How to lose weight and eat more
Okay...here is the post that was requested by several of you about "clean eating". I didn't need to lose weight, except for a little around the middle. It's gone now and my husband is down 33 pounds. We eat all the time and I have never felt better. Here you go!
Some things I have learned eating “clean”
First, I am not paleo or vegan or anything in particular but I do follow a lot of recipes that are from these areas and adapt them if needed. For me, it is about getting the bad stuff out of my life. The obvious things are processed foods, fast foods, and fried foods. These are not too hard to avoid and you will find that doing so is just something you have to choose to do. Of course, you must check with your doctor before you make major changes to your diet or your kids’ diets; but if you were to talk to my doctor or my husband’s doctor, they would tell you that they cannot believe our blood chemistry and how it has changed. At 50, my husband has a total cholesterol of 125 now and his HDLs outnumber his LDLs. Mine is similar but I haven’t been doing this as long as him.
Here is what I have learned to avoid:
First, understand the science: Simple starches break down almost immediately into sugar, which spikes your glucose level and then your insulin levels—this sends your body into “fat storage mode”. You then feel hungry sooner because your body has now stored all that lovely starch in your fat cells. That is the simplest way to explain it all. The yucky chemicals in the food need to be avoided as well, so stick to terms like “organic”, “free-range”, and “grass fed”. If you read a label on something and you cannot pronounce the chemical, don’t eat it, unless you know exactly what it is and if it will help you in some way.
Sugar: This is the simplest form of food and will cause an immediate spike to your insulin production. Obviously this is good to avoid, but you really have to look for it sometimes. Stay away from the fake sugars especially. Those are not recognized by your body as food and sometimes spike your hunger. I eat natural sugars like Agave and honey but avoid the processed types.
Wheat: Some say whole grains are good but we stay away from it almost completely. I say almost, because sometimes we may be at an event and eat it without knowing. The GMO in wheat today is over the top. There are some “heart helping properties” of wheat but those are long gone in the newer varieties that pervade our food. The fiber you miss in grains will easily be replaced in whole organic veggies. I love starches and breads so I substitute a variety of “breads” and I have not missed them at all. I eat Paleo sandwich bread every day and it is amazing with almond butter and honey as well as a little fruit (my favorite is blueberries). This makes a great breakfast; but it could be a dessert.
Corn: The corn we are now fed is the GMO corn that was created to increase weight in livestock so guess what it does to us? You got it! Corn is full of starch too.
Potatoes: Oh my! I love these, but they are full of starch as well. Did any of you do that crazy test in Biology class where you test for starch in food and the potatoes were dark purple? Yes, there is some fiber there, but you can get fiber in the good foods. We eat sweet potatoes, which have much less starch and a ton of vitamins and nutrients your body can use, including fiber.
Dairy: OKAY, this was a hard one and we don’t completely eliminate it at our home. If we make something that needs cheese, we use a little sparingly and try to find organic cheeses. Same for cream cheese and sour cream. Milk, though, we stay away from and use either homemade almond milk (see the great trick for that below) or buy it—the store bought types have calcium and vitamin D added for you too. There are so many hormones in your milk today—you might be able to find a dairy farmer who doesn’t feed his cows the GMO laden corn etc but I suggest finding alternatives. Some people like cashew milk, etc. I only use this or coconut milk in recipes and haven't tried it to actually drink..
The next step is adding in the good stuff and learning to substitute and is more complicated but still not too bad. It is all about planning ahead and I mean don’t let yourself get caught in the last minute starving phase before you decide what to make. That being said, we can now do that because we have cleaned out our cupboards and have perfected some easy and good recipes.
Now, the most wonderful substitutions in the world are fairly easy. I will say that having a high speed blender (like Blendtec or VitaMix) is helpful but a good food processor might work. I am a VitaMix girl and love love love mine. I would jump in my car and race to the store for a new one if mine died.
Here are some interesting and good substitutions that have helped me be able to transform some of my own recipes as well as experiment with others.
