We swapped the artificial for real, whole food. Gone is the fake. Here is the wholesome. No artificial sweeteners. No dyes in our desserts. To hell with hydrogenated oils.
So where are we with weight?
Let me offer a quick caveat before our big reveal ... we didn't start Fresh Mouth as a weight-loss effort. Our goal was purely about nutrition. No one in this house, with the exception of me (10 pounds up from normal since the baby was born 10 months ago), has any weight to lose. The kids are in the 50-60th percentiles for their ages, where they've been since they were born. Dirk is thin. And he's always been thin. He had a brief bulking-up episode when he started med school, and I had Aidan, but he's never struggled with weight. We wanted to eat better as a family.
Any shift in a diet - good or bad - usually impacts weight. Think of Morgan Spurlock of Supersize Me fame who gained 10 pounds in five days gorging on McDonalds for every meal.
So, we weighed ourselves at the beginning simply as a barometer.
Ok. Here it is ...
Dirk - a loss of 4
Aidan - a loss of 1
Patrick - exactly the same
Me - a gain of 2
What gives?
Dirk is eating less "junk" fillers at home and at the hospital. He used to grab Cokes and cookies on the run, but is now eating more fruit. For Aidan, I really think it's a matter of the reduction in granola and breakfast bars. On an average day, he would eat two breakfast bars with breakfast, two for a snack and maybe one or two when he got home. At a 140 calories a bar, that's up to 840 calories of a lot of empty sugar in a single day. Patrick has replaced his candy fetish with carrots, fruit, cheese and everything else I offer. And he looks great. I don't know what the exact nutriotional correlation is, but he has no dark circles under his eyes, and his coloring is super.
For me, the increase is in the homemade baked goods. I never ate the processed cookies or "treats." But the warm, home-baked goodness is tough to resist. As the baker, who else is going to try the cookie batter, the first cookie out of the oven, the broken ones and the extra one that won't fit neatly in the Tupperware? Oh, yeah, and the scraps that the kids didn't eat. And, let's not forget, almond butter. I've been a little liberal with that one. I've just been excited about everything we've made and eaten. I need to get back to normal portions. And salad.
Today, I baked and cooked like crazy when I found out Dirk lost weight. It was a comfort-food day - bread, oatmeal cranberry cookies, roast chicken and mac and cheese. Here are two recipes: our famous family dough that we use for everything from pizza and calzones to bread and roles. It's sure-fire and easy. And then there's mac and cheese.
Dolbeare Dough
1 tablespoon yeast
2 1/2 cups flour (50% whole wheat, 50% white)
1 cup warm water
1 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon honey
1. Add yeast to a large bowl. Pour warm water over yeast and stir with a fork until yeast is completely dissolved. Add olive oil and honey. Stir.
2. Add flours and mix.
3. Knead dough until it becomes a shiny ball.
4. Let rise for about two hours. Form into desired shape - pizza crust, baguette, rolls ... bake at 400 degrees until golden brown.
Mac & Cheese
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cups milk (I use 2%, but have used whole and even skim in the past)
2 cups grated cheddar
1. Start with a basic "bechamel" sauce ... just melt butter in a pan at medium heat. Add flour and stir until it forms a thick paste. Slowly add milk to the paste and stir until it's smooth and thick.
2. Add cheddar and stir until cheese is melted and sauce is thick. Salt and pepper to taste.
3. Remove sauce from heat and pour over cooked noodles of your choice. We use whole wheat macaroni.
Menu
Breakfast: Yogurt, grapefruit, strawberries and OJ with fish oil.
Lunch: Grilled cheese sandwiches, pita and hummus, carrots, banana and milk. Aidan took pita and hummus, applesauce, grapes, potato chips, craisins and apple juice.
Dinner: Roast chicken with lemon, garlic and rosemary, mac and cheese, homemade bread, garden green salad with homemade balsamic vinaigrette and oatmeal cranberry cookies.
