Tag Archives: Healthy Eating

menu plan monday: 07.16.22

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It’s been over a month since I’ve committed to a menu plan, and – amazingly – the world hasn’t stopped spinning.

And we’ve eaten pretty well and usually at home.

It’s the time of year I can do that. We picked up a new grill a few months ago and, as long as we have some veggies for the side, it’s been okay. We’re finally to a week that’s going to be a little bit quieter, and I have a feeling a bit more structure will help.

As in the past, our meals are predominantly paleo or primal in nature (come back tomorrow if you want to know a bit more about what I’m eating now and why). We do, on occassion, enjoy sweet or red potatoes and sometimes white rice in small amounts. And I generally double the amount of meat I cook for each dinner in order to have leftovers for lunches.

Monday
Grilled Chicken, seasoned with Magic Mushroom powder from the Nom Nom Paleo app
Grilled Veggies (squash, onions and maybe an eggplant – all gifted from a friend’s garden)
Mushroom skewers (marinated in olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper, and a dash of balsamic)

Tuesday
Skirt Steak with Chive Butter (from Make It Paleo)
Steamed Broccoli
Green Salad

Wednesday
Red Curry Glazed Chicken Skewers
Roasted Cauliflower (drizzling with coconut oil and my favorite vadouvan spice mix )
White Rice (for the kiddos)

Thursday
Rosemary Pot Roast with Cauliflower Butter Rice
Green Salad

Friday
Lemon Herb Rubbed Chicken
Cucumber Salad
Grilled Sweet Potatoes

Saturday
Pineapple Bacon Burgers
Whatever vegetables are left in the fridge

Sunday
Mom’s night off/leftovers

I’m excited – there are a few new recipes in there for the week. Anything new in your kitchen?

a little paleo yoda

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Right now, I’m about halfway through my Whole30 and for some reason, this week has been incredibly difficult.

I didn’t have cravings for the first two weeks. I didn’t want to snack for the first two weeks. And I didn’t find myself staring longingly at anything sweet for the first two weeks.

This week, I want some dark chocolate…and some chips…and maybe something baked and full of sugar.

I’m trying to shake up my meals a little bit, working to make sure I’m eating enough at meals (and enough fat), planning try a few new recipes and generally getting a little more creative with my food.

I’m not giving up, though, and I’m not backing down. I had a lightbulb moment the other day, and it’s what’s keeping me going:

Do or do not. There is no try when following a paleo/primal diet and lifestyle.

Trying gives you an out. It makes it okay to fail and flop face first in the first bag of Cheetos you come across. Trying brings with it the whiff of failure from the outset.

I’m in this for the long run. This isn’t a fad diet for me, and it’s not just a weightloss plan. It’s for life and for health, and for general wellness.

It’s a commitment.

And I’m sticking to it.

Menu Plan Monday – wait, it’s October?

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Menubutton 

Last week, I did a two week menu plan…and while we got through most of last week's, I got really inspired by an episode of Mad Hungry on Hallmark channel last week and replanned most of this week. 

Okay, maybe all of this week.

Monday
Chicken Chili (it's only going to be 81 here in Central Florida – I'm calling it fall!)
I've got a few modifications planned for the chili, and hopefully I'll have time to share them this week if they work.
Gluten Free Cornbread

Tuesday
Chicken Chili Nachos (with GF tortilla chips)
Nachos have become sort of our go-to food during this season of craziness.  The kids are willing to load them up with lots of good stuff and I'm okay with that.

Wednesday
eat at church

Thursday
PF Chang Style Chicken Lettuce Wraps
These are so good, and so much cheaper than a trip to PF Chang's!
Vegetable Fried Brown Rice

Friday
Herbs de Provence Grilled Chicken
Zucchini and Brown Rice Gratin
I've had this gratin on the menu at least three times now and can never seem to get to it.  This week, it's on!

Saturday
Pizza (attempting the crust from Gluten Free Girl and the Chef – probably one pepperoni and one veggie/adventurous)
Salad

Sunday
Black bean quesadillas
Apple wedges
Carrot sticks
Sometimes, easy is good =)

This post will be linked to Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday,  Chive Talkin's Mindful Menus and Dining with Debbie's Whats on the Menu Wednesdays.  Looking for meal inspiration?  They're great places to visit!

Mindful Menus 

An October Challenge

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I woke up to find a link to this blog post on Facebook this morning, and got a little excited.  Eating Rules isn't a blog I'd heard of before but after a little reading and digging…I really like it.  I think the Start Here section in particular is a great jumping off point for anyone looking to make changes in their diet for any reasons at all – be they personal weight loss, health improvement, or even environmental.   With simple rules and encouraging whole foods, Eating Rules seems to be realistic in the lifestyle and time commitment that most people can give to their food. 

