RE: Whole Foods and Clean Eating chatter (Full Version)

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uponeagleswings -> RE: Whole Foods and Clean Eating chatter (5/13/2008 2:12:02 PM)

Heh...I know that. Trust me, we've gone rounds about it before, with pretty much every aspect of this. We've talked about portion sizes and making sure we're hungry before going back for seconds, etc etc until both of us are blue in the face. At this point I've (mostly) decided that its between him and God and the best I can do is encourage him.



HisCovenant -> RE: Whole Foods and Clean Eating chatter (5/13/2008 2:16:11 PM)

That's what I've decided, too, and doing the best I can to keep as much junk out of the house as possible. If he doesn't request twinkies at the store, I don't buy them. If he requests cookies, I make sure and buy ones that don't tempt me. I make the best attempt I can at serving healthy foods he will eat and sometimes serve ones he doesn't care for but isn't grossed out by without apology. I do what I can, but it's mainly for myself and to show him eating well isn't as bland as it's cracked up to be.



uponeagleswings -> RE: Whole Foods and Clean Eating chatter (5/13/2008 2:19:57 PM)

Heh...Chris does most of the cooking (and cooks well), so I'm pretty spoiled in that regard. He usually cooks pretty well-balanced meals, its the portion size and staying up late (and eating throughout the night) that does him in I think. Other than the pop he doesn't have much of a sweet tooth, but if I buy cookies he will eat them just because they're there, so I don't buy them.
We did just get a bunch of cereal for free (Honey Bunches of Oats), on the theory that its better than nothing (or scrambled eggs and sausage) for breakfast.



HisCovenant -> RE: Whole Foods and Clean Eating chatter (5/13/2008 2:23:26 PM)

Lucky you! Dh hasn't cooked any thing except breakfast on Saturdays in years... and when he does he complains that his tools aren't easily accessible. His tools are stuff like a hand potato masher that I never use. On the rare occasions when I do make mashed potatoes, I would pull out the hand mixer and have them finished before I ever even remembered where the masher was! [;)]



Mrs.Wifey -> RE: Whole Foods and Clean Eating chatter (5/13/2008 3:06:40 PM)

quote:

I think limited amounts of refined foods aren't going to kill us! As long as we're conscious of when and how much we're using something so we don't go overboard. You know?


I certainly do! Store bought cookies are SO chalk full of ickies that I don't really feel that bad about using refined sugar for some of my baked things.

quote:

You can make a spread by just melting butter and blending it with olive oil (equal quantities). Someone told me that it wasn't healthy, because you were melting the butter, but IMO, you're only just melting it, not heating it or cooking with it.


Oh, that is a WONDERFUL idea! Thanks!

quote:

What do you all eat for breakfast?


I eat foods that are not traditionally breakfast foods. I have a sensitive stomach in the morning and anything sweet will make me sick so I eat more savory things. In highschool I ate Crustini with Kalamata olives and a shot of Espresso do drink. Lately I have been having half a ham/turkey/tuna sandwhich. Sometimes I will do Yogurt, but even fruit makes me feel[:'(]

quote:

I WISH I could get hubby to give up the pop, or change it out for a cup of coffee. He grew up drinking pop and gets horrible caffeine headaches if he tries to stop. Sometimes he'll drink coffee instead, but he still drinks pop.


I was a caffeine addict and finally HAD to quit when I was pregnant and having high blood pressure issues. My OB had me wean myself off using Excedrine Migraine and I was able to avoid the awful withdrawl headaches.

Now I have the occasional Hansen's energy drink, or Coke(which I buy from a Mexican import store, it has Cane sugar instead of HFCS) but I don't drink it on a regular basis or it REALLY disrupts my sleep.

quote:

Ryanne, it is the best money you can spend.


