Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

So Kris and I are getting ready to move back to Colorado in a few weeks and were trying to plan out meals for what we would like to eat from now until we leave. We sat down and decided on a few of our favorite recipes. All of the meals we decided on you can make up ahead of time and freeze for later. Then, when you are hungry and don't feel like cooking, you can just warm them up on the stove.

Basically, we spent the whole day Saturday shopping, cooking, and waiting for stuff to cool so we could put it away. We ended up making about 25 meals for us (or 50 servings) of food that we can eat from now until we leave. We were both pretty exhausted by the end of the day, but are thrilled that we won't have to really cook again before we leave unless we want to.

Why do I share this all with you? Because cooking can be healthy, cheap, tasty, and fast when you plan ahead and use fresh, nutrient rich ingredients. I have been saying that I will share two of my soup recipes for awhile and after our cooking extravaganza on Saturday, I am finally ready to release one!

This homemade grandma-style chicken noodle soup is amazing! You make everything from scratch, even the stock and the noodles. It's also really easy to make, and goes a long way. Like many soup recipes, it is very versatile and you can make it with different consistencies, flavors, and vegetables. With the cold weather starting to creep in, and with it colds, coughs, and stuffy noses, this recipe is definitely a good one to hang on to for those chilly winter nights when you just want to curl up under a blanket and get warm and cozy. I hope that you will love this recipe just as much as I do. Enjoy!

*Parts of this recipe are adapted from Tyler Florence's Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe.
Ingredients:
Makes 14, 1 & 1/2 Cup Servings

Stock:

• 1 Whole Chicken (free-range)
• 3 Stalks Celery (cut into large chunks)
• 2 Carrot Green Tops
• 2 Carrots (cut into large chunks)
• 2 Large White Onions (quartered, still attached to the root)
• 1 Medium Turnip (quartered)
• 1 Head of Garlic (cut in half)
• 1/4 Bunch Fresh Thyme
• 5-7 Sprigs Fresh Parsley
• 2 Bay Leaves
• 1 tsp Whole Black Peppercorns

Soup:

• Lug of Extra Virgin Olive Oil  
• 1 Medium Onion (chopped)
• 3 Garlic Cloves (minced)
• 2 Carrots (chopped to desired size)
• 3 Stalks of Celery (chopped to desired size)
• 4 Sprigs of Fresh Thyme (leaves only)
• 1 Bay Leaf
• *Shredded Chicken from Stock*
• *Stock made previously*
• *Egg Noodles* (recipe follows)

Egg Noodles:

• 2 Cups Flour
• 3 Egg Yolks
• 1 Egg
• 2 tsp Salt
• 1/4-1/2 Cup Water

Directions for the Stock: 

1. Place whole chicken (minus the giblets) in a large stock pot along with the rest of the vegetables on the stove on medium high heat.
2. Pour only enough water in to cover up the chicken and vegetables (about 2 & 1/2 - 3 quarts).
3. Add the thyme, parsley, bay leaves, and peppercorns and bring to a boil. 
4. Once it boils, turn the heat down to medium-low and gently simmer for 1 & 1/2 hours, partially covered, until the chicken is fully cooked.
5. Remove the chicken to the cutting board and once it cools remove the skin and bones and shred the meat. Set the shredded meat to the side to use later.
6. Strain the stock and remove the vegetables, then set them to the side in a separate bowl.
7. Let stock cool and skim the fat off the surface then set the stock to the side.
8. Remove the root from the onions and puree onions, carrots, carrot tops, turnip, and celery in a blender or food processor.
9. Add pureed vegetables back into the stock; whisk together and set aside for later. 

Directions for the Egg Noodles:

1. Place flour in a bowl, then, after making a well in the center, add in the egg yolks, egg and salt.
2. Thoroughly mix with hands.
3. Add the water in 1 Tbsp at a time, mixing after each addition. 
4. Stop adding water when you can roll the dough into a ball. 
5. On a floured surface, knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes)
6. Cover and let it rest for 10 minutes.
7. Divide into 4 equal parts.
8. Using one part at a time, roll dough into a paper-thin rectangle. Keep remaining dough covered.
9. Gently and loosely, roll rectangle into a spiral. Cut to desired thickness and unroll. 
10. Place strips to dry on a towel or wax paper. This will usually take about 2 hours. 
11. Break the strips into small strips when dry. 
12. Cook in boiling water with salt added for about 15-20 minutes until tender. Drain, then add to soup when soup is finished.

