How much should a salad weigh?

      My salad weighed a pound today.  In Phase 2 of Eat For Health, Dr. Fuhrman recommends eating a pound of fruit and a pound of vegetables daily.

       Today's salad was a spinach and lettuce salad with strawberries, mandarin oranges, feta and walnuts.  I was full after I ate it, so I waited to make the rest of my lunch, which was a 2 egg veggie omelet with 2 cups of broccoli, cauliflower, chopped tomato & a tiny bit of grated cheese.  I forgot to weigh it because the missionaries came to the door right then.  But if I add in the apple and blueberries I had with breakfast, & the half banana snack, I know I've had at least 2 lbs of fruits and vegetables today.  And I'll have more with dinner. 

       As always, dinner is my challenge.  I have 6 other people to please. Nearly impossible! But I keep trying and every once in a while I get lucky.  Tonight will be spaghetti, french bread, steamed vegetables, carrot sticks and salad.  I'm thinking ice cream with strawberries on top for dessert.  (I'll probably pass on the ice-cream and do a green smoothie.)

       In some future post I think I'll take the time to weigh all my fruits and veggies in a day.  It could be over 3 pounds. That sounds like a lot of produce!

       Does anyone else eat this much produce or am I a freak of nature?  Don't answer that.  OK, do, but be kind.

Start Small to see Big Changes

You might look at what I’m eating right now and think that it’s pretty weird stuff.

I admit my tastes have changed.  But you don’t have to eat quinoa or black bean burgers or go vegetarian to see some big changes in your weight and especially changes in how you feel.

(Speaking of quinoa: I made quinoa for the first time a couple weeks ago and loved it.  Recipe coming soon.)

You don’t have to totally overhaul your (or your family’s) way of eating right away.  Start small.

Are you eating at least 5 different fruits and vegetables every day? 

Here's how I gradually changed how we eat:

I still made the meals my kids  liked, but I tripled the amount of fruits and vegetables at each meal.  My kids still got their chicken pasta alfredo, but they got a lot more veggies to choose from.  My plate would have a small amount of pasta, but at least half of it was LOADED with veggies.  I’d chop up a bunch of cauliflower, carrots, brussel sprouts, broccoli, asparagus, whatever I could find and steam them. 

It’s a lot easier to eat a cup each of 3 different veggies than 3 cups of the same vegetable.  This is also a good plan for dinner because my picky eaters can always find at least one vegetable that they like in the mix and they’ll eat at least that one.  You could also add a bowl of cut fruit or just add half an apple to their plates.

Here's what I ate in a typical day when I thought I was eating healthy.  And then in Blue, a change I'd make now to make it healthier.

Breakfast-Before:  2 shredded wheat biscuits, toast, juice  CHANGE: replace 1 shredded wheat w/ a banana. Make sure your juice is 100% juice.

Lunch- Before:  BLT  and 1/3 cup broccoli  CHANGE: Replace BLT w/Meltshroom sandwich (see healthy recipes page) and eat 2 cups steamed mixed broccoli, cauliflower and carrots.  Add a bunch of red grapes

Snack- Before: coke, 1 bag lite microwave popcorn and a few M&M’s.  CHANGE:  replace w/ some air popped popcorn and add a bowl of fresh berries topped w/ 1/3 cup vanilla yogurt and sprinkled w/ grapenuts. No coke!

Dinner- Before:  1 ½ cups Taco Casserole w/ sour cream ½ cup corn, milk  CHANGE:  only do ½ cup taco casserole skip the sour cream, add 1/2 cup Cowboy Caviar, 1 Green Smoothie (has 1 cup fruit, 1 cup packed spinach- see Healthy Recipes page for recipe.

I figure I added about 8 more servings of fruits and vegetables to my day but still made basically the same meals for my family. 

So, what do you think?  Is it realistic?  Would it work for your family?  I know if you try it, you'll feel better and see the scale start going down.

Random Food Journal 9/29/10

Breakfast:
Steel Cut Oats mixed with 1 apple chopped, 1/4 cup blueberries, 1/4 cup raisins & cinnamon. 1/3 cup cranberry juice. DoTerra Wellness Supplements (400 calories 3.6 fat grams)
Lunch:
Bajio lime chicken enchilada, 1 cup sweet rice, 1/4 cup black beans, water (576 calories 8.8 fat grams)
Snack: 2 homemade granola bars * (210 calories, 8.8 fat grams)
Dinner:
1 cup pasta alfredo made with skim milk , 3/4 cup steamed squash, broccoli & carrots, 1 small tomato, 2/3 cup (packed) raw spinach, 4 strawberries, 1/2 TB Brianna's Blush Wine Vinaigrette (368 calories 8.4 fat grams)
Snack #2: 2 more granola bars, a small banana (300 calories, 9.1 fat grams)
Grand Total: 1854 calories 38.6 fat grams
2.5 mile run, 10 minutes of upper body weights
Today wasn't one of my good days. I went a little overboard with the granola bars and Bajio. I usually try to eat more fruits and veggies than I did today. I used Prevention.com's health tracker to calculate everything. If my totals don't match up, just know that the Grand Total is correct. I'll do better tomorrow!
* Follow the link to "A Life Less Sweet" for the recipe for the homemade granola bars.

Random Food Journal

Breakfast: 1/4 cup (dry) Steel Cut Oats made with water and with 1 small apple chopped, 1/4 cup blueberries, 1/4 cup raisins, cinnamon. 1/3 cup cranberry juice.

Workout: 1 hour Zumba
Snack: Water, banana
Lunch: 3/4cup Rice and Bean Salad, 1 tomato, small carrot,water

Dinner: Green Smoothie, 1 egg scrambled, 1 tomato, 3/4 cup mixed veggies. Slice whole wheat chocolate chip zucchini bread. Water
Snack: Another slice zucchini bread. (Substituted most of the oil with applesauce, used whole wheat flour).
Weigh in:  128.0
For links to these recipes and more go to my Healthy Recipes page.