A friend asked me for information on what Pam and I are doing that is working for us health and weight wise. I decided it would be an interesting topic for a post so here goes.
Foods that we never eat.
There is going to be quite a list here, but for us it is easier to say no once than to try to ration bad foods to be less damaging.
Fried foods
Fast foods
Processed foods
White flour
Sugar
White bread
Corn oil
Beef
Bacon
Cured meats - salami, pepperoni, etc
Cold cuts made with nitrates or nitrites
Fried chips -whether organic or not
Cakes and cookies
Ice cream
Frozen yogurt
Microwave popcorn
Non-organic chicken or turkey
Foods we eat very little of.
This list is ever shrinking as our palates change.
Cheese - What we do eat is Organic or Imported from Europe -which means it is organic milk used.
Meats - We eat some fish and some chicken and turkey, but less than twice a month.
Dairy - There is some trace amounts of dairy in lots of stuff so it is hard to eat out without some.
Non-Organic anything. I literally have to not be able to find an organic alternative to break this rule.
Foods we eat every day.
This list is very green. Everything listed is ORGANIC.
Mixed greens
Spinach
Apples
Bananas
Olive oil
Vinegar
Carrots - mostly in juice
Beets - mostly in juice
Ginger - mostly in juice
Fennel - mostly in juice
Pears
Brocolette - A broccoli relative
Kale - both in juice and mixed in with salad greens
Mushrooms
Tomatoes
Celery
Garlic
Onion
Almond milk
Berries
Oatmeal
Things we eat often.
Not every day but every week or more we eat these.
Organic Whole Wheat Pasta
Organic Brown Rice
Organic Whole Grain Bread
Pesto
Marinara
Pizza - usually homemade
Supplements
Multivitamin
Vitamin D
Fish Oil
Probiotic
Psyllium husk powder
Acai puree - Organic from Amazon Thunder.com
A normal day for me begins with my supplements and then about 1/3 cup of Bob's Red Mill Organic Thick Rolled Oats - uncooked - in a bowl with 1/4 cup of berries and some almond milk. I sometimes have a cup of coffee - maybe once or twice on weekdays.
At about 9 to 10 AM I drink my morning juice made from carrots, beets, ginger, lemon and lime and cucumber. I often follow that with a banana.
At lunch I eat a big salad that normally has 5 - 6 oz of mixed greens and some tomato, brocolette salad (recipe to follow), mushrooms, sometimes avocado and olives, etc. I use about 2 tsp of dressing for the whole thing and top it with pumpkin and sunflower seeds and a bunch of black pepper.
In the early afternoon I will have an apple and a little later a juice made with spinach, kale, lemon and lime, ginger, cucumber fennel and pear.
For dinner we will have lots of different stuff like Stir fry with steamed brown rice, Pasta with pesto or Marinara, Beans and brown rice, Chili or soup. Sometimes a meat course - some salmon or whatever.
Our snack foods include the following:
Nuts - I roast raw nuts so I can control the sodium and make sure there is no added fats. It takes whatever time it takes your oven to heat to 375 plus 10 minutes to do. I make salt and pepper and a spicy one.
Organic baked chips - Trader Joe's has some good baked chips. We pay close attention to the ingredients and fat content per serving.
Air popped Organic Popcorn - We buy Eden Organics popping corn from Amazon. We weaned ourselves off of butter and onto Coconut oil which is a medium thread saturated fat that has great health benefits and it also works well on toast.
We drink wine and occasionally some beer on Friday, Saturday and sometimes Sunday. We normally have 2 glasses of red wine each per night that we do drink.
As far as exercise goes I try to walk 20 miles a week with Athena. We average about 4.75 MPH on our walks. Pam generally does 30 minutes every weekday morning on either the elliptical, stair stepper or stationary bike. We have been either hiking or snowshoeing for an average of 4-5 hours at least once a weekend.
Little things that I always do include parking as far away from the store as possible and carrying groceries back to the car. Trying NOT to be as efficient as I can be so I use more calories than necessary. I basically look for ways to get a little more exercise.
I drink a gallon of water a day or more. Hydration is the key to getting the most out of your work.
Recipes for Brocolette salad and Roasted nuts.
Brocolette Salad
I use 2 bags of the Brocolette from Costco. I take the first 3/4 inch off and feed them to Athena. I then chop it up bite size. I thinly slice and then chop 1/2 medium red onion. Mix the onion and brocolette and 1/2 cup raisins or craisins and 1/2 cup sunflower seeds. I then lightly dress the salad with whatever I feel like. You could use just oil and vinegar or make a vinaigrette. I have made it with a Hot Sauce Vinaigrette as well and it is really good.
Nuts
Pour whatever mix of raw nuts you want in the container they will be stored in. I use the roasted nuts containers from Costco. Pour them into a large bowl and add 2 Tbsp of water and mix until the nuts are all wet. I use 1 tsp of salt and 1 heaping tsp of black peppercorns in a spice grinder and grind it until fine so it covers better. Toss with the nuts and pour onto a cookie sheet. Bake for 5 minutes at 375 then rotate the pan and bake for 5 more minutes. Allow to cool before sealing.
For Spicy nuts I use a spice rub - without sugar - that I make. Anything you like will work. Some salt and garlic powder would be good.
We only use Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Organic Canola oil and Extra Virgin Coconut Oil for oils.
I must have missed something. Please comment on the post and I'll fill the holes.
More soon....
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