Plenty of research conducted by nutritionists, academics, and scientists around the world suggests that a healthy diet can significantly help to extend your life and preserve your health. Most people smile when they hear about the results. Of course, they say, eating healthy foods is good for you. But they knew that already. However, even though the research doesn’t point at any groundbreaking fact, we find it difficult to follow its guidance. Eating whole foods should be easy, but yet, it remains one of the most challenging habits to implement. Why is it so hard for many households to cut down on unhealthy food choices?
It would be unfair to blame it on lack of discipline. To start a new habit, however positively it will impact on your life, you need to untangle the old one from your lifestyle. Unhealthy food has the advantage of being convenient and readily available. For a family, it can make a great deal of difference. Indeed, you can not only save a lot of hassles with processed meals and takeaways, but you are also guaranteed to keep the kids satisfied.
For anybody who is struggling to get the kids to finish their plates, sometimes the prospect of ordering from a drive-thru can seem like a suitable solution. These foods are treated for flavor. However, the additives end up coating your taste buds, which makes it difficult to go back to healthy tastes.
Besides, there’s something strangely appealing to a pizza with gooey cheese on top. We can’t help it; the mind is wired to love junk food – that’s why it’s so popular. However, you can gradually train it to appreciate the real taste of healthy and nutritional whole food ingredients. Here’s how to convince you and your family to transform your eating habits.
Why you need to eat seasonal whole food
You’d love to introduce more vegetables to your diet; however, you find that the ones you buy in shops tend to taste a little watery. Don’t be fooled into thinking that it’s a case of poor seasoning. In reality, when you can’t find veggies that are flavorsome, it’s a problem of seasonality. Indeed, eating what’s in season locally guarantees that you get the freshest and ripest produce. Anything else would need to be imported, which implies that it has to be harvested early and refrigerated so that the crops don’t spoil during transportation.
Chilling significantly reduces the flavor. Additionally, the process of reheating them to ripen the produce artificially affects the texture too. Furthermore, fruits and vegetables that are consumed directly after harvesting are likely to contain more nutrients. Indeed, some nutrients such as vitamin C and folate decline rapidly when the produce has to be stored for an extended period of time – aka for transportation.
In other words, eating veggies out of season does your body no good at all. Plus, it tastes awful!
Where can you find it?
Where can you find the best in-season produce and whole foods? If you live in a busy city, you probably have a local food market where nearby farmers sell their crops. A weekly shopping trip could be all you need to fill up your pantry. You might also want to ask farmers for tips on how to keep your vegs fresh for longer, or how to best prepare them. Who knows? You might discover some new ideas you didn’t know about!
If you live in a suburban area or directly in the countryside, you can make the most of your garden to grow some seasonal crops. Admittedly, it may not be enough to feed the whole family for the entire year, but it can give everyone a good excuse to eat more vegetables and fruit. Starting a vegetable garden can be challenging if you’re new to it. You might want to browse gardening products and make sure that you’ve got everything you need.
For instance, getting some organic soil builder can be a smart move if you’re struggling to grow plants. Nourishing your soil can not only help to speed up your crops but also ensure maximum flavor.
Introduce whole foods the easy way
You can’t change your household habits overnight. If you haven’t been eating a lot of fresh produce, you should take things easy. Your family is more likely to embrace a change of lifestyle and diet if you introduce it gradually. For instance, you can suggest a fresh glass of juice in the morning.
Fruit juicing is a healthy substitute to buying fruit juices in stores. Indeed, as you’re in charge of what goes into your morning juice, you can ensure that you exclude all the additives such as sugar and focus on raw fruits only. Buying a juicer will be a fantastic health investment, and it also guarantees you can preserve all the goodness of the fruits.
Encourage your family to skip fries and carbs
The problem with a healthy diet is that you need to cut down on carbs. Carbohydrates, however, typically make the best part of every meal. What would your Tuesday evening spaghetti bolognese dish be without spaghetti?
Ideally, you don’t want to remove all carbs — your body needs plenty of them to function. But you can find yummy alternatives to keep everybody happy. Zucchini noodles, for instance, aka noodles made out of zucchini, would be a healthy replacement for the traditional spaghetti.
If you’re trying to get your loved ones to cut down on carb-loaded snacks, you can provide substitutes with a high nutritional value, such as replacing fries with oven-baked squash sticks. Or, offer up those “fried foods” with alternatives coming from your air fryer.
Embrace all the colors
Fresh produce can bring a lot of fun to your plate. Nutrition specialists recommend eating the rainbow to their clients. While they don’t mean to chase unicorns and taste the Skittles rainbow, their tip to eat fresh veggies and fruits in all the colors can help you to make every dish yummy, nutritional and playful.
More importantly, each color is rich in vitamins that keep your body strong and healthy. But imagine preparing a lunchbox with colorful ingredients. It’s a change from the dull sandwich!
Final thoughts on embracing whole foods
Encouraging a healthy diet takes time. It’s fair to say that you can’t force your family to ditch their favorite junk food for whole foods overnight. However, you can convince them in time to recognize the flavors and health benefits of a yummy plate of vegetables and healthier grains.
Despite freelancing to make a living, her love is "all things home."
Deborah grew up in a family that grew a large vegetable garden and a fruit orchard, helping her parents pull weeds and can home-grown foods as part of her childhood. In fact, she had no idea that she could purchase veggies and fruits in pre-packed steel cans until she went to college and made a food run.
Today, she lives in Bertie County, North Carolina, an agricultural rural area with more chickens than people. She lives with her husband and two rescue pets a sweet toy fox terrier and a cat who showed up one day and moved into the house. Together, they enjoy DIY projects, furniture refinishing, gardening, and canning.
This blog celebrates all things home.
