Tag: Nutrition Series

Thrive Through Powerful Nutrition Habits

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March is National Nutrition Month, a yearly campaign created by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. The month presents the perfect opportunity for learning to make better food choices and for developing healthy eating habits. The theme this year is Personalize Your Plate.

What fun this month. creating a four week series with a focus on nutrition. Check out the previous posts:

Eat a Variety of Nutritious Foods

Shopping for Nutritious Foods

Creating Highly Nutritious Meals

After laying a strong nutritional foundation and offering peeks into how easy it is to create healthy habits, this week presents tips to keep it all going. Check out the last post in the series, Thrive Through Powerful Nutrition Habits.

Thrive Through Powerful Nutrition Habits

Thrive Though Powerful Nutrition Habits

Thrive means to grow vigorously, to flourish and prosper. I chose the word intentionally, for with these nutrition habits it is possible to thrive at a high level. And don’t we want to thrive and live the best lives possible, rather than survive, which carries the connotation of just getting by.

During the last few weeks I shared how important it is to fuel our bodies with the highest levels of nutrition. Using the list of nutrient dense foods that I put together, I created a meal plan and then shopped for those foods. And finally, last week, I posted seven days worth of meals. A week beyond and I’m still preparing delicious, healthy meals from that one shopping trip.

The tips below are grouped around the activities from the previous weeks. Plus I’m offering suggestions for eating healthy away from home.

Tips for Choosing Highly Nutritious Foods

You already have the list of the foods that best energize the body and keep it healthy. In addition, try these tips:

  • healthy eating depends on one thing…making daily choices. Choose wisely and with the knowledge of what healthy foods do for the body, and what unhealthy foods do as well. The healthier the choices initially, the easier it gets to choose the next day…and the next.
  • try new foods. If you eat the same three vegetables every week, try something different. And know that foods you disliked as a child may taste wonderful to you now. I disliked radishes as a child. Now I love them.
  • consistently add more fruits and veggies to your diet. Fill at least half of your plate with them.
  • take advantage of seasonal produce. Fruits and veggies are plentiful and so full of flavor when it is their season.
  • visit your local farmer’s market for freshly grown produce, much of it organic. Or enjoy picking fruit at a “pick your own” farm.
  • grow your own vegetables. Gardening is a great family project. And kids often enjoy eating veggies they grow.
Thrive Through Powerful Nutrition Habits radish
Thrive through powerful nutrition habits – try new foods

Tips for Shopping for Highly Nutritious Foods

When heading to the grocery store, keep these tips in mind:

  • create a meal plan and then shop for it. This prevents overbuying foods you can’t use in a week or getting home and then trying to decide what to do with your food!
  • shop in the fresh produce section first. As you can see from my shopping trip, the majority of foods came from the fresh produce department.
  • buy organic when you can. These foods are free from pesticides, chemicals and additives. They also contain more antioxidants than conventionally grown produce.
  • wash fresh produce at home, before using, especially if it is not organic. I use Seventh Generation dish washing liquid and then rinse thoroughly. You can also add a few drops of lemon essential oil to a container of water and let produce soak for half an hour. Rinse well.
  • when shopping for the healthiest ingredients for your meals, avoid processed foods as much as possible. You don’t need all the added preservatives and chemicals.
Thrive Through Powerful Nutrition Habits natural grocers
Thrive through powerful nutrition habits – a favorite store for purchasing organic produce, Natural Grocers

