the whole family wants to eat healthy?...that's an adventure!!

Many times over the past seven years many have asked me if my whole family eats like me and sadly many times I have said..."No, not regularly." Over the years we have modified a lot...we have no cookies, chips, ice-cream, juice boxes, pudding cups, snacky-type things in the house for regular consumption. However, the guys still have lots of opportunities to eat stuff that I don't eat.

I eat a diet based primarily on fruits, veggies, beans and nuts with a few whole grains thrown in for good measure. Low sodium and no added oils too! I learned about this way of eating from Dr. Joel Fuhrman in his book Eat to Live. His most recent book Eat for Health is also very good and provides a more gradual approach to eating this way....more on that another day.

I have tried to share my knowledge with them over the years in a non-threatening way but I don't want to sugar-coat the facts. Well on Saturday night I told my son (mr. picky) that many kids his age (12) have the start of heart disease and he quickly exclaimed "I don't!" and when I said that chances are he does he was shocked.

When I advised the boys that daddy was considering eating better and that they would all have to no one seemed too bothered by the news. Folks...I'm trying not to get too excited...this has happened before.

So I quickly tried to figure out what to make on Sunday so that they'd start off the week enjoying the predominantly plant-based diet I had planned for them. What did I make? Here's what I made and what I had planned for it.

Ful Mesdames is a lovely fava bean dip/spread that goes well with pitas, served with veggie sticks or even in a tortilla wrap. I made a batch of this for lunches.

I made a carrot/chickpea salad for me - 4 big carrots grated or in thin match sticks, 1 can of chick peas (drained and rinsed) 1 tsp cumin, a few shakes of freshly ground pepper and juice of 1 1/2 lemons. I'll probably eat this with some of the fava beans on the side. I had some today with some left over coleslow too.

I threw together a soup with crushed tomatoes, kidney beans, mixed beans, celery, carrots, mushrooms, a pkg of frozen spinach....kind of like an ad hoc minestrone soup. This will be dinner on Wednesday and maybe Thursday along with a huge salad.

Black bean, corn and sweet potato burritos - Stir two cans of black beans, a can of corn and your favourite jar of salsa along with 1 to 2 tsp of chili powder. Set this aside. Steam and mash 3 large sweet pototoes. When they're done spread onto a whole wheat tortilla along with the bean mix. Roll it...Enclose it...or fold in half and put it under the broiler like a quessadila...everyone loved this for dinner after our 32 oz romaine lettuce salad.

Dinner for today and tomorrow for the guys was a Vegan Lasagne...it was shaped like one so I'm calling it that.

Isa's Vegan Lasagne

Saute - 1 onion, 1 stalk of celery, 1 red pepper, 1 green pepper, 3 cloves of garlic chopped. When it's getting soft....

Add - 1 big zucchini chopped, 1 big carrot chopped, 4 or 5 mushrooms chopped (I love my Pampered Chef Chopper). Stir it around a bit then...

Add - 1 cup dried red lentils and 2 cups water.
Cook until the lentils are soft and mushy. The key here was to give the filling a kind of creamy texture that would give it some body rather than being just veggies.

When that's ready add a large can of your favourite spaghetti sauce or add a large can of crushed tomatoes along with one pkg of defrosted frozen, chopped spinach....or add it frozen...it's up to you.

Simmer this and add basil, oregano, rosemary, chili sauce or pepper depending on your preference. I added more garlic and some onion powder to make it tasty without added salt.

Cook a box of whole wheat lasagne noodles. I used 16 in total.

Then assemble like you would a regular lasagne with 3 layers of filling.

I baked it in the oven covered for about 20 mins then let it cool because we were planning on baking it a bit more today.

This was served with another huge salad and everyone was satisfied with one or two pieces...hence the leftovers will be for dinner tomorrow.

My dinner was just salad. I don't eat processed grains very often but I'm trying to make it as enjoyable as possible while increasing their veggie intake and decreasing their animal product intake.

If you're still with me...let me know what Eat to Live or Eat for Health type foods your family enjoys.

Soooo…how’s it going?

Can you believe January is almost done? Time certainly flew by.

What goals did you set for yourself this year? How are they coming along?

Have you forgotten what they were?

Here’s a little trick that will help you remember them AND follow through with them.

Create a calendar for each month and in each day add two little boxes. This is what you do each day…

1) Read your goals out loud and think of what three things you can do to get closer to achieving those goals. Put a check mark in the first box for the day.

2) Through-out the day take the three steps mentioned above.

3) At the end of the day review the goals and if you took the three steps put a check mark in the second box.

That’s it!

Would you believe it’s that simple?

Make sure to put the calendar in a spot that you see each morning and each night. For example, try a bathroom mirror, door or your bedroom door. The key is to have it visible.

Let me know how you’re doing and if you need help or more tricks I’d be happy to share.

Take care of yourself!

Happy New Year! Let's work together to make it a fantastic year!

Wow...the holidays flew by. I hope you had a wonderful holiday and that you're ready to hit the ground running.

Are you feeling a little bloated, disappointed and beating yourself up or are you ready to put the food indiscretions behind you and excited to get going on a new action plan to make this your healthiest, fittest and most fabulous year ever?

I'm not beating myself up...I had a great holiday and even though I planned some splurges I also had a few unplanned ones as well...hey...no one's perfect and I certainly am the first to admit it.

I am so excited about kicking things up a notch this year not only with myself but with you too. I know how great it feels to get everything lined up...eating, exercise and sleeping....let's work on this together so that we can really make it a fantastic year.

Check out the updated class and clinic schedule often and if a date or time doesn't work let me know and we can work something out.

Take care of yourself...if you don't who will?