Healthy Eating Roadmap

Written by Michelle Nardine RD. Follow me on Twitter.

(Warning:  this strategy might not work so well if you have kids or a grumpy spouse)

I don’t know about you, but when summer comes around, I’m not big on slaving away for hours over a hot stove. I like to enjoy some free time outdoors. You know – get outside and really experience life.

I’m not against cooking nice filling dinners in the summer, but doing it every night is a real time drain. I’d rather be hiking around a neat park or reading on a blanket in the shade. I’d rather be playing tennis and taking the dogs to play at the dog park. You with me?

When you don’t get home from work until 6 or 7pm, spending an hour or more on dinner is a good way to drain the rest of your energy while simultaneously killing your good mood.

As long as you get an adequate breakfast and nutritious lunch (lots of veggies), there’s no need to go overboard with big dinners all the time – especially if you’ve packed on some winter pounds.

Here are some ideas for tiny snack-like dinners that you can prepare and eat in just a few minutes. They all have enough protein to give you some energy to go out and explore the world.  And you could always toss them in a cooler with some wine and go for a picnic in the park.  (Tip: If you get hungry again close to bed, sip on some warm milk with cinnamon and nutmeg.)

1.  Banana w/ nut butter and granola. Grab and partially peel a banana. Use a knife to spread a blob of your favorite nut butter on the next bite of banana. Dip it into a bowl or bag of granola to coat.  Eat and repeat.

2.  Tuna in a pouch. (made using the solid-white albacore tuna in air-tight pouches)  Cut open the tuna pouch and throw in a small forkful of mayo (or avocado instead) and some random stuff from the fridge. Maybe toss in some grapes or nuts or a little lettuce and some radish. Eat straight up with a fork or on crackers (my favorite crackers are Wasa).

3.  Fresh mozzy’s. Cut up a fresh mozzarella ball and put on toasted bread, crackers, or in a wrap with fresh basil and tomato. Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and add a sprinkling of salt and pepper and enjoy.

4.  Simple  salad. Grab a handful of spinach or micro-greens and throw on a hard-boiled egg  (precooked earlier in the week) or goat cheese. Add a couple other veggies of your choosing (onion, radish, broccoli, etc) and drizzle with a quick dressing (whip together extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and fancy brown mustard). You can crumble some cracker on top if your feelin’ it.

5.  Cottage cheese with strawberries. Pretty simple stuff here, just slice strawberries on some cottage cheese (or yogurt if you’d rather) and eat with a fork or wrap in lettuce and eat with your fingers.

6.  Yogurt dipped veggies. Combine just a little bit (to suit your taste) of a ranch seasoning packet with some plain yogurt. Serve with raw veggies of your choosing.

So, there you go. I’m giving you permission to eat small for dinner once and a while. Permission to get out of the kitchen and out enjoying the world.

Do you have any idea’s of your own?? Leave them in the comments.

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(photo by Antikris)

Written by Michelle Nardine RD.  Follow me on Twitter.

We’ve been told a million times to eat more fruits and vegetables and reduce processed carbs and sugars. Oftentimes, healthy eating advice can be boring and ineffective. What follows are four actionable ideas that are not conventionally preached as eating advice. Some may even help you save a buck.

1. Get Smaller Plates

The main reason people gain weight is by simply eating too much. We forget to watch our portion size. Although I definitely don’t advocate fast food, an interesting video documentary by James Painter called Portion Size Me proved that even a 30 day diet of nothing but fast food can make you lose weight and lower cholesterol. The key is proper portions.

Want to automatically trick yourself into eating less food? Get smaller plates. Brian Wansink, author of Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think, refers to studies that show you eat less food with smaller plates. The average plate size in America has been steadily increasing since the early 80’s, resulting in national weight gain.

To get back to the way things should be, get yourself some nice 8-10 inch diameter dinner plates and donate the big ones in your cupboard to your local charity or throw them off train tracks (I’m kidding, I swear!).

2. Start Gardening

Most everything that comes out of a garden is healthy and delicious. You will be eating the freshest food on the planet resulting in a maximum amount of nutrients.