Tips for Creating Highly Nutritious Meals

  • start with a meal plan…five small meals in a day or three meals and two healthy snacks. It’s essential to know what meals you are creating so you know what foods to purchase. Meal planning is what you make it…fun and interesting or tedious and boring. CHOOSE to make it fun by adding variety to your weekly meals.
  • with a written meal plan, create multiple meals using the same ingredients, combined in different ways. For example, that head of cauliflower that I purchased contributed to a steamed veggie bowl, to stir fries and to a chopped veggie salad.
  • cook enough for leftovers or use food remaining after a meal creatively the next day. Cooked brown rice, stored in the fridge, is useful for so many meals. Leftover cooked veggies, combined with brown rice and a homemade sauce makes a great lunch.
  • use Sunday afternoons for food prep, so that meals come together quickly during the week. Wash and chop veggies for a huge salad. Clean and cut berries or other fruit and keep in the fridge. Chop onions, celery, peppers and other foods for stir fries and keep chilled.
  • for convenience, use a pressure pot, also known as an instant pot, a slow cooker or an air fryer for creating flavorful, nutritious meals. I love my pressure cooker. It works as a steamer too.
  • be creative. Try new recipes. Check Pinterest for ideas. Just type what you are looking for in the search bar.
  • when enjoying your meals or snack, focus on that food, rather than eating mindlessly. Feel gratitude for the nutrients the food provides.
Thrive Through Powerful Nutrition Habits cauliflower
Thrive through powerful nutrition habits – create multiple meals using similar ingredients

Tips for Eating Nutritious Foods on the Go

While eating at home provides control over what foods we create meals with, eating out feels different. To take the stress out of eating away from home, and maintain nutritious habits, try these tips:

  • make healthy choices. It comes back to this, always, no matter what. You get to choose what you put into your body.
  • in restaurants, don’t hesitate to ask how food is prepared. I typically order plain veggies or a plain salad, without the extras like butter, cheese, egg, etc. If eating out with other people, let them know you want to make healthy choices and help pick a restaurant that everyone is happy with.
  • pack snacks for road trips, playtime at the park, hikes in nature or birthday parties. Having healthy choices helps prevent eating something you’ll regret later.
  • bring your own food to family gatherings or holiday meals. I do. It may seem strange at first, however my family is used to me bringing plant based dishes to Thanksgiving or Christmas gatherings. I either pre-cook food and bring it ready to eat or tote in the ingredients and prepare my meal there.
  • when flying, request vegan meals at the time of ticket purchase. This must be done in advance. I’ve traveled in four European countries without any problems finding vegan meal options at restaurants.
  • if possible, stay in accommodations with a kitchen so you can prepare your own meals. I’ve done this multiple times and it saves money as well.
Thrive Through Powerful Nutrition Habits thanksgiving dinner
Thrive through powerful nutrition habits – prepare you own meals at family gatherings. My Thanksgiving meal with vegan mashed potatoes and gravy, roasted veggies and cranberries.

The Nutrition Challenge

I hope you enjoyed this nutrition series. I’ve heard from many of you, saying you appreciated seeing what foods I select and shop for and what my meals look like.

I’d love to see what nutritious foods YOU select and shop for and what YOUR meals look like.

Consider this a Nutrition Challenge. If you accept, please write a blog post or social media post and tag me or send me the link, so I can be inspired.

I’m Journey With Healthy Me on Instagram and Facebook. I’d love to connect with you on those platforms, if we aren’t connected already. Or send me your links in the comments below. You may also email me through my contact form at the end of the post.

I have two missions in life: to encourage people to be healthy at every age and to inspire people to live life beyond the edges of fears, comfort zones and limiting beliefs. The latter is the focus of Cindy Goes Beyond, my other blog. Here at Journey, may you find the inspiration and encouragement you need to live your healthiest, best life.

Thrive Through Powerful Nutrition Habits potpie soup
Pot pie soup

 

Create Nutritious Meals with These Helps

 


 

Journey With Healthy Me is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. This affiliate program provides a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com, all at no extra cost to you.

Creating Highly Nutritious Meals

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my Disclosure Policy for details.

March is National Nutrition Month, a yearly campaign created by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. The month presents the perfect opportunity for learning to make better food choices and for developing healthy eating habits. The theme this year is Personalize Your Plate.

In recognition of National Nutrition Month, I created a four week series. Week One, I posted Eat a Variety of Nutritious Foods. It shares the benefits of eating highly nutritious food. Find the list of foods that I selected on that post.

Week Two, Shopping for Nutritious Food, serves as the bridge between knowing what to eat and preparing delicious, highly nutritious meals. I shopped at Aldi Grocery Store for nutritious food, using the previous week’s list as my guide.

