So when Mamapedia invited me to attend a webinar co-sponsored by Real California Milk Advisory Board and with guest speakers Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarborough, I enthusiastically said yes. I’ll tell you, I was excited! I mean, these guys are REAL cookbook authors (18 and counting no less plus they contribute to such magazines as Eating Well and Cooking Light)! They would be talking about their latest book, Real Food Has Curves: How to Get Off Processed Foods, Lose Weight and Love What You Eat. I was intrigued to say the least!
Since this blog is about meal planning, you know then that I believe meal planning is key to eating healthy and cooking for real. With a little preparation and forethought it doesn’t take that long either. Here are some tips the authors suggest for learning to love real food (rather than highly or over processed food):
1. Taste your food. Take time to really notice the flavors. Many times those foods will be connected with memories and that will make your body really appreciate the flavor and help you feel satisfied earlier rather than just through mindless eating.
2. Put your fork down between bites. Take time to enjoy the atmosphere or company during your meal. Yes, it can even be done with little ones jabbering away or throwing food on the floor! Mealtimes are also a great way to connect with each other even with our busy schedules. Take time for you AND your family.
3. Learn that real food has real flavor. Overly processed foods are either diluted flavors or have so many added non-food ingredients that it fools your body into thinking they’re good and it wants more. But real flavor means you’ll feel more satisfied and ultimately, you’ll want to eat less.
4. Try new foods every week. Make a plan to purchase and eat or prepare food with a new ingredient each week to expand your circle of options when it comes to meal time. (My Eating the Alphabet series is a great place to start!)
The authors offer a complete seven step plan in their book to learning how to eat and prepare real foods–it’s easier than you think!
Here’s something I did….a few years ago I decided to take a look at the foods we were eating and figure out where we could make changes to stop eating so many foods that included artificial flavorings and extra sugar. The first area was dairy. We consume a lot of dairy! I even send milk in the kids’ lunch to school (in their Thermos bottles). We love yogurt too. So first we switched to organic milk. I just think it tastes better and the fact that it has no added hormones was an extra bonus. Same goes for yogurt. I went on a real quest a couple of years ago to find yogurts that had fewer added colors and sugars. It was tricky and I’m still always looking for new varieties. But generally we’ve found that organic vanilla and plain yogurts are our favorites. We can added fresh fruit for a extra shot of sweetness and also benefit from the protein it provides (I especially love putting yogurt in our smoothies).
A lot of attention has been given to eating locally lately too. Truthfully, I hadn’t given it a thought much when it came to where my dairy came from but I found a really cool tool on the California Milk Board’s website where you can enter the code from any dairy product and find out where it came from! Pretty neat if eating locally is important to you too! (By the way, this website has TONS of great info. not just about dairy but about farming and sustainability too).
It seems like there’s so much to think about these days when it comes to what we are eating. But really it doesn’t take that much time to think ahead and think about what we’re eating…and in the end our bodies benefit in so many ways. And with a little meal planning, your waistline and pocketbook may thank you too!