And BONUS- you will be saving money! According to Vegetable Gardening for Dummies, a garden that is 20 feet by 30 feet requires an initial investment of $70 for things like seeds and soil, and produces more than $600 worth of vegetables over the course of a season.

There are several ways to get started depending on your situation. You can start small by potting plants in containers on your porch or just growing herbs from your kitchen window. Take it up a notch by creating raised beds in your backyard or at a friend’s house. You might also look into joining a community garden, where you’re sure to get expert advice and meet friendly neighbors. You can find more tips and links in my article “How to Start Gardening“.

3. (Beef Eaters) Organize a Cow Share

If you’re a beef eater who has seen documentaries such as Food, Inc that expose the horrors of factory farming, you’re probably interested in getting more of your beef from local farms raising animals on fresh pasture. You may also have noticed that grass-fed beef is more expensive.

For some, the high price of grass-fed can be beneficial by causing you to rely more on fruits and vegetables. For many people however, it’s a deterrent which causes them instead to choose factory farmed beef that’s higher in saturated fat and lower in good fats and omega-3s. To make the switch to grass-fed without killing your wallet, buy in bulk.

Get a few friends together who prefer grass-fed and go in on a whole or half cow from a local farm and store it in your freezer. With whole butchered cows typically selling for less than $3.00 a pound, you can stand to save a lot of money over time. Visit eatwild.com to find an ethical farming operation in your area.

4. Read a Compelling Book

Sometimes, a well-written compelling story is needed to drive a point home and solidify it in our minds. Over time, these ideas can turn into habits that shape our actions. I think one easy way to eat better is to read about healthy food and the surrounding industries. Here are 4 books you might consider to get started:

1. Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes. Great information! If you haven’t already, check out Darya’s thorough review of this life changing book.
2. The Omnivores Dilemma by Michael Pollan. One of the most talked about food books of the last few years and for good reason. A beautifully written book that is part policy and all heart.
3. In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto by Michael Pollan. This is a great follow up to The Omnivores Dilemma, loaded with fascinating information I hadn’t a clue about.
4. Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think by Brian Wansink, Ph.D. It shows why you might not realize how much you’re eating, what you’re eating, or even why you’re eating.

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photo by cliff1066

1st, a special announcement….

We’ve been working hard on an eBook we’re creating called Organized Eating. I say we because my fiancé Nate has volunteered to occasionally help write for the blog (this blog!). Nate reads a ton and has a killer memory and therefore probably knows as much about healthy eating as me.  So welcome him aboard as an occasional writer and at the very least contributor/editor/moral supporter!

Anyways, back to Organized Eating….

We’ve been hard at work creating this eBook that has the potential to help a lot of people save time and eat better.  The eBook will be released sometime in the next few months and it will be absolutely free, no e-mail sign-up or anything will be required. Its going to be AWESOME my friends!

While putting together a section of the book about strategic meal planning, we decided to make a list of our ultimate favorite healthy foods.   We posed the question: “If we could eat/drink nothing else for the rest of our lives besides 75 things, what would they be?”  AND…here’s the catch…they must be considered healthy (by someones definition at least).

I have posted the results below and I encourage you to create a list of your own.  Sit down and write it with the people you cook for- trying to shoot for 75 items.  It’s a great list to have on hand as a personal resource; use it as your base of reference when you sit down to plan meals.  Or take it to the grocery store and buy lots of stuff off it -  try to eat it all before anything goes bad (using common sense!).

Here is our list (excluding herbs & seasonings):

1. carrots
2. milk (soy or reg)
3. cantaloupe
4. tuna (troll or pole caught only, from US or B.C.)
5. wild salmon
6. sardines
7. grass-fed beef
8. Sriracha sauce
9. quinoa
10. brown rice
11. tamari
12. chicken
13. lamb
14. romaine lettuce
15. turkey
16. hazelnuts
17. onion
18. eggs
19. yogurt
20. butter
21. extra virgin olive oil
22. cheese
23. parsnips
24. spinach
25. tomatoes
26. strawberries
27. blueberries
28. avocado
29. garlic
30. shallots
31. almonds (and processed for almond butter/milk)
32. banana
33. potato/sweet potatoes
34. chia seeds
35. black beans
36. coconut/coconut water
37. walnuts
38. pinto beans
39. whole oats/oatmeal
40. kale
41. kombucha
42. tea
43. coffee
44. beets
45. oranges
46. grapefruit
47. blackberries
48. raspberries
49. dark chocolate
50. lentils
51. chickpeas
52. pine nuts
53. sweet peppers
54. hot peppers
55. sunflower seeds
56. sun-dried tomatoes
57. pistachios
58. coconut oil
59. whole-wheat bread (esp sprouted!)
60. grapes
61. beer
62. cherries
63. red wine
64. asparagus
65. green beans
66. watermelon
67. artichokes
68. cucumber
69. pears
70. pluots
71. honey
72. squash
73. celery
74. red snapper
75. dates

