Dietary changes
We’re making some changes around here. Calculating our cost for certain meals was part of the motivation, and hubby’s recent weight loss is another. We’ve made some short-term changes in celebration of the changing seasons that we want to continue with: we are enjoying the return of reasonable prices on fresh produce and have exchanged a good portion of our meat & cheese consumption for bananas, cucumbers, tomatoes, oranges, etc.
We don’t eat the average American diet - very few of our foods are prepackaged, and sodas are a rare treat. However, we do go through a lot of sugar and white flour, we eat a lot of meat (including hot dogs, sausage, etc.) and desserts are not chosen with healthful ingredients in mind.
We don’t want to become health nuts (or to borrow a phrase from a cynic I know, Food Pharisees). However, we are trying out some substantial shifts:
- There is 1/2 cup of white sugar left in the house, and I don’t intend to buy more right away. We are finding that brown sugar works very nicely in nearly anything from coffee to Grandma’s Wacky Cake. I bought a 25# bag of brown sugar at Costco for the same price/lb as what I normally pay for white sugar. I realize there may be no substantial difference between the two, but I think this might help us develop less of a taste for refined sugar - a step in the right direction.
- We don’t eat meat every night for dinner now. This is a huge change!
- With the money saved by not consuming 4-7 lbs. of meat every day, we can start every dinner with a large appetizer platter of fresh veggies.
- The meat we do eat will be generally less processed. Not organic, but not hot dogs either. We’re looking for a happy medium.
- We’re making whole-wheat bread with freshly ground wheat, honey and other healthy stuff.
- I have learned to cook beans in my crock pot using the hard water from our well. I have learned to do this long before I need them so that they will have plenty of time to get soft before I need them.
- I will be working fresh ground whole wheat flour into many of our recipes. Like changing brown sugar for white, I’m hoping we will find that many or most recipes can be changed without negatively affecting the results. Unlike changing brown sugar for white, this will represent a substantial change in nutritional value.
- Friday night pizza will go on as planned, with crusts made entirely of white flour.
We think we can accomplish most of this without spending more for food than we do already because we’ll be cutting back on some of the more expensive elements in our diet, namely meat and cheese.
We also think we might be crazy (or go crazy) and all fight each other like a pack of sharks for that last bag of cheetohs in the pantry, but we’ll take it a day at a time and see how it goes.
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Filed under: food
Do you know what brown sugar is? White sugar with molasses in it! My mom taught me that when I ran out once. Light brown sugar just has less molasses than dark. You’d have to look up the proportions, but when I make my own I usually put one tablespoon molasses per cup white sugar for light and twice as much molasses for dark. It works up really fast in a food processor.
Wow…you grind your own flour? I’m impressed!
Your goals sound similar to mine. Have you tried grinding white wheat? It’s closer to white flour, especially in appearance, but it’s still a whole grain. My mom also loves golden wheat.
I recommend using the hard white spring berries for bread & the soft white spring berries for baking items. Remember to pack down the sof wheat- like what you do for brown sugar. We have started using the soft wheat for so much!
Here is a good pizza dough recipe (2 lb) for bread machine:
3/4 tsp salt
2 tsp yeast
2 Cups whole wheat flour (hard berries)
2 Cups white flour
1 1/2 Cups water
3 Tbs oil
Set to dough setting. Once finished, bake in preheated oven at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes.
We are also on “middle ground”. One thing I have found is that whole wheat flour is actually a wonderful addition to most baked goods. It adds texture and helps them stay together. I haven’t gone whole hog with that, but I often make cookies and muffins with half-whole wheat flour and they are great!
Are you going to be eating lots of beans/lentils? I actually could eat them all the time but they give dh heartburn, so I try to only have beans once a week. You can make some really good curry with brown lentils, very filling.
And yes, even pizza dough can benefit from a cup of ww flour thrown in.
In honor of your attempt at cutting white sugar and using wheat:
Yummy Oatmeal Cookies
2 sticks butter
2 C. Sucanut with honey (could use light brown sugar)
1 t. vanilla
2 eggs
2 1/4 c. wheat flour
2 1/4 c. oats
1 t. salt
1 t. soda
1 t. cinnamon
3/4 c. raisins or other dried fruit
Mix all ingredients, then add raisins. Roll into small balls and mash flat. Bake at 375 for about 7 minutes. So to avoid being a ‘food pharisee’ be sure to eat them for breakfast!
Enjoy!
Kim,
That’s great! I hope you’ll find your changes greeted with enthusiasm–I think you have a better chance of that seeing you have so many more females than males over there.
BTW, that’s a SHIVER of sharks, not a pack.
I am also going to be incorperating ww flour into things! We don’t notice the difference in pasta *at all* and I think torillas and bread we will simply adapt to. Other things can be more 50/50 - my husband makes up huge batches of pancake mix and has always used half ww.