Directions for the Soup:

1. In a stock pot, add oil and wait for it to heat. When heated, add in the onion, garlic, celery, carrots, thyme, and bay leaf. 
2. Cook and stir until vegetables are tender (about 6 minutes).
3. Pour in the chicken stock and bring to a boil. 
4. Add in the shredded chicken and simmer for another few minutes to bring to the same temperature. 
5. (If you are going to serve all of the soup at once, stir in the already cooked egg noodles and cook for another minute or so)
6. Separate into equal servings. Salt and pepper to taste and sprinkle with fresh parsley. 
7. (If freezing remaining soup, separate into freezer safe Tupperware to cool before placing in freezer. To defrost, simply place soup in a pot on the stove and add a little bit of water until it is the right consistency. When warm, and noodles are cooked, add the noodles into the soup). 

 Nutrition Facts (with noodles, per serving):

• Calories: 350
• Total Fat: 20 grams
• Sodium: 796 mg
• Potassium: 189 mg
• Sugars: 3 grams
• Protein: 21.2 grams
• Vitamin A: 51.4%
• Vitamin C: 16%
• Calcium: 3%
• Copper: 4%
• Folate: 5.5%
• Iron: 13%
• Magnesium: 4%
• Manganese: 10%
• Phosphorus: 4.5%
• Selenium: 12%

 What it Costs:

• Total cost is somewhere between 13-15 dollars.
• When you divide this by how many servings you get (14), it's about 1 dollar per serving. Definitely a lot cheaper than a frozen dinner or fast food.

Tips and Tricks

•  When making the egg noodles, don't just throw away the egg whites from the yolks you have to use. Save the egg whites in a bowl in the fridge and use them to make my healthy and tasty bran muffins. Here is the recipe: Michelle's Healthy and Tasty Bran Muffins
• The reason I don't add the noodles into the soup when I cook it is because we freeze all but two servings of the soup (which we eat right away). The noodles will get soggy if they are cooked, frozen and reheated again. The easiest thing to do is to cook as many noodles as you need per serving separately, and then add them into the reheated soup. This will keep the noodles from getting soggy, and will also make sure that you get the right amount of noodles in your serving of soup.  
• While the stock is cooking you can make your noodles. Don't worry, if they're not dry by the time you need to boil them, you will still be able to cook them the same way. Just be sure to wait for the remaining noodles to dry before you put them away in a bag to store them.
• The stock and soup are very versatile. You can add whatever else in that you want to make it taste the way you like it. The essentials for any chicken stock however are chicken, carrots, celery, onion, garlic, spices, and herbs. So while you can add other things to the stock, I wouldn't recommend removing any of these ingredients from it or else it will loose its flavor. 
• You do not have to puree the left over vegetables from the stock if you do not wish to do so. Pureeing the vegetables adds A LOT more flavor to the stock though, so I would highly recommend it. You can also play around with how much of the vegetables you want to puree and which ones to give it a different consistency and flavor. 
• You can also use rice instead of noodles to make it healthier. About half of the time we eat this soup I will make up some brown rice to toss in.
• As always, it is much better to buy organic vegetables if you can get them.

Why it is Healthy:

• For one, you are cooking from scratch and it is pretty hard to beat that. Everything from the stock to the noodles, you will be creating yourself. This way you can know for sure what you have put in it, and how much of what you have put in it. 
• You get to develop the flavors of the chicken naturally and cook it in a healthy way. By boiling the chicken with vegetables and letting it sit in its own juices instead of cooking it with oil in a frying pan, it becomes less fatty.
• This recipe uses a ton of vegetables that are terrific for you. If you make the recipe just as I have written it you will be getting carrots, carrot greens, turnip, onions, celery, parsley and thyme. You are getting them directly in the soup, but also in the stock and the puree if you add it to the stock. This bowl of soup is packed full of nutrients. Especially in the winter, this soup can help keep you healthy!
• Carrots are great because they are high in carotenoids and as such have many different health benefits. High carotenoid intake has been associated with a decrease of up to 50 percent in bladder, cervix, prostate, colon, larynx, and esophageal cancer as well as up to a 20 percent decrease on postmenopausal breast cancer. Carrots are also good for your eyes because they have the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin which can prevent cataracts and keep your eyes from degenerating. These carotenoids also break down to vitamin A in the body which is an antioxidant and immune system booster and can also help you see better in dim lighting. By adding the carrot greens to the puree you probably won't be able to taste them but you will get the potassium and protein they provide. 
• Celery is good because it helps lower high blood pressure. It also contains silicon which is good for bone health. Celery can also help stop the growth of cancer cells.
• Onions help to build strong bones and can reduce death from heart disease by 20%. It can also help relieve asthma.
• Turnips are an incredibly healthy vegetable. One cup of cooked turnips only has 35 calories but has 3 grams of fiber, 250 mg of potassium, 18 mg of vitamin C, and 51 mg of calcium. As such they are very good for bone health. 
• Garlic lowers cholesterol and prevents blood clots. Garlic also has anti-cancer properties and can even help fight the common cold. Also, it can help with blood pressure. It has recently been discovered that garlic can help with weight control. 
• Parsley can help fight cancer.
• Thyme contains antioxidants as well as aids with digestion. It can even relieve chest and respiratory problems like coughs or bronchitis.
• Most of the information regarding the vegetables and herbs was taken from The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth by Jonny Bowden.

Well, that's my recipe for today. I hope that you enjoy it. Please feel free to comment with any questions and I will be happy to answer them. Also, "like" the Tummy Temple on Facebook here:
The Tummy Temple Facebook Page

As always, thanks for reading and eating along with me!

Fall Fruit Salad

As all of you probably know by this point, I am a fall fanatic! Aside from the weather, colors, and clothes, I love the seasonal fruit! Apples are definitely my favorite, but there is a whole plethora of all fall fruits that are delicious!

Several weeks ago I was at the grocery store with my husband shopping for apples in the organic produce section and I saw a bag of fresh cranberries. I had actually never seen fresh cranberries in person before and was very excited. I just had to get some and see what I could do with them. First off, if you've never eaten a cranberry by itself before, it is nothing like cranberry juice, or the cranberry sauce everyone loves at Thanksgiving. Real cranberries, though flavorful, are incredibly tart! I knew of all of the great benefits cranberries have, especially as a woman, so I really wanted to try to make something with the cranberries without adding much sugar to balance our the tartness. What I ended up with was a delicious fall salad made with apples, pears, grapes, cranberries, vanilla yogurt, walnuts, and cinnamon. 

My husband Kris loved it surprisingly. The natural sugar from the other fruit balances out the tartness in the cranberries and makes for a good mix. This salad recipe is also extremely versatile as you can play with different kinds of nuts, or no nuts at all, different kinds of fruits, yogurt, and spices. You can also do different proportions than what I did to get the flavor you want. It is also great because you can eat it almost any time of day for breakfast, a side to lunch, or dessert. Below is my recipe for my fall fruit salad that is also incredibly healthy for you. (I gave general proportions for the cranberries and grapes so that you can have it either more tart or more sweet depending on if you use more of one or the other):

Ingredients:
About 8 servings:

A couple handfuls fresh cranberries (quartered)
Several handfuls red seedless grapes (quartered)
1 Honey crisp apple (chopped)
1 Green pear (chopped)
6 Oz low fat vanilla yogurt
A handful chopped walnuts
Sprinkling of cinnamon

Directions:

1. Once you have chopped everything up, combine all of the ingredients (except the cinnamon) in a large bowl and gently mix them together until the yogurt lightly coats all of the fruit and nut pieces (If you want, you can toast the walnuts in the oven at 350 degrees for 2-5 minutes).
2. Sprinkle cinnamon on salad to taste and gently stir again. 
3. Chill in the refrigerator, or eat right away and enjoy!

