Large Family Logistics - 7 Baby Steps Toward a Whole Foods Diet

We want to move toward a whole foods diet.  With a stubborn family like mine, change is slow.  I've come up with 7 Baby Steps toward our goal and maybe they can help you, too. 

image courtesy www.wellandgoodnyc.com

WHY WHOLE FOODS?

Our religion advises us to eat a diet based on whole grains, vegetables, and fruits, and to eat meat sparingly.  We avoid tobacco, alcohol, coffee and caffeinated teas.  I try to stay up-to-date on nutritional studies to know exactly what foods I should be feeding my large family and teach healthy habits to the best of my ability and budget.  A diet of whole foods is true to my current research and beliefs. 

I see how marketing and convenience foods have deceived us in thinking we're eating healthy.  Our current diet is mostly empty calories, high in fat, sugar, and processed everything.  We've got to get back to more plant foods, basic grains and MODERATION of grass-fed, hormone free meat and dairy.

I love the advice given by Tosca Reno in her book The Clean Diet and I listen whole heartedly to Robyn at  www.GreenSmoothieGirl.com.  Both are women who I feel get nutrition right.

WHY NOT BECOME VEGETARIANS?

Can a family be raised without animal products?  Probably, but I would also be dealing with total anarchy from certain members of my family I love who delight in meat and dairy, and above all .... we want harmony in the home. 

So, how do I get from where we are to where we want to be?

Baby Steps Toward a Whole Foods Diet

1. The beverages we drink.  Drinking water instead of sugar drinks and colas will make the biggest impact on our health, so I started with it.  We bought 4 glass carafes for the refrigerator for the family to share.  They're beautiful, so its very inviting to drink.  Decide how best to filter water, and buy a new personal water bottle to encourage water intake, preferably made of glass or metal to avoid the chemicals that come with plastics.

• Drink 8 cups of filtered water daily
• Drink herbal teas instead of coffee and cola
• Read about kombucha and apple cider vinegar and consider adding to the daily regimen 

image courtesy of www.wineware.co.uk


2.  Increase the vegetables we eat.  The goal is to have vegetables be the base of the food pyramid.  If you're having a hard time getting the kids to eat their veggies, see my previous post here.  Even loving veggies, we still have a long way to go before veggies are the foundation of our meals.

image courtesy of www.topfoodfacts.com

• Start each day with a green smoothie.  (1 bunch of spinach, 1 bunch of kale, 2 cups water, and 3 fruit of choice) According to GreenSmoothieGirl.com, aim for 1 quart of green smoothie daily
• Buy organic when practical
• Avoid white potatoes, corn, and other starchy vegetables
• Soups, salads, and sandwiches are usually great meals to stuff with more veggies

3.  Change the grains we eat.  Plain white bread, boxed cereals, and white pasta bags are the norm in my pantry right now.  We love white sushi rice and white flour.  My plan of attack for changing to whole grains is going to need to be aggressive.

• Substitute brown rice for white
• Buy whole grain rolled or steel-cut oats instead of instant porridge
• Try a new grain like buckwheat, quinoa, bulgur, millet, barley, or farro
• Move to whole grain breads, crackers, and pastas
• Slowly phase out store bought products and baked goods entirely as you find whole grain recipes you enjoy

4. Change the fats we eat.  The word on the street is that real butter is healthier than margarine, and if we can find organic, grass fed butters, ....even better.  Coconut, olive, and flax oils are known to be better for us than butter and have their own unique nutritional benefits.  Vegetable oils are to be avoided.  Dr. Weil, who I trust immensely, still believes canola oil is good for the body, though other sources conflict.  I'll leave that up for each individual to decide.  Choose a fat that will improve on what the family currently uses and try it this week. 

Let's consider the AMOUNT of fats we consume.  Consider the possibility of replacing oil with applesauce in baking, or using non-stick pans to avoid frying in oils.  In some recipes, using half of the butter or oil doesn't affect the taste or outcome of the recipe at all, but over time will make a difference in health.

• Buy real butter (organic, grass-fed if possible)
• Upgrade to a healthier oil like coconut, olive, or flax oil
• Toss the vegetable oils and refuse to buy them again
• Choose recipes that call for less fats or make substitutions

image courtesy www.foodlve.com

5.  Change the sweets we eat.  High fructose corn syrup (found in almost every product on grocery store shelves) causes disease.  Refined sugars used in our baked goods they're now saying is not meant for human consumption because of the way it affects our blood sugar and causes inflammation, and in turn, causes disease.  Honey, real maple syrup, and molasses raise our blood sugar, too, however they are natural and have nutritional and immunity perks.  I don't know a lot about agave nectar, other than its super sweet and I don't care for it.  Stevia is a natural herbal sweetener that doesn't affect your blood sugar, and is superior to all the other mentioned sweeteners.  Artificial sweeteners are BAD for us, and should be avoided at all costs.

• Read the labels of store products and search for undesirable sugars and sugar substitutes
• Buy honey, molasses, maple, and stevia for family use
• Limit refined sugars to special occasions, or not at all

6.  Look at the dairy products we eat.  Even though everyone in the family is free of milk allergies and loves dairy, I have gone without diary temporarily during cleanses or dieting and was surprised at the remarkable improvement on how I felt and looked.  Again, I don't want to eliminate this category entirely, but I want to find moderation for the family.  We're very lucky, on the outskirts of Auckland there are gorgeous tiny goat milk farms that make their own cheeses and dairy products.  The goal is to avoid the hormones added at large, mainstream farms.  I prefer pasteurized milk to raw, though some believe the nutritional benefits to raw outweigh the threat of outbreaks (like Listeria) in milk.  I prefer to get my nutrition elsewhere and not pick up disease.  To each his own.

• Find a local source of organic cheeses and milk products
• Make our own yogurt from the local milk
• Read about and experiment with kefir
• Make our own nut milks, when cost efficient

image courtesy www.cheese-types.com


7.  Make a collection of whole foods recipes that look good.  Put them somewhere new, like a new binder, or a new folder on the computer.  If there are existing whole foods diet recipes the family loves, put them in a separate category of the collection for the recipes already tried. Out with the old, in with the new.  If there aren't any recipes yet, don't worry.  In this step we just want to create a place to be organized.

• Buy a recipe binder or other index type way of storing recipes
• If you prefer the computer, create a place to store new whole foods recipes
• Place existing whole foods recipes in the new collection

There are many more steps we could take to move toward whole foods, but this list is a good start for me and my family and where we are right now. 

How do you change the eating habits of a large family?

Which choices do you think should take priority and have the biggest impact on health?