Oh, I think I am going to purchase one. DH really loves those Bertolli "meals in a bag" but even they have stuff I prefer to avoid. I'm really looking for an easy way to make some things like that.



miasma -> RE: Whole Foods and Clean Eating chatter (5/13/2008 4:17:32 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: HisCovenant

I hope you didn't feel like I was attacking you. I was asking out of curiosity because while I've heard of raw eating and the benefits, I am not quite sure what it looks like in practice and how far it is taken.


Not at all! I'm quite happy to answer any and all questions. Until I asked questions, I had no idea what it was, either!

What is raw food?


quote:


I was watching a BBCA show called "You Are What You Eat" where the contributors are put on a gluten-free, whole grain, veggie, fruit, and fish diet and have taken off the processed fried diet they are consuming. One of the contributors was making her meal out of all natural foods and made the comment "I don't know how anyone can think eating like this is normal" referring to her new eating plan of natural food. It struck me how far from common sense we can get because I think the exact opposite of that comment: How is it normal to eat such a processed diet?


She reminds me of these people (I highly recommend everyone watch it!)

As I referenced earlier, so much of it is just silly stigma. Though "clean eating" has been around for well, ever!, the sort of things gaining popularity (vegetarianism, soy milk, whole wheat) currently have too long been associated with "hippies" and "granola crunchy" types who shop in small, dusty stores that smell funny and sell a lot of vitamins.

quote:

I tend to buy skimmed milk because semi and full give me stomach cramps.


Why don't you just skip it all together? There's no reason to drink it at all. I provided a looooong list of articles/research in one of my earlier posts.

I just had a conversation at lunch, about how easy it is to eat meat-free. Just take it out of recipes!

quote:

He grew up drinking pop and gets horrible caffeine headaches if he tries to stop. Sometimes he'll drink coffee instead, but he still drinks pop.


Just like heroin junkies, or cigarette addicts. The body has to purge and heal from the toxin it's addicted to.

And, just like any other addiction or reliance on, a lot of it is mental and emotional.

Eating right isn't just a grocery list. It's a frame of mind, and a philosophy.

Food is our friend - one of our best friends! America, in the name of money, has demonized. Women, especially, are taught a love-hate relationship with it.

"I'm upset...let me eat this pint of ice cream. I'm so stupid and weak, I'll never be able to stop eating bad food....this Twinkie will make me feel better..."

It's attitudes about food, and why we eat what we eat, that will play a large of a role as anything.

Be good to your body, and it will be good to you.



agapetos -> RE: Whole Foods and Clean Eating chatter (5/13/2008 6:50:47 PM)

quote:

Why don't you just skip it all together? There's no reason to drink it at all. I provided a looooong list of articles/research in one of my earlier posts.
Because I like milk to drink from time to time. Because I like milk in cereals when I have them. Because I'm not ready to cut milk out of my diet like that yet.

I don't use a lot of milk ~ it's probably been a week since I had anything with milk in it. Now I could go to the store in the next week and buy a lot of milk for various uses. Who knows?

I've looked into lots of 'recipes' for various kinds of alternative milk (rice, oat etc) but until I know that I can make milk when I want/need, I'm not going to worry about the little that I do use.



agapetos -> RE: Whole Foods and Clean Eating chatter (5/13/2008 7:07:27 PM)

quote:

Food is our friend - one of our best friends! America, in the name of money, has demonized. Women, especially, are taught a love-hate relationship with it.

"I'm upset...let me eat this pint of ice cream. I'm so stupid and weak, I'll never be able to stop eating bad food....this Twinkie will make me feel better..."

It's attitudes about food, and why we eat what we eat, that will play a large of a role as anything.

Be good to your body, and it will be good to you.
I agree with you.

I've read too many posts in these forums where a woman (generally) has said that they ate such and such and then called themselves bad for it. We're not talking a pint of ice-cream here, it's generally (from what I gather) what would count as a portion of that particular food (ice-cream, chocolate, whatever).

Since I have started to try and eat better I've come to believe that it's not the food itself that's bad, it's the amount we eat. If we can just allow ourselves to eat the whatever and move on, we'd probably be a lot better off...

