What’s cooking? Green Eggs!

I recently discovered a new favorite breakfast. I had bought one of those bags of spinach and it was on the verge of going bad. So I sautéed some sweet onions, wilted the spinach, and mixed it into scrambled eggs. Yum! It was tasty and healthy, a great combination.

I had to laugh a couple of days later. When I was watching the boob tube a commercial came on for IHOP. They were advertising a breakfast based on the Lorax movie – green eggs. Who knew when I mixed up these eggs I was right on the cutting edge? Hip and healthy – not bad for middle aged me!

Shopping List

I thought I would share my latest shopping list, at least kind of, if you can make out anything under the scratches. Everything inside the red box were items I was able to pick up on the perimeter of our grocery. It was a pretty large part of the list, 72% in fact, but I think we can still do better.

How it’s going

In one of my first posts I mentioned I’m typically not an all or nothing sort of gal. If we had decided we were going to jump into this with both feet, no looking back, I knew it wasn’t going to work. For me, life has too many variables for such absolutes in my diet.

I have found that I have a new mindset developing. We are changing the way we eat. We are making better choices. As the primary cook and grocery shopper in our house, it’s my responsibility to make sure we have good and good for us food on hand.

When I cook and bake, I keep it real – no refined grains and no processed sugars – other than the occasional batch of cookies. We eat more fruits and vegetables, more meat and eggs. I have been baking a couple of loaves of whole wheat bread each week as well but cooking less rice and potatoes.

But, and here’s the big but, we haven’t been fanatical. This past week was full of celebratory meals out. Himself’s birthday was Tuesday and we went to our favorite Italian place for lunch. I am sure the pasta wasn’t whole grain, though it was way yummy. A friend treated us to a new-to-us French restaurant on Saturday to continue the birthday celebration, and in good French tradition, much wine, bread, and rich food was consumed. Yesterday we celebrated with family the confirmation of a cousin and dinner was pizza and meatballs.

In a previous diet life, those events would have sent me over the edge, guilt ridden that I just couldn’t do it, back to my old habits. But now? Now, they were just bumps in the road to a healthier life.

Why not strictly Paleo?

Two words: bread and cheese.  It’s as simple as that.  Neither of us wants to give up either of those.  Why would we?  We live not too far from one of the largest Amish populations in the country.  There we can get some of the best cheeses made.  One thing you know you can find in our refrigerator is a hunk of good Amish cheddar and probably some Lacey Baby Swiss.

A go to meal in our house, when we’re short on time or I’m too lazy to cook, is the sandwich.  Usually turkey or ham, a good sandwich is quick and filling.  Two slices or a *Grandpa sandwich, bread is a requirement. 

* My Grandpa wasn’t one for the traditional two slice of bread sandwich; he preferred his with one slice of bread only.  As kids growing up we hadn’t heard of open faced sandwiches and took to calling his method the “Grandpa sandwich” and the name stuck.

A whole lot to learn

You know that saying The more I know, the more I know I don’t know?  I think nutrition has been like that.  We listened to the experts about what to eat, and, now, it turns out the experts weren’t really so expert after all.

Growing up, way back when, we were taught the basic four food groups: milk, meats, fruits & vegetables, and grain products.  We should eat a balanced diet of those four. 

Then came the food pyramid; more groups to take into account and different proportions of each.  Then recently the food plate was introduced;  We’re back down to five food groups, and in yet different proportions. 

Back in high school and college, when I wanted to lose weight, the rage was high carb, low fat diets.  When it didn’t work, frustration and worse eating habits returned, along with additional weight.

And then there was the fat craze.  Butter is bad.  Margarine is good.  Certain oils are bad; others are good.  Which one to choose?

Confused yet?  Wait, there’s more.

How about the low cal, gluten free, all natural,  low fat, cholesterol free, high fiber, organically grown, diet, sugar free, vitamin fortified, free range, kosher, vegetarian, vegan options?  Oy vey! 

What to eat???  We’re going to learn.

Where we are starting

When it comes to food, I’m definitely not an all or none sort of gal.  If you tell me I can’t have any of something, at all, I’m going to want it even more.  But if I can ease out of it, replace it with something as good or better, well then, I’m game.

We have known for a while that we need to change our diet.  But saying we’re going to stop eating this or that really hasn’t worked since we hadn’t thought much of what we would consume instead. 

Our initial steps in this process are:
F Reduce and eventually eliminate  refined grains such as white flour or white rice

F Reduce and eventually eliminate refined sweeteners such as sugar, any form of corn syrup, cane juice, or the artificial stuff

F Nothing out of a box, can, bag, bottle or package that has more than 5 ingredients listed on the label

F No “fast foods”

F  If I can’t pronounce it, don’t eat it


FRefined grains – I’m starting to make our bread rather than buy it from the grocery store.   I’ve got a great whole wheat recipe that I’ve modified a little.  It’s easy to make and tastes excellent.  Given the cost of a decent loaf of bread at the grocery store, I think we’re even saving money too.

FRefined sweeteners – Other than when I bake, I don’t use a lot of sweeteners.  Where ever possible, I’m using honey instead of sugar.

F5 ingredients  - We are starting to clean out the pantry.  I purged cereals, crackers, mac & cheese mix, instant beverage mixes, store bought cookies.  I’ve replaced white rice with brown, plain pasta with whole wheat. 

F“fast foods” – ‘nuf said

FPronounce it how? – Have you ever read the ingredients on the can of your favorite diet soda? 
carbonated water, caramel color, aspartame, phosphoric acid, potassium benzoate, caffeine, citric acid, natural flavor.  How about those pretzels you’re snacking on: Enriched wheat flour, palm oil, water, sugar, onion powder, maltodextrin, dextrose, whey (milk), salt, vinegar powder, honey powder, hydrolyzed soy protein, mustard, wheat starch, yeast, spices, extract of tumeric, citric acid, horseradish powder, natural flavors, soda.

Why do this?

There is no doubt that changing our eating habits is going to involve more work than cooking already does.  It is so convenient to grab a loaf of bread at the store, pop a frozen dinner in the microwave, or open a jar of spaghetti sauce and pour it over pasta.  Even my favorite Indian food will have to be rethought.

If it is going to cause extra work, why do it?  Thankfully, it really shouldn’t be all that much more to do.  I already cook many things from scratch.  Frozen dinners don’t make an appearance in our house all that often, maybe a pizza now and then.  There are a number of things I hope to gain.
 
Improved fitness – As I mentioned in a previous post, we both have known for a while we need to lose weight.  I used to run, a lot; as in training for a marathon a lot.  If I tried to run now, you had better look for a slime trail, I am a slug!  I get out of breath easily.  Body parts hurt that shouldn’t.  Activities that I used to do regularly seem to take much too much effort.

Improved mental clarity – I feel foggy brained so often and have a hard time remembering things.  I often say I have a mind like a steel sieve.  It’s really annoying to sit down at the computer, bring up the browser and then forget what I had wanted to look up.

Lower my food bills – I know, that sounds counter-intuitive.  Eating better food should cost more, right?  Maybe.  Maybe not.  We have a couple of great farmers’ markets near here in the summer.  The produce is fresh, and usually much cheaper than what we buy in the grocery.  We’re also planning on expanding our own vegetable gardens.  But, what I’m really hoping is that we will have less waste.  I heard a statistic that on average, families throw out $500 of food a year.  Five hundred!  And, unfortunately, I believe them based on what I toss.