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Change Your Kitchen – Change Your Life!

Today’s post is a guest post by Channing Morales. WARNING! Don’t read this unless you’re ready to stop making excuses about what it takes to look, feel and function your very best!

In recent months I’ve had many people ask me what we eat now and even more people say “you have a lot of time on your hands” – which leads me to admit that I probably prioritize differently to MAKE time for these changes… and my quest is to make the steps to better health EASY and not so time consuming. Believe me, we have just as little time as the next family, with children and both working… and we’re probably on a tighter budget – I can almost guarantee that.

The way we eat is actually pretty simple: get away from processed food. We still have our ‘cheat’ ravioli’s from Costco which are an easy cook up but they are minimally processed with no added sugars. Ice cream (until I get a food processor) and chocolate covered pretzels still make their way into the kitchen as well… I’m human people!

So here is what I tell my clients when they ask about food. I’m not a nutritionist, but I know more about nutrition than the last dietitian I conversed with 2 weeks ago… so I know my $%^t folks… and feel free to add your knowledge too 🙂 especially if its congruent with a traditional real food omnivore lifestyle.

FIRST and most important: eliminate EVERYTHING with the ingredient High Fructose Corn Syrup or Corn Syrup – this is the #1 thing that leads to stored body fat… it DOES not metabolize, even after a workout and just gets stored as BAD fatty tissue. This means any processed food containing HFCS – salad dressings included and I’ll give you a recipe for an awesome dressing that is good on EVERY salad.

Second: Make sure your refrigerator is STOCKED all the time with things to make a salad… this will also force you to get creative and hit up the produce aisle a little more – pick out everything GREEN you can find: avocado, broccoli, sugar snap peas, cabbage, peppers, onion, edamame (its good soy), cauliflower, cucumber, spinach, romaine, red leaf lettuce to start. Mushrooms, zucchini and squash, and asparagus cook up really quickly for a side to any meal.

Third: Eliminate useless grains: chips, bread, wheat pasta, white rice, cereal (waste of calories) Substitute: quinoa (keen-wa), SPROUTED bread (your grocer will help you find this), gluten free/rice pasta, oatmeal and brown rice as your healthier grains only to accompany meals in small portions (appx 1 cup), potatoes. Grains can be debated with my paleo friends – but yes, too much leads to stored fat as well.

Fourth: Get free range eggs (not cage free), free range chicken, and grass fed meats. I know they are a little expensive (note from Kat: wouldn’t you rather pay your grocer/butcher than your doctor?!) but some could argue that “animal protein causes cancer” -it could contribute to the promotion of cancer IF it’s industrialized and grain/soy fed. “The China Study” completely lacks in any information regarding WHERE the meat comes from (which is a whole ‘nother story). One of the rib-eye fillets will be good for 2 meals.These can be found at Whole Foods or Henry’s markets – or at a farmer’s market. YES – grass fed meats are expensive – but so are doctors bills, so pick your battle!

Fifth: Try picking up some good quality dairy cheeses like raw milk cheddar, raw/pastured butter, Greek yogurt (with the fat – it’s high in protein which will metabolize the fat), feta (with the fat), raw milk – QUIT WITH LOW FAT/FAT FREE BS.

Sixth: keep these things on hand: sea salt, almonds! coconut oil, cold pressed olive oil, raw sugar, cinnamon, raw honey, grapeseed oil, organic peanut butter (not fortified with Omega), tons of spices, rice vinegar, fresh garlic and basil, organic jelly and ketchup (if you can’t live without it) and seasonal fruits.

Eliminate soda and juices too… that’s just wasted calories and SUGAR. Even gatorade has tons of HFCS in it! Coffee is FINE with raw sugar, cinnamon and some raw cream/milk.

I’ll add to the list later but these small steps are easy and will start you in the right direction.

Making a quick exit while I’ve got it on the brain : FAT DOES NOT MAKE YOU FAT.

Live Well.

Thanks Channing! Channing is a new friend of mine and shares many of my beliefs on nutrition and healthy living. She’s also been an invaluable help with some of my mothering battles, as her beautiful bubba is a few months older than mine. This little ‘rant’ is something she posted on Facebook, and it really grabbed me. I hope you’ve enjoyed it as well! Connect with Channing on Twitter, or visit her over at Fitorbit.com.

9 responses to “Change Your Kitchen – Change Your Life!”

  1. Thanks for the tips. My wife and I have recently removed High Fructose Corn Syrup from our lives and definitely notice a difference. It’s amazing how much “food” products contain it!

    • Kat says:

      @ Eric It’s shocking isn’t it; although equally amazing how many ‘foods’ contain sugar in some form!

  2. Hi Kat
    Great post – the single best investment I made in my family’s health and back-to-basics way of life was a Thermomix. I say investment because it did cost a lot. But I’m paying it off on a payment plan and spending way less than the payments now that we make EVERYTHING from scratch – it’s so quick, my teenagers can use it to make a quick GF pasta dish if I’m going out, and you can be sure that the things you talk about are not included! You would love my aoili!

  3. Hi Kat
    A thermomix is an amazing blender, grinder, steamer, cooker, kneader all in one appliance – German designed. It does everything. Nutritionist Cyndi O’Meara swears by them and that’s how I got on to it. You can easily make your own nut butters, aiolis … the emphasis is on back to basics cooking. http://www.thermomix.com.au/

  4. Carla says:

    Looks like I’m doing pretty well right now according to your list! I didn’t know edamame was a “good soy”. I do have a few when I go to my favorite Japaneses restaurant thinking it was bad since I cant/shouldnt eat unfermented soy. Thanks for the heads up!