning

Welcome back to my Easy Changes You Can Make Today series! It's been awhile, but I'm back with another small change you can make toward healthier eating! (Did you miss the other Easy Changes? Check them out here.)

I think planning meals is the most important step you can take toward a real food lifestyle. Here's why:

4 Reasons to Start Meal Planning Today

Reason #1: real food takes time

Many real food techniques require thinking at least a day ahead: soaking or sprouting grains and legumes, dehydrating nuts, making stock, thawing meat from your freezer (that you bought in bulk to save money), baking bread, fermenting foods, making homemade condiments, etc. They are not very difficult on their own; what makes them difficult is fitting them into a busy, disorganized lifestyle. If you have a meal plan, you can think about making homemade buns for your hamburgers two days in advance, instead of running to the store to buy some an hour before dinner.

Reason #2: meal planning saves time and money

When you meal plan effectively, you make far fewer trips to the grocery store. This results in less gas used, less food bought, and less time spent in the car and at the store. A meal plan also prevents last minute trips to McDonald's, saving you even more money. And if you get good at making simple real food meals, you can often have dinner on the table in the same amount of time it would take for you go drive to McDonald's and place your order. (Coming soon: tips for simple and quick real food meals!)

Reason #3: meal planning saves brain power

Before I started meal planning, I said the following sentence far too often: "I have no idea what we should have for dinner." Due to our limited budget, we couldn't just go out and grab something, so I had to come up with something to eat with whatever we had on hand. It was exhausting (especially when I was pregnant!). That very rarely happens now. It's so much easier to think about meals once a week and then just follow the plan.

Reason #4: meal planning prevents crabby families

Hungry families are crabby families. Having a meal plan helps you to get dinner on the table before a blood sugar meltdown occurs. (Having healthy snacks available to eat while you're cooking helps, too.)

Are you convinced? If so, here is what you need to do:

1. Designate a place where you will write down your meal plan each week. I like to use a pad of paper with the days of the week already on it. Before I had one of those, I just wrote my meal plans on random pieces of paper that inevitably got lost. But my meal planning pad lives on the refrigerator (if yours doesn't come with magnets, just tape a magnet to the back: I repurposed one from a pad of paper that I had used up). You can also put your meal plan on your computer or phone - wherever you will be most likely to reference it often.

2. Choose a day of the week to do your meal planning. If you shop on the same day each week, choose the day before you shop to plan your meals. And then stick with it. But even if you don't stick with it, don't be hard on yourself; you can always jump right back in!

Choosing a Method

There are a million methods for meal planning. Just google "meal planning" and you'll find hundreds of resources. You can just choose meals off the top of your head, or you can write down a list of your family's favorites and choose from there. You can page through your cookbooks and recipe cards and recipes you've saved on your computer. You can plan just dinners, or breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. Do whatever works for you! And if it's not working, change it! My methods have changed over time. I tried monthly planning but found that I'm not good enough at sticking with a plan to follow through for four weeks in a row. And here's a trick it took me awhile to learn: use pencil.

Don't think that meal planning is going to prevent spontaneity. If someone invites us to dinner or family comes to visit, we just go with the flow and adjust the plan accordingly.

Soon I'll be sharing what's been working for us lately. It's a meal planning method that helps balance our time, budget, and nutrition. And it's simple.

So, will you take the plunge and start meal planning? If not, what's stopping you? If you're a seasoned meal planner, what tips do you have for those who are just starting out?

This is part of Fight Back Friday, Friday Potluck, and I'm Lovin' It Friday.

Easy Change #6: Switch to Soaked Brown Rice

Welcome back to my Easy Changes You Can Make Today series! It's been awhile, but I'm back with another small change you can make towards healthier eating! (Did you miss the other Easy Changes? Check them out here.)

If the title of this post just read "Switch to Brown Rice," things would be relatively simple. All you'd have to do is stop buying white rice and start buying brown rice. Allow a little more time for it to cook and you're good to go. That is, if you can get used to its delicious nutty flavor and hearty texture. (It makes ridiculously good rice pudding.)

Unfortunately things are more complicated than that. But not so complicated that we should just throw it all out the window and keep eating nutritionally empty white rice (although I don't think there's anything wrong with indulging in white rice once in awhile, in the context of a healthy diet). As you've heard me mention before, whole grains contain phytates, substances that block mineral absorption. Consuming too many unsoaked whole grains can lead to nutrient deficiencies, which can cause to tooth decay, bone loss and all sorts of other health problems (that's right, folks, a nutrient-dense diet contributes to the health of your teeth!). They also contain other hard-to-digest substances, according to Sally Fallon Morell, the author of Nourishing Traditions:

"Other antinutrients in whole grains include enzyme inhibitors which can inhibit digestion and put stress on the pancreas; irritating tannins; complex sugars which the body cannot break down; and gluten and related hard-to-digest proteins which may cause allergies, digestive disorders and even mental illness." (source)

But when properly treated through soaking, sprouting, or souring, they are highly nutritious. Sally Fallon Morell recommends soaking grains, including rice, in warm filtered water to which you've added some whey (the liquid that you can drain off of whole milk yogurt), lemon juice, or raw apple cider vinegar. After 7-24 hours, this acidic environment has supposedly neutralized many of the phytates and enzyme inhibitors present in the grain. But there's another problem...

