Need help starting want to be more holistic in my food choices

Lovemy3kids

I don't know where to begin. I eat a fairly typical American diet.i want to change,to eat more fruits and veggies and eliminate sugar. Is there a book you would recommend?

I follow weight watchers most of the time, but want to follow an actual diet. Maybe one to reduce the risk

Any help is appreciated

JosieO

Hi Lovemy3kids (and congrats on those sentiments),

When I read your post, my first thought was to suggest you work through your current physician(s) and see if there is a dietician they could prescribe to you. In that way, you would get something hopefully more tailored to your individual needs, and help with any concurrent medical needs (like lowering cholesterol, blood sugar, any deficiency issues). And hopefully you could be pointed to the food choices that fit AND that you enjoy. After all, no diet plan is good if someone does not find it appealing. My primary care used to gladly make those referrals, so maybe that is a resource for you

I’ll be interested to see what other responses are shared. I think this is a topic we could all benefit from.

illimae

Lovemy3kids, I started taking similar steps years ago and found the following basic tips helpful.

1. Shop for ingredients (less boxed or premade meals) and cook/prepare salads at home.

2. You can not eliminate sugar if eating fruit, try reducing sugar by minimizing soda’s, sugary juices, etc and substitute with stevia.

3. Choose items with minimal ingredients (I like 5 or less, if possible), for things like cottage cheese or cream cheese, I found the store brand has less and they were things I recognized.

4. Ease into the changes, it’s a new lifestyle.

If you want more structure, I’d google it (ex. Mediterranean diet meal plan), I find websites usually post examples from a few days to a couple of weeks.

Anonymous

Eat at home, and watch what you bring home. Lower fat (consider cheese a garnish, not a side dish or meal, etc.) I make a lot of things that require green and other veggies, like spinach frittattas, etc. Salad every single day, and I watch the high-fat high calorie dressings, and pay attention to serving size: 2 tablespoons of dressing is a serving-8 isn't, etc.

Buy organic (see below)-I find they aren't much more expensive than other foods, and the risk to my health is worth the higher cost, if there is one. I shop at our natural foods store.

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedic...

DearLife

I love the app Daily Dozen from www.nutritionfacts.org. It tracks your daily food choices. It’s vegan-based, calling for 3 servings of beans/legumes daily, but you can substitute small servings of fish or meat if you are not vegan or are still in transition.

I am so busy trying to check off the boxes for 9 servings a day (!) of fruits and vegetables that I don’t even think about snack foods or sweets. This app helped me lose 20 pounds, though that was not my goal. I just wanted a cancer-fighting diet. I am never hungry and the weight loss is a bonus.

I find this app really helped me change my eating habits.

There’s also a great BCO thread called Diet and Lifestyle with lots of tips.

illimae

dearlife, just got the app you mentioned and I love it. I think it’ll be a great addition to what I’m already doing, thanks for the tip!

MDRR

Hi there

I would add that reading labels is critical. I have to watch my sugar, and there is hidden sugar in so many things (like peanut butter, salad dressing, pasta sauce, etc). If you can make it at home, that's best. But if not, check those labels. Picking up the peanut butter that has no added sugar, for example, can be as simple as reading a label and it all adds up. I would also suggest making small changes at one time, as opposed to declaring everything off limits and trying to conquer all changes at once.

santabarbarian

If you simply skip the inner aisles of the market and stay on the perimeter, buying foods that will spoil if you do not eat them, you will be eating much better. Whole foods your great grandmother would recognize.

Best results for BC are diets low in animal protein and animal fat, & vegetable-heavy. If you have large salads w/ a small amount of protein in them, that's a very healthy choice.

pipers_dream

some books I’ve found helpful....Keto for Cancer by Miriam Kalamian. How Not to Die by Michael Greger, which tends more to the vegan eaters. For those who don’t wish to go to either extreme, I like Sally Fallon’s book Nourishing Traditions. With Sally, she will have you fermenting vegetables and eating organ meats and healthy fats. For my favorite vegetarian recipes I love Moosewood Collective and Molly Katzens cookbooks. Also, even if you decide not to go vegan, do have a look at Greger’ books and website because there is sooo much research there. The website is NutritionFacts.org.

Georgia1

Love, I found the Blue Zones book the easiest entry point. Like others have said, anything you make at home will be better than takeout given all of the preservatives and salt. So maybe buy a slow cooker? Lots of healthy vegetable-based recipes online.

wallycat

Some excellent ideas....

in summary, if it has a label, don't buy it. Real food is grown not "made" and doesn't need a label! Of course, canned tomatoes, or already canned/cooked beans do exist, and for those, reading a label makes sense.

If you can start each day with the goal of ensuring 5-7 veggies and fruits, you should start being able to limit the junkier/prepared stuff. Every little bit helps. If you plan on eating some canned soup, flesh it out with handfuls of spinach or 1/2 a bag of frozen veggies or add some beans to it.

Some of the Blue Zone recipes are too full of sugar for my preferences, but their outline on how a real mediterranean diet works are good.

Congrats on embracing a good lifestyle.