This week, you get a peek at the results, with Creating Highly Nutritious Meals. And finally, next week, is Thrive Through Powerful Nutrition Habits.

Creating Highly Nutritious Meals title meme

Putting the Pieces Together

Shortly before becoming plant based, I shared with others a desire to cook more at home. Cooking is a way to express creativity and I felt drawn to that.

Little did I know that embracing a plant based lifestyle would open that door to fulfilling my desire.

It’s fun for me, creating highly nutritious meals. And crafting this series, I especially enjoyed this week’s meals based on the list of highly nutritious foods. It was like having all these pieces laid out before me and then putting them together to create beautiful, colorful works of art.

Creating Highly Nutritious Meals chopped salad
Creating highly nutritious meals – chopped salad containing a dozen veggies

Creating Highly Nutritious Meals

Using the foods from the Week One list, that I purchased at the Joplin Aldi Grocery Store during Week Two, I created seven days of meals. Here they are.

Day One

Breakfast – gluten free oats with berries and chia seeds. I discovered it’s easy to make oatmeal in the microwave. Add 1/2 cup of rolled oats, regular or gluten free, to a large mug or bowl. Pour 1 cup of water over the oats. Microwave for about 2 minutes. That’s it! I typically add a dash of sea salt and then top the oats with berries and chia seeds or bananas and walnuts.

Lunch – chopped salad. Check out how easy it is to create these amazing bowls of chopped veggies HERE.

Snack – 1/2 a sliced apple

Dinner – steamed Brussels sprouts, asparagus and cauliflower with a baked potato

Snack – Cara Cara orange

Creating Highly Nutritious Meals breakfast oats
Creating highly nutritious meals – breakfast oats with fresh berries and chia seeds
Creating Highly Nutritious Meals snack oranges
Creating highly nutritious meals – snack – Cara Cara orange
Creating Highly Nutritious Meals steamed veggies
Dinner – baked potato and steamed veggies

Day Two

Breakfast – fruit smoothie. I combine fresh bananas with frozen fruit and enough chilled filtered water to create a smooth blend.

Lunch – chopped salad with organic vegan tomato soup (from Pacifica)

Snack – handful of walnuts and cashews

Dinner – avocado and kale pasta (recipe below, adapted from Forks Over Knives)

Snack – apple slices

Creating Highly Nutritious Meals snack apple slices
Creating highly nutritious meals – snack apple slices
Creating Highly Nutritious Meals avocado and kale pasta
Avocado and kale pasta
Creating Highly Nutritious Meals avocado and kale pasta

Avocado and Kale Pasta

This creamy pasta dish comes together in minutes
5 from 4 votes
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 10 mins
Cook Time 20 mins
Total Time 30 mins
Course Main Course
Cuisine American
Servings 4 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 1 16 oz package of gluten free pasta
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 8 oz asparagus, cut into one inch pieces
  • 2 cups grape tomatoes, halved
  • 1 cup baby kale
  • 1 avocado, halved
  • 2 tbsp lemon juice
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper

Instructions
 

  • Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain, reserving one cup of pasta cooking water. Return pasta to pot.
  • In a large skillet, saute asparagus and tomatoes in olive oil.
  • In blender, combine remaining ingredients, through crushed red pepper. Cover and blend until creamy, adding 1/2 to 1 cup of reserved pasta cooking water to make a smooth sauce.
  • Add sauce and sauted asparagus and tomatoes to pasta. Gently toss to combine. Season with sea salt and fresh or dried dill, if desired. Makes four servings.
Keyword Asparagus, Avocado, Gluten Free Pasta, Kale

Day Three

Breakfast – fruit smoothie

Lunch – vegan tostadas (we ended up enjoying an afternoon out and had a fabulous lunch at the vegan restaurant The Veggie Table.