Apparently this method is not very effective on rice. Rats.

Fortunately, some very smart people who care about this sort of thing have done some research and have come up with a much more effective way to soak brown rice. You don't need any special equipment, and it will only take one minute of your time about 24 hours before you want to eat rice. It's called "accelerated fermentation" which sounds complicated but really isn't. It just means you save some of the soaking water and reuse it every time, which after several times reduces the phytic acid by up to 96%. Sweet! So here's how you do it:

How to Soak and Cook Brown Rice 

1. Combine in a saucepan:
   1 part brown rice (rinsed through a fine mesh strainer)
   2 parts filtered water
2.  Heat gently on low heat to warm the mixture. Turn off when it feels warm to the touch. 
3. About 24 hours later (give or take: it's more effective if you wait a full 24 hours but as few as 7 hours is beneficial), drain the rice in a colander over a liquid measuring cup. Take note of how much water comes out. 
4. Pour about 1/4 c. of the water you drained off into a jar to place in the fridge. Label it so you remember what it is! Discard the rest of the water. 
5. Put the rice back into the saucepan with fresh water in the amount you drained off. You can also cook the rice in chicken stock for added nutritional benefits (plus it tastes delicious!). Add optional salt to taste. (I usually add a few cubes of chicken stock to the water.)
6. Bring to a boil, reduce to the lowest possible heat, cover, and cook until tender. (I find that it is usually tender after 35 minutes or so, instead of the usual 45 that brown rice takes to cook. We don't like mushy rice.) 
7. The next time you want to cook brown rice, add the water you saved to your soaking water, and continue the process. Don't forget to save a little bit each time!

You can use this method with any rice recipe with a little creativity. If your recipe says to sauté veggies first and then add the rice to them, just cook your veggies in the same pan you used to soak the rice (while the soaked rice waits in a colander) and then add the rice back in at the appropriate time. If your recipe calls for other liquid in addition to stock or water, make sure the total amount of liquid equals the amount you drained off of your rice. (I broke that rule last night when making a rice pilaf, and my rice had way too much liquid. The problem was remedied by boiling it with the lid off for a few minutes.)

As with many real food techniques, this one isn't complicated, it just takes planning ahead. One more reason to start meal planning! :)

What do you think? Will you switch to soaked brown rice? If not, what's keeping you from taking the plunge?

This is part of Fight Back Friday.

Easy Change #5: find lunch meat alternatives

Welcome back to my Easy Changes You Can Make Today series! It's been awhile, but I'm back with another small change you can make to help you and your family become healthier people! (Did you miss the other Easy Changes? Check them out here!)

This series is all about taking small steps toward a healthier diet. Depending on your current relationship with pre-sliced deli meats, this step may feel like more of a medium sized step. But be encouraged: I'm not going to suggest you never eat lunch meat again. This blog is not about judgement, it's about the joy of real food.

But before we get to the happy part - the mouthwatering lunch-meatless options that await you - we have to talk about why we might want to stop relying on this very convenient convenience food. So here goes...

Three Reasons to Avoid Conventional Lunch Meat 

 

1. You don't know how the animals were raised.

And if you don’t know, you can assume it’s probably not good. Too many animals in a small space, with no access to the outdoors, fed GMO grain and soy, getting pumped full of hormones and antibiotics…it’s a sad story. And it makes the meat you eat a lot less nutritious. I used to think that meat was meat, but it's just not true. Corn-fed meat, unlike its distant cousin grass-fed meat (or pastured chicken/turkey) has a ratio of omega-6’s to omega 3’s that is extremely out of balance. Chickens were meant to eat bugs! Cows were meant to eat grass! Pigs were meant to roll around in the mud! If animals are living in the great outdoors they are healthier and don’t need a constant stream of antibiotics to keep them “healthy.” Unfortunately most of the lunch meat you see in the store (unless it is grass-fed or from a reputable organic farm) is factory farmed. No, thank you. This reason alone is enough to dissuade me, but here are a couple more good reasons... 

2. It contains nitrates or nitrites.

See Thursday's post on what these are and why we might want to avoid them. The jury is out but I'd rather play it safe whenever I can. 

3. It's wasteful.

You get a small amount of meat in a plastic package that comes from petroleum, often can’t be recycled, and doesn’t biodegrade. Convenient? Yes. But not exactly earth friendly. 

