Category Archives: Food

Food, Going Healthy, Health, Lifestyle, Parenting

Three Ways To Win The Healthy Eating Battle With Kids

11/28/2019 R.C. Liley Leave a comment

healthy eating, kids, food, health, healthy food, parenting, dinner, breakfast, lunch — Image via Pexels – CC0 Licence

When it comes to nutrition, most of us are pretty good on the basics by now. Eating a rainbow of seasonal fruits and vegetables, adding probiotic foods and supplements to our diets, finding healthy recipes that we can batch cook and prepare in advance and staying hydrated are top of a lot of people’s must-do lists. When it comes to kids, however, sometimes healthy eating isn’t so straightforward. A lot of conscientious parents with junk food loving kids or little fussy eaters in the family are in despair trying to enforce the rules – no dessert on a weeknight, eat all your vegetables – and it can result in a lot of stress. As parents, it’s important that we approach food holistically with our children. Eating isn’t just about nutrition – food is also there for fun, for comfort, for celebration and so much more. Valuing healthy food and teaching your children how to eat well shouldn’t be a daily battle.

Take A Step Back

If you’ve been caught up for a while in disagreements with your children about what they eat – perhaps you’re parenting a fussy toddler who will only eat plain pasta and freaks out at the sight of anything green hitting their plate, or a picky teen who is becoming body conscious – it’s hard to always do the right thing. We get so caught up and focused on a single issue, such as them finishing what is on their plate, or eating a certain amount of carrots before being allowed to leave the table. Take a step back for a moment. It’s perfectly normal for kids appetites to fluctuate with mood, growth stage and level of activity. If there are a few unbalanced days, try not to worry too much. Trying to control the amount your child eats is often a losing battle, and although it can be frustrating, try to focus more on doing the job of providing healthy meals, while your kid follows their own signals on how much they want to eat. Unless there is a medical issue, it’s far better to allow children to regulate the amount they eat and learn to listen to satiety signals in their body.

Involve Them In Cooking

Kids are generally far more interested in what’s on their plate if you can involve them in how it got there. Simple ideas, such as starting a vegetable garden and growing thing together, letting them help to make a simple and fun dish like zucchini bolognese, or finding healthier cook-at-home versions of favorite treats, like the low carb cookies recipe here can make them keener to eat the right things. Another big hit is usually ‘build your own’ meals like pizzas, salad bars or fajitas – just set up a station of healthy ingredients and let your kids do the rest.

Don’t Forbid Treats

Generally banning or otherwise overly demonizing any food is not a good idea, as it quite frequently leads to eating issues later in life. Work on introducing more healthy options that your child enjoys instead. Not keen on broccoli? Don’t push on that – but offer alternatives like sugar snap peas or mashed sweet potato that may go down better. And remember to allow the odd cookie or bag of chips – it’s okay every once in a while.

Food, Going Healthy, Health, Lifestyle

Diets Vs Individual Foods: Does It Really Matter Which?

07/08/2019 R.C. Liley Leave a comment

Typically, we see diets as structured approaches to living a healthier lifestyle. We have set parameters which we cannot go beyond but everything else inside is fair game. In case our diet demands no use of butter for recipes, we have to use olive oil, if we can’t eat chocolate we eat honey to satisfy our sugar cravings, if we can’t eat meat we eat other proteins like nuts and cheese. Diets are really just balancing acts that become a part of our lifestyle. But should we really be forced to lock out certain foods from our diet? Maybe we demonize foods which are completely fine on their own but don’t fit the desired ‘group’ of foods we can’t eat. A diet versus food battle then ensues.

Fats are unhealthy?

If you are on a low fat diet, you’ll be wary of many things. Fried foods are out of the question, so is fatty meat, cheese and milk also take a tumble down the hill. These are the main fats that we have in our normal day of eating, but since your diet doesn’t allow you to have fats they have to be cut out. However, not all fats are the same. There are various fats that your body does need. A low fat diet just means you can’t have as much fat as you normally would. So fats from pecan nuts, Greek yogurt and soft cheese are foods that can be consumed. Pecans and Greek yogurt have fats that are easily broken down by the body, meaning they’re not as complex. Unlike hard cheese, soft cheese is again easily broken down and made into ready-to-use energy by the body. Not all fats should be demonized, even while on a low fat diet.