Snack – handful of walnuts and cashews

Dinner – avocado and kale pasta (leftovers)

Snack – apple slices

Creating Highly Nutritious Meals breakfast smoothie
Creating highly nutritious meals – breakfast smoothie
Vegan Tostadas from The Veggie Table
Vegan Tostadas from The Veggie Table.
Creating Highly Nutritious Meals snack nuts
Creating highly nutritious meals – snack – walnuts and cashews

Day Four

Breakfast – gluten free oats with sliced bananas and walnuts

Lunch – stir fried brown rice and veggies. This is a great way to use left over brown rice and an assortment of fresh or cooked veggies. I saute the veggies together, add the brown rice and a sauce made from 2 tbsp Bragg liquid aminos (soy sauce substitute), 1 tsp toasted sesame oil and 1 tsp fresh or powdered ginger. This lunch stir fry contained at least a dozen veggies.

Snack – skipped due a larger than normal lunch

Dinner – red lentil and sweet potato curry (recipe below, adapted from Forks Over Knives) served with brown rice

Snack – apple slices

Creating Highly Nutritious Meals stir fry
Creating highly nutritious meals – stir fry brown rice and veggies
Creating Highly Nutritious Meals lentil and sweet potato curry
Red lentils and sweet potato curry over brown rice for dinner.
Creating Highly Nutritious Meals lentil and sweet potato curry

Red Lentils & Sweet Potato Curry

Prepare this savory curry in the slow cooker.
5 from 4 votes
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 20 mins
Cook Time 5 hrs
Total Time 5 hrs 20 mins
Course Main Course
Cuisine Indian
Servings 8 servings

Equipment

  • Slow Cooker

Ingredients
  

  • 4 cups vegetable broth
  • 4 1/2 cups sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
  • 1 1/2 cups dry red lentils
  • 1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
  • 1 small can tomato paste
  • 1 small yellow onion, chopped
  • 1 small green bell pepper, chopped
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 tsp fresh or dried ginger
  • 2 tsp curry powder
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp coriander
  • 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
  • Hot cooked brown rice, couscous or quinoa

Instructions
 

  • Combine all ingredients in slow cooker along with 2 cups of water. Stir to combine.
  • Cover and cook on high heat 4 1/2 to 5 hours or on low heat 9 to 10 hours. Check for doneness after 4 1/2 hours (or 9 hours). Season with sea salt and black pepper, if desired. Serve over brown rice, couscous or quinoa. Makes 8 - 10 servings.
Keyword Curry, Red Lentils, Sweet Potatoes

Day Five

Breakfast – fruit smoothie

Lunch – leftover avocado and kale pasta with chopped salad

Snack – handful of walnuts and cashews

Dinner – red lentils and sweet potato curry with brown rice (leftovers)

Snack – Cara Cara orange

Creating Highly Nutritious Meals lunch avocado kale pasta and salad
Creating highly nutritious meals – the last of the avocado and kale pasta paired with a chopped salad

Day Six

Breakfast – oats with berries and chia seeds

Lunch – cup of red lentil curry (leftovers) topped with fresh kale. I failed to get a photo of this but I loved the added kale.

Snack – apple slices

Dinner – my parents took me out for a meal. I had rice noodles with vegetables

Snack – chocolate avocado mousse. This simple dessert is so easy to make. Combine in a blender 3 ripe avocadoes, halved, 3 tbsp cocoa powder, 1/4 cup plant based milk (I used unsweetened almond milk), 4 tbsp pure maple syrup and a dash of sea salt. Blend until creamy. Divide into four small dessert cups. Chill at least one hour. Top with fresh berries.

Creating Highly Nutritious Meals snack chocolate avocado mousse
Creating highly nutritious meals – snack – chocolate avocado mousse

Day Seven

Breakfast – fruit smoothie

Lunch – roasted potatoes and sweet potatoes with chopped salad. Recipe for roasted potatoes HERE.

Snack – Cara Cara orange

Dinner – navy beans, brown rice and kale. Recipe HERE.

Snack – chocolate avocado mousse with berries

Creating Highly Nutritious Meals lunch roasted potatoes
Creating highly nutritious meals – lunch – roasted potatoes and sweet potatoes with chopped salad
Creating Highly Nutritious Meals navy beans and kale
Creating highly nutritious meals – dinner – navy beans, brown rice and kale

Seven Days of Highly Nutritious Meals

After a week of delicious and healthy meals and snacks, I STILL have plenty of food remaining for several days worth of meals. I bought more bananas today and almond milk. That’s it.