(Side note: I met someone last night who is majoring in Package Engineering. Fascinating! He mentioned that one aspect of his field is trying to get the job done with less packaging. Even in our fallen system of processed and packaged everything, I'm grateful that there are people trying to design packaging that uses less resources!)

So, if you’re not going to eat lunch meat all the time, what do you eat for lunch?? I’ve got all sorts of easy lunch ideas to help you out! They might take a little longer to prepare than slapping some ham between two slices of Wonderbread, but they are ever-so-delicious and WAY more nutritious, too.
 

Ten Alternatives to Conventional Lunch Meat

 

1. Tuna or salmon salad.

Though I'm not thrilled that salmon and tuna come in a can lined with BPA and who knows what else, it's a compromise I choose to make. We eat tuna or salmon salad once a week or so for a quick lunch. Just open the can and mix with a little mayo (homemade is best!) or plain yogurt if you’re in a pinch (or a combination - the yogurt is great for digestion!) Add some chopped celery and something onion-y (chopped onion, scallions, or chives). A bit of mustard, squeeze of lemon juice, and you’re done! Fresh herbs like parsley and thyme take it to the next level. 

2. Chicken salad.

Got leftover meat from roasting a chicken? Shred the meat and use the same technique as above, or try my Shallot Cranberry Chicken Salad. Or skip the “salad” part and just shred some chicken and throw it on a sandwich with some cheese and veggies.

3. Egg Salad.

Hard boil some eggs and plunge into cold water. Peel and chop. Add the same ingredients you would add to tuna salad, plus some paprika and parsley if you have it.

4. Deviled eggs.

These are an Easter tradition in my family, and we devour them! But they work great as a simple lunch, too. Here is a simple recipe. 

5. Hummus or other bean spread.

These are satisfying, inexpensive, and delicious! Try my recipes for Hummus, Roasted Garlic Black Bean Dip, and White Bean Dip with Garlic Scapes (even if you don’t have garlic scapes).
 

6. Quesadillas

Buy some traditionally prepared corn tortillas (we get El Milagro brand from our local Mexican grocery), or make some sprouted, soaked, or sourdough tortillas. Add some muenster cheese, fold in half, and cook in an iron skillet until the cheese melts. Serve with sour cream, guacamole, and/or salsa. If you had beans for dinner the night before, just reheat them on the stove in a saucepan to round out the meal. I also keep a couple cans of black beans handy for emergency lunches (like when the menu plan says "leftovers" but somehow there aren't any).
 

7. Grilled cheese and veggies sandwiches.

You know how to make grilled cheese, right? (Make sure you butter the bread!) If you want to take it to the next level, sauté some mushrooms, onions, and/or bell peppers and throw those into your sandwich, too! We also make a big batch of pesto every summer and freeze it in ice cube trays. Pesto grilled cheese is a definite favorite around here! Or skip the grilling and just eat a cheese sandwich. In that case, add some tomato, lettuce, and avocado. Yum!

8. Nut Butter Sandwiches.

Simple enough. Just be sure to buy all-natural peanut or almond butter with no added partially hydrogenated oils or sugar. (We LOVE Trader Joe’s Almond Butter.) Even better, make your own with soaked and dried nuts. I’ll do that some day, when I have a powerful food processor. Add some local raw honey or homemade jam and you've got a filling lunch and a slightly sweet treat all in one!

9. Leftovers.

This is our favorite thing to eat for lunch. Reheat some of last night’s dinner (preferably on the stove or in the oven/toaster oven). Or eat it cold! 

10. Nitrate/nitrite free, sustainably raised lunch meat

If you absolutely HAVE to have lunch meat, you can find healthy versions. Applegate Farms makes organic, nitrate free deli meats (and other cured meats like hot dogs and bacon!). They are more expensive, but if you only buy them occasionally and you save money by buying less processed food in general, perhaps you can fit it into your budget. There are certainly times in life where lunch meat can be a life saver!

11. Make your own lunch meat! The Nourishing Gourmet has a recipe for homemade chicken lunch meat that looks delicious! 

 

What’s your favorite simple and lunch meat-free lunch?

This is part of Fight Back Friday and Monday Mania.

Easy Change #4 - Switch to Coconut Oil

This post is a part of my Easy Changes You Can Make Today series. Check out the previous posts and make an easy change today!

It's been a few weeks since I posted an easy change. But let's get back into it! So far we've covered homemade mac & cheese, homemade EASY salad dressing, and how to start reading ingredient labels. I'm super excited about today's post because it really is a simple switch, and it can have a huge impact on your health!

Today I challenge you to STOP buying vegetables oils. That means canola oil, soybean oil, corn oil, peanut oil, safflower oil, sunflower oil, ect. If a recipe calls for "vegetable oil," use coconut oil instead!

