Baby steps to better foods #1

[barleychown]

I'll post three baby steps at a time, and we can all work on them together and post our comments, progress and questions.

The first three baby steps:


1. Switch the fats you use to a more traditional fat- coconut oil, lard, butter, tallow, ghee, palm oil, olive oil.

2. Eat fruits and vegetables that are in season for this month.

3. Move to consuming the best quality dairy that you can find &/or afford. This includes kefir, yogurt and other cultured products.

[barleychown]

1. I have completely switched to traditional fats. I have not tried ghee or palm oil. I am now working on better quality traditional fats, ie. cold pressed olive oils.

2. I am working on this one...I can and freeze so much of my own garden that it pretty well fills in what holes there are in what's in season, but I'd like to be eating more fresh, less canned.

3. I found the milk, as you all know, and have used it to make my yogurt. I have found that if I manage to get yogurt into me every day, I feel a LOT better...but I still can not eat it straight. I keep meaning to get some kefir grains, but I keep putting it off. I do culture my own buttermilk to use, that saves a bit of money. I've replaced my unhealthy love of cool-whip and canned whipped cream with whipping raw cream.  Absolutely awesome with strawberries on Tina's pancakes.

[Penny]

These are great steps to go by Sarah.

#1......i cook almost everything in olive oil, or if need be, butter.

#2.......we eat lots of fruits and vegetables here, for instance, i make Brads lunch each day, he takes a salad, which includes, 3 kinds of peppers....red, green and orange peppers, broccoli, cauliflower and cucumbers, and we eat a ton of banana's here.

#3......we eat alot of yougurt that contains probiotics.

I try to cut out sugar whenever possible, i will use splenda if need be, and for salt, we use sea salt here, if we use it at all.

We arent pop drinkers here, its either water or ice tea, usually homemade.

[Penny]

That is one thing i cannot drink, is buttermilk.....no way, no how.

When the girls were smaller and wouldnt eat plain yougurt, i would sprinkle some cinnamon on it, and that worked.

I plan on growing alot more things in the gardens and canning and freezing alot more then i have, it takes awhile to figure out how much you need and how long it will last.

[barleychown]

I don't drink the buttermilk, either. not a chance it'd go down. I cook with it about twice a week, biscuits, pancakes and such.

As for how much to grow, the good news is canned foods last more than a year, so it's better to have too much than not enough. Plus, the excess from one year can cover a crop failure in the next. 

[Penny]

Have a look at this, i found this online, looking at alternative's to cooking oil.

When baking muffins or cakes, mashed bananas, applesauce, prunes, and plain yogurt can each be an excellent alternative for cooking oil. It may also be beneficial to add a bit of skim milk to the fruit in order to liquefy it if the cooking oil needs to be of a liquid quality for the recipe. Not only does this replacement reduce the amount of fat in the recipe, but it also adds a bit of flavor and a healthy component to these otherwise unhealthy foods.

When using pureed fruit as a cooking oil substitute, it should replace the cooking oil in equal amounts. If the recipe calls for ¼ cup of cooking oil, for example, ¼ cup of applesauce can be used as a replacement. This provides the baked good with the moisture that would be supplied by the cooking oil. It is also acceptable to replace only a portion of the cooking oil with a fruit puree substitute.

[barleychown]

I have used yogurt in some baking, but more for the acid reaction than to replace fats. A low-fat diet is not my goal, but rather a right fats diet.

For those trying to get more fruits and veggies into their family, baking with them is an excellent idea!  As I recall, you can do the same with things like pumpkin and sweet potato.

[Penny]

Yes you can use those too, i was just reading that actually.

I would never have thought to use apple sauce, good to know for future cooking.

[Tina]

Yes, I don't use applesauce as a replacement fat but I have used it as part of a replacement liquid.
1. I use butter and have purchased coconut oil but have yet to use any.
2. I eat lots of fruits and vegetables. In that I am exceedingly lucky because we often have more and a longer season available. I can go out and pick my own off of my trees or neighbors' too. I buy frozen also.
3.I have yet to find the un-pasturized dairy to replace my whole milk or half and half. When I do find real yogurt I will try replacing some of my salad dressing and such with it. I have issues with yogurt. (Baby steps) But I'd like to experiment because Ted eats a lot of yogurt (Trix). So flavors and colors that may do for him would be a good thing in a better breed of dairy. I purchase probiotics yogurt for Jonni.

