If you want to understand more about the basics of my 'modified food intake plan'…. my guide to healthier eating, feel free to refer back to Part 1 and Part 2 of It's not a diet. It's a modified food intake plan but for now here is a brief summary.
The short version is that I now look at foods in these categories...
- 'anytime food' (pretty much every vegetable not listed in 'sometimes carbs')
- 'sometime carbs' (the bread, pasta, rice, pastry, floury recipe foods, potato, corn, peas etc)
- 'fruit carbs' (fresh fruit or fresh fruit juice)
- 'dairy' (dairy products with less than 10% fat and under 10g carb per serving)
- 'protien' (meat in varying forms, preferably reasonably lean)
- 'fats and spreads' (fairly self explanatory)
And to move forward with this healthier eating we can start to…- Limit the 'sometimes carbs' to 3 serves a day (or at least less than what you are used to).
- Limit your 'fruit carbs' to 3 serves a day (or if you never eat fruit, try to put at least 1 piece into your day)
- Limit your 'dairy' to appropriate dairy and under 3 serves per day (or at least less than what you are used to)
- Limit your 'fats and spreads'
focus your energy on embracing the wonderful foods available
in the 'anytime foods' group.
Pumpkin, carrot, parsnip, turnip, beetroot, cabbage, lettuce, leafy greens, leek, broccoli, spinach, cucumber, capsicum, sweet potato, zuchinni, tomato, spring onion, onion, mushroom, asparagus, bean sprouts, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, eggplant, celery, radish, sauerkraut, etc (pretty much every veg other than peas, corn, and potato)
These 'anytime foods' contain so much good stuff, and so little bad, and yet if you are honest with yourself, I bet you will have to admit that this group is the group you have most neglected when menu planning over the years. Certainly for me this was very much the reality.I did not have fond memories of brussel sprouts as a child, nor cabbage, nor spinach… and to be honest, lettuce was not a high point for me back then either. Many of the other options available to us today were simply unheard of in the little Western Australian country town where I grew up.
These days we have a delightful array of wonderful vegetables to choose from that come to us reasonably fresh and in good regular supply. So even if your past experience with these foods hasn't necessarily been positive I would encourage you to challenge yourself afresh in this area.
I think if we can retrain ourselves to think of these foods as 'treats'
our approach to healthy eating will be revolutionised.
When first learning to manage the limitations of this modified food intake plan this 'anytime food' group very quickly became my salvation…. the group I could count on to fill the gaps left by limiting what had traditionally been my 'easy' food options.If you are wanting to make that shift to a healthier eating regime, these 'anytime foods' are the group you need to make your friend. I think if we can retrain ourselves to think of these foods as 'treats' our approach to healthy eating will be revolutionised.
Two main ways to bring these foods into your eating plan are raw (salads etc), and cooked (roasted, casseroled, stir fried, boiled, steamed etc). The trick is to pretty much use whatever works to get you enthusiastic about getting them into your body, with out lathering them in too much fat/spreads, and without wrapping them in too many 'sometime carbs'
It's worth getting to know the items on this list. Check them out at your local grocery, or vegetable store. Try looking up recipes that include them using websites such as http://www.taste.com.au and just start experimenting using techniques you already know, and new ideas that appeal to you. That's what I had to do, and I'm still making discoveries and bringing new ideas to the table.I can tell you one thing for sure…..
there is no better time than now
to start an 'anytime food' revolution in your life.
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