Nutrition Facts:

•  Calories: 117
• Total Fat: 5.5 grams
• Potassium: 137.3 mg
• Fiber: 3 grams
• Sugar: 12.2 grams
• Protein: 2.4 grams
• Vitamin B-6: 7%
• Vitamin C: 16%
• Calcium: 5%
• Copper: 8%
• Iron: 3%
• Magnesium: 5%
• Manganese: 20%
• Phosphorus: 6%
• Riboflavin: 5%
• Thiamin: 4%

Why It's Good For You:

• Pretty much all of the fruit in this salad (except the grapes) are in season in the fall. This means that you can buy organic (they will have ripened naturally and without the use of pesticides or other chemicals) and they will taste amazing!
• Apples: As I have written about in previous posts (Marvelous Mini Apple Pies), apples are great for you. The skin on them provides a lot of fiber and they have a lot of antioxidants in them to prevent you from getting sick. Read my previous post to learn more about apples.
• Pears: Pears provide both fiber and potassium and are not very high in calories. They also contain a lot of other good minerals like calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium. Some have said that pears are great because they are less likely than other fruits to provoke an allergic reaction. 
• Grapes: Grapes contain a compound called resveratol. In humans, high intakes of resveratol is associated with a reduced risk in cardiovascular disease and a reduced risk of cancer. Resveratol is also one of the best anti-aging substances around. The life spans of all life forms tested so far has been dramatically lengthened by even small amounts of resveratol. Grape skins are also a good source for favonoids called oligomeric proanthocyanidins. This is basically a "super-antioxidant." They also lower cholesterol and are terrific for allergies as they have a natural antihistamine effect. 
• Cranberries: Studies have shown that cranberries have some of the most potent antioxidants of any common fruit studied. They have anticancer properties as well as antibacterial properties that aid in preventing urinary tract infections. It's true, doctors will recommend eating raw cranberries if you think you might be contracting a UTI. Cranberries are nutrition-packed red bombs and though tart, are balanced out very well in this salad.

• Walnuts: Walnuts contain the highest amounts of omega-3 fats of any other nuts. Omega-3 is an incredibly healthy fat that can benefit you in many ways. One of these ways is to support brain function in several ways. Omega-3 fats can actually improve your mood. High consumption of omega-3's has been linked to low levels of depression. Walnuts are also great for kids and have been linked to less behavioral problems and less ADD-like behavior. Walnuts can also help you manage your weight. Eating a few walnuts before a meal decreases levels of hunger and may cause you to eat less at meals. 
• Yogurt and Cinnamon: are also really good for you as well, providing benefits such as having a healthy digestive system because of the "good" bacteria in yogurt and upping your immunity. Cinnamon is good because it can help with pain and stiffness in your muscles and joints as well as reducing blood sugar and lowing cholesterol. There's not a lot of yogurt or cinnamon in this recipe, however, if you are interested in getting more benefits from these other two ingredients you can add more of either. Just be aware that adding yogurt will up the fat and/or sugar content depending on what kind of yogurt you get. I would even recommend getting an organic Greek yogurt and adding either agave and vanilla to sweeten it up or just buy vanilla flavored Greek yogurt. 
• *Most nutritional information in this section was taken from The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth by Jonny Bowden.    

I love this salad because it uses so many fruits that are in season. As I have said before, I think it is truly amazing that God allows fruits with lots of antioxidant power which helps you from getting sick, to be abundant in the seasons when we need protection from sickness the most. Feel free to experiment with this salad and make it your own. Hope you enjoy and as always, thanks for reading and eating along with me!

P.S. I will also be posting some delicious chilly weather soup recipes very soon!

