No dinner post tonight. I promised Avery I wouldn't make turkey untll she was home to help. Since the girls are gone for the night and Seth doesn't care for turkey, I figured we'd just have leftovers. Instead though, I thought I would answer a couple questions that have come through my email this week.
First, a friend asked why I consider the BBQ chicken pizza unhealthy. Primarily that stems from my frustration with BBQ sauce. It is impossible to find a storebought BBQ sauce that is healthy. The first ingredient in BBQ sauce is always high fructose corn syrup or sugar (and a bunch of other unnecessary junk). When summer returns and I have an endless supply of fresh, organic tomatoes growing in my garden, I may experiment with making my own BBQ sauce. In the meantime, I just recognize that it is something that we don't eat very often, so I try not to fret over it. Secondly, the cheese. We used to eat a lot of cheese. We still eat cheese (especially since Sadie and I don't drink any milk), but we eat a lot less. For the pizza, I use one pound of fresh mozzarella for two large pizzas, so not too bad. The otherreason that I would say it isn't a healthy recipe is because most would make it with white flour....definitely no nutrition there. So, if I had a better BBQ sauce, I could put this in the healthy category because I have control over the flour and the cheese.
Which leads to another question that the same friend asked and that several people have asked me in the last few years, which is basically, "what do you keep in mind when making a healthy meal?"
There isn't a short answer, and honestly, the list grows as time (and my knowledge) goes on. I started with certain things and have gradually added more and more considerations. But here are some of the things I consider when feeding my family.
-Eat as many whole foods as possible. Food that grew in the ground or has a mama. Avery is hungry every couple hours. From the time she was old enough to tell us (or sign) she was hungry, we've had the rule that she can have all the fruits and veggies that she wants. If it is between meals, she knows she can grab a piece of fruit or some sliced peppers anytime. She has never met a fruit she doesn't like (and few vegetables); we always have a large selection of fruits and veggies available and in a variety of colors (eat the full spectrum of the rainbow and you get all those amazing nutrients/antioxidants your body is hungry for). Fiber is my friend.
-Whole grain or 100% whole wheat. I try to avoid the white stuff. No refined carbohydrates. If it has enriched flour, I put it back (most of the time). There is almost always an alternative that is whole grain. This goes for bread, cereal, crackers, tortillas, rice, pasta, etc. The 5 ingredient rule is a good rule of thumb when it comes to these items (see below). Just because you buy a whole grain option doesn't necessarily mean it is good for you, so watch out for things like whole wheat buns that have high fructose corn syrup in them (made that mistake once), oatmeal with sugar, whole grain cereal or granola bars that are highly processed with all kinds of junk. Look further than the "whole grain" stamp on the front of the box.
I try to buy as little processed food as possible. If it has ingredients that small children can't pronounce, we probably don't need to eat it (or I can make it at home with real ingredients). I prefer that our food be actual food (not manufactured, foodlike substances) and not just additives & preservatives that allow what was once a food to now have a shelf life. Real food rots. ("If it came from a plant, eat it; if it was made in a plant, don't."-Michael Pollan) The more ingredients listed on a food, the more likely it is to be processed, so look for labels with fewer than 5 ingredients (this is a generalization, but if you are a label-reader, you know the truth I'm getting at). Bread is a good example of this...next time you are at the store, try comparing the labels on bread. The best bread has 5 ingredients.
Avoid empty calories. I've always had the mindset that if I don't really enjoy a food (particularly something unhealthy), I don't want to waste my calories on it. Seth calls it "picky" but it really isn't so much picky so much as that I don't see the point of eating empty calories unless it is worth the taste. (He bought a bunch of junkfood to fill my Christmas stocking (funnyman); now he is seeing it appear in his lunchbox. He can't figure out why I wouldn't eat raspberry milano cookies- the taste just isn't worth the calories to me. Newman's Own PB cups, on the other hand....worth it to me occasionally).
If we buy something with a label, we read said label. We avoid high fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated oils, ingredients we can't pronounce, derivatives of corn and soy, foods that contain any sweetener in the first few ingredients (there are something like 40+ sweeteners to watch for)....
Homemade treats. I enjoy treats. Baked goods are comforting. The thing is, they can be nourishing too, if we make them at home. I have no problem eating treats or allowing my kids to have treats; I just want them to be homemade so that I can decide what goes in there. That way I can use whole grain flour; a natural, unrefined sweetener; no dyes or preservatives or other chemical crap. I can use oats, raisins, fruits, veggies, etc. to make it a treat that still has some value in it, despite being a treat.
I want my family to enjoy what I cook, so my goal is to make the food tasty, but make it as nutritious as possible at the same time. So I look for substitutions I can make, I decrease unnecessary fat, sugar, etc. I look for more nutritious , value-added ingredients that will allow us to partake of the foods we love and not feel deprived, but also be the best source of fuel for our bodies. I'm trying to teach my kids why we make the choices that we do and they sincerely love learning and understanding what we're doing and why. They enjoy checking labels for sodium, partially hydrogenated oils and HFCS, or whatever else. I don't want to demonize fat, carbs, or calories to my children, but I don't have a problem with demonizing HFCS, partially hydrogenated oils, or excessive sugar or sodium. There are certain things that our body just has NO need for. I try to cook with the real version of things, not a version that has been processed to make it lowfat, light, etc. Better to have the real thing in moderation than a frankenfood (think butter/margarine).
So, there is part one. Eating healthfully is priority. The next consideration I make involves buying organic when possible. "Organic" doesn't make it healthy. There are plenty of "organic" foods that are highly-processed and/or have no useful nutritional content. So when I buy organic, the same rules above apply...I'm just looking for organic whole foods. Make sense? Buy organic bananas, not organic soda.
Buy local when possible. I'm honestly not very good at this yet, with the exception of produce. You have to ease into some of these things because it can be expensive to buy organic & local across the board. But I'm working on it.
I know I've mentioned Michael Pollan several times, but if you want a short, easy book that gives lay-person rules for eating healthfull (as opposed to his other books which are in-depth and scientific), get "Food Rules". You can read it in an evening and is a great launching pad for eating wisely.
Thanks for putting up with my soapboxes. I realize that my enthusiasm for certain topics can come across as preachy, and while that isn't my intent, I can understand that perception. When I find something that makes my life better in some way, whether it is my personal relationship with God, the joy I find in being a parent, or my enthusiasm for nutrition- I can't seem to help but want to share that with people I care about. Seth has a philosophy that you don't give a person a gift that they want, but a gift that you have and love. I guess I want to gift you with the things I consider to be gifts in my life...whether you want them or not. :)

