Confronted by ever-rising rates of obesity and food-related ailments like type-2 diabetes, even among young children, anyone concerned about her family’s health should assume a home food makeover.
No, I’m not talking about the four-letter word, “diet.” But by making simple changes in the way you stock your fridge and pantry, you’ll not only befriend your family eat more healthfully, but might also help everyone cut back on calories with a minimum of harm.
So how can you help yourself and your family eat better? Start by implementing at least a few of these changes:
Stop stocking soda. Regular sodas are packed with sugar and calories, and the diet varieties offer no nutritional benefits of any kind. Support low-fat milk and honey-sweetened iced tea in the fridge, and invest in a kitchen faucet filter so you can enjoy life’s most important beverage — water — without worrying about impurities. If anyone must satisfy a soda jones, let him do so at work or after school, but not at home.
Buy precise foods, things that arrive from nature with as little middle-man processing as possible. Oranges, sweet potatoes, bananas, green tea, brown rice, barley, and sustainably raised fish, chicken, beef and pork are all real foods, stuff you would recognize in its natural state on the farm. Processed foods, even those that are labeled low-fat, low-cal, low-sugar, whatever, are peaceful processed foods, which means a company has taken something from nature and sliced it, diced it, blended it, dehydrated it, mixed it with preservatives, artificial flavors, artificial colors and other chemicals, then put it in a box or plastic package and shipped it hundreds or thousands of miles to a store approach you. And every step in the process robs a real food of the things that earn it good in the first place: vitamins, minerals, flavenoids, natural flavors and other health-boosting qualities.
Become a copycat cook. The Internet abounds with healthful recipes for the most popular fast-food favorites, including pizza, hamburgers, enchiladas, tacos and more. By familiarizing yourself with these alternative recipes and keeping the indispensable ingredients on hand — natural tomato paste, low-fat or soy cheese, veggie burgers, whole-wheat tortillas, etc. — on hand, you’ll be ready to whip up a quick, family-pleasing and nutritious meal fairly easily.
Enjoy dessert … as share of your meal. The old “clean-your-plate-if-you-want-dessert” motivator can be counter-productive, sending kids the message that eating healthful, pleasurable food is a chore to be dispensed with quickly so they can pick up to the tasty stuff ASAP. By including a healthful sweet dish — fresh fruit salad (not the syrup-laden canned stuff), natural yogurts, home-made date-nut bread and so on — on your dinner table, you provide a treat for the sweet-toothed in your family without sabotaging your overall good-nutrition goals.
Diversify your family’s tastes. When you do go out to eat as a family, obtain a point of trying fresh restaurants instead of the same collection of pizza places, burger joints and fast-food establishments. Keep your ears especially tuned to recommendations for inexpensive, locally owned and ethnic or specialty restaurants where you and your family can try new dishes and — possibly — discover new, healthful favorites to add to your dining repertoire.
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Lifestyle Modifications for Diabetic Patient