First, the why. As I learned in the very amusing documentary "Fat Head" (watch it for free on hulu!), these vegetable oils are a very new addition to our diet if we think about the scope of human history. I know, you're saying, "I thought canola oil was a healthy oil!" Well, we've been misinformed. All vegetable oils are very susceptible to going rancid, especially when heated. And in processing, they are heated to super high temps, and then deodorized because when something goes rancid, it stinks. They also have a nice bit of yellow color added to them to make them look more appetizing. Yum.

Also, they are high in omega-6 fatty acids. We do not need any more of those suckers. With most meat and dairy (and even farmed salmon!) being corn-fed, we already get way more than necessary.

They are also almost always genetically modified. The trouble with GMO's is that we just don't know if they are safe or not. They are too new. But we certainly haven't become any healthier since they've been around, so I'd rather not risk it. They are pretty hard to avoid, but this is one step you can take. Yay! Baby steps! (Click here for more of the scoop on vegetable oils.)

So why is coconut oil a healthy alternative?

1) Healthy saturated fat.

I know you still can't believe it, but saturated fats actually don't clog arteries or cause heart disease. Polyunsaturated vegetable oils and partially hydrogenated oils do. Healthy saturated fats like butter, coconut oil, lard, and tallow actually do the following (according to this source):

• strengthen the immune system
• protect against cancer
• regulate insulin receptors and thereby protect against diabetes
• lower your chances of getting asthma because they help your lungs function properly
• suppress inflammation
• help your brain work better (did you know that more than half the brain is made up of saturated fat?!)
• carry fat-soluble vitamins A, D, and K2 which are essential for good health!

2) Lauric Acid=anti-microbial

Lauric acid is the same stuff that is in breast milk to help protect infants from getting sick. And coconut oil is full of it! Score!

3) Weight Loss

According to the book Eat Fat Lose Fat, coconut oil actually helps you LOSE excess weight! And when you eat enough fat, you feel satisfied sooner, so you are less apt to binge on junk food.

4) It's traditional.

People in tropical climates have been eating this stuff for thousands of years without getting heart disease.

Is that enough reasons for you?

Where can you find coconut oil?

You can find coconut oil at most larger grocery stores (like Meijer, around here) or health food stores, but you're going to pay an arm and a leg. I order it online to get a better deal. I've found the best price to be through Columbus Foods, and it seems to be a very high quality oil. (Here is the link - scroll down to "Coconut Oil, Extra Virgin".) You can also buy it through Mountain Rose Herbs or Tropical Traditions.

When you buy coconut oil, look for the words "virgin" or "unrefined". If you REALLY can't stand the taste of coconut (though I don't usually notice it) you can buy the cheaper refined variety, but it loses many of its health benefits. Refined coconut oil is still a healthier choice than vegetable oils, though!

If you're afraid to go out on a limb and buy a gallon of the stuff, buy a small jar from the store to try it out. Or split a gallon with a friend or two!

How do you use it in recipes? Here are a few ways:

1) Sauteing.

I use coconut oil in most recipes that call to saute something in olive oil, because it has a higher smoke point and is safer for sauteing. If the recipe is one with a mild flavor where the coconut flavor might be obvious, I'll use olive oil or butter. But there are some recipes where it works great, like curries, anything with fish, stir fries, etc.

2) Baking, in place of a liquid oil.

Coconut oil is solid at room temperature unless the room is quite warm (it melts at 76 degrees F). So to use it in place of a liquid oil, you have to melt it. I usually put it in a stainless steel measuring cup and place it over very low heat right on my stovetop. You can also melt it gently in a saucepan, or place it (in a glass jar) on top of the oven when the oven is on. Make sure it's not too hot when you add it too your recipe.

3) Baking, in place of a solid fat.

If a recipe calls for butter, lard, or (eek!) margarine, you can use coconut oil. I sometimes use it instead of butter simply because it's slightly less expensive per pound than the high quality butter I like to buy. Just use it as is, solid at room temperature.

Here's another post about coconut oil with lots of ideas for how to use it!

One more tip.

If you order a gallon of this stuff, you are going to get it in some sort of big plastic container. To make everyday use easier, I transfer it to glass quart jars (available in the canning section of your grocery store or hardware store). The stuff from Soaper's Choice comes in a bottle that should really be for a pourable oil - with a small spout. So I put it on top of the oven when I have it on a low heat for granola or something, and when it gets melty I pour it (carefully! sometimes it splashes!) into my jars. When you order from Mountain Rose or Tropical Traditions it comes in a bucket, so you can just scoop it out with a spoon into jars.

So order some! It's an easy change you can make today! :)

This is part of Real Food Wednesday. Check it out for more real food recipes and ideas!

Easy Change #3: Start Reading Ingredient Labels

This is part 3 of my Easy Changes series. Check out previous posts, and let me know what changes you would like to make so I can help you do it!