(notice how we cleverly said the all inclusive “squash” instead of zuke, butternut, or pumpkin.  You can find clever ways to cheat on the 75 things limit too if you want)

I know I’m going to remember some favorites that I left off here, so don’t hold me to this list forever.  You can look at updated versions whenever you want at https://healthyeatingroadmap.com/favoritefoodslist/.  Feel free to try and talk me into adding something to my list if you want, but make sure to also mention what I should remove in the process!  (haha, tricky stuff right!)

###updated 4/22 – since I first ran this piece, I have removed celery and cucumber and added water and broccoli (thanks Jess).

So, are you considering making a list?  Think your family’s input will give you greater confidence to cook for that picky kid/husband/wife of yours?  Do you think it would make meal-planning easier for you?  Tell us in the comments.

It would be really fun if you created your own list and blogged about it!  If you do, give us your link in the comments so we can check it out.

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(photo by Rennett Stowe)

Damn!!  I’ve got a cold.

My nose is running and starting to get pretty raw from blowing it.   My head is foggy and eyes are running.  I can’t function all that well. You know how it is….

Colds viruses are extremely contagious.  No one is immune to getting the cold no matter how much you exercise or how healthy you eat.

Cold medicine may give you temporary relief against the symptoms, but it won’t shorten the duration of your cold. And I don’t know about you, but I’m not big on taking medicines in general.   Fortunately, certain foods HAVE been scientifically proven to shorten the duration of colds.

Eat foods that have been clinically proven to benefit people with colds.  Foods that promote draining, shorten your cold’s duration, and relieve pain.  These foods include:

• Hot Peppers – Capsaicin, the chemical that gives them their spicyness, is the key to their cold-fighting effectiveness.   It acts as an expectorant, pain reliever, and decongestant all at the same time.  They are also loaded with vitamin C.
• Orange Juice – Fresh-squeezed orange juice has around 120 mg of vitamin C, which has been shown to reduce the duration of cold.
• Ginger – Studies have shown that it may fight certain types of viruses and have mild pain relieving properties.
• Chicken Stock – According to the University of Nebraska Medical Center – yeah, your mom’s chicken soup really did help you get over your cold quicker.
• Garlic – The chemical allicin in garlic kills viruses left and right.
• Water – Milk/Dairy thickens your mucus and makes it harder to drain.  Water will keep it thin and draining properly.  I won’t include this on the meal plan, but make sure and drink around 10 glasses a day during your cold.  I drink one glass an hour starting at 7am and slow way down after I get my 10.  That way I don’t ruin my sleep by having to get up to pee.

Here is your sample meal plan to get over your cold and moving on with your life.

Breakfast – (garlic, orange juice, hot peppers)

You need a good, hearty breakfast to give you energy for the day.  Try this:

• glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice (or two oranges)
• 2 eggs scrambled with tomato, fresh spinach, raw minced garlic, and generous dash of cayene pepper.
• 1 slice whole-wheat toast

Lunch – (chicken stock, ginger)

No one feels like cooking when their sick, so go to the store and buy the most delicious can of chicken soup you can find.  Make sure you get one that has chicken stock (not vegetable stock).  Drink a glass of fresh ginger tea.  Here is a good ginger tea explanation video for you. http://vimeo.com/2199301

Dinner – (garlic, hot peppers, chicken stock, ginger)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Sauté or bake chicken and cube.  Cook brown rice in chicken stock.  Saute garlic and jalapeños for just a little bit and then add diced tomatoes and a grating of fresh ginger, the cooked rice, and diced chicken.  Remove from heat.

