Your Favorite Meals Made Healthier

It seems that one of the biggest reasons people don’t want to eat healthier is because they like what they like and they don’t want to have to eat something different. This is especially true when you have kids to feed that never like trying anything new.

The good news about nutrition is that once you learn what your body needs and doesn’t need, you can make small tweaks in the meals your family already knows and loves that make a big difference in how healthy your meal is. Today I’ve got 4 tips to make your family’s favorites more healthy.

Nutrition Tip #1 – Go for Half Whole Grain

I talked before about our diet change back in 2011 in Simple Nutrition for Your Kids. A lot of what we learned about nutrition was from the Food Lovers nutrition guide. It was definitly a good move for many reasons.

The first thing I did to make our meals healthier was to add whole grains. Whole grains have protien and fiber and other nutrients that processed grains (like white flour) are missing. These are things our bodies need, and they help us feel satisfied faster. But they also taste and feel different in our mouths.

Instead of going straight from white to wheat, I started with half whole wheat. I would buy two boxes of pasta and cook half of each together to make a mix of white noodles and whole grain noodles. Nobody noticed the change. After several months I switched to only whole grain noodles, and again, nobody noticed.

There are breads in the stores that look and feel like white bread that have some whole wheat in them. It’s so important to read the ingredients and look for that word whole. Over time we switched to the bread that looked darker that was still part whole wheat and part processed flour. We now have a few different kinds of bread in our house, but I’ve learned to the love the 100% whole wheat bread that I would never touch as a kid.

What else needs whole grain to be healthier? Read the ingredients on your cereals and find the kinds with whole grain oats, wheat, and corn. Try to find whole grain corn meal, whole grain corn chips, whole grain tortillas. Brown rice is whole grain rice, which is another grain I’ve fed to my family pretty easily as half white and half whole grain.

Nutrition Tip #2 – Half the Fat Tastes Just as Good

We tried the salad dressings that are fat free. They are also flavor free. 😝 But our bodies do need a little fat, so it’s not good to give it all up. And the low fat versions taste almost exactly the same as the ones we were used to. 😄

Fat is very high in calories, so we only need a little bit. The problem is that many foods and condiments are made with a lot more fat than we need. That makes it way too easy to get too much. If you just take one food at a time and cut the fat in half, that will be a huge cut from your diet.

So where’s the fat we need to cut? Think margarine, butter, cheese, salad dressings, gravy, mayo… you can either cut the amount you use or find a lower fat version.

Look for lower fat meats, as they are a food naturally high in fat. Eat deep fried foods half as often.

In recipes that call for a lot of fat, you can use half the amount it calls for and substitute pureed fruits of veggies to make up the different for moisture. For example, I’ve been using half oil and half applesauce in my waffles for years, and you can’t tell the difference when you eat it.

Nutrition Tip #3 – Less Processed Sugar

They sneak sugar into so many premade foods, it’s ridiculous. When I learned about the sugar in spaghetti sauce I was shocked. And when I noticed it in our yogurt, I suddenly wasn’t so fond of yogurt. Why do they do that? It’s to get people hooked.

Processed sugar, or the ingredient we call sugar that we add to our cakes and cookies, digests so quickly that we feel hungry again right away and want more. Most of the time it’s when we’ve already had enough calories. Can you see how that can be a problem?

There is no nutritional value in processed sugar. We would live and thrive absolutely fine without any of it. There are natural sugars in almost everything we eat that provide us energy. Those natural sugars are often referred to as “carbs,” because they are a kind of carbohydrates. We do need them, but we need them balanced with other things. When they get concentrated and then added to our foods we have a problem. That’s why breads have gotten such a bad reputation lately, because when the “carbs” are taken away from the protein and fiber of the whole grain and then made into bread, they aren’t good for us. (Small rant – back to sugar…)

What to do about it? Read the ingredient! Find the cereals and sauces and yogurts with less sugar. Cut back on the sugar you add to your recipes. When I make muffins I cut the sugar back by at least a third, sometimes a half, and no one seems to notice. When you’ve cut back the added sugar in your diet, it’s likely that you will notice less sickness, less bouncing off the walls, and less cavities in your kids. You’ll also find that when eating less processed sugar, natural sugars will taste sweeter to you.

You can also pay attention to the types of sugars and how much they’ve been processed. We’ve switched our sugars to avoid the kinds that have been processed the most. For example, we do our best to avoid high fructose corn syrup, and the table sugar we buy is one that is not as refined. Every little effort makes a difference.

Nutrition Tip #4 – Remember the Slow Carbs

Adding slow carbs to our meals is great for a number of reasons! First let’s define slow carbs. When a food has more fiber than sugar in it (the natural kind of sugar) it digests more slowly. So foods high in fiber is what I’m talking about when I say “slow carbs.” I’ll give some examples of slow carbs in a minute.

Slow carbs are great because the fiber in them is essential for good digestion. That means a healthier gut, less tummy troubles, and a healthier immune system! Slow carbs are also great because they are full of vitamins and nutrients that our bodies need. Our bodies need slow carbs!

Some people have a hard time with slow carbs because they aren’t used to eating them. They think they don’t taste good. Well, make it fun! Try different kinds made in different ways. Do some test tasting. Figure out which slow carbs you and your family like so you can know which ones to keep buying and serving.

Baby carrots and berries have become a staple for us in the slow carb department. We also like slow carbs in salads, soups, and smoothies. Our tastes vary, though. I can tell you which of our kids love cucumbers and which ones think they’re gross. For us, keeping a variety of slow carbs around is key in getting everyone to eat some.

Here’s a list of slow carbs, and for your amusement, a rating of how well they are liked in our house. A 0 means none of us like them, and a 5 means most of us like them.

Of course this is not a complete list of slow carbs. If you’re not sure, look up the nutrition facts and see how much fiber they have.

So there you have 4 tips for making your favorite meals healthier: use half whole grains, cut back on fat, use less processed sugar, and remember some slow carbs. I hope this helps you and your family eat healthier!

Thanks for reading my post! Enjoy your adventure!