Wise choice; let the challenge begin!

I am getting to the end of the road with my LCHF diet. Lately I have not been eating as much fat as in the beginning and I have been eating some quinoa and some rye sandwiches and I feel it is time to turn the page. LCHF is an incredible way of getting rid of sugar addiction and the extra kilos but although I have read many books and blogs about the topic, I am still not 100% convinced that subsituting all carbohydrates with animal fat is such a good idea in the long run (short run: yes, yes, yes!). Besides, I want to be on the move and although some LCHF experts argue that it is possible to be physical active without any carbs in your blood, I still feel that I loose the extra energy needed to get myself out training (might also be the kids that suck the juice out of me during the day, leaving nothing left after their bedtime...).

So I need a change of focus. Low carb, high fat was easy; I went to the grocery store and bought vegetables that had grown above soil, meat/fish/chicken/shrimps, eggs in abundance, cream, sour cream, greek yougurt, cheese, nuts and dark chocolate (70%). Those where the ingredients for my own food (kids and hubby were served rise, pasta, potatoes, carrots as well). But now I want a lifestyle (do not want to use the word diet, as it is a longterm change in food intake habits) that can be applied to all family members and that still keeps me far away from all those fattening foods such as ice cream, milk chocolate, cookies, candies, chips, etc. Applying any kind of food to all family members is becoming more and more difficult. A has always had her own thoughts on what is good enough food for her body. For G anything goes but I am starting to suspect that he might have milk protein allergy. Hubby, well he is an adult and can decide on his own, but I do not think it is healthy to continue eating all kinds of unhealthy food for him either, although he usually remains skinny no matter what...isn't it usually so that it is the skinny men in their fifties that drop dead from a heart attack? The thought scares me....

So what did I come up with? Well, some weeks ago I came across the book Wise Choice Family (wrote about it in an earlier posting) and the idea put forward by the author appealed to me. This could be it, is what I thought. This could be the method of how to combine 4 in 1. And not so surprising but her thought are not that revolutionary. Its all about eating natural foods, trying to avoid transfats, industrial ingredients and food without nutrition value. Food intake should be as nutritive as possible. The author does not believe in milk products (as these are filled with hormones, no matter if ecological cows or not), she does not overconsume red meat and the fats that she recommend are basically coco, avocado, linseedoild and fish oils. Then she is in favor of all the hyped superfoods (berries of all kinds, spinach, nuts, seeds etc). Carbohydrates should be included but balanced and only slow carbs (quinoa, bulgur, wild rice). I liked her book, I liked her idea, but there is a tiny problem: the normal local supermarket might have some of the ingredients in her receipies, but far from all of them. To make the meals rich in flavour and to give yourself a treat ones in a while, you need to become a superfood hunter, you need to know where you can find quinoa pasta, vanilla powder without sugar, stevia, protein powder, oatmeal milk, rice milk, birch sugar, wild rice, fiber husk etc. At first sight I was set off by this smallish obstacle.

Now as my weekly routine grocery store trip is becoming ever so restricted because of the limits of the LCHF ingredients and my motivation to cook high on fat and low on carbs is failing, I have decided to give the wise choice alternative a real chance. I bought the book and the same day it arrived I got myself over the to the hypermarket that I usually try to avoid by all means (See: Going green..) and I search up and down the aisles for these superfood ingredients. I would say that I was quite happy with the outcome. Now I still have to visit some health food stores, and some internet stores, to find some of the more exotic ingredients but at least we now have the essentials in our cupbord.

This morning the experiment was introduced to the little ones (hubby had left for work, and I myself is still dubious about eating porridge instead of eggs in the morning). They did not like the porridge but they were very happy to get a green spinach smoothie for breakfast. And may I add, it was the first morning in a very very long time that A and I made it all the way to daycare without a major fight. Pure coincidence?

In the evening I decided to try out one of the ice cream recipes, based on no sugars, only bananans, avocados and strawberry - and some vanilla powder to give it some extra taste. Complete success! All family members, including myself ( who by the way has not had an ice cream in the past 4 months!) liked it very much.

Now I will continue to apply her ideas to our eating habits and to my own lifestyle. Still to do is much more than a spinach smoothie and an avocado ice cream. Like for example, getting myself to bed at 10 p.m. each night and starting to excercice almost every second day (playground boot camp is a suggestion...). Just as with the GI-diet or the LCHF-diet, I think that the hardest part is to find the right ingredients and learn some basics....after that it should be a piece of cake... except for that part about going to bed at 10 p.m. Hey please, I'll quote my daughter: "but its still light outside!"


Here a link to the Wise Choice website (all in Swedish):
http://www.rasmart.se/