Michelle's Top Ten Tricks for Healthy Shopping

When I started this blog last week I had so many ideas of things to write about. The problem, is though, that it's impossible to write all of these different posts at once. I believe very strongly in eating things that are healthy for you and there are literally thousands of things I could tell you you should eat (and I will get there eventually) but often times, you need to have some basic guidelines for healthy buying first. Sometimes the daunting task of going grocery shopping (especially if you're trying to buy healthy foods) can feel more like a battle. Every soldier needs a strategy on the battlefield and thus, this is a list of some of the guidelines I have for when I go to the battlefield, er, store rather, for healthy grocery shopping:

1. Don't Go to the Store Hungry!
Alright, alright, I had to start with an easy one. I had to mention it though because I used to be really, now I'm talking really bad about this. Kris and I would wake up on Saturday morning laze around for awhile, decide we would go to the store, and then come back and have breakfast. The problem was though, that by the time we got to the store, it was time for lunch, and then well, those doughnuts are lookin' mighty delicious! It is really important to have a full meal, or at least a filling snack containing plenty of fiber (see previous post) before you go to the store.  Nothing will tempt you to buy unhealthy foods more than when you shop with a grumbly tummy.

2. Plan Before You Shop
Kris and I have gotten in the habit of meal planning for the week, yes it sounds boring, but it's actually pretty fun. We think about what kinds of things we might like to have during the week and then start brainstorming ways to add vegetables in to make it a more healthy, balanced meal. Even if you are in college and live on campus in a dorm, it is still possible to do this even with the snacks you buy. Think about the times when you usually have a snack, and decide what things would be good to eat during those periods. From this meal/snack plan you should make a shopping list. You are less likely to go off the beaten path and buy junk food if you know what you are at the store to get before you get there. This meal planner from Mead is what we use:

3. Shop on the Perimeters of the Store
What I mean by this is, stay away from the inner isles. That's where most of the processed, ever-so-tempting junk food is. Produce, meat, and dairy and often organic sections are all usually around the outer edges of the store. That is the safest place to shop when you go to the grocery store. It's pretty hard to get in trouble when you're surrounded by bright, delicious fruits and vegetables. Of course, it's pretty impossible to never go into the middle of the store, but the majority of your shopping should be on the perimeter.

4. Shop on the Highest and Lowest Shelves
This is another tip for surviving the middle of the store. If you are in one of the center isles of the store, let's say the breakfast cereal isle, it will not take you long to realize that all of the sugary, chocolately, and most delicious of all processed and barren of all nutritional value will be right at eye level. Why is this? Because you are supposed to look at them more so that you will buy them. Let's be honest, if a store was trying to sell you Fruit Loops, it would be pretty silly for them to place them on the bottom shelf. The location and way items are placed in a grocery store is important to be aware of. Often times you are being tricked into buying something just because it's literally right in front of you. While this is not a hard and fast rule, the location part always applies. For example, at Walmart, my favorite brand of cereal, Kashi, is located at the very end of the cereal aisle, pushed to the side, far away from the more popular brands. Also, the steel cut oats oatmeal is located on the top shelf whereas the flavored and instant oatmeals are right at eye level.  

5. Beware of Foods Making Health Claims
This rule is difficult for some people, but I have been tricked by products making healthy claims more than once, and thus I think it is important to mention. Have you ever seen an apple claiming to be "1/2 the fat" or a carrot with a label reading "100% carrot!" Of course you haven't. Why? Because these products are healthy for you naturally and don't need to make those claims. Often times products labeled with something to make you think that is good for you, is often misleading you.

For example, many kinds of foods that would normally have sugar in them release their "light" version often spelled "lite" to make it look even cuter. While it is true that there is no sugar in these kinds, the product is still sweet. Why? Usually it is because a chemical called aspartame is added. Aspartame is also what is added to diet soda to still make it taste good. The problem with aspartame is it's third ingredient, methanol. In the body, methanol is converted into formaldehyde, embalming fluid. You know the stuff that those frogs were sitting in to preserve them before you dissected them? Yeah that stuff . . .Trust me on this one, while no sugar is generally good for you, you are much better off with the real deal.

Foods claiming "0 grams Trans Fat" you should be suspicious of. The FDA allows foods contain less than 1/2 gram of fat per serving to claim that they have 0 grams of trans fat in them. The answer couldn't be farther from the truth. If you buy a bag of chips that has 1/2 gram of fat per serving, sit down in front of the TV, and mindlessly eat 2-4 servings, you have consumed 1-2 grams of trans fat. According to Dr. Colbert, a fourteen-year study found that just a 2% increase in trans fats elevated a person's risk of heart disease by 36%.

