Health Tips

Thank you so much to the ladies who offered their health tips:o) I think my tendency is to go "all out" healthy at once, and it's good to have the reminder to take it easy, NOT NAG(!), and try to honor my husband's need for a gradual transition to healthier foods. I need to remember that whereas I am used to the way I like to cook, he is not.

I wanted to post your comments, because I think these are some very helpful ideas. I know I will be trying some of them!

"One thing you can do is add untoasted wheat germ and bran to baked goods, even mixes. It won't fix all the "evils" of the white flour and preservatives, but it will add something to them. And help develop a taste for the whole wheat. In baking from scratch you might add just a bit of whole wheat to start with, like 1/4 cup. Slowly increase the amount. I think this allows the taste buds to become accustomed to the heartier taste of the whole grain without totally shocking the whole system. I use wheat germ in a lot of my baking and you really can't tell the difference usually. Now the bran is a bit stronger and if I am baking for someone not used to whole wheat I go easy on the bran.
On the rice, we as kids thought that brown rice was gross. We really didn't like it. So, we made 2 pots of rice, one brown and one white. Then we would mix the two. At first the proportions were more white and less brown, and then gradually we used less and less white rice. Pretty soon we were eating plain brown rice and got to where we prefered it. We did the same thing with spaghetti, mixed the whole wheat and the white. Never really made the full switch on that one but...Anyway, hope that helps. Go slow and easy on him and he'll probably take to it okay! :-)"

"I have been married 25 years...my husband does not care for 'healthy' food :o) But over the years I have seen changes. For instance we started out with whole milk! Imagine that! Now we drink 1%.My husband still loves white bread but I buy Brownberry Honey Wheat and he sure likes that toasted with butter :o)We have a little brown rice every once in a while too.So the changes are small and slow...But you have many years. It's important not to nag. Smoothies are good and full of fruit. Carrot Cake has some carrots :o) Ice Cream is nice with strawberries...and we always have applesause in the house."

"Hi Erin! I'm a new visitor to your site. I wanted to offer a few suggestions for cooking healthier and introducing better food for your husband. I was actually going to mention what Nichola said about adding a little whole wheat flour to your recipes for bread, muffins, pancakes, waffles, etc. This is what my mom did when she introduced whole grain baking to us. Now she makes the truly whole grain baked goods. For the rice, I thought of a rice cooker. I received one as a gift this year from a friend. They are easy to use and relatively inexpensive. Mine came from Target and cost around $20. The thing that's great about a rice cooker is that it makes the rice just the right consistency, softer and fluffier. I used a type of oriental white rice when I tried it out but I think you could use any variety of rice. The key is to rinse the rice under water many, many times to remove the polishing agents and bleach. You wouldn't believe the kind of stuff they add to rice these days! This makes the rice sticky, if your husband likes sticky rice. I think most the Asian groups rinse their rice before cooking. We westerners just aren't so savvy:) I prefer whole wheat pastas and pancakes over the white. I think they are so much heartier and are more flavorful. There are some things that I prefer being cooked with white flour such as biscuits, desserts, pastries and cakes just because it makes them softer and lighter. Hope these ideas help. Nice to meet a new fellow blogger!"