What are your favorite healthy recipes you like to make for your family?

TJ, this is just my

TJ, this is just my experience, but I've heard similar things from other people.

Fat is a flavor carrier which means anything that is higher in fat will taste much better even if all the other ingredients are the same. There are also lots of fat-soluble vitamins which we miss when we eat low-fat and our body will signal hunger when some of our nutrional needs are not met. In addition our body signals emotional hunger if our eating experience is not very pleasant because either the food does not taste very good or it is eaten without paying attention to it (in front of TV, computer or in the car) rather than enjoying it in good company or at least with full attention to every bite.

The worst part about eating low-fat is that in the case of processed foods fat is almost always replaced with some kind of sugar or sometimes starch and artificial flavoring.

A good example is fat-free fruit yoghurt. While plain full-fat yoghurt has fairly little sugar, about 12 grams in one cup, so-called fruit yoghurt has between 25 and 30 grams per cup, in one very popular brand, NO FRUIT AT ALL.

The same is true for many low-fat frozen dinners, the fat is replaced with sugar.

Most people end up eating a lot of sugar in boxed cereals. The reason is that most of them don't taste like much without the sugar.

Try instead some steel-cut oats with apples, cinnamon, walnuts and some cream or half-and half on top and you won't miss the sugar.

Using artificial sugar substiutes like splenda or aspartame, also common in low-fat and diet foods, only make things worse. Because they taste like sugar but the body does not recognize them as food (that's why they are calorie-free) they cause an insulin spike but then there is no sugar coming, leading to a serious crash in blood sugar levels and a craving for carbs and continuing the whole viscious cycle of carb addiction. Combining sugar or white carbs with a lot of fiber and some protein and fat will slow down the whole cycle so there is another benefit of fat if you do have a craving for sweets.

I want to add one more thing: For me I have found that drinking coffee has a similar effect (energy-boosting) as sugar and white carbs and it is just as short-lived. Maffetone talks about this in his book about adrenal gland function a bit. Getting away from most coffee and most sugar at the same time makes it easier in the long run.
 
Snack seed Crackers

Snack seed Crackers (Dehydrator Required)

½ cup raw sesame seeds

½ cup raw sunflower seeds

½ cup raw pepitas (pumpkin seeds, shelled)

½ cup golden flax seeds

¼ cup chia seeds

Mix seeds with a dash of salt. Cover with water and let sit over night. Mixture will become gelatinous. Spread on a very lightly oiled fruit roll up liner for a dehydrator, and dehydrate on low temp (105 degrees) for 8 hours. Very gently turn the whole sheet of seeds over on the liner, and dehydrate for two to four more hours, or until sheet is very dry and crisp. Cool and break into cracker size pieces. Store in an airtight container. These are high protein, and make a great snack. They are also good spread with peanut butter, or with a slice of cheese. Especially nice for a gluten free diet.
 
Thanks, Ladies, for all the

Thanks, Ladies, for all the good info. I've learned a few things and refreshed on some others. I didn't know that about the Splenda-type products.

On Dr. Oz this afternoon, he had some Chia "experts" on who recommended eating lots of chia to help you lose weight by feeling fuller. They are high fiber and high in Omega-3s. I had been eating them before a run now and again but never associated feeling full with them. Check out Dr. Oz's site for today's show if you want to learn more.
 
palouserider wrote:Using

palouserider said:
Using artificial sugar substiutes like splenda or aspartame, also common in low-fat and diet foods, only make things worse. Because they taste like sugar but the body does not recognize them as food (that's why they are calorie-free) they cause an insulin spike but then there is no sugar coming, leading to a serious crash in blood sugar levels and a craving for carbs and continuing the whole viscious cycle of carb addiction. Combining sugar or white carbs with a lot of fiber and some protein and fat will slow down the whole cycle so there is another benefit of fat if you do have a craving for sweets.



Rider... I've stayed away from artificial and diet stuff for years. But a few years back when Stevia hit the shelves I was all over it. Do you have any info though if it causes a similar issue as the artificial sweeteners since it too is no calories? just curios, I dont use it much but might add it to coffee or tea, or other smallish things; costs too much still for me to use it as a 100% sugar replacement when backing, etc.



I havent ever followed any diet in my life, but I have tried to simply eat more all natural foods and less processed and fast foods, etc. I really ate very poorly in college and even since married we eat out way too much and also way to much easy to fix processed foods. But about 3 years ago I started trying to eat healthier, along with our move out the country and putting in a big garden.

