Top 5 things...

[my3peanuts]

If you could offer someone suggestions on changing their family's poor eating habits what are the top 5 suggestions you would make that would improve their health? Use whole grains? Cut out sugar? etc...

[Sayward]

1. Drink a daily green smoothie (for breakfast is best)

2. Cut out ALL processed foods paying particular attention to hfcs + msg (and its analogues)

3. Reduce or eliminate animal proteins, especially from dairy

4. Find a good source of daily vitamin D and DHA, whether food-based or via supplements

5. Center meals around whole foods, freshly made from scratch, mostly plants

[caiesmommy]

1. Reduce animal protein

2. No processed foods-Try to buy as little as possible in boxes, bags, cans ect

3. Go all whole wheat-rice/bread/pasta/flour

4. Create meals that are made frm whole ingredients-plant proteins, veg, fruit

5. Say no to sugar-I know its a processed food butI think it deserves to be here 2x

[hildare]

1) prepare meals together if you can. convenience is a reason most people eat bad stuff and if meal prep becomes a fun family activity, we're more inclined to do this.
2) don't even go down grocery store aisles where they sell the bad stuff. it's easier to force yourself to cook good things if you have nothing else! michael pollan and everyone else suggest the perimeter of the store for shopping- produce and frozen. all else is junk.
3) get simple cookbooks, like moosewood's simple suppers. If you run out of ideas, randomly pick something.
4) use your food processor if you have one, or by hand if not: when you have extra time, do some prep work. grate cheese, cook/stew/roast meat, chop onions, carrots, garlic. these things you can store for the week and pull out for quick assembly. double portions for things like lasagna and enchiladas and freeze meals when you can. never underestimate the quick healthiness of a quiche or frittata. those are basically anything you chopped plus eggs..
5) when the oven is on, throw in some sweet potatoes or regular potatoes or cut up veggies in a casserole dish. those are fast, easy lunches or parts of bigger meals you can have on hand. i learned this from doing an elimination diet but it's making life much easier for me now. you can do LOTS with a roasted potato.

[4myfinn]

1. Eliminate dairy.

2. Cut back on sugar.

3. No processed foods.

4. Cook and eat at home.

5. Make every meal as plant-rich and colorful as possible.

[ollyoxenfree]

To quote Michael Pollan:

Eat Food.
Not too much.
Mostly Plants.

His book Food Rules goes into detail. "Eat food" means food with ingredients you can pronounce and your grandmother would recognize (not "edible food-like substances") and stuff that's made by humans, not corporations. He has a list of 64 rules to guide people with their food decisions. Very helpful.

[blueridgewoman]

1. Increase veggie intake- at least two servings per meal,including fermented veggies.
2. Focus on grass fed or pastured meat protein, wild fish--i.e. make sure to get plenty of protein.
3. Cut out soy/canola oils (really all refined veg oils and hey, soy all together if possible)
4. Cut out refined grains, sprout/soak those you cannot do without.
5. Eliminate processed "food."

[bluebirdiemama]

1. no processed or artificial foods, esp no HFCS! ever!

2. whole grains

3. fresh fruits and veggies

4. learn how to cook, at least a little, so you do not order out or buy frozen/boxed/heat and eat foods

5. take vitamins and probiotics


I think an important #6 is to do some exercise each day, even just a little

[ErinBird]

1. Set aside time for thinking about food.
2. Set aside time for preparing food.
3. Substitute whole grains for processed grains when possible.
4. Increase the volume of vegetables and decrease the "other stuff" when reasonable.
5. Only eat "junk food" as often as you are willing to actually make it yourself.

[Grace and Granola]

1. cut out the whites - white flour, what sugar, white rice, white potatoes

2. Shop the perimeter - Go around the outer most grocery sections; produce, meat, dairy. Only venture into the aisles with specific things in mind (ww pasta, ww bread, etc.)

3. Cut out beverages containing empty calories- try to stick with water

4. Plan your meals in advance and shop with only those meals in mind

5. Teach your kids that food is fuel. Good food makes you stronger, faster, smarter, healthy etc. Bad food makes you slow, tired, weak, sick. Give them the knowledge to help them make good choices and be interested in the change.

[karika]

1. cut out all processed foods. This includes all chemical ingredients like msg, preservatives, food colorings, HFCS, partially hydrogenated oil

2. Eat only natural/ organic. At least the dirty 12 in produce. Avoid GMO products which are in anything not labeled organic or GMO free.

3. Stop ingesting any form of dairy (milk from a mammal other than a human) and soy.

4. take a probiotic daily

5. be sure you are adequate with vitamin d (and c, but eating fruits and veggies all day take care of that. one needs adequate sunlight for vit d, or a supplement (we use NOW drops.)

[paintedfire]

Originally Posted by ollyoxenfree

To quote Michael Pollan:

Eat Food.
Not too much.
Mostly Plants.

His book Food Rules goes into detail. "Eat food" means food with ingredients you can pronounce and your grandmother would recognize (not "edible food-like substances") and stuff that's made by humans, not corporations. He has a list of 64 rules to guide people with their food decisions. Very helpful.

