Homemaking - Healthy Food
Improving Your Health with a Better Diet
Many families are considering switching to more healthful foods and whole foods diets. Here are some ideas and comments to help you get started in your exploration of how to have a healthier family!
Recommended Reading*
The Eating Better Cookbooks by Sue Gregg
Horn of the Moon Cookbook by Ginny Callan
1000 Vegetarian Recipes by Carol Gelles
Whole Foods for the Whole Family by La Leche League
Supercharge Your Immunity by Norman Ford
Superimmunity for Kids by Leo Galland
The Four Pillars of Healing by Leo Galland
*Some of these books are out-of-print, so be sure to check for them at Alibris and AbeBooks, using links from the Support HomeschoolChristian.com page.
Thoughts
Below are thoughts from the participants on our Healthy Living message board. Please visit the board for more support in improving your health!
Soy Milk
Since we have switched to soy milk (instead of cow's milk), virtually eliminated milk products, and changed over to a low fat, high fiber diet, our littlest son (now five) has had an amazing transformation. He used to be hyped out frequently, suffered from psoriasis on his legs, had dry skin everywhere, had black circles under his eyes, and his hair was like straw. Now he has softer skin than a baby! He is less hyped (I think he still has some of that from his personality!) and generally looks SO much healthier. The whole family feels better since we changed over! -- Martha R.
There is a big difference in soy milks. You will have to find the one that best suits your taste. We like the ones that are enriched with various vitamins and minerals. For cooking, I use powdered soy milk called "Better Than Milk". You can get free samples of this by calling 1-800-227-2320. It has tons of flavors including chocolate!! Soy milk does taste different. -- Martha R.
I recommend Pacific Ultra and WestSoy. If you buy the vanilla flavored, your child is more likely to enjoy it. Soy milk works perfectly fine for baking unless you are baking something that requires the fat from milk, but most things like cakes and bisquits are fine with soy milk. I have also used tofu in place of eggs in a recipe. Check the soy milk labels to be sure you are getting the enriched kind so your body doesn't miss out on the good things from milk, like acidophilus and Vitamins A and D. -- Angeladawn
Keep in mind as you make this change in your family's diet that you change a little at a time, especially with soy products. If you make a dramatic change from dairy to soy, it will wreck havoc on your bowels, not to mention it could turn your family off in a hurry. Introduce a bit at a time. One way to do this is with a breakfast shake each morning:
1 banana (or strawberries if you prefer)
8 oz vanilla flavored soy milk
2 tsp. honey
ice
Blend all of the above in a blender and serve immediately. My family loves this. -- Angeladawn
Whole Foods Diets
The key to this is to end up with a low fat, high fiber diet. So, to reduce fat, look at the labels of everything you buy. You do NOT want partially hydrogenated oils of any kinds as these are the least healthy things you can eat. Almost all processed foods contain this. You will be making many more things so this is a great time to teach the kids to cook. This will also help them to be accepting of eating the new foods since they cooked it!
Get rid of margarine and either eat your foods plain or for bread, spray a little olive oil on and sprinkle with garlic.
Cut way back or eliminate meat as it has a huge amount of fat in it and it is saturated fat -- the bad kind. -- Martha R.
Sneaking in foods that your husband won't eat -- Smother the veggies in tomato sauce. Puree some of those veggies and sneak them in places. Sneak beans into the flour by grinding your own. Try raw veggies in salads. Steam the veggies. (The flavor is different when vegetables are steamed.) Try some of his favorite spices on them -- even crazy spices like cinnamon. You'd be surprised what someone will eat if it tastes like his favorite spice! -- Martha R.
Try new ways to make pasta sauce! I throw all kinds of stuff into pasta sauce. Zucchini is a favorite, but since I got the dehydrated carrots, they have been going in there. The tomato sauce overpowers both of them. Also, I use Morningstar Farms "Ground Meatless" or TVP instead of meat. We use whole wheat pasta and sometimes the spinach pasta which the kids think is WAY cool. -- Martha R.
Vegetables are most nutritious fresh or frozen, and if you can grow your own, they can be really cheap! I make applesauce in the fall and freeze it. My kids are so used to it without sugar that they prefer it that way. -- Cathe
It's easy to gradually increase the proportions of whole grains in breads (loaves, biscuits, muffins, pancakes, etc.) without upsetting the family too much. we seem to stay at about 60% whole wheat flour to 40% unbleached flour. -- Cathe
Be sure that you are buying real, 100% fruit juice and not a fruit "beverage" or "cocktail". -- Cathe
Switching to whole foods has not proven to be more expensive for us because we replaced meats with beans and tofu (much less expensive). It is more time consuming though as you cook more and that is why I suggested getting the kids involved in the preparation. We use a lot of frozen vegetables and I recently have been trying dehydrated vegetables as I have heard they retain more nutrients. -- Martha R.
More Healthful Desserts
Look for desserts that build health as well as please the sweet tooth: pumpkin pie is very nutritious. It has eggs and milk and relatively little sugar.I freeze pumpkin and squash in pie-size portions in the fall. Butternut squash makes great pumpkin pie. The whole wheat crust is actually better with this hearty pie. -- Cathe
I make gelatin from 100% juice and unflavored gelatin, and I add fresh or frozen fruit. Sometimes I make the "jigglers" the same way - no artificial anything and no added sugar. -- Cathe
We make apple crisp from frozen apple slices, (fresh if we have them) tossed with a little brown sugar and with an oatmeal crumble topping. -- Cathe
For sweeteners, I use maple syrup, blackstrap molasses, raisins, and honey in addition to regular sugar. A friend uses sucanat. We both buy much of our food through a coop. -- Cathe
In recipes, substitute one cup of honey for one cup of white sugar. -- Mary Leggewie
Sucanat is unprocessed sugar, but it is still sugar from a diabetic standpoint. It has about one third less sugar by volume than white sugar and that one third is made up of vitamins minerals and enzymes. I really like it. For diabetics I'd suggest stevia. It is an herbal sweetener with no sugar at all in it. -- Liz [Editor's note: Be sure to ask your doctor or nutritionist about natural sweeteners if you are diabetic.]