One of my favorite (and the wife loves it too!) easy to fix and I assume somewhat healthy dinners are kabobs. They are prepared entirely off the land, well except for seasonings and stuff (I dont press my own olives for oil or grow lemon trees here). I use venison cubed up, and veggies from the garden like orange bell peps, banana peps, onion, summer squash or zucchini, and its marinated in olive oil, lemon juice and a few things I'd have to look up the recipe that I dont remember off hand. Sometimes I do add store bought mushrooms, I'm not a big fan but the wife is. Most meals I'll also have fresh carrots set out (still not even half way through our carrots in the garden yet). Kabobs arent anything gourmet but they are so good!

Unfortunately thats a summer/fall thing, the only veggies left now are taters and carrots, everything else is frozen. of course we do buy veggies at the store but it always seems so much better picking the veggies the same day ;-)

Now winter is setting in finally I think I'll switch to stir frying and less grilling. As far as meat is concerned, I havent fried any since before summer I grill 100% of the time as long as it isnt too cold, or the grill hood frozen shut. I need to build a little shack or something to make it easier to grill on cold windy winter days or when its pouring rain.

Did I mention I like to grill?
 
We do kabobs on the grill

We do kabobs on the grill with pork tenderloin, onion, bell pepper, and mushrooms. It's simple and quick.
 
Tristan,add me to the list

Tristan,

add me to the list of people who love kabobs, I like to add onion pieces to them and sometimes make vegetarian ones or chicken kabobs.

As far as stevia, I know that it is technically not calorie-free and not an artificial sweetener and for that reason it can not be patented. It has been used for many years in some cultures and the plant looks a little like a mint plant to me, although I think it is in the sunflower family. You can buy plants at many nurseries or grow it from seed. The dried white powder you can buy is somewhat processed, not exactly sure how, probably worth looking up on wikipedia. I just add the dried leaves to tea.

Other sweeteners I like are agave nectar, raw honey, Xylitol and coconut crystals, all natural sweeteners and most of them lower on the glycemic index than sugar.
 
Thanks, yeah I am somewhat

Thanks, yeah I am somewhat familiar with it, had seeds and actually tried to plant them this past year when we put up our first greenhouse but it was too late and I think too hot and none of the seeds grew. I'm no expert, its our first experience with greenhouse so maybe next year we will have better luck. Most everything we planted inside the house earlier then moved out to the greenhouse did just fine. For now I just have a box of the truvia brand stuff, cant remember but I thought it was 0 calorie, might just be very low not sure.

The way I found that works well to do my onions on the kabob is to leave the root section attached, and to cut the onion into 4 or 6 wedges, each wedge still having a bit of roots attached - helps to keep em together. After its on the skewer sometimes I'll then snip off the root end. I also sometimes remove the very center core-like piece of the wedge, so when I am skewering it is easier to poke into a flat area than a point, if that makes sense. No biggie just some simple things that I found help.
 
Thanks for all the good info

Thanks for all the good info on here everyone. I don't know how I missed this thread. I have been really trying to watch what I/my family eats. I understand the fats part of it but trying to make my wife understand it is driving me up a wall. I've decided instead of butting my head against a wall to just take it upon myself to change our diet (I do all the cooking in my house). My plan is to make it look like I'm just adding some variety to our meal plans but making sure it's healthier than what we've been eating. She will be happy to have new stuff because she complains about my meat and potatoes type recipes(I'm a huge meat eater and she is not. She eats it just not as wild about it as I am). I did chicken kabobs the other night and swapped out the bell peppers on my kabobs for jalepenos (I can't stand bell peppers). I used a little olive oil and I pressed some fresh garlic and also used some fresh thyme for flavoring. She loved it, now I just need some more recipes that may be more appealing to her.
 
Regarding your questions

Regarding your questions about fat, here are 2 family pictures.

Christmas 2010: We were following a low-fat, mostly vegetarian diet focused on whole foods (not processed foods) with lots of fresh veggies and whole grains -- exactly the type of diet generally regarded as very healthy. To lose weight I would have to count calories and I'd get very hungry if I didn't eat regularly. If I didn't actively keep track of my food intake I would easily gain weight.

Christmas 2011: We both switched to Mark Sisson's Primal approach to diet at the start of the year, still focused on whole foods with lots of fresh veggies, but now eating a moderate amount of sustainbly raised meats, much more fat, no grains and a stricter avoidance of processed sugar. There was a transition period (for me it lasted about 3-4 weeks, but only a few days for my husband) that was a bit of a struggle. Thereafter it's been unbelievably EASY! The weight came off (and stayed off) for both of us with almost no effort. We lost a combined total of about 40 pounds. Eating more fat left me feeling more satisified after each meal and kept me feeling full longer. There was no need to count calories. I simply ate whenever I was hungry, which turned out to be far less often than before. A year after making the switch both Ski and I feel great, look great and don't have to put any effort into maintaining. It was a even a cinch getting through the holidays without gaining weight! Our blood work and physicals indicate improvements in all health markers for both of us (imagine that -- eat more fat and watch your cholesterol numbers improve!).