Cut a hole in the top of red, green, yellow, orange, or (preferably) poblano peppers (cut a slit in side if using poblano, they don’t stand up well).  Remove the white pulp and rinse them out.    Stuff them with the rice mixture.   Bake them for 20 to 30 minutes.

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I’m going to follow this plan and we’ll see how it works.

If you want to prevent colds from ever occurring, make sure your lifestyle is good for your immune system.   Get moderate outdoor exercise (gyms contain tons of bacteria) and eat lots of fresh fruit and vegetables.   Reduce stress through meditation or yoga and smile away your worries.

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There’s more to life than food.   I mean gosh, we spend a hell of a lot of time in the kitchen and thinking about what we’ll eat.  We all have those day’s were we wish we could just inject ourselves with a liquidy goo of calories.

Well, I think adopting the minimalist approach to eating could save you some serious time.

You don’t have to own less than 50 items or live in a mini-house to adopt aspects of the minimalist way of life.   We’re just talking about keeping it simple.   Pair down your routine and you will be released from the constant struggle of decision.

And it’s healthy!

Freaking healthy as can be!   Yeah, that’s right – healthy AND easy.  It’s probably the last bit of diet advice you’ll ever need.  I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’d love it if you subscribed to this blog and kept hanging out and talking healthy with me- but it’s probably not necessary.  This is a philosophy you could adopt and use for the rest of your life.   You’d probably live longer and feel better.

I wouldn’t consider myself a hardcore minimalist, but I do have tendencies.  I’m fine living in a little apartment and keeping few possessions.  Nate and I have moved twice in the last two years so we’ve kind of been forced into this lifestyle.  After selling some of the larger things (couch, bed, etc), we have been able to fit all of our possessions in a subaru forester!!

We appreciate the sense of freedom from living a minimalist lifestyle and have begun to look for other ways to simplify our lives.   We paired down our meal-plans and grocery lists and are really enjoying it.   We still give ourselves a couple meals per week where we make fun recipes, but more often our meals are really basic.  Today, I’m excited as heck to share our ideas with you!  Here they are:

1)  Buy Less Ingredients

Go to the grocery store or farmer’s market with a simple plan.  Stick to fresh veggies, fruit, milk, yogurt, eggs, nuts, grains, legumes, and maybe one or two others.   Buy essentials such as tamari,  hot sauce, spices, herbs, and oil in large quantities when its on sale so you don’t typically run out (maybe check on prices if getting low).   Bake your bread and get your meat locally.  Vegetarians and vegans can simplify further.

2)  Prepare Simply

Cook your foods only a few ways.   No elaborate sauces or extensive preparations.  A sprinkle of fresh herbs, dash of salt and pepper, or spritz of lemon can go a long way.  Here are some examples:

• Slice hearty veggies and roast in the oven with fresh herbs for around 45 minutes,  putting a meat in halfway or so
• Steam fish, rice, and veggies all at once
• Sauté tofu and tender veggies in butter and olive oil and serve with brown rice
• Cut up tons of raw veggies and fruit for a large salad and maybe throw in a protein (chicken, tofu, beans, quinoa, hard-boiled egg, etc).  Toss with olive oil and balsamic or red-wine vinegar.
• Throw leftovers between two pieces of bread with cheese.

You can try using a 5 or less ingredient rule (besides seasoning & oil) – which  shouldn’t be too hard.   Examples:  breakfast – oatmeal, nuts, fruit.   Lunch – (sandwich) bread, goat cheese, lettuce, tomato, sprouts.  Dinner – black beans, onion, tomatoes, cilantro, corn tortillas.

3)  Eat Less

Down a large glass of water as you begin to prepare a meal.  Use the smaller 8-inch diameter salad plates for all your meals  and try to fill them halfway with veggies.  This just leaves room enough for a small amount of protein and whole grain or vegetable starch.

Do like one of the oldest living populations on the planet – the Okinawans, and only eat until your %80 full.  Don’t clean your plate completely and never go back for seconds.   Leftovers become new meals or a quick snack for later saving you even more time.

Simplify your diet and you’ll simplify your life.  Feel the weight lift and the stress melt.

Anyone have any ideas for simplifying further?

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