February 16, 2012

The Grain Challenge–The Foods You’ll Eat

~The Grain Challenge BEGINS next Monday, February 20th! Read what this is about HERE!~

Today we will be focusing on what foods you will be eating on The Grain Challenge.  Yes, this post is a little longer, but there’s a lot of info to cover today!

Allow me to say this first – the list of what you can eat is far more greater than what you should not be eating.  It’s just that the choices may not be ones you are accustomed to eating all the time.

Real food.  Living food.  Fresh food.

Let’s first get to the nitty gritty!  If you are going to take the time to do this – go grain-free allowing your body to get into that ‘clean slate’ condition- then you can’t go half-way!  Well, technically you can, but it will just be a waste of time.  I think it’s time we stop wasting time with our bodies!  Let’s stop hopping from diet to diet to diet to fad to diet to fad!  We’re wasting precious time and precious money and it’s only harming our physical bodies! Let’s end this cycle.

So – we need to get real and realize that we need to eliminate all fake food from our lives.  It will be easy when you’re grain free to have to stay away from a lot of the junk that’s out there.  Pre-packaged and processed foods FOR THE MOST PART all contain grains. Highly refined and processed, nutrient lacking grains.  Cereal, crackers, cookies, chips, pastries, breads, boxed pasta and noodles, breakfast bars, granola bars – everything.  So this is a good way to eliminate a good majority of that stuff, but that’s not the end of it.  During this three week phase you should stop drinking soda/pop/colas, calorie laden specialty coffee, energy drinks, fried foods, fast foods, drive thru meals, fast food ice creams (like DQ and Cold Stone), candy (even if it says ‘FAT FREE’ – it’s still refined sugar which messes up your body more than you realize)!  Alcohol should also be eliminated.  Don’t get me started on what that’s doing to your body and mind! (I know, I just lost a lot of people with that statement.)

OH MY GOODNESS – YOU LEFT ME WITH NO OPTIONS! WHAT ELSE IS THERE TO EAT?

Exactly!

This is where our mindset needs to change.  In America we are so programmed to think that food only comes in boxes, bags and paper bags through a drive-thru window.  When those options are taken away from us, we freak out!

I’m hear to tell you – DON’T FREAK OUT!

You’re going to get to know what REAL food is again.  You know the stuff you ate when you were little – or if you’re in your twenties or early thirties, then what your parents ate growing up!  How in the world did our grandparents survive and make it without the fast food chains, Starbucks, canned soda, Rockstar or Red Bull, breakfast bars, pre-made hamburgers, skimmed milk and crème filled donuts?  What hardships they must have faced!

On the contrary – they were blessed with REAL, LIVING, MINERAL-VITAMIN-PROBIOTIC RICH foods that nourished their bodies and took care of them while they worked laboriously long days in the fields, farmed, traveled (by horse or foot) and raised large families!  Don’t tell me we can’t do it!

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Let’s get back to eating REAL FOODS.  Foods that come from the earth – created by God to nourish our bodies.  No matter how much you like them, God did not create Twinkies, Venti Caramel Frappuccinos, the super-size meal tripple stack burger with 20 pounds of French fries and 40 ounces of pop! We need to look at food as nourishment for our bodies, not just physical satisfaction for our taste buds!

You’re going to start shopping at health food stores or stores that sell good, living (and if available, organic items) for your food.  Organic, fresh food that was grown from the ground and not coming to you in a box, can or bag, pre-fried, pre-baked or pre-processed!  Aren’t you excited?  Some of your bodies may not even know what real food tastes like – but it’s about to learn and it will like it.  Your body will thank you for putting something in it that it can utilize and actually use as building blocks to your health.  Some of you will have to retrain your pallet to enjoy foods such as salads with fresh veggies, real cheese, whole milk, fruits, organic and free-range beef, plain water and more.  It is possible, though!  Don’t try to tell me it’s not.  I’ve BEEN there!

Just think of how awesome you will feel.  You’ll start getting your energy back!  Your skin will start to look better and not so ‘aged’, you’ll sleep better at night, your clothes will fit better and some of you may have to buy new clothes to fit into when you begin to shed those pounds.  You won’t feel as stressed and run down. The physical aspect of your life is about to change!

