Now that John has an IPAD, an early birthday gift from his parents, we can even watch a show in our bed at night, big rarity, but last night we watched a documentary called Forks over Knives. I highly recommend it for anyone who is interested in eating less meat or perhaps thinking of going vegan or vegetarian.
When John and I first got married I really had a whole diet change. I lost weight and got trimmer just because I wasn't eating my Mom's home cooked meals anymore. Not that her food was fattening, but our diets became totally different from the way my parents cooked. My parents ate lots of chicken, ground meat, and rice, and John and I ate lots of sea food, salads, and fruit and veggies.
Now that we have children we have been even more health conscious, plus John being a Martial Artist has always taken really good care of his body, no butter, no sugar, and lots of protein in his diet. Me on the other hand, I come from a home that loved bread and butter...oh, man do I love butter.
John has even encouraged our kids to drink soy milk instead of cow's milk (although they will drink both interchangeably) because he doesn't like how cow's milk has so many hormones.
After watching this documentary Forks over Knives, and after sitting with our two good friends who are scientists and also martial artists we began discussing our own diets. We are going to start taking out ground meat and chicken out of our diet for awhile and instead have more cod fish, salmon, tilapia, shrimp, and two servings of veggies each night instead of carbs which just turns to sugar. I, for one, am going to focus more on the fact that food is energy not just a meal. I want to be fueling my family properly!
John and I have also been having protein pancakes and smoothies for breakfast instead of waffles, bagels, or sugary cereal (once a week is totally fine, but we just don't want to eat like that every day of the week...Saturday and Sunday will be our "free days").
It takes me about 40 minutes to make John's protein pancakes, but I do a big batch on Monday for the entire week. Here's the recipe which makes about 8-9 pancakes and I add blueberries:
Protein Pancakes
1. 1 container of cottage cheese (16 oz)
2. 1/4 tsp vanilla
3. 2 tsp or so of cinnamon
4. 2 cups of oatmeal (not instant ones the old fashion oatmeal)
5. 4 eggs and 8 egg whites
Mix it all up in the blender or Cuisinart and then put the batter on the griddle (I do two at a time) and add some type of berry to liven it up).
Fruit Smoothies for me and the Kids
1. 1 container of strawberry or blueberry yogurt
2. 1 banana
3. 1/2 cup of apple or orange juice
4. ice
5. 1 cup of blueberries, blackberries, or strawberries
6. 1 tbsp wheat germ
Mix it all up in the blender and voila you have a yummy fruit smoothie for breakfast!
Everything in moderation and having a balance is key. I don't think I could go totally vegan because I love yogurt, eggs, and cheese, but I can definitely limit my meat intake and add in more protein by having cottage cheese, beans, fish or tofu instead of chicken and red meat. But does this mean we won't have turkey on Thanksgiving...ummmm no! We will! We just want to start being more careful about what we eat, and I think that's a good thing.
What are some healthy snacks or meal ideas that you and your family do????
Wow! You go, girl!
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