As you noticed, I don’t mind eating left overs the next day. In fact, I love knowing I have food already prepared in the fridge. There’s still a large amount of red lentil and sweet potato curry to enjoy. I’ll need to make another batch of brown rice tomorrow, in the pressure pot.

Throughout the day I drink plenty of filtered water and at least one cup of herbal tea.

I hope this week of breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks shows you how easy and doable it is, creating highly nutritious meals. Truly, I love eating this way and my body and health show the benefits from it.

If you are not plant based, add in salmon or chicken. However, I encourage you to try meatless meals, and not just on Monday. The body thrives with this level of nutrition.

Next week I’ll share how to keep the good nutrition going, past the month of March!

Amazon Finds to Make Cooking Easier


Journey With Healthy Me is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. This affiliate program provides a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com, all at no extra cost to you.

 

 

 

Shopping for Nutritious Food

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my Disclosure Policy for details.

March is National Nutrition Month, a yearly campaign created by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. The month presents the perfect opportunity for learning to make better food choices and for developing healthy eating habits. The theme this year is Personalize Your Plate.

I created a month long series around National Nutrition Month. Last week I posted Eat a Variety of Nutritious Foods. It shares the benefits of eating highly nutritious food. Find the list of foods there.

This week is the bridge between knowing what to eat and preparing delicious, highly nutritious meals. I went shopping for nutritious food, using last week’s list as my guide. Next week, you get a peek at those daily meals and snacks. And finally, during week four, I’ll share tips for keeping the nutrition habit going.

Shopping for Nutritious Food title meme

Shopping for Nutritious Food

Using last week’s list of foods as a guide, I created seven days worth of meals. I plotted out breakfast, lunch, dinner and two snacks for each day. From the meal plan, which I’ll share next week, I wrote out a shopping list.

Although I initially intended to set a budget for groceries, I decided against that idea. I still shopped carefully, choosing my local Aldi store because of low prices yet high standards for produce and products.

I also appreciate that Aldi is dedicated to sustainable business practices while supplying quality foods at affordable prices. They have in place a doable plan for reducing their environmental impact including reducing packaging and moving to 100% reusable, recyclable or compostable packaging by 2025.

Aldi is eliminating styrofoam from packaging by the end of this year. And they’ve never offered single use plastic shopping bags at checkout. Shoppers may purchase or bring from home reusable bags, purchase brown paper bags or use the assortment of cardboard boxes that the store makes available.

Shopping for Nutritious Food Aldi
Shopping for nutritious food at Aldi.

The Grocery List

Today I shopped from my list and only deviated from it when I found a cream colored ceramic tea cannister for sale in the store. I unsuccessfully looked and looked for one recently and felt such delight today in finding the last one available in the store.

So that my shopping receipt accurately reflected what I spent on nutritious food, I bought the tea cannister separately.

Based on last week’s nutritious foods list, and the meals I planned around that list, here’s exactly what I purchased today:

Veggies

  • yellow onions – one bag of six
  • kale, chopped – one bag
  • leafy lettuce – one bunch
  • grape tomatoes – one package
  • baby portabella mushrooms – one package
  • radishes – one package
  • yellow, red and orange sweet peppers – one package
  • green bell peppers – three
  • sweet potatoes – one 3 lb bag
  • potatoes – one 10 lb bag
  • asparagus – one bunch
  • Brussels sprouts (fresh) – one package
  • celery – two bunches
  • cauliflower – one head
Shopping for Nutritious Food potatoes
Shopping for nutritious food – potatoes and onions

Fruits

  • bananas – one bunch of six bananas
  • apples – one 3 lb bag
  • Cara Cara oranges – one package of six oranges
  • blueberries – one carton
  • strawberries – one carton
  • avocadoes – three
  • frozen mixed fruit – one medium package
  • frozen strawberries and bananas – one large package
Shopping for Nutritious Food peppers
Shopping for nutritious food – peppers