Now that you know what you should not be eating – lets look at what you can eat.  This list won’t be exhaustive, but it’s a great starting point!  Also, when reading through these my intent is that if it’s available and you can financially do so – always choose ORGANIC! With cheese and milk, if you’re state sells RAW, then use the RAW.  Colorado does not allow the sale of RAW Milk in retail stores, but we can buy RAW cheeses.  Produce should be organic if possible – but if all you can get is conventional, make sure you wash it good!   You’re going to trade in your fake food for nutrient dense, whole, fresh, vitamin rich foods! Breakfast will no longer be a bowl of sugary cereal, sugar filled coffee drinks or a bagel with low-fat cream cheese.  Breakfast during this grain –free phase can consist of wonderful, nourishing foods such as organic, cage-free eggs with cheese (raw if you can find it) and avocados, smoothies made with full-fat yogurt, fresh fruit, RAW almond meal (ground almonds), RAW honey and RAW coconut oil.  Think about cottage cheese with fruit, yogurt with cinnamon and nuts, even tomato frittatas!  These don’t even take long to prepare!  Lunch can consist of green salads with fresh veggies, sunflower seeds or almonds, grilled chicken, from scratch lentil soup, fish with grilled veggies, chicken or steak with black or white beans or a grilled shrimp salad.  Dinner time should be a ‘light’ meal – you don’t want to be loading up on tons of food at the end of the day when you won’t be burning many calories.  So, dinners consisting of chicken and veggies, grilled salmon with steamed broccoli, broth based soups (home made is absolute best – insures low in sodium content) or even lamb with green beans.

Now it’s best to eat only 3 meals a day so your body gets a break from producing insulin and your fat burning hormones can do their job (they can’t get their job done when insulin is in the bloodstream – hence, a break during meals).  If you find that you absolutely cannot go 3.5 – 4 hours between meals you have two options:  either up your portion sizes a bit (don’t over do it) at mealtime so you are more satisfied – or you can have a low-calorie snack such as freshly juiced fruits/veggies, a piece of fruit with some raw walnuts, celery sticks and almond butter or raw carrot sticks and hummus.

Yes, this means you will have to do a little planning.  This will make things easier all the way around.  You’ll have a shopping list, you’ll know what foods need to be prepped ahead of time and you won’t be staring in your fridge everyday wondering what to eat.

Plan your meals at least a  week in advance.  Now, everyone will have their own way of planning, but here is how I do mine.  A sample plan of a week’s worth of meals from my kitchen can be found here.  Don’t make it out to be more complicated than it is.  Mine is more detailed, yours does not have to be.  The important thing is that you get on paper what you will be eating everyday.  Then, make your grocery list.  Pull out any recipes you will be using and keep them in one spot so you can easily get them throughout the week.  Go through and see what items you’ll need at the store.  Then go shopping.  Be good to get only what’s on your list.  You may be tempted to buy a bag of chips or cookies – but don’t.  You don’t need anything sitting around the kitchen that will tempt you!

Once all the groceries are bought, clean all your produce at one time.  It’s so much easier this way, I promise.  During the week you may be too tired to clean lettuce and other veggies to make you a salad, so you’ll inevitably grab for something convenient and unhealthy.  So – prep the produce.  Wash the lettuce, spinach, kale, celery, carrots – whatever it is.  Even if you choose to buy pre-packaged produce (although for certain reasons I’m not the biggest fan of these) – make sure you rinse them good too!  Store them in plastic ziplock bags (gallon size is great) and make sure to get all the air out (I close the bag almost completely then put a straw in the opening, suck all the air out and close it quickly – old fashioned fresh seal packaging).  Now they are there for you to grab and make what you need.

I like to buy food weekly because I like everything fresh and I don’t like to freeze my fresh meat.  This also helps in the ‘I forgot to thaw out the meat’ syndrome many of us experience, which also causes us to opt for something quick and unhealthy.

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When you step back and look at it, it really shouldn’t be too difficult.  Throwing together smoothies, salads and grilling up meat and steaming veggies – not too time consuming!  In fact it will probably take you just as much time as it would to drive to a fast food restaurant and sit in line waiting for your food.  I believe if you’re really desiring to change in the area of your body and health that you will make a commitment to this.

Remember, I’ll be doing this right along with you.  Please feel free to contact me with any questions or food concerns you have.  I’ll help you through this!

Next post I’ll have some meal ideas to help you with you plan what you’d like to start with next week!

Aren’t you getting excited?

OTHER POSTS IN THE GRAIN CHALLENGE SERIES:

- The Grain Challenge Starts February 20th

- The Grain Challenge – The Purpose

- The Grain Challenge – Reminders and Meal Ideas