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Changing eating habits for life…. any suggestions?
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I don’t post on here very often, but I read everyday. I love the advice and insight I am always gaining not only in regards to homeschooling but also my family and health. Recenty, I was diagnosed with IBS after suffering from symtoms since having my gall bladder removed a year ago. In addition, my husband and two older sons suffer from acid reflux/GERD. Needless to say, we need to make big changes in both diet and exercise. So, I am looking to make changes for the whole family. I am not looking for the latest fad diet, but suggestions for a real, lifechanging, sustainable, long-term eating plan. There are so many diet books, websites and eating plans available that it is difficult to “weed through” all the good and bad. I would love to hear if anyone has any suggestions of good books, websites, eating plans etc. that may work for us. To give you a little background about me… I love to cook. I do not like pre-packaged frozen or microwave meals. So recommending a meal plan with a lot of prep work or cooking would not scare me off at all. Due to my IBS and my families acid reflux/GERD, we need to elminate fat as much as possible. The next would be to eliminate fried foods, spicy foods and caffeine. I have a lot to learn about IBS and how to manage it, but eliminating those items about would be a great start.
Thanks in advance for any replies and advice.
Tammy
I’m trying to do the same… one thing I’m doing is focusing more on whole foods and trying to avoid preservatives. I’ll be watching this thread. Hope you get lots of replies!
I’m so sorry for all your recent health troubles. I don’t have a lot of time now, but you should click over to the Weston A. Price thread on the board for my thoughts on the best eating lifestyle. One thing I absolutely do not advocate is a low-fat or no-fat diet! Switching over to healthy fats such as coconut oil, butter, tallow, and lard is going to go a long way in helping digestive issues, especially if you use vegetable oils primarily right now. Veg oils contribute to inflammation; those healthy fats calm it down. A healthy diet is NOT a low-fat diet. I feel very strongly about this, if you can’t tell. 😉
The documentary “fat head” is a good one to understand how we have been brainwashed and misled when it comes to fats.
At nourishedkitchen today, there was a really good explanation about leaky gut and how to start healing it. I think it may be a good springboard of resources:
http://nourishedkitchen.com/healthy-foods-healing-leaky-gut/
Good luck with your changes!
I just discovered a very good website on healthy whole living and foods that you could certainly check out:
WholeIntentions.com is the website. She also talks about using healthy fats, coconut oil, because our body needs it!
But aside from fats…
I was breaking this down for my husband today. He wants to make healthy changes and is starting from ground zero. So, for the sake of simplicity, this is what I told him – and I think it would apply to you, as well.
First – cut out ‘whites’ – white sugar, white flour, pasta, bread, white potatoes. You can use stevia to replace sugar in most cases, but don’t use artificial things like splenda or asparatame. Cut out sodas and watch out for hidden sugars in pre-packaged or processed foods. Reduce fruit juice. Replace white bread and cereal with low sugar, whole grains like oats, brown rice, and Ezekiel bread products.
Just this step could take a month or so…depending on what your diet is like now! The key is to find healthy alternatives that will satisfy your cravings for the bad stuff.
Next – Increase vegetables and fruits (preferably raw) to 5-9 servings per day. This is where the healthy fats come in. You actually do need some healthy fats to absorb the nutrients in healthy foods – and when they are your main food source, they aren’t a problem.
I do this by committing to a smoothie for breakfast and an all veggie lunch. Afternoon snack is usually a fruit plus yogurt or nut butter. By limiting myself to veggies when my willpower is higher (during the daytime) I can relax a bit in the evening.
Protein should be as lean as possible – eggs, fish and poultry mainly (for meat). Eat beans and lentils (to replace meat) at least twice a week.
Last – work on your fat intake. If you have made it this far in changing your eating habits, you are just ‘tweaking’ a very healthy diet. Switching to coconut oil and reducing high fat dairy will be fairly easy at this point.
Check out ttapp.com or walk for 15-20 minutes a day whenever you can!
Drink healthy teas and lots of water!
Be blessed and have a healthy and happy 2014 :-).
Heather
Just requested Fat Head from library – (not enough internet time to watch it online)!