As a dance teacher I am constantly telling my students that in order to improve their dancing, they need to develop body awareness so that can know what their bodies are doing in the first place. It's pretty hard to hold your arms in a slightly different way if you don't know what you're doing with your arms now.

It's the same way with food. If you don't know what you're eating now, then how will you know what to change? You can easily say, "I had cereal for breakfast, a turkey sandwich for lunch, and a hamburger and fries for dinner," but you might not be aware of what those foods are made up of.

The first step is reading the ingredients.

A huge part of learning to eat real foods for our family has been not buying as many processed foods: cereal, snacks, store-bought bread, condiments, or anything with a lot of added ingredients. I try to make as much from scratch as I can...which might be overwhelming to some of you! Keep in mind that it took me a few years to get to that point! So instead of telling you "stop buying all processed foods and make everything from scratch," I'm telling you, "Read the labels of the foods you already buy and think about if there might be a better option."

That's it. Just read them. Find out what is in your food! If you come across an ingredient that you can't identify (or pronounce!), look it up and find out what it is. If you find an ingredient that you are pretty sure is best to avoid, try to find a product that doesn't contain that ingredient.

If after doing so, you feel inclined to try your hand at homemade crackers or broth or mayonnaise, or substituting lunch meat with homemade tuna or chicken salad, by all means, go for it! (And if you need help doing so, let me know!) But no pressure. If it's stressing you out, take a step back. Any change is better than no change, and it all starts with an awareness of what you're eating.

What should you be looking for when reading these labels? Well first let's clarify. I'm not talking about reading the part of the label where it says how many calories and grams of sugar and fat. Granted, sometimes that's helpful (like if you're trying to choose the product with the least sugar), but focusing too much on that part, and not enough on the actual ingredients, can be misleading. If you are a calorie counter and choose a product based on number of calories, you might be missing the fact that the lower number of calories is due to artificial sweeteners, which are definitely on my list of ingredients to avoid! And if you choose the product based on fewest number of fat grams, well, then, we need to have a conversation about fat. It's the TYPE of fat that is important, and you need plenty of it to thrive! (Did you know your brain is made of mostly fat?)

So, don't dwell on those details. Instead, read the ingredients. There are all kind of things that I recommend you steer clear of, but I'm gonna start with the top three.

1. Partially hydrogenated oils. These "trans fats" lurk in your peanut butter, crackers, cakes, doughnuts, frosting, soups, tortillas, and more. They are vegetable oils (rancid and deodorized, to begin with) that have been chemically re-processed to be more shelf stable and solid at room temperature. Though saturated fats have gotten a bad rap in recent decades, the studies used to "prove" that saturated fats cause heart disease actually didn't differentiate between hydrogenated oils and saturated fats such as butter and coconut oil. Minor details (not!). Hydrogenated oils are the number one fat to avoid! They also hide under the name "shortening." Also note: just because something says "zero grams trans fat" does not mean it doesn't contain any. If a product contains less than 0.5 grams per serving they can write zero, but it's not true! (Want to learn more about fats? watch a very amusing documentary called "FatHead" for free on hulu.com!)

2. High Fructose Corn Syrup. AKA how to fill the entire population up with sugar on the cheap. The biggest culprit here is pop (or is it soda? or soda pop? or coke?), but this is also found in everything from bread to yogurt to hummus to ketchup. A very complicated process of chemical reactions has to take place to give you HFCS, which sets off warning bells for me right away. This stuff does not exist in nature (much like hydrogenated oils, above), so that makes me think maybe we weren't made to eat it. It's made from genetically modified corn and enzymes (also scary). Your liver doesn't like all that fructose, and HFCS depletes your body of nutrients and can cause weight gain. Bad news, friends. :(

This next one is a little more overwhelming, so if you're not ready for step three, just stick to one and two, and come back to this one later!

3. Excitotoxins. Excitotoxins are substances that make your brain say "more, more, more!" but they also cause a whole gamut of health problems, such as holes in the lobes of your brain (according to a former customer of my dad's who worked for Nutrisweet - this guy wouldn't touch the stuff), migraines (ever get a headache after eating chinese food?), learning disabilities, and hormonal imbalances. (See this article and the corresponding book for more info.) The three excitotoxins to look out for are MSG, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, and aspartame. The trouble is, they aren't always labeled. According to the previously cited article, MSG only needs to be labeled if it's 100% MSG, but if a food contains spice mixture that includes MSG plus other ingredients, it does not need to be labeled. Stinky! So, look out for these ingredients that very likely also contain MSG:

sodium caseinate, calcium caseinate, yeast extract, textured protein, autolyzed yeast, hydrolyzed flour, malt extract, malt flavoring, bouillon, broth, stock, "flavoring," "natural flavoring," "seasoning," "spices," carrageenan, enzymes, soy protein concentrate, soy protein isolate and whey protein concentrate. (source)

:( The seasoning and spices are what get me the most. And of course it's easy to think that natural flavoring is, well, natural. (Did you see any of those on my ketchup label in the photo up there? Oops!)