Also as I touched on briefly in my last post, a lot of bread marked as "wheat" bread is no more than white bread dyed with molasses to give it a brown color. Look for bread that is whole wheat and read the ingredients to be sure it's not lying to you. Which leads me to my next tip:

6. Always Read the Ingredient List
Things you want to avoid like the plague in ingredient lists include but are not limited to, any kind of dye, high fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated oils, hydrogenated oils, white flour, aspartame, mechanically separated meat (well anything mechanically separated really if I were you, eesh), sodium nitrates or sodium nitrites (what dyes lunch meat to make it look pink and pretty in its package), and anything that sounds like something you learned about in chemistry class. If you can't understand or can't pronounce something on the list of ingredients it's probably not something you should be putting into your body. Trans Fat is often disguised as anything saying "partially hydrogenated" or "shortening."

MSG is a common ingredient found in processed foods. MSG enhances the taste of foods by increasing the sensitivity of your taste buds, making certain foods more addictive. MSG is associated with a large number of health problems such as obesity and excitrotoxicity. MSG is so tricky because it can be disguised as many different kinds of ingredients.

Watch out for these ingredients because they ALWAYS have MSG in them:

• Glutamate
• Glutamic acid
• Monosodium glutamate
• Monopotassium glutamate
• Textured protein
• Hydrolized protein
• Calcium caseinate
• Sodium caseinate
• Yeast extract
• Yeast food
• Autolyzed yeast
• Gelatin

For a more complete list of ingredients containing MSG I would highly recommend buying Eat This and Live by Dr. Colbert. It is seriously one of the best books on nutrition I have come across. 

7. Read Nutrition Labels
I listed this one second after reading the ingredients because if you are eating a bunch of artificial chemicals it doesn't really matter much what the nutritional information is. However, reading nutrition labels is extremely important. The first thing you should notice when reading a nutrition label is the serving size. This is important because it tells you how much of a certain item you can eat and get the following nutrition from it. There is a big difference between a brand of cookie where a serving size will give you 20% of your daily value in fat in just one cookie, or in four.

Total fat and calories are also important to look at. However, often times products will decrease the fat in their products by making it up elsewhere. This usually occurs in the sugar or sodium section. Less fat or less calories, will often mean more sodium to make up for the loss of flavor so check it out before you buy. Saturated fat is what you especially want to look out for because it is a very bad kind of fat associated with cancer, heart disease, and high blood pressure.

Please, please, please be sure to look at how much sugar there is in what you buy. Food companies nowadays put sugar in everything-you name it-crackers, bread, applesauce, oatmeal, etc. The sugar on the nutrition label will give you the amount of sugar naturally occurring as well as added so it is a good idea to pop back down to the ingredient list and see where sugar is located on the list (as well as anything that contains sugar such as high fructose corn syrup). Fruit juices are usually high in sugar, so you want to make sure you get a juice that is 100% juice so that you are only getting the naturally occurring sugar.The good news is that if a product has sugar in it, it probably doesn't contain aspartame, but still keep your sugar level to a minimum.

 

Minute Maid Juice Nutrition Label (notice the high sugar content)

8. Buy Organic!
For a long time I didn't understand the fuss about organic and it make me mad when all of these hippies would come out of the woodwork and tell me I needed to support local farmers. After lots of research and reading though, as much as I hate to say it, those hippies were right! While supporting local farmers is honorable, the real reason to buy organic is so you don't get sick. Foods that aren't grown organically are usually tainted by pesticides, herbicides, parasites, and chemicals. When we eat foods treated with these things, they get into our bodies. Pesticide exposure has been linked to multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, leukemia, other cancers, Parkinson's, and Alzheimer's Disease.

While you might not be willing to buy organic for everything, there are some foods that you really should buy organic. Produce with thin peels are really important to buy organic. Foods with thicker peels usually protect the fruit from the pesticides, and since you don't usually eat the peel, it's not as big of a deal. Foods like apples, kiwis, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, grapes, etc., should be bought organic though. Often times organic fruits and vegetables won't look as appetizing from the outside as other produce, but I can guarantee that they will taste better. I just had an organic honey crisp apple for lunch, and it was so good, it made me cry. Seriously.

