A guest post from Tracy Gary.
As a mom and handmade food enthusiast, it’s a constant effort to make natural, nutritious food the norm rather than the exception. Below are a few tips to help you “de-junk” your family’s kitchen:
Rid your pantry of processed products that contain hard-to-pronounce chemical compounds, food coloring, high-fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated fats and excess sodium. —
Upgrade favorite junk food to quality ingredients. Smoothies are a great vehicle for nutritious food— unsweetened cocoa powder, almond milk, dates, avocado, strawberry and greens make a yummy “chocolate shake.”
Relocate the epicenter of health from the medicine cabinet to the kitchen. Shift the paradigm from reacting to illness to prevention.
Maintain wellness through a steady diet of seasonal fruits and vegetables, whole grains, beans, fermented dairy such as kefir, nuts, fish, dried fruit, seaweed, herbs and spices.
Eat green leafy vegetables daily. Mince them into staples such as pasta sauce, soup, meatballs, scrambled eggs and burritos.
Get off the roller coaster of sugar highs and lows by eating whole grains instead of processed breads and pastas. Brown rice, quinoa, millet, steel cut oats and barley even out energy, balance mood and reduce sugar cravings.
Sweeten with natural sweeteners such as maple syrup, brown rice syrup and stevia.
Instead of juice, add flavor and color to water with a few teaspoons of natural fruit concentrate liquid—try blueberry, black cherry, cranberry, elderberry or fresh orange or lemon juice sweetened with stevia.
Tracy Gary is founder of Intuition Nutrition. She supports families as they dejunk and upgrade the quality of their food and health.
