New Ways to Eat Better

[HeatherNYC]

So let's say you are already buying things organic, maybe stocking up on fresh foods as much as you can...how else can you get your family to eat better? I've complied a list of hints. See if you are doing them:

-- Read labels. If you are buying processed foods, pick items with the fewest words on the ingredient list. If the list is long and has a bunch of things you don't know, put it back on the shelf.

-- Use mustard instead of mayo. Cuts out a huge amount of fat and adds flavor.

-- Measure. When using sprays, oils and butter for cooking a little goes a long way - and adds calories. Only use what you need - or try it with a little less each time.

-- Make the whole-wheat switch. This one switch, from white bread and pasta to whole-wheat grains, can be a major healthy bonus.

-- Gradually switch to low fat or skim milk. If you and the kids are used to whole milk, make it a slow and steady process. For a month, use 2%, then switch to 1%. Same goes for reduced fat cheese. If you do it little by little, you won't be able to tell the difference.

-- Use smaller plates. When eating healthier, the first thing experts say to do watch your portions, even with the kids. One thing to help with this is use salad plates instead of those large oversized dinner plates we all have in the cupboards. It will automatically reduce the amount of food you are eating - you will be surprised that you don't feel hungry.

-- Always choose the leanest cut of meat and ground beef.

-- Cut back on salt. As much as you watch fat amounts and calories, another huge bad boy of any diet is sodium. Keep it under 2,300 milligrams per day, less than that for our kids.

 How do you try to eat healthier?

©iStockphoto.com/BrianAJackson

[Rushn311]

I try to eat better portions, more water, and less carbs and more veggies/fruits.

[MamaBear2cubs]

Smaller portions!

[KristinRox]

Like the wonder breade thats whole wheat enriched? But its white? 

Quoting dusky_rose:

My DH doesn't like whole wheat bread either, so I buy him whole wheat white bread.

Quoting KristinRox:

Wow. We do all of those except for the whole wheat. I just cant get them to like the taste of whole wheat. 

[dusky_rose]

Yeah, it tastes like white bread. This is what I buy for my dh. It's probably not as healthy as other whole grain breads, but its a step up from regular white bread. I said whole wheat before, but I was mistaken, its whole grain.

Quoting KristinRox:

Like the wonder breade thats whole wheat enriched? But its white? 

Quoting dusky_rose:

My DH doesn't like whole wheat bread either, so I buy him whole wheat white bread.

Quoting KristinRox:

Wow. We do all of those except for the whole wheat. I just cant get them to like the taste of whole wheat. 

[abra]

We eat primarily fruits and veggies and whole grains. :)

[timon95]

it is very rare that i cook with or use salt. for some reason, maybe b/c my mom uses it, ds is hooked on always having to have salt. i let him put salt on every now and then(really very rare) and watch him carefully, he tends to over pour. i do not like my stuff to taste salty or to be over salted.

Quoting KristinRox:

I dont add any salt to our food... in fact I use salt so little, there is none of it in my house. Im thinking if Im going to cut out processed food, I might have to buy a little salt to make some of the things from scratch the require a "pinch of salt". 

Quoting VisionSeeker:

 We're are slowly getting away from anything processed.  I'm learning how to make as much as possible from scratch.  Leaner cuts of meat and definiately lots of fresh fruits and veggies.

Also, I don't add too much salt to our food.  We usually are well below the recommended amount of salt intake.

[timon95]

my kids drink 2% milk, we use very very very little salt, tried the switch to wheat but the kiddos and dh did not go too crazy over it. i should try the smaller plate to cut down on my portions.

[bethany169]

We do most of those already, but I firmly believe that skim milk is not necessarily the healthiest route.  If you drink a glass of whole milk, yes, there is more fat, but you feel full longer and I think it saves fat and calories in the long run.  If you drink the same glass full of skim milk, the volume that was taken up by fat in the whole milk is filled by simple sugars in the skim milk so you get hungry sooner.  We're all really active so we're a whole milk, full fat dairy family. 

Mustard instead of mayo sounds like a great idea, I'm going to start doing that....

[soccerchik8287]

I like the idea to gradually switch to low fat milks. My daughter usually drinks 2% and I think next time I buy some I will get 1%

[nngmommy83]

TFS!