Michael E. Generaliparental parenting and the art of better eating
June 5th 2007 01:00
Hi every one today I will be talking of the parents diet and how I have done some dramatic changes in the overall house hold diet without having to resort to hostage taking or guerrilla warfare. As I mentioned briefly yesterday my absence was due in part to a health problem, which though its not embarrassing I will omit details till further tests are complete, and health is always to do with life style and diet. I have always been under weight which has disadvantages such being less able to fight off disease and less energy stores. For me my weight was not some thing I watched, I eat more then my fair share of crap food, and as I am a chef I often eat high fat high carb foods that by rights should be piling on the kgs. To make things more interesting my wife has been dieting to lose a couple of kilos so along with training the kids we have been turning the kitchen on its head to meet every ones needs. Now it may not be so surprising to some of the readers that for the most part every body in the equation needed the same basic things. So heres pretty much what we did
1. got some advice. We consulted a dietician, naturopath, family doctor and the nodss people in Melbourne. All of these people agreed on most of the core of our diet. That was to reduce on high gi foods such as rice, potato, pasta, any thing sugary, pumpkin sweet potato, banana. Increase all other vegetable intake using the five serves vegetable two fruit ratio. Keep an eye on the protein intake, mine was quite low. for the average person who does light exercise 1 gram protein per kg of body weight per day will keep you in the range, you need more if your athletic or a body builder, and les if your non active. Count calories if you have an aim, ie gain, maintain or lose weight, there are programs on the market which do the math after you enter the product. We are using calorie king which seems to be doing a great job so far. This is what we have learnt from consulting the above practitioners. Others I would suggest include Chinese practitioners, specialist doctors involved in ongoing medical care of your family but the most fruitful source can often be friends or relatives who seem to be healthy and fit.
2. look in your cupboard and create a strategy. Even the worst contents can yield elements of a good diet. This part of the diet is the bit where you are looking at ways to change the fundamentals of your eating habits without making the task so hard as to be impossible. So for example I often keep the makings of a hearty minestrone in the larder. Nothing wrong with that in principle except we are avoiding pasta, oil red wine and excess cheese, so you quite simply cut out or reduce these things which in most cases don’t change the whole meal. Another one is caramelised onions you can do like I would in a kitchen fifty grams butter 10 grams olive oil to every large onion tastes awesome but will kill you one way or other eventually. To make this low fat I slice the onions and cook them in 1 minute bursts covered in the microwave till they are see through then toss them in a hot pan with a spray of olive oil (5ml) and give them some colour. Pretty soon with a bit of practice I was making all the home meals low fat low gi with loads of vegetables. The last and probably easiest bit was that we mostly ate vegetarian as my wife does not eat meat. So I started getting in steak and mince and chicken for myself and the kids. The main change we made overall to the parental eating habits is that I ate almost double the meal size I was used to and went back for seconds later in the night my wife, who already ate small sized meals just changed the types of snacks she ate, as the meals I made suited her requirements as well.
3. exercise. This is important for everyone and I encourage any one who doesn’t already do some form of exercise to just start. six months ago we borrowed a magnetic exercise bike. After riding for a total 5 minutes on the lowest setting I was puffed and convinced that my 28 years of avoidance was well founded. I now will do 45 minutes 3 times a week. I also do some occasional sparring, walking, weights and dancing. My fitness has improved and with an increase in my food intake I am actually putting a little bit of weight for the first time since I was 16. most people find it hard to do this on their own and my case was no different. The bike stopped being an annoying thing I moved around the house whenever visitors came over only when my wife announced she was doing 10 minutes on it. I being the supportive husband thought I can do better then that so after a weeks practice announced my 12 minute stint. Well after that it was on, after much competition we are now about equal. The point being if you have a gym buddy it is an invaluable advantage where you can motivate each other with healthy competition. The increase in fitness is one factor in being able to exercise longer but the fact that it produces endorphins which gives you a natural high makes people crave physical activity after establishing a healthy routine, I for one can vouch for this.
4. this has been a lengthy process but I am happy to say our aims are being achieved slowly and surely with i must add little disruption to our daily routines for every thing else
here is a comparison of two recipes for brownies that I have tried the first high fat high carb the se cond much lighter in the true sense of the word
Ingredients
300gms butter chopped
600gms dark choc chopped
600gms brown sugar
6 eggs
4 tsp vanilla essence
220gms plain flour
280gms dark choc bits
240gms sour cream
220gms walnuts
1tblsp cocoa
Method
~Line a gastronom tray with silicone paper
~melt butter and 300gms choc, do not boil. Coll slightly after melted.
~stir in sugar eggs and essence, then sifted flour choc bits sour cream. Then pour into prepared pan.
