Ok, so what do you EAT?!

[Heather R]

I'm feeling kind of discouraged about our family's eating habits, as I just read the "Ten things you can do..." thread, and I don't think there's a single food in our house that doesn't violate one or more of those guidelines! :O And since I buy the food and prepare the meals (or order the takeout! :O ) the responsibility falls on me. I really do want to start eating better, but I'm not much of a cook, and tend to rely on convenience foods. Can anyone point me to a book or something that has recipes or meal plans that incorporate healthier foods? Also, if you could give me a general idea of what you eat (including snacks!), I think that would really help. Oh, DD is 16 months, and eats most table foods, although she is fussy sometimes.

Thanks,
Heather

[Leslie]

I don't do much cooking, either. We do a lot of green smoothies - an apple, a banana, some pineapple and some greens (maybe just a tiny bit at first, like a few leaves of spinach, or one big leaf of green lettuce) in the blender. I use a big carrot to push everything down as I blend, and sometimes I add a little sweetener (a few drops of liquid stevia). It tastes like a fruit smoothie, but has some greens in it. Then I rinse the blender and clean-up is done. It's been a great way to get my kids to eat greens. They love them, even my pickiest eater. When he won't eat anything else for dinner, I can always count on him at least eating that.

We've done quick burritos with canned refried beans and a slice of soy cheese wrapped in a tortilla, too.

[Chris3jam]

Well, I follow the KISS rule (or try to, anyway!). Keep It Simple Silly. :giggle We don't really have food issues (except to stay away from known allergens), so it's kinda easy. Breakfasts, snacks and lunches are easy -- cereals, nuts and fruits and yogurts and cheeses. Whole grain breads and crackers and natural peanut butter and nut butters and whole fruit spreads (or honey). I used to make them eggs a lot -- and I used to make what I call "crustless quiches", and pour it into those mini-muffin tins, so they could pick them up and eat them like, well, mini muffins! Dd likes shredded carrots. Ds's like applesauce and black olives. We pretty much have finger foods all day long. Dinners I won't really touch here. . . .they're a whole 'nother :can Dh does not like to eat 'healthy' :rolleyes, so our dinner's end up being almost the same as lunches and snacks, because I have to cook differently for him.

[cobluegirl]

We started by just getting rid of anything that had trans fat and other yucky preservatives...some good cookbooks might be a place to start..I dunno...I try..but have really picky kids...I wish they would just drink a smoothie...hehe

[Heather R]

Thanks guys. I guess I was just a little overwhelmed by that list. I went grocery shopping today and stuck mainly to produce, dairy and whole grains, so that's a start. And then I came home and baked up some wholewheat carrot muffins so we have something healthier to snack on. I also picked up a book called The Healthy Kitchen which is about buying and preparing healthy foods. I just need to break us out of the junk food cycle. We eat so much cr@p!

Off to go eat some strawberries. :)

Heather