Sad day, huh? But cheer up! Go make your family a delicious home cooked meal and say to yourself, "I'm doing the best I can!"

I remember in college when I first learned that high fructose corn syrup was bad news. I had just bought a couple big boxes of Rice Crispies on sale at Meijer, buy one, get one free. I tossed them right into the trash. I was pretty hard core about it.

I'm not sure I would do the same thing today. Food is still food, and it fills up our bellies and keeps us from starving. Wasted food is not cool, but I guess what's even more uncool is food that shouldn't exist in the first place. So you'll have to decide for yourself whether you toss out food you've already bought, or simply eat it up and try to make a better choice next time.

Happy label reading! Leave comments with your questions about ingredients, and let me know if you need advice for finding healthier alternatives!

This post is part of Monday Mania and Real Food Wednesday.

Easy Change #2: Make Your Own Salad Dressing

This is the second installment of my new series, Easy Changes You Can Make Today. Read about it here (and tell me in the comments what you'd like to see in this series!).

Change #1 was making your own macaroni and cheese. Did you try it yet? Yesterday I made a tuna-mac version by adding 12 oz. of chunk light tuna with no additives (chunk light is lower in mercury than solid white) and a generous handful of frozen peas. It was a hit all around!

Change #2 is something we use almost every day. It saves us money, nourishes our bodies, and might be responsible for my husband becoming a salad lover!

Homemade salad dressing first entered my life in the form of my Aunt Catherine's balsamic vinaigrette. We had it when we were visiting family in California several years ago, and we were hooked immediately. My mom started making it all the time, and bottled salad dressing just kind of got phased out of our house. Her recipe is the one I've stuck with as my "go to" salad dressing, but now I've made it so many times that it's more of a rough guide for proportions than an actual recipe. It has infinite variations and is SO easy to put together.

Besides saving money and being delicious, here are a two more reasons to start making your own salad dressing:

1. Industrial oils.

When I say "industrial oils" I mean soy, canola, cottonseed, etc. This is what commercial salad dressings are made of. These oils are most often genetically modified, are processed at insanely high temperatures that have caused them to become rancid, and then they are deodorized so we can't smell or taste that they are rancid. When you make homemade salad dressing, you can use pure extra-virgin olive oil, and be confident that the fat you are consuming is good for you!

2. High Fructose Corn Syrup

Don't believe the propaganda of the corn industry: high fructose corn syrup IS harmful to your health. :( Most salad dressings contain this highly processed sweetener; those that don't surely contain more sugar than necessary, which isn't beneficial either. But when you make your own, you can use honey or pure maple syrup to lightly sweeten it. Those sweeteners actually contain some good stuff, instead of being stripped of anything that night be considered a nutrient.

Convinced yet? I could also mention preservatives, artificial flavors, and MSG (which tricks your brain into wanting more!)...but let's move on to the good stuff.

Some of you are thinking that this is going to involve strange ingredients and/or a time consuming method. Nope and nope. Here is what you need:

extra virgin olive oil

balsamic vinegar

dijon mustard

honey or pure maple syrup

salt and pepper

Nothing too weird, right? There are several optional ingredients, as well, but none of them are weird either. :)

And as for the method, all you do is put everything in a container with a tight-fitting lid (I use a small canning jar) and shake shake shake! Really, you can do this.

Become a Salad Lover Balsamic Vinaigrette

Method: Place all but olive oil in a jar and shake to blend. Add oil and shake again.

Basic recipe:

1/4 c. balsamic vinegar

1-3 t. dijon mustard

1 t. or more honey/pure maple syrup (to taste)

a few pinches salt

a few grinds pepper

2/3-3/4 c. extra virgin olive oil

Variations:

--Aunt Catherine's Original: Add 1 t. crushed thyme, 1 t. crushed rosemary, 1 clove pressed garlic, and fresh lemon juice to taste.

--Joanna's cheater version of Catherine's Original: Add 1 t. crushed thyme, 1 t. crushed rosemary, and few shakes of garlic powder (for when I don't want to crush garlic or juice a lemon).

--Creamy Honey Balsamic: Add more honey to taste and a couple T. plain yogurt.

Other options:

--Use red/white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar instead of balsamic.

--Add a tablespoon of cold-pressed flaxseed oil to boost your omega-3's.

--Try other spices such as nutmeg, basil, parsley, or ginger. Fresh basil is divine.

But what if you don't have time?

Now, if you're anything like me, there will be times when you are ready to eat dinner and you think, "Oh crap, we don't have any salad dressing!" The toddler's squealing and your stomach's growling and someone is in danger of being late for something. In this case you have a couple options:

1. Put out the balsamic vinegar and olive oil. It's not quite as tasty as the real thing, but it's better than plain lettuce!