Beans and Grains

  • canned black beans – one
  • brown rice and quinoa pasta – one package

Miscellaneous

  • vegetable broth – one carton
  • tomato paste – one small can
  • diced tomatoes – one can

On Hand at Home

I already had these items at home:

  • broccoli
  • lemon
  • dry navy beans
  • dry red lentils and dry brown lentils
  • brown rice
  • gluten free oats
  • walnuts
  • almond milk
  • sugar free peanut butter
  • olive oil
  • salsa
  • non GMO tortilla chips
  • assortment of spices, herbs, sea salt, black pepper
  • assortment of teas
Shopping for Nutritious Food gluten free pasta
Shopping for nutritious food – gluten free pasta

Amount Spent

The total for my shopping trip today…$63.20, including tax. This nutritious food will sustain and nourish two people for at least a week. The meal planning is for seven days however some of the items will last longer than that.

For seven breakfasts, lunches and dinners, for two people, that’s about $1.50 per meal. It’s actually less than that when I factor in two snacks per day, for two people as well.

Shopping for Nutritious Food amount
Amount spent, shopping for nutritious food

Next Week – Nutritious Meals

I bought everything on my shopping list at Aldi this morning. Typically I shop at three different stores: Natural Grocers, Walmart Market and Aldi. Today other shopping excursions were not required.

Tomorrow is Day One of seven days of nutritious meals. Next Wednesday, which is Day Seven, I’ll share those daily meals in another blog post.

I’m excited to show the variety that is possible when eating highly nutritious food. Stay tuned!

Shopping for Nutritious Food week of food
What a week of nutritious food looks like.

Cooking Helps from Amazon:

 


 

Journey With Healthy Me is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. This affiliate program provides a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com, all at no extra cost to you.

 

 

Eat a Variety of Nutritious Foods

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my Disclosure Policy for details.

March is National Nutrition Month, a yearly campaign created by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. What a great opportunity to make better food choices and to develop healthy eating habits. The theme this year is Personalize Your Plate.

The month presents an excellent opportunity as well to me as a health blogger. Because I post in Journey once a week, the month long event breaks down naturally into four connected posts.

This week I lead off with Eat a Variety of Nutritious Foods. I provide a sampling of the best, most nutritious foods to add to your shopping list.

The rest of the month looks like this:

Eat a Variety of Nutritious Foods title meme

Eat a Variety of Nutritious Foods

This week’s goal focuses on encouraging better food choices. The typical American diet includes high levels of sugar, fats, meats, eggs, cheese and processed foods. Additionally, we often sacrifice nutrition for convenience by stopping for fast food on the way home after a busy day.

And yet, nutrition is extremely important. What we put into our bodies, fuels our bodies. Highly nutritious foods helps the body and all its systems function better and maintain health. Poor quality foods contribute to the breaking down of the body and its systems, creating diseases and disorders.

We’d never put poor quality gasoline into our vehicles and expect them to operate well. And yet daily we consume low quality foods without a thought for how our bodies are affected by our choices.

I divided nutritious foods into categories. And, I am plant based. In good conscious I can’t recommend animal products. If you don’t feel ready to eliminate meat from your diet, include chicken or wild caught salmon in several meals during the week. I highly encourage you to go meatless as often as possible. Eggs feed viruses while dairy products create inflammation in the body and increase mucous production.

Veggies

A diet rich in vegetables lowers blood pressure, reduces the risk of heart disease and strokes, prevents some types of cancer, eases digestive problems and improves eye health. Vegetables provide fiber, valuable vitamins and minerals, colors, textures and flavors. They are low in calories, sodium and cholesterol. Their antioxidants combat inflammation and diseases.

Choose from the following vegetables:

  • dark, leafy greens such as spinach and kale
  • potatoes and sweet potatoes
  • radishes
  • mushrooms
  • cruciferous veggies such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower and cabbage
  • celery
  • onions and garlic
  • peppers – green, red, yellow and orange
  • asparagus
  • cucumbers
  • radishes
Eat a Variety of Nutritious Foods veggies
Eat a variety of nutritious foods – veggies

Fruits

In recent years, people feared eating much fruit, due to the misconception that the sugar in fruit is the same as refined sugar. It’s not. The natural fructose and glucose found in fruit are different from refined sugar and high fructose corn syrup.