Too many of us will eat a crumb of the forbidden food and beat ourselves up for it and build things up in our minds so much. We aren't bad for eating something unhealthy once in a while. The food isn't bad, as long as we only eat it once in a while.

The less I've worried about eating the odd bar of chocolate, the less I've felt the need to eat some. I still like (decent) chocolate, but I don't beat myself up about it if I have some.



HisCovenant -> RE: Whole Foods and Clean Eating chatter (5/13/2008 8:23:19 PM)

I see enough of myself in your comments to write the following paragraph, although I don't know if I or my type of complaining about my weakness is what you are referring to. And there is no offense taken if you are...

I agree that an occasional chocolate bar /ice cream/ chocolate yogurt [:D] shouldn't cause us to freak out, but I disagree that some foods shouldn't be labeled as "bad." The reason is because it is bad in large quantities and once you start craving it or thinking it's not so bad, it's easy to get into habits of eating it often. At least that's my MO!! It's not about beating yourself up if you recognize you could have made a better choice, but there's nothing wrong with admitting it or encouraging others to not follow in your mistake. I admit there are those who do beat themselves up and have eating disorders- I sure don't mean to take away from the severity of that!!- but a comment about being bad because of an unwise choice, no matter how small the offense, isn't necessarily indication of "beating yourself up."



not_the_first -> RE: Whole Foods and Clean Eating chatter (5/13/2008 9:17:40 PM)

Hi all. I just discovered this thread, haven't visited this folder in a while. My husband and I try to eat whole and natural foods as much as possible. I am currently gluten-free and sugar limited. I say limited because honestly, I can't not have a cookie or brownie here and there! I have found some products that use evaporated cane juice and other natural substitutes that are pretty yummy. I guess I try to go by the 90/10 rule! But, in my day to day, I really just don't eat anyting with sugar or gluten in it.

Some have commented on the price of natural/organic food. One thing I have noticed, is that because we have cut out a lot of the "fake" and processed foods out there (especially the breads and pastas), our bill has actually gone way down. Even though we buy all organic/whole, we buy fewer things, mostly produce, and we eat much more simply, cutting out the need for all these extra purchases. Instead of chips or even "healthy" crackers, we eat nuts and dried fruits. A handful of nuts goes much further than several handfuls of chips or crackers.

If anyone has any good gluten free and sugar free recipes, especially for dessert type things (cookies, cakes, brownies, waffles), send them my way! I have a sweet tooth and these are the only things I miss.



miasma -> RE: Whole Foods and Clean Eating chatter (5/14/2008 9:20:43 AM)

I can get you a gluten-free recipe for pretty much anything. When you're googling, also look for raw and vegan recipes.

The only sweetener I have is some agave, and I've only used it once, since the recipe I bought it for - which was AWESOME. Raw vegan chocolate mousse pie. My decidely NOT raw and vegan family LOVED it.

When it comes to gluten-free baking, you want to do one of two things:

1. Buy a mix. It's just flat out easier than keeping ten kinds of flour around. Bob's Redmill has an excellent chocolate cake, as does Gluten Free Pantry. Most all of their mixes are great - and they make a general purpose GF mix, that you can substitute in your favourite recipes. Actually, that was the second thing (to use that mix).

If you're near a Whole Foods store, they have their own gf bakery, and make some pretty amazing stuff.

My local store has a good variety of frozen pizzas, chocolate cake donuts, Krispy Kreme style donuts, english muffins, different kids of bread, bagels, etc. - and that's just the frozen section.

I tend to just skip it all together, though. My relatives and I who are all gluten-free might make a tiramisu or something for holidays, but I'm not going to pay five bucks for a loaf of bread, when I can just make some tasty roll ups with lettuce, and save the money and all the carbs and fat and calories.

Here's some other threads:

Celiac's Disease

Non-dairy/wheat-free

There's LOADS of gluten-free food blogs out there for inspiration, too. Kill the Gluten, Gluten-free Goddess...

Once you're filling your body with what it needs, you will eat less and not consistently "feel like eating something."