2. Eyeball it and make the basic recipe with no extras. You'll get better at it with practice. I can do this in about a minute now if I don't measure anything. When you pour vinegar into your jar make note of how high it comes up and estimate about 2 to 3 times as much oil as vinegar (depending on how tangy you like it: more oil=less tang). A squirt of mustard, a squirt of honey, salt and pepper and you're good to go!

3. Keep in mind that it keeps for several days in the fridge, so you don't have to make it every day. But you may want to take it out of the fridge a little while before dinner, because olive oil sometimes solidifies in the fridge. If you have a big family, double or triple the recipe as needed, especially if you eat a lot of salad. If you don't eat a lot of salad, stay tuned for upcoming posts about how to eat more vegetables!

Bonus: This recipe is also delicious for dipping bread, marinating meat, dressing up bruschetta, or in pasta salad.

Have you made homemade salad dressing? What's your favorite recipe? Will it be hard for you to give up the store-bought stuff?

This is part of Fight Back Friday.

Easy Change #1: Ditch the Kraft Mac & Cheese

We have all had those days when you realize you or someone in your family is starving and you have no idea what to make for dinner. That's when you might be tempted to pull out the Kraft Mac & Cheese from the pantry. It's so easy...it's right there...you have the directions memorized and it takes no thought whatsoever.

But the problem is...it doesn't exactly fit into our goal of eating "real" food. Check out these ingredients, from kraft's website:

Ingredients: ENRICHED MACARONI PRODUCT (WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, FERROUS SULFATE [IRON], THIAMIN MONONITRATE [VITAMIN B1], RIBOFLAVIN [VITAMIN B2], FOLIC ACID); CHEESE SAUCE MIX (WHEY, MILKFAT, MILK PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, SALT, SODIUM TRIPOLYPHOSPHATE, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF CITRIC ACID, LACTIC ACID, SODIUM PHOSPHATE, CALCIUM PHOSPHATE, MILK, YELLOW 5, YELLOW 6, ENZYMES, CHEESE CULTURE).

My fav's are the yellow 5 and yellow 6. Perhaps you've heard of the probable link that food dyes have to behavioral disorders? The effects tend to be stronger in children, and food marketed toward children is more likely to contain artificial coloring. Eek!

I could go on about other issues I have with that ingredient list, but since I try to keep Plus Other Good Stuff a happy place (that's why it's not called Plus Other Bad and Angry Stuff), instead of dwelling on the bad, let's focus on a delicious, easy, fast, healthy alternative!

Get this: it is JUST AS EASY to make delicious homemade macaroni and cheese as it is to make the boxed stuff.

Just as easy, you say?? Yes. Look at this:

Steps involved in making Kraft Mac & Cheese

1. Make sure to have it in your pantry, as well as butter and milk in the fridge.

2. Bring water to a boil.

3. Cook the macaroni.

4. Drain the macaroni.

5. Add butter.

6. Add milk.

7. Add cheese sauce packet.

8. Eat.

And this:

Steps involved in making healthy homemade Mac & Cheese:

1. Make sure to have pasta in your pantry, and cheese, butter, and milk in the fridge.

2. Bring water to a boil.

3. Cook the macaroni.

4. Drain the macaroni.

5. Add butter.

6. Add milk.

7. Add shredded cheese.

8. Eat.

Ohmagoodness. You're gonna love it. Now here's the recipe, if you can call it that. It's so easy, you don't even need a recipe, but just in case you're feeling like you need someone to hold your hand, I'll give you one.

Easy Homemade Macaroni and Cheese

Ingredients (alter amounts according to your preference):

1 lb. brown rice pasta (we like rotini, macaroni, or penne)

4 T. butter

1/2-3/4 c. whole milk, cream, or a combination

1 1/2 cups shredded cheese

unrefined sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

optional add-ins: kale, swiss chard, or other cooking greens; frozen peas; nutritional yeast; cut up nitrate-free hot dogs/sausages

Directions:

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt liberally (a couple tablespoons), add pasta and cook according to package directions. If using hot dogs, cut into bite-sized pieces and cook them with the pasta. If using kale or swiss chard, add in the last several minutes of cooking (about 5 minutes for kale, 3 minutes for chard). If using peas, add in the last minute or so.

Drain the pasta and add-ins. Return to the pot and turn the heat on low. Add butter and stir to melt. Add milk and cheese, as much as you think looks good, and stir to melt. Salt and pepper it to taste, sprinkle with nutritional yeast if desired, serve, and eat! Your body will thank you.

Want to know more about choosing the best ingredients for your homemade mac & cheese? Here are some ingredient notes:

Pasta: Use any shape you want! We choose to use brown rice pasta that we get at Trader Joe's for an awesome price. Otherwise, our pasta standard is whole wheat, but since pasta is not soaked or fermented and whole grains are kinda hard to digest, we opt for brown rice, which is a bit easier to digest unfermented than wheat. Even if you don't think you have a sensitivity to wheat products, it's a good thing to switch up your grains sometimes so you don't develop one.