Organic, as well as wild caught meat is also tons better for you than what you would normally buy. Any kind of meat, poultry, or fish that is not organic may have serious problems with it. Animals will store pesticides and other chemicals in their bodies in their fat. If you are not going to eat organic, you should at least switch to eating leaner kinds of meat so as to reduce the risk of ingesting pesticides that can harmfully affect your brain. When shopping for fish, always opt for wild Pacific or Alaskan over farmed fish.

Other products that I would recommend buying organic are milk (Horizon is a good brand), and other dairy products if you can, and snacks. Not all foods claiming to be organic are, however: Look for the USDA label on packaged foods to make sure they are certified organic.

 

9. Be Wary of Meat

Ever since Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution came out I have wanted to buy my own meat grinder. While it is usually better to lower the amount of red meat you eat, sometimes it is impossible to get around using ground beef or other kinds of meat. The problem with buying pre-packaged ground beef is best illustrated in this short video clip:

 

With how processed ground beef usually is, it is best to either grind your own, or find a cut of beef you like and have the butcher grind it for you. A caution with this as well: Unless you can watch a butcher grind your meat, you can't be sure that he is not adding meat that has been oxidized (started browning) to your nice cut of meat you are paying for. I am not saying that all butchers or distributors of meat are evil, but many have their ways of cutting corners.

All that I am trying to illustrate by this tip is the importance of knowing where your meat is coming from because most of us don't. If you haven't seen the video clip, please watch it because it will really explain all of this much better.

10.  Shop for Nutrition
When Kris and I first moved to Illinois just after being married, we were very worried about our finances. We spent hours coupon clipping and would come home completely excited when we found out we saved more than half of our bill. We got really good at saving money shopping by buying whatever was on sale, and using coupons. Everything seemed right in the world.

30 Pounds Later . . .
I talk about this jokingly, but I guess it's really not funny. Shopping based on just what's on sale and what's cheap is really not the way to go. Don't believe me? Allow me to illustrate. I buy a bag of potato chips on sale at the store for $3. It's a pretty big bag and I think I can make it last awhile so I think I've lucked out. Wrong. What I don't realize is that when I eat these potato chips, I am less likely to stop at just one serving because they're just so addictive and I will probably eat them more often whenever I crave them. I will eat them quickly and will probably have to go to the store again at the end of the week and buy another bag (especially if I have a man living in the house). If that's not enough, my body isn't really benefiting from what I'm giving it. If anything, I'm harming it. Sure my taste buds might like it, but the rest of my body is yelling at me to STOP PLEASE!.

Compare this to buying a box of Kashi Pita Chips. You buy the pita chips for around the same price, maybe a little more, but you measure out a serving size when you eat them. Why can you just eat a serving size? Because of the nutrition that's in them. You will not only be satisfying your taste buds, but you will be giving your body something that it can use to make you healthier and curb your appetite. You'll be giving your body whole wheats, fiber, and other good things. You will eat less of them and therefore won't have to buy them as often. What seems like the better option?

While not all examples line up that nicely, the concept is still important to keep in mind.  As Dr. Catherine Shanahan says, author of Food Rules, think of it this way, instead of shopping for food in terms of bulk, shop for the nutrition that's in the food. By shopping for the nutrition that's in food, you'll be spending your money on foods that are more filling and being healthier, which is ultimately what is most important. Just think of all the money you'll be saving on doctor's bills in the future by avoiding all kinds of health problems!

*You should try to spend a fairly decent portion of your grocery budget on produce, and in all different fun colors! Roughly half of every meal should be fruits and vegetables. This may mean you need to go to the store more than just once a week as well, but it is definitely worth it!

Concluding Remarks
While there are many other tips I could have included, I wanted to give you the top ten that I use when I shop personally. Just to clarify, I haven't ever taken any classes on nutrition, nor am I a medical professional in any way, shape, or form. I am however, someone who is concerned about my family's health, both now, and in the future. I hope that in providing you with these ideas I can give you a layman's view on the best ways to pick healthy foods when shopping. Feel free to leave other comments or questions below. Thanks for reading and eating along with me!