SIMPLE new year changes :: real easy, real food changes to make a real difference this year

So you are committed to making real food changes for the New Year, but you have no idea where to start?

My motto has always been baby steps.

Don’t make a bunch of changes all at once that you can’t keep up on. Try one thing every couple weeks – or even one thing a month. Read THIS that I wrote last year on making real food changes one food group at a time.

This year I want give you some ideas that you can start TODAY. Little things. Pick ONE thing – or even two if you wish and just do it for a month. It becomes habit and you won’t even think about it anymore.

If you don’t read anything else – READ THIS: Real food doesn’t mean starving yourself, restricting your diet (unless there are real food allergies to be healed), or endless hours cooking. Just make a decision to eat clean. Eat real. If it comes with a mile long list of crazy ingredients, let’s figure out an alternative.

Here are some little things you can do that will make a huge impact in your health this year!

Again, pick ONE thing to start, do it for a month, and then pick up another habit to try!

• Make your own chicken stock. If you pick one thing to start with, this is what I would pick. The gut healing you will experience alone will be worth it. It takes barely any hands on time. Do yourself a favor and get a great crockpot like THIS one with a snap down lid. It will keep everything nice and clean and will keep the water from evaporating over the 24-48 hour time you have the stock simmering.
• Learn how to get coconut oil into your diet. Read THIS on the benefits. Some ideas for you: Cook in it, bake with it, use it on your skin! If you aren’t a fan of the taste (I am NOT!) then just do a “shot” or 2 everyday. It is crazy nourishing for your body – you won’t regret it. Just melt a tablespoon or 2 over the stove and down it, then chase it with some water – done. 🙂
• Get dehydrating! This is a super simple way to replace packaged snacks. THIS is the dehydrator I got for my birthday this year and it is so great! Dry up fruit, make crispy nuts, granola bars, jerky, etc. You will not only be snacking healthier, but cheaper!
• Make the kids veggies FUN. Seriously – get THIS julienne peeler. Make carrots, zucchini, cucumbers, yellow squash, and sweet potatoes into “noodles”! When you make it fun and then make it taste good with butter, sea salt, and pepper they will eat it! (PS, did you know butter is GOOD for you?! Read THIS on why I feed it to my kids and myself DAILY.)
• Find a source of quality/pastured meat/egg/dairy products. Read THIS on why pastured animals are superior to conventionally raised. This is my non negotiable category for spending money. We are on an extremely tight budget – but it is possible to cut corners on somethings for this. And it is easy to make these products “stretch” to last longer. Stretch the meat in soups, have a bean dinner night a couple nights a week, etc. Please ask me questions if you need more ideas! I have a ton – we really watch our pennies here.
• Make your own bread. If you can tolerate gluten this is huge. Look at the ingredient list on the bread you have right now. Crazy, huh? Bread is actually not a bad thing in moderation, and especially if you use safe ingredients. My bread maker bread recipe is fool proof! EASY. I have THIS breadmaker and I completely adore it! I am still working on a gluten free bread – GF is a very finicky science…stay tuned 😉
• Skip the breakfast cereals (read THIS on why they are so toxic), and make a big batch of great muffins every weekend for the entire week. I love my muffin cups for making baking very fast and easy. Here are some FAST recipes: apple muffin, sweet potato muffin, zucchini muffin, blueberry muffin.
• Stock up on SOUP. And NOT the canned variety. You can make real soup VERY FAST. Use your nourishing chicken stock from above, and load up your freezer. I use my large stock pot to make big batches of soup for my freezer. Limited space? No problem. Here was my secret before I had my deep freezer: I froze soup flat in freezer bags or in single serving containers stacked up. Soup lasts a good week in the fridge anyway, so you could make a large pot of soup on the weekend and eat from that all week. Change up the recipe every week so you don’t get bored 🙂 Here are some recipes to pick from: lentil soup, chicken noodle soup, asparagus soup, potato soup, broccoli soup, fiesta soup, white bean garlic soup, pea soup, creamy veggie soup, tomato soup, french onion soup, and squash soup.
• Learn how to dinner prep the night before so you aren’t tempted to do the drive through thing. Get yourself a good knife. If it’s gonna be a busy day the next day, chop up a ton of veggies for a quick stir fry the next evening – they take 10 minutes to cook if you already have everything chopped up. Get yourself a good set of SAFE enamel coated or cast iron things to cook in. THIS is the set on my wish list 🙂
• Get cod liver oil in your daily routine! Read THIS about it’s benefits! You will NOT regret it! Easy decision.
• Skip the take out pizza and make your own! Pizza doesn’t have to be considered “bad” food – get a great pizza pan and try one of these recipes – easy and nourishing ingredients: gluten free pizza, quick thin crust pizza, soaked crust pizza.
• Skip the take out Chinese and make your own! Try these recipes: sweet and sour chicken, Chinese beef teriyaki.
• Skip the Starbucks and make your own. Use a great French press. Whip up the coffee with butter or cream in your blender or Magic Bullet to get the foamy top. Add real vanilla or cacao for flavor. It is just as good if not better!
• Use your blender or Magic Bullet from above to make nourishing smoothies most days of the week.
• Educate yourself! Listen, I think most of us probably grew up the same way. Convenience food staples. I had NO CLUE how to cook. THIS was the first book that I ever read about real food and how to cook easily and it is still my favorite. It is a staple in my kitchen and a lot of my recipes are centered around its principles. You won’t regret getting this book. I promise.

Let me know what you choose to do first! Please use the comments section for questions! I would love to help!

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