5 Small Whole Food Changes You Can Make Right Now.

Since the last post (Why you and I aren’t that different…), I’ve been thinking a lot about  the “dietary” changes I’ve made.  God knows in the beginning they were far and few between…and started off ever so s.l.o.w.l.y…

The point is they did begin.  Perhaps the slowness of the changes, was part of the success of my plan (…ha!  Like I had a plan! 🙂 ).  I can see now, that had I started with the end in mind, I may have been a tad bit overwhelmed, and a tad bit under qualified to jump right from one end to the other.

Where does that leave you?

Are you at the beginning of your whole food journey? the middle? the end?
Where do you start?

You start by making one small change at a time.  You journey by educating yourself, your spouse and your children.  You end by sharing what you know–’cause if you are nearing the end, you’ll know just how much better you feel, just how empowered you are, and just how much of a difference one small change can make.

5 Small Changes You Can Make Right Now

1. decide (I know that sounds dorky…but you have to really decide and commit before it will ever work.  So decide today!)
2. start reading labels (at first, I just read the sodium content, sugar content and the list of ingredients…I wanted to familiarize myself with what should and what should not be in something)
3. commit to eating whole foods, choosing products you’d like to change one at a time–(like butter vs. margarine and cheese vs. cheese whiz)
4. eat more vegetables and fruits
5. commit to spending more time in the kitchen and learn some basic scratch cooking recipes…like muffins, salad dressing like the one below. (cooking from scratch is the easiest way to  eliminate a lot of the unwanted additives and preservatives from your diet)

~~This recipe makes a great vegetarian meal or a BBQ side dish!  You can even make enough for a week of lunches, as it will keep for a few days in the fridge!

Wheat Berry and Spinach Salad
1 cup cooked wheat berries (you could also use quinoa, barley or rice)1 chopped tomato
1 green onion chopped
1/2 red or yellow pepper chopped
1 cup black beans

1/2 cup crumbled feta
1/4 cup cubed cheddar
Balsamic Dijon Salad dressing

Combine all of the ingredients and mix well with salad dressing.  Allow to sit at least 20 minutes. (but can sit for a day or 2…).

To serve: top a bed of baby spinach with 1/2 cup wheat berry salad and a handful of sunflower seeds. 

Balsamic Dijon Salad Dressing
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 generous tbsp grainy dijon mustard
S&P to taste
Whisk together until it thickens slightly and is well mixed. (this will keep for weeks in the fridge–so feel free to double or triple the recipe and save it for another day!)