Artslim
 
Picture
My weekly shopping, description and pictures, of a typical weeks food supply for two and our dog.
I shop for fruit and vegetables in season and meat when it is on special and I usually buy canned food at the SPC factory outlet in trays of 12 that last me a year, not in the shops.  I did this shop up from a shopping list and I found it cost me at least $50. extra to shop for set items in a one week quantity and not necessarily on special and I also found shopping with a list was terribly time consuming.  As I am not a person to impulse buy junk food and I understand the concept of healthy nutrition and calorie management, I may only do this shopping to a set, modified, shopping list for a while. It's main advantage is that I can record, what Reg and I eat over a week.
Picture
My weekly shopping

I have planned our menu a week ahead based on simple, nutrition’s and easy meals I can prepare in the caravan and  I have brought a new recipe book to try out, the Michelle Bridges, Crunch Time, cookbook.  

My diet is high in multi coloured vegetables and fruit. Low in refined highly processed carbohydrate, it contains neither added sugar nor white flour products. I do not buy processed food like muesli bars; I do eat fresh unsalted nuts and seeds.

I add low fat dairy, usually powdered skim milk (powdered because of our caravan lifestyle), low fat cheese and unsweetened natural live culture yogurt.  

 
Picture
  I include animal, poultry and fish, in my diet in moderation along with plant protein sources, legumes, nuts and seeds.  I value the plant proteins in my diet as the high vegetable-based diet helps maintaining a pH conducive to protecting bone density.

There are many reasons I try to avoid processed food. I have read that the high heating of cereals to make breakfast cereals and biscuits renders these carbohydrates carcinogenic over time. I also find that a great deal of commercially processed food will have refined dead nutrient value sugar, salt, very unhealthy corn syrup or saturated fatty acid, added in the processing. Not the healthy way I want to eat. So-called health foods, and breakfast cereals marketed for their added nutrient value have things like mineral iron, added which is frankly TOXIC for some people, including myself.  Yes, some people need extra iron.

Mineral iron is not, the best way to get extra iron if your reserves are low, so much better to get it by eating the foods it occurs naturally in like red meat, sardines, apricots, plus not drinking tea or coffee close to meal times. You further aid the absorption of iron, by having some high Vitamin C foods with your naturally iron rich foods, I actually do the reverse of that advice as I have an iron overload.
Picture
Nuts and seeds are a well-balanced food; they contain protein, carbohydrate and fat and have a pH that assists bone mineral absorption. One thing, I have learned, in recent years, it is not how much nutrient, we take into our body, but how well we absorb that nutrient. Nuts and seeds remain a valuable addition to my food intake, even though they have a higher calorie value mainly due to the fat content, which, must be allowed for, in a weight loss, or weight management-eating plan.

My favourite bone density-protecting nut is almond and seeds, is sesame seed, because it is high calcium and low pH, encouraging the absorption of calcium into the bone. I have recently discovered Flaxseed, which is high in nutrition and my interest in it is in its anti-inflammatory properties. I am trying many foods with anti-inflammatory properties, such as ginger, now, to help my husband with the fibromyalgia he has. I add seeds and nuts to the muesli, I make us from my rolled oat base and when I can buy flax seed, I include this in our muesli. If you are buying flaxseed, it looks very similar to sesame seed, a little larger; there is no nutritional difference between the brown and the golden varieties of the flaxseed. . “What is flax?”

Because most seeds and nuts are rich in omega 3 oils and as I smile -) recalling Michelle Bridges, say ‘your bum does not know the difference between good oil and bad oil’, I always weigh and count, portions. I add nuts and seeds to muslie, stir fries or salads or eat them as part of my fruit, seed and nut snack. Like avocado, raw fresh unsalted nuts and seeds are a storehouse of the fat-soluble vitamins essential for the health of the body.  Just be aware that even good fats pack double the calories per weight as any other food group and watch the portion control so you can enjoy the addition of nuts and seeds in your eating plan, without reducing

While I read healthy recipe books, I do not usually use recipes, I have been cooking for so long, I just look in the fridge, choose a combination I think will work well, prepare and cook. That usually works well.

I am working on providing three meals a day, of about 300 to 350 calories per meal. In addition, two snacks a day of 100 calories each, these are usually a piece of fruit and a few seeds or a couple of nuts.

I have a 100-calorie allowance for the skim milk I do have in my coffee or tea, which I have with my meals for the very reason most people are best avoiding drinking tea or coffee with meals, because it inhibits the absorption of iron, of which I absorb too much.
 


Comments


Comments are closed.