A New Approach To Food – Healthy Eating As A Family

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Finding the right diet and way of eating is hard. I am trying out a new approach to food – an easy way to establish a healthy eating lifestyle.

I have tried so many approaches to food.

In my teenage years, when I thought I was fat, I tried every diet I heard of.  I would lose a few pounds and then gain a few more back.  I continued this yo-yo diet for more years than I care to admit.  My struggle with food has continued into my adult years.

Sound familiar? 

But when I became a mom, everything changed.

Not only did I have my own health to worry about, but I now had these wonderful tiny humans that I had to nourish.  They each have their own individual needs and wants when it comes to food. Different foods react with their bodies in different ways.  My one son does not do well with dairy, another does not handle heavily processed wheat items (we do not know if its a gluten issue or a preservative issue).

There are so many different diets out there, how is someone supposed to decide what is right for them?

I find it hard to even trust the advice of a nutritionist because even their opinions vary depending on where and when they were educated.  Some nutritionists believe in a high fat/low card diet.  Others will say that fat is the enemy.  Some say that everyone needs to eat according to their own individual needs.

But how does that work as a mom?

Am I to make 6 different meal plans to cater to each member of my family?  Should I be cooking paleo for some, vegan for another, a traditional diet for a third?  There has to be a way to meet all of our needs.

The closest diet I could find, that seemed to fit everyone’s needs, was the Whole30.

A Whole30 diet is restrictive.  The following items are not allowed on while doing your 30 days.

• sugar
• alcohol
• grains
• legumes
• dairy

This sounds terrifying, doesn’t it?

It actually was not that bad.  I have survived a whole 30 and will probably do another in the future.  As a reset, this way of eating is perfect.  But for everyday life, it really did not suit our family.

I found the Whole 30 diet to be very expensive.   Feeding my large family while doing the Whole30 became a point of stress because of this.  Instead of having everyone eat this way, I would eat this way and then fill in some calories for my ever hungry growing boys with rice or gluten-free pasta.  But then I would be tempted to eat the rice and pasta, especially at the end of the day.

The end of the day has always been the hardest for me.  My willpower and motivation go strong until the end of the day, and then I would reach for all the chips and chocolate available.

Our New Philosophy On Food

I actually stumbled into this philosophy of food while trying to find a pantry organizer list to make inventory and grocery shopping easier.

So many pantry lists were full of things that I do not keep in my cupboard.  Processed foods with way too many ingredients.

Then I realized that the answer was right in front of me.

Ingredients.

I needed to stop buying food with ingredients and just buy the ingredients themselves.

It is so simple, isn’t it?

No restricting, no counting calories or fats or sugars.  Just eating real food.  This doesn’t restrict us from eating foods that we love.  The kids can indulge in whatever they want and I do not have to stress because buying ingredients is a lot more budget friendly than buying all the new foods to fit a new diet.

If I want cake, no problem!  The only catch is that I have to make it – not from a box, but from the real, whole ingredients that a cake is made of.

Perhaps one day I will even get a grain mill and mill my own flour.

Baking cakes, cookies, and pies are fun!  Just today, Jack was asking if we could make a strawberry pie.  I have never made a strawberry pie before but I said “of course” we could.  We spent time together looking up recipes and methods as to how to make his pie dreams become reality.  Instead of stressing over buying a pie or consuming the calories associated with a pie, we enjoyed our time together researching how to make the pie.

In the end, we decided to not even make the pie!

And that is what is great about this way of eating.  It is a lot easier to go to the store and buy a package of cookies (and then proceed to eat the entire package of cookies).  When you make it yourself you appreciate the time and the effort that goes into making them.  If you want cookies again tomorrow, you better ration yourself or else you will be spending the evening baking again!

I do love baking, but I do not like cleaning up after baking all day – especially with children involved.  (I just cleaned up way too much flour off my kitchen floor.)

Minimalist Food

Some people relate this way of eating to the minimalist movement.  Perhaps that is why I am drawn to it.

It is focusing on the simplicity of ingredients.

Instead of filling my cupboard with all sorts of different goodies, I can keep a limited supply of ingredients on hand and be able to make an endless supply of whatever I might want.  From a few simple, wholesome ingredients, you can make hundreds of different recipes.

Minimalism isn’t about restricting, it is about owning less so you can enjoy what you have.

That is how I see this new healthy eating lifestyle that we, as a family, are developing.  It is not about restricting any food.  I believe it is about enjoying food and being in the kitchen with loved ones.  It is about enjoying the process of creating and eating food.  Embracing the time it takes to make something and embracing the process and time we can spend together as a family.

Food should bring people together, and that is what this new healthy eating lifestyle is doing for our family.