Meal Makeover: Ease into Healthy Meals

Going organic and natural is a popular movement right now in the food industry, with scores of food purchasers turning to organic products. If you’ve decided that getting away from fast good and processed food is something you want to do, you’re in good company. But how do you go from a steady diet of packaged and processed food to something natural? Making a big change all at once can bring disappointment and failure, as well as higher grocery bills on food that you won’t even eat. Start with simple changes and move forward. A meal makeover is all you may need to get on the road to better health for you and your family.

First, start with the basics. Review the food pyramid. Make sure each member of your family is getting their daily recommended servings. Then, make each choice better! Read on for some some simple meal makeover strategies.

Cut the fast food meals. Make burgers with lean ground beef instead. Gradually work up to veggie burgers, turkey burgers, beef and ground turkey from local farms, whole wheat rolls. You can find pre-packed burgers in the organic section at the grocery store, or find some recipes to make them yourself.

For meals on the go, turn to sandwiches instead of fast food. Then work to eliminate the salty processed lunchment for healthier choices like vegetables, eggs and organic meat. If you use cheese in your sandwiches, get away from “cheese food.” Make time for the deli counter and purchase healthy cheese choices. If you don’t have time for the deli counter, look for real packaged cheese instead of cheese food.

Eat eggs. Eggs are sometimes called the perfect food, but need to be eaten in moderation. You can add in more eggs by having breakfast for dinner, making hardboiled eggs for snacks, and making egg salad with organic or low fat mayonaisse. When possible, use only the egg whites in omelets and scrambled eggs.

Make kids’ favorites from scratch. Kids love their chicken fingers and mac and cheese. Packaged versions contain lots of salt, chemicals and fat. A simple mac and cheese is easy to make just by cooking macaroni and melting health cheese choices into it. Go further by replacing mac and cheese with low fat, baked versions with vegetables and whole wheat pasta. Make chicken fingers with real chicken and biscuick.

Pizza can be healthful when you make it at home and add vegetables. The same goes for pasta. Instead of butter or spaghetti sauce, add vegetables.

Add vegetables, even if you have to use canned ones at first. Then switch to fresh raw or steamed vegetables from the organic section. Add fruit and vegetable juices to increase your servings, and learn to make them from scratch. Vegetables and fruit can also be sneaked into cakes and cookies. Your family will love carrot cookies and healthy fruit pies, and probably won’t even realize that they’re eating healthy.