Fruit digests quickly. And like veggies, fruit is an excellent source of vitamins and minerals, fiber, antioxidants and flavonoids. A diet high in fruit reduces the risk of heart disease, cancer, inflammation and diabetes. Fruit fights disease. They make great snacks instead of cookies, chips or fast food.

Choose from the following fruits:

  • bananas
  • apples
  • melons
  • berries such as blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, cranberries and blackberries
  • cherries
  • avocadoes
  • kiwis
  • figs
  • dates
  • grapes
  • lemons and limes
  • oranges and tangerines
  • mangoes
  • papayas
  • pears
  • pomegranates
Eat a Variety of Nutritious Foods fruit
Eat a variety of nutritious foods – fruits

Legumes

Legumes of all kinds provide necessary fiber, protein, B vitamins, folate, calcium and zinc. They are low fat.  Beans are similar to meat, nutrition wise, without the saturated fats.

Legumes reduce the risk of heart disease and lower cholesterol levels. They also help lower blood pressure and triglycerides.

Choose from the following legumes:

  • chickpeas, also known as garbanzo beans
  • lentils
  • peas
  • kidney beans
  • black beans
  • pinto beans
  • navy beans
  • black eyed peas
  • purple hull beans
Eat a Variety of Nutritious Foods purple hull beans
Eat a variety of nutritious foods – purple hull beans

Nuts and Seeds

Nuts and seeds provide fiber, vitamins, protein, healthy fats including omega-3s, iron, zinc and niacin.

These small powerhouses are rich in antioxidants that prevent cell damage and reduce the risks for inflammation and disease. They help lower cholesterol and triglycerides and blood sugar levels.

Choose from these nuts and seeds:

  • almonds
  • walnuts
  • cashews
  • pumpkins seeds
  • chia seeds
Eat a Variety of Nutritious Foods walnuts
Eat a variety of nutritious foods – walnuts

Grains

Grains are a bit trickier. Some people, like me, don’t tolerate wheat and other grains containing gluten. Include wheat, cautiously, if you don’t show symptoms of gluten intolerance.

Healthy grains provide important nutrients, fiber and B vitamins. They improve heart health, lower the risk of strokes, support healthy digestion, help maintain weight and reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes.

Pastas made from brown rice are a healthy alternative to wheat pastas.

Choose from the following grains:

  • oats
  • brown rice
  • quinoa
Eat a Variety of Nutritious Foods oats
Eat a variety of nutritious foods – oats

Herbs and Spices

Herbs and spices provide valuable nutrients, antioxidants and health benefits. Use aromatic herbs and spices for cooking. The rest make excellent health boosting teas. Herbs and spices lower the risk for heart disease, certain cancers and diabetes. They contain anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor properties.

Choose from the following herbs and spices:

  • aromatic herbs including thyme, rosemary, basil, bay leaf, sage and oregano
  • cilantro
  • turmeric
  • ginger
  • cat’s claw
  • nettle leaf
  • lemon balm
  • rose hips
Eat a Variety of Nutritious Foods sage
Eat a variety of nutritious foods – sage

Create Your Shopping List

As you plan meals for next week, choose from the list of highly nutritious foods and include as many as possible. Concentrate on veggies and fruits first and then add in legumes, grains, herbs, nuts and seeds.

As I plan my meals for next week, I am doing the same, incorporating as many of the listed foods as possible.

Watch for next week’s post of the shopping trip to see which foods I purchase for the meals for week three.

Let’s eat healthier, together!

Eat a Variety of Nutritious Foods meal prep
Kale, navy beans, brown rice and onion.

 

Find these herbs at Amazon:

 


 

 

Journey With Healthy Me is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. This affiliate program provides a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com, all at no extra cost to you.

I am not a medical practitioner. I study health and wellness related topics and share experiences from my own personal healing journey.