We are very blessed in that we buy half of a side of beef at a time from an individual, and my parents raise chickens every few years …. and if I take them from squawk to a tidy, 12 -piece bird, then I get enough for my family.
So we still quite the meat eaters here . . . .
I am also concerned about being a “food pharisee”. We do live in a fallen world and I think it is impossible to maintain perfectionism in this area for us.
We have been just putting brown sugar in our baking as well and I don’t think there is a difference in taste. I don’t get sugar highs from eating a cookie which is a good thing.
What none meat meals are you doing?
Those sound like good goals! We had to make som e major food changes growing up for a health reason when I was about 10 and we switched to fructose instead of white sugar. It is still processed, but twice as sweet as sugar and better for you. We had to use whole wheat flour too. It was fun when you think of it as an experiment!
Good for you for setting clear but reachable goals. I’ve seen so many people try to jump into healthier eating all at once and within a few weeks go back to an even unhealthier life than they had before. Somewhat like the yo-yo effect when dieting. Lasting change comes by taking one step at a time and making it truly work for you before moving on.
BTW, Crystal’s 30 Min Rolls work wonderfully 1/2 wheat and 1/2 white.
I could make most of the changes you are talking about but I don’t think I dare not bring cheetos into the house. I’ve cut back on serving size but I think I’d have a dangerous revolt on my hands if I made the DH and kids go with out entirely. Same with meat. The DH doesn’t think it’s a meal with out meat. Just curious-
What is your current stance on chocolate in the house?
We make burritos all the time with just refried beans and no meat and they taste great!
Your next step after change to WW can be soaking the grains over night so they digest better. But yes one thing at a time.
We are on the kick too. I’ve been mixing my white & fresh ground whole wheat. into a container so that I use the white/ wheat mix for almost everything. I’ve been trying to figure the best sugar substitute that isn’t crazy expensive. For beans I do the quick soak method with a 1/2 teaspoon baking soda in the water. It really does help to soften the beans a ton. I don’t have hard water, but it really helps.
I am not sure what would happen to me if I did not make meat with our meals. I am sure my husband would make me leave the house! What kind of meals are you makeing? Still curious!
How does brown sugar make it better than white sugar? I thought brown sugar was just sugar with more mixed in with it.
Hey Kim,
We buy Sucanat in bulk and use that instead of refined sugar. That might be an option for you to consider. : )
Thank you for the recipes, ladies. We love Crystal’s recipe for rolls and have used it many times! I can’t wait to try the others.
I know that brown sugar isn’t much better than white, but I looked at it as a simple first step toward developing less of a taste for white sugar; also, any of our recipes that can handle the switch will likely tolerate some whole wheat flour as well.
Normally, hubby would object to meatless meals but he is pretty excited about these changes as well and is willing to give it a shot. Changes like these would not happen in our house without his full support - in fact, I emailed him a copy of the post above before I published it just to be sure we were on the same page.
Instead of heavy meat meals, we are eating a lot of beans, rice and veggies (cooked and raw). Bean and cheese quesadillas cooked in butter on the griddle are a favorite. We also love a creamy potato chowder with a bit of bacon or ham for flavoring. Meatless chili over rice will probably become common here…we’re going to need some more ideas, though - maybe I’ll post about that soon!
Ruthanne, does sucanat cost a lot more than regular sugar?
Cindy,
Honestly, I crave far less chocolate when I’m eating well.
When it comes to chocolate, I guess I’ll just have to make sure it’s very dark. Less sugar and more health benefits.
my hubby would never stand for meals without meat but thats another story, what do you do for protein???
mj,
We still eat some meat - just not the massive quantities we had become accustomed to. We’re going to eat far more beans, which are a good source of protein. We also use a good bit of cheese, and lots of eggs and milk.
I think our diet was rather heavy on protein, and now we’re moving toward a better balance.
I am excited for you guys. A couple years ago I started using more whole wheat in my recipes. Most of the time it works well, but some recipes just cannot handle it. I like to use granulated fructose instead of sugar because you can use a third less than if you used regular sugar, sometimes less than that will do too. And with cookies and stuff, it still has all the properties needed to make everything golden brown and delicious. I can get it for about the same price as a bag of sugar when I buy it in bulk. My hubby is very much a meat guy so I can only get away with about one meal a week with no meat. He would eat a 16 oz steak every night if he could. But that would really kill any food budget we have.
Just wanted to say that I think your dietary changes are for the better. Having fresh fruit is great and being able to eat fresh veggies is awesome. I have found brown sugar to be tasty and there really is no difference than white sugar. Keep it up!
Have you tried unrefined, evaporated cane sugar? Costco sells it (at least here they do) and I notice no difference using it at all. It is a little more expensive, but much better for you. It IS still sugar, though. I buy it in bulk through a co-op to get a better price. We also use sucanat for brown sugar in some baking items, but my kids revolted in using it as a substitution in things like oatmeal where you can really taste it. I think It is kind of funky tasting alone. And, it is more expensive than brown sugar even in bulk.