I second reading this book. I started it being crunchy so it didn't really change much for me, but it helped me to get my Dad eating better.

It's incredibly readable. Very engaging.

[Llyra]

1. Cut sugar, and use only very small amounts of natural sweeteners.

2. Cut out or greatly reduce consumption of processed white starches, like white flour and white rice.

3. Eat more fruits and veg.

4. Find a source for traditionally raised animal products-- look locally for grass-fed dairy, grass-fed meat, pastured eggs, chickens, pork, etc. Animals raised in traditional ways have a healthier profile of fats.

5. Educate yourself about dietary fats. Find several good sources of omega 3 fatty acids. Use traditional, natural, whole-foods sources of fats, and curb your use and consumption of highly processed industrial cooking oil like soybean oil. Treat trans fats like they're poison.

[wholewheatchick]

1. Drink only water or tea; with no added sugar
2. Avoid anything with HFCS, artificial dyes, MSG, "isolated soy protein" (that includes ALL "vegetarian meats" except tempeh or seitan)
3. Don't be afraid of full fat dairy, eggs, meat, etc. if you want to eat it: just make sure it's as organic/free range as you can afford
4. Shop at a farmer's market whenever possible
5. If it comes in a box, be suspicious

And I think that spending time outside each day is absolutely vital to our well-being...humans did not evolve in concrete boxes

[marimara]

1. Drink filtered water (or have well water tested to make sure it's safe)

2. Avoid high fructose syrup.

3. Limit breads and grains while trying to eat more plants and animals (organic preferred).

4. Try a green smoothie! They're yummy!

5. Avoid packaged foods. Real food comes from the earth in its basic form: plants and animals. Your body knows how to put that food to work, it's when we start eating pseudo-food that we get in trouble, healthwise.

[MommaLura]

so, can we do a spin off thread of recipe ideas? We can't do milk or soy (among others) and I always have trouble finding recipes. It seems everything uses dairy, soy, sugar and canned foods.

[Magelet]

1. Cut out processed foods completely (particularly focusing on hfcs, msg (and the many other names it goes by, and anything that has any ingrediants you don't KNOW what they are. Milk? good, you know what that is, could easily make/get it from a cow if you were so inclined. hydrolyzed whey protein? ummm unless your a food chemist, no way would you know how to make that or whats in it, or be able to. (and if your a food chemist, it doesn't count. use normal food stuffs as your basis).

2. Cut out white sugar.

3. Increase your healthy fats (butter, coconut oil, olive oil, pastured animal fats) and eliminate bad fats (soy/canola/vegetable oil, etc. really most veggie oils besides coconut oil and olive oil aren't great, though I hear peanut and sunflower seed can be ok) Treat transfats and hydrogentation like the devil and stay away.

4. If you can afford it, eat pastured meat, dairy and eggs. If you can't, eat organic or free range if you can, etc. If you can't afford pastured meat, here are some better options: If you can get buffalo, or hunted meat, eat that (buffalo can't be feed lot raised, because they aren't really tame at all). If you can get duck or goose, they haven't been bred to withstand the maltreatment that chickens and turkeys have, so they are slightly better.

If you can only afford a little pastured animal food, choose eggs, and fats (butter, lard etc). That's where the most benefit is, in the fat. And since eggs are less expensive and can be raised in backyards, you might be able to find someone who raises them locally, or raise them yourself.

5. Ferment your whole grains. Do eat whole grains, but they need to be soaked/sprouted/fermented, because otherwise, they will depleat you of minerals, because of the phytic acid.

[cristeen]

1- cut out processed foods. This is everything that you can't make at home yourself. Doesn't matter what it is, if you couldn't make it at home with normal equipment found in a kitchen, then don't eat it. You couldn't make white flour, white sugar, soybean oil, hydrogenated anything at home, so you don't eat them.

2- Drink water. Don't drink sweet beverages, carbonated beverages, caffeinated beverages, etc. Restrict alcoholic beverages.

3- eat animal products from animals that were raised as nature intended... that means eggs/meat from chickens who catch bugs, beef/milk from cows that eat grass, non-farmed seafood, etc.

4- eat fat. Healthy fats, but fat. Eggs, animal protein, CO, OO, avocado, nuts, etc. Whichever source you prefer, fats are crucial to a healthy diet.

5- learn to listen to your body. Eat to hunger, not because of boredom. Eat until you're full and stop eating. Serving meals plated instead of family style can really help with this (leave excess in the kitchen). Don't make children clean their plates, they need to learn to listen to their hunger cues also. Eat regularly. Skipping meals can lead to binge behavior. It can also lead to eating not-so-healthy things because they're convenient/easy. If you have a busy schedule, always keep healthy snacks with you, and again, eat when you're hungry.

[my3peanuts]

Thank you!

[mykdsmomy]

Originally Posted by ErinBird

5. Only eat "junk food" as often as you are willing to actually make it yourself.

Wow, this one really hit me hard! I am so lazy about cooking/baking that I always buy my junk food (frozen pies, bag of candy, cake, cookies). I think this is such a great suggestion!