But what really got interested me is the October: Unprocessed challenge.  I'll be honest – we don't eat a lot of processed foods around our house.  The one big processed culprit in our house is breakfast cereal, and even that tends to be on the better end of the nutritional scale.  But there is always room for improvement and as we continue to find out way in a new gluten-free way of eating, I'm finding it's necessary to keep checking my boundaries. 

In particular, I really love the definition of unprocessed food and the kitchen test that's being used for this challenge:

Unprocessed food is any food that could be made by a person with reasonable skill in a home kitchen with readily available, whole-food ingredients.

It doesn’t mean that you have to be able to make the food — but that the food could be made in a home kitchen by someone who knows what they’re doing.  If it needs high-powered, industrial equipment, or could only be made in a laboratory, then it’s out.

I expecially like that who knows what they're doing part.  It gives you a lot more flexibility and means you're off the hook for baking your own bread.  Just keep an eye on the ingredients list and you're going to be okay.

What do you think?  Could you go totally unprocessed for an entire month?  Could you do it for a week?  What about a couple of weekends?  One meal a day?   Maybe you want to replace unprocessed with gluten-free?  I say go right ahead.

Again, being totally honest – it is a little more time consuming and takes a little more planning to eat an unprocessed diet, but the results are worth it.  There are lots of encouraging posts and even a forum at Eating Rules to help.   And, as with all things, I believe there's a lot of grace to be found too.  Personally, I'm aiming for change…not perfection.

Are you in?

Nutrition Notes: Finding Balance

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I had a chance to chat with a friend the other day who has food and nutrition goals that are similar to mine.  We both strive to feed our families whole foods as often as possible, try to stay away from unnecessary chemicals and processing, and are commited to green living.  She's one of the few people I know who really gets me when it comes to food, and it's rather nice to have someone like that in my life.

As we talked, I realized what a journey this has been over the last few years, and it's one that I'm sure will continue through the rest of my life. 

It's also something I'll be working to balance for the rest of my life.  The more I learn, the more changes I want to make…and that's certainly not bad, but they're not always convenient or an option due to budget or availability.  Following a traditional, whole foods based diet seems to be a continual learning process, and in that process, balance must be daily found.

Example: I really, really love raw milk.  I love what it does for my skin, my digestion…I even love the way it tastes.  Right now, it's about an hour drive just to get to our co-op's delivery stop.  It's just not possible given our schedules and needs right now.  Hopefully in a few months, it will be a more viable option for us.

Often, I just have to make the best choice for this season. 

And sometimes, I have to find the lesser of two evils or make the best choice out of a bad situation.  I know corn tortillas are made from GMO's, an entire category of foods I try to avoid.  I also know that for the most part, flour anything isn't a good choice for me.  Right now, corn tortillas win…at least until I get crazy enough to attempt corn tortillas completely from scratch (which I don't think is going to happen anytime soon!).

Sometimes, I have to just let it go and trust that the 90% of the time I'm eating the way I want to be will make up for the other 10%. 

And sometimes, I have to remind myself yet again that God is sovereign and that healthy eating should never become an idol or an obsession.  I could eat the absolute perfect diet and that won't change God's plan, His will or the days I have on this earth.  And I don't want the way we choose to eat as a family to ever make anyone else feel bad or guilty about the choices they make…although I do hope I would inspire others to become more intentional about food.  It's all about personal decisions and personal journeys.

I look so forward to continuing this journey and wonder what changes we'll have made come this time next year, what new balance I'll have found.

Baby Steps: What are you eating?

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I grabbed a canister of bread crumbs out of the pantry this afternoon, and was a little surprised by this:

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That's the ingredient list for bread crumbs.

Bread crumbs.

I've spent the last few weeks really praying about and researching food.  And if you've read this blog for any amount of time, you know that natural food has been a growing passion of mine for the last few years.

I've had a few people ask me how to begin the journey to more natural eating lately…is it about going totally organic?  Is it about no more meat or more flax or less dairy?  Too much salt?  Not enough fiber? 

It's so confusing!

Honestly, I think it's about baby steps.  Small steps – one a week or one a month or whatever works best as change for you.  The way we eat as a family right now is completely different than the way we did this time last year.  It's been slow changes.  I stick with one until I'm comfortable with it and then tackle something else. 

The first thing I think you absolutely have to do at the beginning of those baby steps?

Find out what you're really eating and how much of it.  You can't make changes if you don't know where you are. 

Read labels.  If you can't pronounce it, you probably don't want to eat it.  If you don't know what it is, find out.  

Make it a goal to purchase more foods that have smaller ingredient lists.  Try to purchase more foods that don't have an ingredient list, or that have a very short one of foods you recognize:

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I'm planning on sharing more of the changes we're making, as well as why.  My entire attitude about food has changed, and I've come to realize what and how we eat is about much more than how much we weigh and whether it has an organic label. 

More to come soon!