Tuesday, May 24, 2011

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/

4 comments:

Softy said...

I recommend Ruohonjuuri! You get everything at once and since most of those ingredients (and especially the superfoods) are staples that maintain for a long time you don't have to visit the place too often.
www.greenstreet.fi is also great!
Good luck! I think it's great that you're so interested in nutrition! Please share more tips and your experiences! I am, as you know, also very dubious about cow's milk, (although I do consume Turkish yoghurt from time to time). The smoothies and the icekreams are the best part of raw food! :)
I can also recommend Renée Voltaires cookbooks En salig blandning and Peace, love & food. And for more raw food Raw food på svenska and Raw delight (också på svenska). I love the raw desserts! They taste SO good and they ARE good for you!
Sorry for the long comment! :)

Mia said...

Well of course, you are right! Ruohonjuuri should have most of the stuff... and it is already my selected store for shampoo, toothpaste and cosmetics...becoming a real concious consumer, heh....
I need to find the time to go ALONE to Ruohonjuuri and check out their products...Thanks Sofi.

En fråga: alltså är raw food = råsmart - är nog inte helt bombis på det. Boken heter alltså Wise Choice på engelska. Men du verkar vara mer insatt.

Softy said...

Nä, raw food är inte samma som råsmart (har inte läst boken men faktiskt beställt den från bibban, tänkte kolla först om det lönar sig för mig att köpa den om den är jättefamiljeinriktad.) Raw food betyder att ingenting hettas upp över 38 grader. Man använder mer att torka t.ex. som håller kvar alla näringsämnen (jfr med att koka). Jag äter absolut inte enbart raw food (och jag tror inte ens att det är bra i vårt finska vinterklimat) men nu på sommaren ökar jag andelen igen. Gör en massa smoothies och gröt på just t.ex. dadel och bovete, "mjölken" gör jag på olika nötter och mandlar (superenkelt att göra själv!) På dem kan man också göra "smör". All sötning görs med honung eller agave. Inget vitt socker eller vitt mjöl och inga mjölkprodukter, förutom levande yoghurt ibland. Så det är nog inte samma, men det verkar ju som om Råsmart hade många liknande inslag? Det är som Voltaires böcker. Hon äter både fisk och kött ibland, men har också en massa inslag av raw food. Så det är ganska likt min egen diet.
Sen har jag läst om en bok som gjort succé i Sverige och Danmark som heter Kärnfrisk familj. Kanske du också hört om den men tänkte på dig när jag läste om den, att det säkert också är något du sku vara intresserad av.
Nå, nu blev det långt igen! ;)

Mia said...

Sidu, det var ju det jag tänkte. Har hört om kärnfrisk familj, men inte läst. Tror att Råsmarta Ulrika har handlingsplan till de som vill vara kärnfriska. Jag tar med boken på fredag. Tror nog den är bra för sådana utan barn också. Jättefina recept!

Är ännu fundersam om en totalt mjölkfri och glutenfri diet i barnaåren leder till både den ena och den andra total-intoleransen i vuxen ålder. Fundersam på hur långt man ska gå (men dagis och skola när ju se till att de får både det ena och det andra).