JesKlu -> RE: Whole Foods and Clean Eating chatter (5/14/2008 3:35:32 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: miasma

I don't know what percentage of my diet is raw. I focus less on rules and restrictions, and just eat well, all the time.


quote:

ORIGINAL: HisCovenant

I wanted to correct myself about 100% Whole Grain Wheat Thins being a whole food. They have HFCS and artificial ingredients. I buy them for dh and occasionally eat them. It struck me as I was chosing a snack this afternoon that they are not strictly a whole food. [;)]


That's exactly what I meant, about reading labels. Just because something says "organic," "whole wheat" "whole grain," "all-natural," etc. doesn't mean it is. The food industry is VERY savvy when it comes to figuring out how to convince people to buy their products.

Which is why I avoid products, and stick with produce, and locally produced items.

I have a weakness for a lot of bad things, but when I get a craving, I spend 60 seconds thinking about how it will affect my physical health and my mental and emotional well-being, and that helps a lot.

And, educate yourself. Get over any stigmas you might attached with say, soy milk - kinda like their new ad campaign is doing. Though, I use almond milk, if anything. Retrain your brain and lose all the old wives tales and misinformation (such as it will be more expensive).

It was this past March, that I decided to go "raw" for one month. I won't talk about it much, because it makes me feel like a ridiculous infomercial, but an example of something I learned is how caffeine actually affects the brain.

I was telling a friend (who works in neuroscience) how much better and happier I'd been, since I stopped eating meat and drinking coffee, and she was like, duh, you're not interfering with your GABA...

The more I read about just what exactly is going into food (like HFCS) the easier it is to stick with "clean eating." I like that phrase.[:)]

My body is a living, breathing organism, and I want to nourish it with life-giving sustenance.

Not bovine growth hormones and the myriad of other antibiotics and hormones meat is pumped with, to create larger profit margins.

10 reasons to skip dairy

Huge database of articles about dairy

Dairy: Good or Bad?

Though I've been gluten free (something though largely recognized by the medical community people don't want to take a look at, because of what it would mean as far as not eating anymore) for years, now, I recently started reading more about how all grains aren't that good for us.

Why?

General info

Whew, that was a lot of linking! Very good reading, though!



But what about whole grains like brown rice?

I heard brown rice is 100 times better for you than white rice.

Your sister in Christ Jesus,
Jessica



HisCovenant -> RE: Whole Foods and Clean Eating chatter (5/14/2008 3:45:25 PM)

Real brown rice is- not the instant rice. Rice is gluten-free. The problem with the 100% whole grain Wheat Thins is not the grain, unless you are allergic to wheat, is the sugar content and artificial colorings. There are other grains that are good for you, too, and allowed on a gluten-free diet.



Mrs.Wifey -> RE: Whole Foods and Clean Eating chatter (5/14/2008 3:59:28 PM)

The roasted garlic flavored Triscuits my MIL had are not a whole food, but the Reduced Fat type are good and only had 3 ingredients(wheat, oil, and salt).



StephK -> RE: Whole Foods and Clean Eating chatter (5/14/2008 4:07:55 PM)

Miss Maggie from Hillbilly Housewife just recently started an experiment with gluten free/casein free diet to deal with her PCOS and her son's Asperger's issues. She's putting up some good recipes and links.



miasma -> RE: Whole Foods and Clean Eating chatter (5/15/2008 9:18:14 AM)

That's excellent, StephK.

Gluten has been linked to autism and schizophrenia.

quote:

what about whole grains like brown rice?

I heard brown rice is 100 times better for you than white rice.


Brown rice is very good for you - I use quinoa, now, except for the occasional treat of jasmine rice. That's not often, though. I can't even remember the last time I cooked a starch side like that. I stick to just fresh fruits and vegetables primarily.

I started eliminating rice to cut out the extra carbs/sugars, but then I started reading about other reasons not to eat any grains at all, and I just stopped adding them to my internal menu list.

http://www.karlloren.com/diet/p122.htm

Here is a very good interview with the author of The Omnivore's Dilema, a book that has changed the diets of a lot of my friends.