Butter: Raw, grass-fed butter is best, but that's hard to find unless you make it yourself with raw cream that you get from a farm. Pasteurized grass-fed butter is second best, and the best price I've found on this is Kerrygold butter, which you can find at, guess where, Trader Joe's. (We don't have one near us but when we visit our parents' in the chicago suburbs we stock up!). The third best choice is organic butter, which I get for the best price at Meijer. The fourth best choice is just regular real butter with no additives.

Cheese: Any cheese is better than a super processed powdered cheese sauce. I'd go with sharp cheddar, organic and grass-fed if you can find it, raw is best. (More on where we get cheese in an upcoming post!)

Milk/cream: Raw, grass-fed, local milk is best. I'm sure I'll being doing a post in the future about finding good milk, but for now, at least try to buy a kind that says it doesn't use growth hormones. Before we had raw milk we often bought Country Dairy milk from our local Meijer. It is produced in Michigan with minimal pesticides and no hormones or antibiotics. Go for the full fat stuff, and make sure it's not "ultra-pasteurized." Most organic brands are, ironically enough, but that process uses super high heat and makes the milk totally indigestible. (You can't even use it to make yogurt or other types of cultured milk because it's totally dead. Yuck.)

Add-ins: For a real crowd pleaser and extra protein, add some cut up hot dogs or sausages (nitrate free and preferably from a local, reputable source that raises their animals outside). For a super healthy yet super delicious version, add some kale or swiss chard or other type of hearty green. Greens+cheese=yum, even if you think you don't really like them. Start with just a few leaves, if you're scared, and gradually increase the amount. If you're not going to add greens, at least throw a handful of frozen peas in there, that way you're getting something green. [My mother-in-law used to put frozen peas in the mac and cheese when my husband was growing up. He and his brother were so used to it that when they went to a friend's house and there were no peas in the mac & cheese, they thought it was gross. :) ] For even more added nutrition, sprinkle in some nutritional yeast - it has a slightly cheesy, nutty flavor.

This is part of Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, Hearth and Soul, Real Food Wednesday, Simple Lives Thursday, Pennywise Platter Thursday, Simple Meals Friday

introducing: Easy Changes You Can Make Today, a series

Golly, why does it matter what I eat?

I used to think that a healthy diet was one that kept me at a healthy weight. I had no idea that the foods we eat can cause or prevent health problems other than weight gain. And I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who thought that. Often, if I'm talking to someone and they say something about “getting healthy” they mean cutting back their calories enough to lose a little weight and fit back into their skinny jeans.

The real deal is that the way you eat is responsible for SO much of your health! Of course a healthy weight is important, but if you are achieving it simply by counting calories while eating processed junk food, you might be "solving" one problem while causing several more. I am not trying to say that you can completely control what happens to you by eating a certain way. I am not saying that if you eat well you will definitely avoid cancer or heart disease or diabetes or infertility. Ultimately, I trust God to take care of me no matter what happens - whether I am sick or well. But, if certain foods are known to cause health problems and I know that I just plain feel better when I eat a certain way, then I'm going to try to do it. (For more thoughts on why to eat real food, check out this post by Kimi of the Nourishing Gourmet. She posted that after I started writing this post, but I totally agree with her philosophy.)

Beyond physical health, I also want to eat real food because it's how God intended for us to eat. If I eat a hot pocket, I have no idea where it came from (except the freezer section at Meijer) and it in no way draws me to praise God for the goodness he has made. But when I go to the farmer's market and buy hierloom tomatoes from a real live farmer, I connect my food to a person and I see that I have a relationship with the earth. My food comes from somewhere, and I want to care about that place and the people who tend it.

So, why not?

You might have an answer to that question. Maybe you don’t know where to start. Maybe cooking from scratch intimidates you. Maybe you think it’s going to be prohibitively expensive to eat healthy food.

I want to help you re-imagine food. So I’m starting a new series here at Plus Other Good Stuff, called “Easy Changes You Can Make Today.” Each week I’ll tell you about an ingredient, technique, or recipe that will help you take a tiny step towards better health.

But first, I need your feedback! Tell me in the comments: What intimidates you about real food cooking? What barriers have you run into in your attempts to nourish yourself and your family? What is something you wish you knew how to cook, but you’re afraid to try? What “unhealthy” recipe do you wish you had a real food version of? Do you wonder whether a certain food is good for you or not?

I make no promises to be able to fulfill all your requests, and I’m not a chef. :) But I’d love to help you with the things you need help with, as much as I can!

So tell me, what is stopping you from eating healthier?

This is part of Fight Back Friday.