[bestofour]

Again, I'm confused.  I thought you guys liked yogurt.  You keep telling me to try it.

1.  I have been using olive oil for everything for a long while.

2.  I eat veges but usually only 1 apple a day,  Sometimes I'll eat a banana but bananas make my stomach hurt sometimes.  I do like blueberries and buy them sometimes.  I need to eat more fruit. 

3.  I bought cheese at Earth Fare and ate some today with eggs with the yokes in.  (am I supposed to leave out the whites and just eat the yoke) I use real butter.  If you tell me what kind of yogurt to eat I'll try it again.


my problem is I am still washing everything down with Pepsi.

[Tina]

If you can, eat the whole egg, Sheri. Yes, yogurt brands to look for would be nice here.

[barleychown]

Sheri, I can not eat yogurt straight from the container...I have to do something to it. However, I use 1/2 a gallon of yogurt a week.

Here...kill two birds with one stone.   Use the yogurt to make fruit smoothies. 

I use http://www.nancysyogurt.com/

[bestofour]

any particular brand of yogurt?

[Tina]

Look for one that is unpasturized/homogenized, Sheri with live cultures. And full fat, not low or nonfat versions, i think. I am searching. The link Sarah has might be local to her area. I haven't found it here.

[Jessica]

Greek yogurt is really good (well it tastes good to me....I am not sure nutrition wise but I think it is good for you that way too).  Sheri, I mix a little granola in mine.  Maybe that would help you eat yogurt...well, if you like granola that is.  I eat a good cup of yogurt a day.

[Jessica]

I forgot say what I do....

1. I use butter, olive oil and I bought coconut oil but like Tina, I haven't tried it yet.  I guess I haven't done any baking since I bought it.

2.  I have been trying to be better about fruits and veggies.  I know that we need to eat more of them.

3.  I eat a good amount of yogurt but want to switch our milk. I am not a milk drinker but even just using the good stuff in my cooking would be a good thing.  Tristen and James use it in their cereal but both drink chocolate milk.  Do they make chocolate in the good stuff?

[Tina]

You can make the good stuff chocolate yourself.

[Jessica]

True.

[Tina]

I wonder if there is a better way than Hershey's cocoa, or for cold, Nestles or Hershey's offerings? But still easy. Something to research tonight when all you easterners are bedded down.

[Jessica]

Yes, that would be good to know.

[bayou girl]

i started a year and a half ago, with drinking only water, milk, apple juice, and once in a very great while, sprite/7up.  but mostly only water.  most days only water.  and i drink between 64 and 128 oz per day.  close to a gallon most days.

with that, i quit using artificial sweeteners at all.  i was drinking that much tea, or near about, so i was using splenda.  since it is water, no sweetening needed

and more recently, we have switched to real butter completely.

whole milk

and i am trying on the veggie thing.  really, i am.

and tina, i would like to know that myself.

[bayou girl]

oh, and before anyone says anything about that much plain water.  i have very good tasting, and good for you water.  the measure of how good water is, is whether you have to do anything to it before putting fresh water fish it in.  well, my water is perfect.  i've never lost a goldfish to multiple water changes (quite by accident) from my well.  so, i drink my water.  carry refillable water bottles full of my water.  i carry about a gallon in 32 oz bottles to work with me every day.  and 3 32 oz insulated mugs of ice.  at the end of the day, most of the water is gone and all the ice is.   water is good for you!

[barleychown]

I wonder if there is a better way than Hershey's cocoa, or for cold, Nestles or Hershey's offerings? But still easy. Something to research tonight when all you easterners are bedded down.

Instead of Hershey's, use Ovaltine. It has extra vitamins and minerals. 

You could also make your own mix, but it's a real bear to get cocoa to mix into anything cold well.

[Jessica]

Thank you.  I will see if they will drink Ovaltine.

[barleychown]

any particular brand of yogurt?

Nancy's is the brand...I like the vanilla, but most often no just buy the huge tub of plain if I don't make my own for whatever reason. Nancy's is very careful about additives and staying with real food ingredients, so even the fruit ones are good for you, if there is one that appeals to you.

Jessica, I actually like ovaltine better. They taste similar, but ovaltine is richer.

As a side note, I compared ovaltine, hershey's syrup, and hershey's milk mix...both the hershey's products have things I strongly object to, while ovaltine has one sorta iffy, but I understand why it's there. Would you like me to walk you through it, or save it for later? I'm trying not to overwhelm anyone...