~bake off for 40 minutes then cover with foiland bake for another 20 minutes
Ingredients
300gms light margarine
300gms dark choc chopped
150gms lite choc( low carb
3 cups spoon for spoon equal
3 whole eggs
4 egg whites
4 tsp vanilla essence
220gms plain flour
280gms dark choc bits
240gms lite sour cream
220gms walnuts
3 tblsp cocoa
Method
~prepare as above with the substituted ingredient
the first recipe ends up containing 40 gms of fat for every 100 gram slicewhile the second comes in at 18 gms. The carb in the flour and chocolate are hard to avoid but by using artificial sweetener ( and yes I whole heartedly think they are healthy) and lite chocolate the energy count reduces leaving you to enjoy the taste and not the sugar rush. Any how must run talk to you all soon , Dave
2. look in your cupboard and create a strategy. Even the worst contents can yield elements of a good diet. This part of the diet is the bit where you are looking at ways to change the fundamentals of your eating habits without making the task so hard as to be impossible. So for example I often keep the makings of a hearty minestrone in the larder. Nothing wrong with that in principle except we are avoiding pasta, oil red wine and excess cheese, so you quite simply cut out or reduce these things which in most cases don’t change the whole meal. Another one is caramelised onions you can do like I would in a kitchen fifty grams butter 10 grams olive oil to every large onion tastes awesome but will kill you one way or other eventually. To make this low fat I slice the onions and cook them in 1 minute bursts covered in the microwave till they are see through then toss them in a hot pan with a spray of olive oil (5ml) and give them some colour. Pretty soon with a bit of practice I was making all the home meals low fat low gi with loads of vegetables. The last and probably easiest bit was that we mostly ate vegetarian as my wife does not eat meat. So I started getting in steak and mince and chicken for myself and the kids. The main change we made overall to the parental eating habits is that I ate almost double the meal size I was used to and went back for seconds later in the night my wife, who already ate small sized meals just changed the types of snacks she ate, as the meals I made suited her requirements as well.
3. exercise. This is important for everyone and I encourage any one who doesn’t already do some form of exercise to just start. six months ago we borrowed a magnetic exercise bike. After riding for a total 5 minutes on the lowest setting I was puffed and convinced that my 28 years of avoidance was well founded. I now will do 45 minutes 3 times a week. I also do some occasional sparring, walking, weights and dancing. My fitness has improved and with an increase in my food intake I am actually putting a little bit of weight for the first time since I was 16. most people find it hard to do this on their own and my case was no different. The bike stopped being an annoying thing I moved around the house whenever visitors came over only when my wife announced she was doing 10 minutes on it. I being the supportive husband thought I can do better then that so after a weeks practice announced my 12 minute stint. Well after that it was on, after much competition we are now about equal. The point being if you have a gym buddy it is an invaluable advantage where you can motivate each other with healthy competition. The increase in fitness is one factor in being able to exercise longer but the fact that it produces endorphins which gives you a natural high makes people crave physical activity after establishing a healthy routine, I for one can vouch for this.
4. this has been a lengthy process but I am happy to say our aims are being achieved slowly and surely with i must add little disruption to our daily routines for every thing else
here is a comparison of two recipes for brownies that I have tried the first high fat high carb the se cond much lighter in the true sense of the word
Ingredients
300gms butter chopped
600gms dark choc chopped
600gms brown sugar
6 eggs
4 tsp vanilla essence
220gms plain flour
280gms dark choc bits
240gms sour cream
220gms walnuts
1tblsp cocoa
Method
~Line a gastronom tray with silicone paper
~melt butter and 300gms choc, do not boil. Coll slightly after melted.
~stir in sugar eggs and essence, then sifted flour choc bits sour cream. Then pour into prepared pan.
~bake off for 40 minutes then cover with foiland bake for another 20 minutes
Ingredients
300gms light margarine
300gms dark choc chopped
150gms lite choc( low carb
3 cups spoon for spoon equal
3 whole eggs
4 egg whites
4 tsp vanilla essence
220gms plain flour
280gms dark choc bits
240gms lite sour cream
220gms walnuts
3 tblsp cocoa
Method
~prepare as above with the substituted ingredient
the first recipe ends up containing 40 gms of fat for every 100 gram slicewhile the second comes in at 18 gms. The carb in the flour and chocolate are hard to avoid but by using artificial sweetener ( and yes I whole heartedly think they are healthy) and lite chocolate the energy count reduces leaving you to enjoy the taste and not the sugar rush. Any how must run talk to you all soon , Dave
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Comment by Goateecat
But then, lack of weight has never been a problem for me.