1.) Zoodles: These are zucchini noodles made with a $10 spiral vegetable tool you can get at a store or on Amazon. The “noodles” can be made from zucchini, squash, carrots or anything you want. For me, the zucchini is the best! You have to know how, though. The secret is in the cooking. Making them is super fast and easy. I can use one medium zucchini and it makes plenty of zoodles for me and my husband. Once you make them, place them between two paper towels and squeeze out the water. Some people salt them and let the salt draw the water out but squeezing is great. Next, you saute them over low heat with a little olive oil or coconut oil for about 5 minutes and then serve. You can make them any length or cut them up slightly; but either way, use them for any of your favorite pasta recipes. We use them with grass fed beef spaghetti sauces or with roasted veggies etc.
2.) Pasta: I love pasta so I had to find the best ways to substitute for it. There are recipes for making pasta without wheat etc, but I like the following better. First, zoodles but you can also roast a spaghetti squash and gently pull out the center for noodles as well. Zucchini, eggplant, and even large mushrooms can substitute in your lasagna recipes. For mac and cheese, try some of the paleo mac and cheese recipes online. They use cauliflower for the “noodles”.
3.) Cauliflower: I cannot tell you enough great things about this vegetable. For rice, put a few pieces at a time in your food processor or blender and pulse to make small pieces. Just cook in the microwave and serve as a rice substitute. Now, that is just the beginning. It can be blended to become “mashed potatoes” or used to make cauliflower breads and pizza crusts. This is an amazing use of a great vegetable. I make the rice all the time and just throw in leftover veggies from the night before and sometimes meat for a great lunch.
4.) Almonds, almonds, almonds: Get used to buying them in bulk. You can make almond flour in your high speed blender or food processor —just place about a cup at a time in there and pulse to make it a coarse or fine flour, whichever you need. It can be substituted for all purpose flour in any recipe. If you want homemade almond butter, toast them on parchment paper for 10 minutes place in the blender or food processor and keep blending —eventually it will become almond butter. Mix in honey or coconut for interesting flavors.
5.) Coconut oil and flour. These are in so many recipes and are amazing. We use them so much and even make our own coconut flour sometimes. The oil is great on skin and hair too!
So, the above is the basic idea of re-thinking your cooking. Below is my favorite bread in the world. I eat a slice with honey and almond butter every morning, along with a handful of blueberries. It is a terrific breakfast. This bread is good for sandwiches; but I use it as a treat.
Almond Flour, Almond Butter, and Almond Milk
Place parchment paper on a cookie sheet and spread out the almonds. Toast on 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. Let them cool and then process them until they turn to butter. The first stage, when you start turning up your VitaMix or processor, the almonds will turn to Almond Meal and then to a finer Almond Flour. I make this all the time to substitute in for all purpose flour. I don’t toast the almonds for this but you can. If you keep processing, though, the almonds will become almond butter. Sometimes I have to stop and scrap it down some. After you scoop it all out, leave about a tablespoon in the VitaMix or processor. Usually this is what is stuck to everything. Add one cup of water and process again. Now you have homemade almond milk and you have cleaned your processor at the same time. I sometimes add vanilla or agave to sweeten it; but it is wonderful just as it is.
Paleo Sandwich Bread
Ingredients
3/4 cup almond butter
5 eggs
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup ground flaxseed meal
3 tbsp coconut flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
1 Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper. In a large bowl, blend the almond butter, eggs, coconut oil, honey, and apple cider vinegar together with a hand blender.
2 In a separate bowl, mix together the flaxseed meal, coconut flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
3 Pour the dough into the prepared baking pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes until browned and completely set. Remove from the oven and allow the loaf to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove from the pan and cool completely on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for one week.
Notes
Servings: 1 loaf
Difficulty: Medium
By Rebecca Bohl (PaleoGrubs.com)
Paleo Pancakes
1 cup almond flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs (cage free)
1 cup almond milk
1 tsp vanilla
Mix well and add more almond flour if too thin or almond milk if too thick. Cook on a griddle and enjoy. I use a little coconut oil to grease the griddle.
We eat these with maple syrup or make them thin to use a wraps. If I am making them for wraps, I omit the vanilla.
Hope this helps! We have learned so much and have a great stash of recipes now! I can post more later if you guys like it!
ONE LAST THING...