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As for meal ideas, here is what I typically eat:



Breakfast might be just a cup of coffee (I'm not always hungry for breakfast) or it might be a spinach frittata or omlet full of sausage and veggies or just leftovers from last night's dinner.



Lunch is usually a huge salad filled with lots of leafy greens and fresh seasonable vegetables from the farmers' market, maybe some avocado, cheese, nuts and then topped with some meat leftover from the previous night's dinner (grass-fed beef, sustainably raised pork, bison, lamb, goat, fish etc). Dressing might be an olive-oil based vinaigrette or hot bacon dressing.



Dinner is usually a reasonable sized serving of meat (see above), some sort of leafy green (collards, kale, chard, spinach, etc) and another vegetable or two (broccoli, brussles sprouts, potatoes, squash, asparagus, etc). We use liberal amounts of fat (bacon fat, lard, butter, coconut oil, olive oil) in the preparation of the foods and season with fresh herbs and a variety of spices.



Dessert might include fruit, cheese, dark chocolate, nuts, wine, etc.



It's that simple!



Peace,

Karen
 
You guys look WONDERFUL,

You guys look WONDERFUL, Karen! Thanks for sharing this plan. Carbs are the biggie for me. I love them. I need to learn how to hate them.
 
   I've actually been playing

I've actually been playing with the idea of eliminating dinner as we know it. I think it fairly common knowledge that eating more smaler meals through out the day but we still feel the need to have a large dinner. I've been thinking about doing a smaller meal at ~4:30 then another large snack around 7:30.

We'd actually then have 2 chances to gather as a family. If I could only talk my wife into making 2 dinners...
 
Poor lady.  She has enough to

Poor lady. She has enough to do with just putting up with you, Ram!
 
I am a HUGE fan of Guacamole

I am a HUGE fan of Guacamole so here is my somewhat variable recipe
  • 3 large or 5 small Avacodos (Mashed)
  • 1 medium sized sweet yellow onion (Diced fine)
  • 2 cloves garlic pressed
  • Juice from 1-2 Limes (I like a lot of lime)
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped Cilantro
  • 2 small or 1 large tomato diced small and liquid thrown away. Romas work nice.
  • Chopped Jalapeno to taste. (I like 1 depending on the heat)
  • Salt and Pepper to taste
Mash the Avacodos. Add Lime juice, garlic, onions, Cilantro, Tomato, Jalapeno and then salt and pepper to taste. It is that easy. Prep time about 10 minutes. I learned how to do this in Mexico a few years back and made some minor modifications.
 
I love avacado, and I love

I love avacado, and I love guacamole. I would have to avoid the jalapeno though.
 
PR, do you have a gluten

PR, do you have a gluten sensitivity or something? Often times the foods that are gluten free contain nearly double the calories of the product that has gluten in it. Gluten-free is not neccesarily a way to lose weight if that's your thought process. From what I've been told only people with gluten sensitivity should give up gluten. People with sensitivites to gluten often present with physical problems. I have a friend who swells up like a balloon when she eats gluten in breads. Gluten is not neccesarily a bad thing though, but we as a people have gone overboard in eating products with gluten which is where the problem lies. Sorry for the rant, I just hate to see people do something because they think it may be healthier when in reality it may not be.
 
Nick,sorry, I missed this

Nick,

sorry, I missed this thread for a couple of days somehow. To answer your question: we are trying a gluten-free diet because my husband may be sensitive to it. I'm not going 100% gluten-free, but mostly. Wheat, rye and barley are the grains that have gluten in them, possibly oats, but there are so many other seeds and grains that can be eaten instead. We have tried millet, quinoa, amaranth, buckwheat and of course rice and all of those can be ground into flour as well.

My main reason to avoid wheat is largely that our diet (American) is so oversaturated with wheat and corn and both have much higher levels of starch than most other grains due to selective breeding. More variety just makes good sense to me. :)
 
Ok PR, I figured you were

Ok PR, I figured you were doing this right I just hate it when people think, "Oh I'm going to stop eating gluten", and then they go buy the processed gluten free foods, and then end up gaining weight and they can't understand why. That processed gluten free stuff is terrible for how many more calories it has in it. Yes I agree we Americans eat a ton of gluten containing products which , from what I've read, can actually be the cause for some peoples sensitivities to it.