Body versus diet

Diets are just structures, they aren’t set in stone. Regardless of what the diet you’re following demands, you have to listen to what your body is saying first. There could be certain foods that you cannot eat, that don’t sit well with you and maybe even cause you harm. Look at food sensitivity testing, and this everlywell.com review. It’s a kit which you can use to see what foods are making you ill, sapping your energy or possibly not having much effect on your diet. If a vegan diet demands you eat more plants, but your body is sapped of the vital vitamin B12, then you have to stop the diet. You need foods that have a high level of B12 in them to regain strength, such as beef.

Type of food

If you’re on a low carb diet such as the ketogenic diet, then you need to limit the amount of wheat, grains and high fiber foods you eat. However, some carbs are better than others. For example, bread is going to have a higher density mass of carbs. But those carbs are not as complex as rice or pasta. So foods like bread and potatoes are the better choice for your carb intake as they have less of an impact on your body and health.

Sometimes we get too bogged down in what a dietary book tells us. We have to think for ourselves as well, so don’t lock out certain food which can be useful to your goal.

Food, Going Healthy, Life

Keto Diet 101 for Vegans Food You Can Eat

03/22/2019 R.C. Liley Leave a comment

There is something powerful about low carb diet, and many people take it on every month. You might think that every food that is allowed in the ketogenic diet is meat, but there are plenty of vegan alternatives.

Chia Seeds

Chia seeds are certainly a better option than processed grains or white rice. While they are not free from carbs, they have much less than rice or pasta. If you use them to make yourself a keto snack or a dessert, you will be able to mix them with coconut flour and oil to get the right texture for your cake or biscuit. If you would like to make savory snacks, you might want to add nut and seed butter, instead.

Tomato Sauce

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If you are adding tomato sauce to your keto meals, it is important that you check the packaging and opt for one that has no added sugar. Even if it is fully natural, fruit sugar will add up your carbs, so you will need to be careful how much tomato sauce you are using. It might be a good idea to make your own sauce with natural passata and seasoning, so you know exactly what is going into your condiments.

Salad Dressing

If you consume a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables and experiment regularly with creating a new recipe, you might find that salad dressing is a creative and delicious ways to enjoy Beta Hydroxybutyrate. You will, however, need to limit your consumption, so you can make the most out of your diet. If you are taking away certain foods from your body, it might start craving the flavor, and that is why you will need to learn the art of seasoning instead of reaching for the jar in the cupboard.

Pumpkin Seeds

Seeds are supposed to be good for you, and pumpkin seeds are loaded with Magnesium and Zinc, hard to come by of you are on a vegan diet. It is also full of good fat and protein, so you will get the Omega 2 and antioxidants into your diet. If you are using ground pumpkin seeds to make your own keto bread, you might want to add other ingredients that will improve the texture and taste of your bread..

Nuts

Any type of nut will be good for you and contain Omega 3 fatty acids and antioxidants. You should, however, enjoy them in moderation. You will not only get the good bits, but also quite a few calories. If you are using almond milk, ground nuts for cakes and bread, you have to work out exactly how much you will need to make the most out of your cooking. There is not much of a difference between different types of nuts, but you should always go for the unsalted, roasted, and unseasoned version.

Berries

You can eat any type of berries in moderation, and they are both vegan and keto. You will be able to replace your high carb snacks with these, but be careful with the sugar, as the carb content can add up. Always consume fruit in its most natural form, instead of going for preserves and jam, unless you prepared them yourself. Some people can only consume berries with moderation, especially if they have hay fever. If you notice that you are getting an allergic reaction or a rash after eating berries, you might want to opt for a safer option, such as apples and pears. Eat loads of cranberry and blackcurrant to add iron to your vegan diet.

Almond Yoghurt

Traditional yogurt is supposed to have loads of protein and healthy bacteria. Not many people know that you can actually make yogurt out of vegan ingredients. You can use cashew nuts, almond milk, or coconut milk, depending on what taste you prefer. A coconut yogurt will be much sweeter than another variety, while If you choose a low fat one with fruit in, you might end up consuming more. You should stick to the full fat a cultured soy yogurt will have a plainer taste. Use these alternatives if you would like to make the most out of your meat free keto diet and still get the nutrients and protein you need.

Staying within the guidelines of your keto diet can be challenging. If you would like to significantly reduce your carbohydrate intake, you might want to create a list of your favorite food and choose the makes and types that have the most essential nutrients.