We have been doing this for several weeks now. We originally decided to incorporate "cheat meals" one time a week but no longer do this because we feel so bad afterward. We tried to "cheat" this past week and I became sick for several hours afterward with terrible heartburn and bloating. I talked with some other people who follow our type eating and they said that I was like a drug addict who cleans up in rehab and then tries to take a hit. Scary, isn't it? I
Some things I have learned eating “clean”
First, I am not paleo or vegan or anything in particular but I do follow a lot of recipes that are from these areas and adapt them if needed. For me, it is about getting the bad stuff out of my life. The obvious things are processed foods, fast foods, and fried foods. These are not too hard to avoid and you will find that doing so is just something you have to choose to do. Of course, you must check with your doctor before you make major changes to your diet or your kids’ diets; but if you were to talk to my doctor or my husband’s doctor, they would tell you that they cannot believe our blood chemistry and how it has changed. At 50, my husband has a total cholesterol of 125 now and his HDLs outnumber his LDLs. Mine is similar but I haven’t been doing this as long as him.
Here is what I have learned to avoid:
First, understand the science: Simple starches break down almost immediately into sugar, which spikes your glucose level and then your insulin levels—this sends your body into “fat storage mode”. You then feel hungry sooner because your body has now stored all that lovely starch in your fat cells. That is the simplest way to explain it all. The yucky chemicals in the food need to be avoided as well, so stick to terms like “organic”, “free-range”, and “grass fed”. If you read a label on something and you cannot pronounce the chemical, don’t eat it, unless you know exactly what it is and if it will help you in some way.
Sugar: This is the simplest form of food and will cause an immediate spike to your insulin production. Obviously this is good to avoid, but you really have to look for it sometimes. Stay away from the fake sugars especially. Those are not recognized by your body as food and sometimes spike your hunger. I eat natural sugars like Agave and honey but avoid the processed types.
Wheat: Some say whole grains are good but we stay away from it almost completely. I say almost, because sometimes we may be at an event and eat it without knowing. The GMO in wheat today is over the top. There are some “heart helping properties” of wheat but those are long gone in the newer varieties that pervade our food. The fiber you miss in grains will easily be replaced in whole organic veggies. I love starches and breads so I substitute a variety of “breads” and I have not missed them at all. I eat Paleo sandwich bread every day and it is amazing with almond butter and honey as well as a little fruit (my favorite is blueberries). This makes a great breakfast; but it could be a dessert.
Corn: The corn we are now fed is the GMO corn that was created to increase weight in livestock so guess what it does to us? You got it! Corn is full of starch too.
Potatoes: Oh my! I love these, but they are full of starch as well. Did any of you do that crazy test in Biology class where you test for starch in food and the potatoes were dark purple? Yes, there is some fiber there, but you can get fiber in the good foods. We eat sweet potatoes, which have much less starch and a ton of vitamins and nutrients your body can use, including fiber.
Dairy: OKAY, this was a hard one and we don’t completely eliminate it at our home. If we make something that needs cheese, we use a little sparingly and try to find organic cheeses. Same for cream cheese and sour cream. Milk, though, we stay away from and use either homemade almond milk (see the great trick for that below) or buy it—the store bought types have calcium and vitamin D added for you too. There are so many hormones in your milk today—you might be able to find a dairy farmer who doesn’t feed his cows the GMO laden corn etc but I suggest finding alternatives. Some people like cashew milk, etc. I only use this or coconut milk in recipes and haven't tried it to actually drink..
The next step is adding in the good stuff and learning to substitute and is more complicated but still not too bad. It is all about planning ahead and I mean don’t let yourself get caught in the last minute starving phase before you decide what to make. That being said, we can now do that because we have cleaned out our cupboards and have perfected some easy and good recipes.
Now, the most wonderful substitutions in the world are fairly easy. I will say that having a high speed blender (like Blendtec or VitaMix) is helpful but a good food processor might work. I am a VitaMix girl and love love love mine. I would jump in my car and race to the store for a new one if mine died.
Here are some interesting and good substitutions that have helped me be able to transform some of my own recipes as well as experiment with others.
1.) Zoodles: These are zucchini noodles made with a $10 spiral vegetable tool you can get at a store or on Amazon. The “noodles” can be made from zucchini, squash, carrots or anything you want. For me, the zucchini is the best! You have to know how, though. The secret is in the cooking. Making them is super fast and easy. I can use one medium zucchini and it makes plenty of zoodles for me and my husband. Once you make them, place them between two paper towels and squeeze out the water. Some people salt them and let the salt draw the water out but squeezing is great. Next, you saute them over low heat with a little olive oil or coconut oil for about 5 minutes and then serve. You can make them any length or cut them up slightly; but either way, use them for any of your favorite pasta recipes. We use them with grass fed beef spaghetti sauces or with roasted veggies etc.