I am sure you have read about Trim Healthy Mamma (THM) on here as well. It also is a way of life not a diet. I can truely say that as I have been doing it for 3 years and my family 2. It is doable and it is a way of life. We love the foods we are eating fell less deprived than we did before, who couldn’t knowing that brownies, pudding, cheesecake all made correctly and eaten at the right times is good for you and I might add taste AMAZING!
I think the main thing is the whites for people you just don’t realize how much you are eating. Also, processed food. It’s funny for our family when we go grocery shopping and see a cart just stacked to the brim with food. 90% of our food comes from the outside of the store or from a delievery guy!! LOL
Good luck! I will be praying that your change is easy and then in turn even easier to stick with. Also, for the health of your family I have helped 2 of my close friends who have Chron’s using THM and they are amazed.
Blessings Misty
I know much of this info. in my head, but getting myself to have the willpower to stay clear of all the yummy things I grew up eating is hard. I love to bake and that is difficult to adjust to new ways. Old habits are hard to break. I am implementing THM this year, and we have been slowly eliminating sugar from our diet and whites- but the white flour is a hard one for us. Not the bread so much,, but other items containing white flour. Also, I so agree about healthy fats. So very important. Coconut oil had been a life changer in many ways for our family. I have to be careful about too much fruit and juices as the sugar, albeit natural, really gets to me. Currently, I am big into eggs, almond milk smoothies, greek yogurt, lots of fresh veggies, meat. I need to work on the E style meals. Such a mindset change for me.
I agree that making the changes in real life is sooo difficult. But it is possible. And it is even more possible for those of us at home than for people who are ‘out and about’ all day long. What they are offered is ONLY whites, meats, and high fat cheeses.
Trim Healthy Mama has some good advice. I have read it – and I have condensed it into a 2 page document, much of it printed in the above post. If you would like to save $40, I will email it to you ;-).
I am not slamming THM, but it is takes a very complicated and loooooooong way of saying what basically every nutrition book and magazine out there is already saying:
More Veggies, fruit, lowfat dairy, whole grains, water.
Fewer meats and bad fats.
Some healthy fats.
Don’t stuff yourself – turn to God instead of food.
Exercise.
I am a former ‘health food junkie’. I have been reading a trying the ‘latest’ in nutrition for 20 years.
No offense, but I get tired of hearing the ‘latest’ when it all comes back to the same principles – put into practice! We are losing health and wasting our money on books and systems because we are making it way too complicated!
Make a list of the healthy foods you like and can live with. Buy them. Eat them.
It is going to be un-fun…at first. But gradually it just becomes a way of life and it is honestly harder to break the good habit than to be lazy. I promise!
@Benita – the hardest bad habit for me to break wasn’t sweets, but BREAD with BUTTER! Have you tried “Healthy Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day”. That book has helped us so much with using bread in the right way for health and wellness.
I am not saying I do it perfectly. I fight my flesh to do what is good for me every single day (and more so as I get older!). But I hate to see people throw good money after bad on ‘systems’ that are basically just the same old info…presented in a new format.
Just to sum up…
I used to value myself by my waist size, hip size, weight or performance. But God is teaching me to value myself by his love instead. And his love is what compels good eating habits and exercise as a way of life – so that I can have an abundant and long life in this body he has given me.
Don’t judge yourself. You are in charge of the stewardship…but God is in charge of the results. Feed yourself with good, natural things. Use your body to stay strong and healthy. But don’t stress out over the ‘results’. Let Him do the rest ;-).
Don’t be captured by every changing theory of man. God wants us to walk in his principles, with freedom.
This is a good scripture to remember, whether talking about nutrition or more ‘spiritual’ matters:
Isaiah 28:11-13
Very well then, with foreign lips and strange tongues
God will speak to this people,
12 to whom he said,
“This is the resting place, let the weary rest”;
and, “This is the place of repose”—
but they would not listen.
13 So then, the word of the Lord to them will become:
Do this, do that,
a rule for this, a rule for that;
a little here, a little there—
so that as they go they will fall backward;
they will be injured and snared and captured.