That and Fast Food Nation are must-reads.

Way back when I was a vegetarian, I gave a speech on it for class. I went a little over the top, talking about how to ingest meat is to ingest death, to eat meat is to consume the pain and suffering of the animals butchered, and how it was bad for us not just physically but mentally as well.

That the attitude of superiority, rather than stewardship, over animals, was a big factor in our violet society.

Well, I've recently return to that idea, when this thought was presented to me:

You plant an apple in the ground, what do you get (in theory)?

A tree. More apples. Life.

What do you get when you plant a cheeseburger in the ground?

Rot. Maggots.

So I ask myself, what do I want sitting inside my belly? Living food for my alive, living organism.



Mrs.Wifey -> RE: Whole Foods and Clean Eating chatter (5/15/2008 3:06:23 PM)

Ok, Mia. That was a gross visual[8D] I know what you are getting at, and I know there are better sources of protein but we will never be vegetarian.

Although I do have a question, what do diabetic vegetarians do? It's a rather ignorant question, I know.



miasma -> RE: Whole Foods and Clean Eating chatter (5/15/2008 3:10:53 PM)

quote:

what do diabetic vegetarians do?


What do you mean?



Mrs.Wifey -> RE: Whole Foods and Clean Eating chatter (5/15/2008 3:20:07 PM)

Well, I limit my carbs because of my PCOS and IR, most of the things I eat are not vegetarian friendly. Do they just eat beans? How do you get enough protein and limit or control carb intake?

Nevermind, lol. I just googled it[;)]



StephK -> RE: Whole Foods and Clean Eating chatter (5/15/2008 3:36:53 PM)

One thing I know for me is that I am not meant to be vegetarian. I went through a period where I did not want meat so I didn't eat it. I paid a price for that when my PCOS symptoms and pounds came back with a vengeance. [:@]



Mrs.Wifey -> RE: Whole Foods and Clean Eating chatter (5/15/2008 3:41:25 PM)

Yeah, that's kind of what I was thinking, Steph. After reading some of the stuff I definitely won't be a vegetarian, but I also don't think it's cruel to kill animals for the purpose of eating them.



StephK -> RE: Whole Foods and Clean Eating chatter (5/15/2008 3:47:24 PM)

That is true but God has provided them for our needs. It would be nice to not have to eat meat in order to feel well but unless I am healed then I will continue eating it without guilt. I do believe that animals need to be raised humanely though.



Mrs.Wifey -> RE: Whole Foods and Clean Eating chatter (5/15/2008 4:01:01 PM)

quote:

I do believe that animals need to be raised humanely though.


I agree. I wish we lived in a better area for wild game, that would be my preference. If we ever move back east we will probably switch totally to hunting our own meat, it's really not that hard.



HisCovenant -> RE: Whole Foods and Clean Eating chatter (5/15/2008 4:02:42 PM)

We won't ever be meat-free, either, although I do agree with some of what you are saying Miasma, especially about animal abuse. And if you do vegetarian in a healthy way, more power to you. I really respect you and enjoy hearing your perspective... mostly because it's so different from mine and the way I was raised. Your words always cause me to either learn something new or reevaluate what I think.

I'm wanting to make a few changes to my diet:
1. eat more fish
2. eat more veggie lunches (which may contain broths or eggs, so they won't be too vegetarian)
3. try new grains

There's going to be a lot of learning and trial and error as I do this. I already have a wild rice, tofu, and bean soup planned for next week.



agapetos -> RE: Whole Foods and Clean Eating chatter (5/15/2008 6:58:10 PM)

quote:

I do believe that animals need to be raised humanely though.
Me too!

I love grains like barley, quinoa, spelt and buckwheat. I am a firm believer in not eating refined grains as many of them have been crossed with other varieties to improve yield etc and I can't help but feel that this is the reason why so many people (women especially) have a problem with carbs.



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