2.) Pasta: I love pasta so I had to find the best ways to substitute for it. There are recipes for making pasta without wheat etc, but I like the following better. First, zoodles but you can also roast a spaghetti squash and gently pull out the center for noodles as well. Zucchini, eggplant, and even large mushrooms can substitute in your lasagna recipes. For mac and cheese, try some of the paleo mac and cheese recipes online. They use cauliflower for the “noodles”.
3.) Cauliflower: I cannot tell you enough great things about this vegetable. For rice, put a few pieces at a time in your food processor or blender and pulse to make small pieces. Just cook in the microwave and serve as a rice substitute. Now, that is just the beginning. It can be blended to become “mashed potatoes” or used to make cauliflower breads and pizza crusts. This is an amazing use of a great vegetable. I make the rice all the time and just throw in leftover veggies from the night before and sometimes meat for a great lunch.
4.) Almonds, almonds, almonds: Get used to buying them in bulk. You can make almond flour in your high speed blender or food processor —just place about a cup at a time in there and pulse to make it a coarse or fine flour, whichever you need. It can be substituted for all purpose flour in any recipe. If you want homemade almond butter, toast them on parchment paper for 10 minutes place in the blender or food processor and keep blending —eventually it will become almond butter. Mix in honey or coconut for interesting flavors.
5.) Coconut oil and flour. These are in so many recipes and are amazing. We use them so much and even make our own coconut flour sometimes. The oil is great on skin and hair too!
So, the above is the basic idea of re-thinking your cooking. Below is my favorite bread in the world. I eat a slice with honey and almond butter every morning, along with a handful of blueberries. It is a terrific breakfast. This bread is good for sandwiches; but I use it as a treat.
Almond Flour, Almond Butter, and Almond Milk
Place parchment paper on a cookie sheet and spread out the almonds. Toast on 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. Let them cool and then process them until they turn to butter. The first stage, when you start turning up your VitaMix or processor, the almonds will turn to Almond Meal and then to a finer Almond Flour. I make this all the time to substitute in for all purpose flour. I don’t toast the almonds for this but you can. If you keep processing, though, the almonds will become almond butter. Sometimes I have to stop and scrap it down some. After you scoop it all out, leave about a tablespoon in the VitaMix or processor. Usually this is what is stuck to everything. Add one cup of water and process again. Now you have homemade almond milk and you have cleaned your processor at the same time. I sometimes add vanilla or agave to sweeten it; but it is wonderful just as it is.
Paleo Sandwich Bread
Ingredients
3/4 cup almond butter
5 eggs
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup ground flaxseed meal
3 tbsp coconut flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
1 Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper. In a large bowl, blend the almond butter, eggs, coconut oil, honey, and apple cider vinegar together with a hand blender.
2 In a separate bowl, mix together the flaxseed meal, coconut flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
3 Pour the dough into the prepared baking pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes until browned and completely set. Remove from the oven and allow the loaf to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove from the pan and cool completely on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for one week.
Notes
Servings: 1 loaf
Difficulty: Medium
By Rebecca Bohl (PaleoGrubs.com)
Paleo Pancakes
1 cup almond flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs (cage free)
1 cup almond milk
1 tsp vanilla
Mix well and add more almond flour if too thin or almond milk if too thick. Cook on a griddle and enjoy. I use a little coconut oil to grease the griddle.
We eat these with maple syrup or make them thin to use a wraps. If I am making them for wraps, I omit the vanilla.
Hope this helps! We have learned so much and have a great stash of recipes now! I can post more later if you guys like it!
ONE LAST THING...
We have been doing this for several weeks now. We originally decided to incorporate "cheat meals" one time a week but no longer do this because we feel so bad afterward. We tried to "cheat" this past week and I became sick for several hours afterward with terrible heartburn and bloating. I talked with some other people who follow our type eating and they said that I was like a drug addict who cleans up in rehab and then tries to take a hit. Scary, isn't it? I
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