Nugget o' the Day: "I'm not a candy fiend anymore." -Patrick as he ate his banana.
6 comments:
Food is love, and aren't you lucky to be showing lots of both!
But yes, it's going to be difficult to lose weight given the meat, dairy and sugar intake.
Love what you're doing, though it's a far cry from our vegan diet that's about 50% raw food. Fruits, vegetables, nuts and occasional grains and legumes are our main food groups. Perhaps you'll be motivated to offset the broken cookies with more fresh veggies. (If nothing else you'd be setting a good example.)
We are eating up every word!
suasoria - that's the sweetest way to think of weight gain! I'm going to run with that. Really. I mean I gotta run with it! :-)
Balancing the needs, appetites of four males and my own is something I struggle with. Are you feeding kids on your diet? Love to hear how you do it!
No kids here, but we know other people parenting vegan kids, some who incorporate raw foods. (I saw an interview with a woman with three raw kids who said that for them, an apple or a glass of fresh OJ is a sweet treat.)
On the other hand I know people who are doing terrible damage to their kids with junk food and sugar cereals and frozen pizza, because it's too stressful for them to argue about meals. My sense is they're too self-absorbed to take parenting seriously - they think it should be a walk in the park.
Clearly it's easier when you start from infancy versus changing horses in midstream. (However, that's the premise of the tv show "Honey, we're Killing the Kids," about transitioning a family to a healthier diet and lifestyle.)
Dr. Neil Barnard (of Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine)says it takes about three weeks to lose the "taste" for something like sugar. (So it looks like Patrick is slightly ahead of the curve.) In my experience, the physical desire for dairy, meat, soda, Twinkies, etc., goes away when one starts eating real food. However, the social desire to grab a piece of birthday cake still has to be factored in!
I would seriously suggest you taper off on the baked desserts, super-sweet fruits and breads. While your versions are far better than processed, store-bought, they are still extremely high in excess carbohydrates. I say 'taper off', slowly so the kids get used to it gradually. Sounds like they were quite hooked on junk food before, so you can't cure it overnight. Actually you could, but you'd have to deal with open rebellion!
Try serving more veggies and a variety of different kinds prepared in appetizing ways (think real butter, cream, a touch of sea salt). Vegetables are FAR more nutritious than any homemade bread or cobbler could ever dream of being. If the kids are realy hungry when presented with these foods, they'll be more likely to embrace them. "Hunger is the best sauce'.
Good for you for starting this project and haning in there. I hope these 30 days are just the beginning for your family's future eating endeavors.
Kudzu - When you keep a food diary for yourself it's stunning, isn't it? Keeping track of our diet for 30 days even on an intentional "experiment" has been remarkably enlightening. While we have reduced processed foods, we're still eating a typically "Western" diet with a lot of carbs and sugar.
I think the next "phase" for us is to reduce sugars and excess carbs and increase vegetable intake. We are a carb-crazy family so the transition has been a first baby step, but I do need to branch out.
If kids take their lead from the mother's diet, I need to buck up, too, on the veggie prep. That's something I am so-so at!
Eileen, here's a tasty way to prepare cauliflower. It has a very rich, mellow sweet flavor when done. This same recipe also works great with chopped brussels sprouts, even better actually. I actually crave brussels sprouts since trying them this way, and I never even liked them before!
Clean and quarter a head of cauli.
Slice into quarter inch slices. Much of it will crumble and fall apart, and it doesn't matter a bit.
One small onion,julienned.
Two cloves chopped garlic (optional)
Cover the bottom of a heavy skillet with EV olive oil and heat to medium heat. Drop in the cauliflower and onions. It should be sizzling, but not popping like crazy. Turn the heat down if it is. Stir occassionally and cook slowly until the whole affair is lightly browned and the onions carmelized. Throw in the garlic and cook for another minute or two, stirring frequently. Sprinkle well with ground sea salt. I like it with a bit of fresh grated hard cheese like parmesan or romano.
It is soooooo good! It's a great sub for the potato or rice dish.
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