Thank you for the great advice. I am going to check into Trim Healthy Mama and TTapp.com.
<servingwithjoy>Thank you for responding in detail. I like the list of where to start first. Unfortunately, I am finding that a lot of the items on a healthy eating plan are also trigger foods for IBS. For example; lettuce, yogurt, apples, melons, cucumbers, tomatoes, wheat and much more because they are insolubale fibers. I will definitely have to do my research and customize a plan that will work for me. Thanks again for all your input.
Tammy
Hi Tammy
I also suffer from IBS and other health issues, Behcets Disease and Fibromyalgia. I’m sorry I do not have all the answers and think this is also something you have to tweak for yourself. But I wanted to share my recent experience. I had avoided the IBS trigger foods for years. Then I read something interesting about keeping our diet as unrefined as possible. I had always known that in theory but had been told to avoid whole grain, peels, seeds etc as they would iritate the colon.
This book explained how a toxic, blocked up colon can mimic IBS and many other diseases and cause illness. I decided it certainly wouldn’t hurt to just try eating more natural for a while. (It couldn’t have got worse) I don’t abide by the harsh modern “colon cleansing” practice, but I switched to a more natural diet and went off coffee. I added lolts of fruit and raw veg, wholegrains of various types. The response in my body was wonderful. The other vital thing was to really increased my water intake. This was difficult, but I honestly think we Westeners do not drink enough plain pure water. Going off coffee was really hard, I had withdrawal headaches and was truly miserable, but now I am glad that I did it and it was worth it.
I just wanted to encourage you. You can do it. It doesn’t have to be a complicated thing, nor does it have to be done all at once cold turkey style, take it step by step as you can handle it.
My rule is the closer it is to nature the healthier it is. I cannot do “diets” and portions, I’m just all over the place.
😉
Lindy
Serving with Joy had made a good point about THM I will totally agree.
BUT if you don’t know how to eat healthy, what to eat, how to make it, what to eat with what, how long to eat between switching food choices, etc it is so much more than just a how to book with over 1/2 being recipes. Also, for me who reallly did apply over 1/2 of it before reading it, learning HOW & WHEN to eat was so much more imporant and is what really changed my life. I didn’t understand that I should eat food XYZ together but I couldn’t add food W into that mix. So for me it was so much more.
I just wanted to say for me and my family that book put it all into practice but it sounds like for SWJ it wasn’t worth her money. Try getting a copy from your library maybe so you can decide if it’s the right book for you. Everyone is different and it only that’s that one book, person, life situation to make it all work for someone.
Lindy – how exciting for you, and wanted to say I am so glad you are doing better!
Good points from you Tammy, Lindy and Misty! You are right, Tammy, that many of those foods would aggravate IBS :-(. And I do believe many (even healthy) fats and acidic or high fiber foods would give you trouble, as well. Glad Lindy has more wisdom on this issue for you!
And Misty is right – THM is a great starting point for a basic understanding of nutrition. I just couldn’t keep track of the system (S vs. E, etc) and was disappointed with the cost. BUT, if you could find a good used copy or a library version, you could glean a lot from it. I would highly recommend that you do as I did: Take notes as you read it so that you can get the information into a simpler, more user-friendly form.
Blessings and hugs going your way. May we all be healthier and full of energy for whatever God brings in 2014!
You’re between a rock and a hard place right now, Tammy. However, the healthy fats are so important for good health. The problem is that you won’t be able to break them down as well without the gallbladder. Try adding in digestive enzymes to help with this. NOW brand has a good one called Super Enzymes that includes ox bile for breaking down the fats and meat protein.
Try calming the gut by taking a high quality probiotic, eating some home fermented sauerkraut or sour pickles. These will be good for repopulating your system with the good bacteria it needs.
Go for bone broths right now. These will help a GREAT deal to heal the gut. Add in the veggies and allow them to cook down well so that the nutrients are very easily absorbed for now.
Another suggestion for the acid reflux/ GERD – if you have not already done so, chiropractic adjustments can help dramatically. It would also help to get your body back in order again as well. 🙂
Blessings,
~jacqleene
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