I am a little bit fanatical about cooking healthy food for my family. I am not trying to lose weight or anything like that, but why eat extra fat or sugar when you don’t need to? Why eat the chemicals in prepared and processed foods when with a few minutes of extra work you can make the same thing from scratch? Why not sneak some extra veggies in here and there, ones the kids won’t even notice?

So here are some of the things I try to do to make sure we are eating a balanced diet. I’m not always successful at it – who is? We all have days where we are too busy, or too tired, or the kids just refuse every fruit or veggie you offer them. I am shooting for a healthy balance here. Yes, occasionally my kids will eat yogurt, goldfish crackers and raisins for lunch, it happens. Sometimes we eat cereal for dinner – oh well – at least I didn’t have to coax and coerce them into eating. But here is what I am normally shooting for:

COOK

  • I think this is the single-most important way to eat healthier, and save money at the grocery store. The more work I put in the more knowledge I have of what we are eating, and the more healthy adjustments I can make,
  • I buy as little prepared food as possible. This keeps as many unnecessary chemicals out of our diet as I can, and it saves money too. When I do buy prepared foods, like cereal, I go for the simplest versions – like plain Cheerios. The shorter the ingredients list the better.
  • Plan healthy meals and you’ll eat healthy meals. We are so much more likely to eat unhealthily when we’re in a rush to get something on the table, and have no plan for a wholesome meal to defer to (Mac and cheese with hot-dogs comes to mind)

Fruits and Vegetables

  • Serve at least two servings of veggies at dinner – this could be tomato sauce, or a side salad, or a bit of applesauce for dessert. If I give the kids a choice of two, they will usually eat one of them (though I try to get them to at least taste both)
  • Hide them when you can – depending on how fussy your kids are, you can grate veggies like carrots, zucchini, apples into pancakes, muffins, tomato sauces, scrambled eggs, cookies, even grilled cheese sandwiches. Or puree them and stir into all of the above as well as soups, mashed potatoes, even brownies. There are lots of cookbooks with recipes to help you think creatively here “Deceptively Delicious” is one that I’ve been inspired by.

Watch the Portion Sizes

  • Visually divide the plate into ½ veggies, ¼ starch and ¼ protein.
  • Dish up the food before bringing it to the table – this is particularly good for getting more veggies onto my husband’s plate than he would take for himself – don’t tell on me now ;) , and it makes you think twice before grabbing a second helping. 
    • The exception: salad. For salad I will put dressing on the whole bowlful, bring it to the table and will (90% of the time) finish it off so it isn’t thrown out.
  • Eat slowly and stop eating when you are satisfied, not when you are stuffed.
  • Only cook enough for that meal – or if you have leftovers pack them up before eating.

Cut the Fat

  • Most recipes call for at least 1 Tbsp of oil to sauté vegetables in. Give your pan a light going over with cooking spray and reduce the fat to 1 tsp.
  • Substitute unsweetened applesauce for some or all of the fat in muffins, quick-breads, some cakes and bar cookies etc.  I’ll use this trick for baking to be eaten at home, but when I am taking it out I will normally make the full-fat version, unless I have tested the recipe and the substitution is not noticeable, or I know the person I am serving it to will appreciate the healthier version more.
  • Use low or fat-free yogurt or in place of milk to add tenderness to low-fat baked goods, in place of cream in soups, instead of butter in mashed potatoes, etc, etc. You can also substitute yogurt for buttermilk in many recipes, but you may need to add a little regular milk.

Cut the Sugar

  • In most recipes you can just cut out 1/4 or 1/3 of the sugar with no ill effects (cookies are not so resilient, though, so tread carefully. Some bar cookies are OK). Test it out and then reduce further if you like. Sometimes it takes me 3-5 tries with a recipe to get the sugar level right.
  • Some people like to use honey, maple syrup or molasses in place of sugar – In baking these substitutions can be tricky, and it will not reduce the calories, though the sources are less processed – so go ahead and give them a try. I do use real maple syrup instead of corn syrup and chemically flavored pancake syrup, honey in my tea – basically I’ll use these subs where the difference can be tasted.
  • I weaned myself off sugar in my hot drinks. No sugar in my tea anymore, and if I order a fancy latte at a café, its half-sweet for me.

Carbs – Oh my!

Well, here’s the deal, I am a carb lover. I could NEVER survive on a low-carb diet. So I just try not to over-do it.

  • When it won’t mess with the integrity of a dish I’ll use a whole grain such as brown rice, couscous, oats or barley. I WON’T serve whole wheat spaghetti like regular spaghetti, but I will use it in a soup or as a side-dish. I also serve asian food with white rice – it’s more authentic, and I’m OK with that.
  • In baked goods you can usually sub whole wheat flour for half the flour with no ill effects. I also like to experiment with subbing in wheat bran, oats and other grains, but this takes lots of testing, so I’ll only do this for recipes I will use a lot, like Banana Bread.
  • The easiest thing I do, though, is eat whole grain bread. Sometimes I bake it myself, sometimes I buy it. We only eat white bread if it’s a special occasion.

Snacks and Junk-Food

  • Don’t buy it! Don’t even go down the aisle in the grocery store! That’s tip #1.
  • If you do have some around, as we all occasionally do, take a small portion out and put the rest away. Break off a few squares of chocolate and put the rest on a high shelf. Put a handful of chips in a bowl and put the bag away.
  • If you are craving something unhealthy try to sub in something healthier that’s similar – Air-popped popcorn instead of chips; oven-fries or a baked potato instead of french fries; yogurt instead of ice cream. You get the idea. It won’t always work, but it has served me well – especially during my pregnancies.

These are all the tips I can think of right now, but I’ll update this page as new ideas come to mind, or as I discover them, since I am always looking for new ways to cook healthily.