It’s not easy to change lifelong habits especially when it involves what goes in our tummies. The foods we’ve enjoyed for many years become “comfort foods” to us. I’ve heard many a patient say, “I’d rather die than change my diet.” So what can we do to improve our diet while still satisfying our tummies? Quite honestly, hearing the words, “You have cancer,” was motivation enough for me to make productive changes. Here are six tips for changing to a healthier diet that helped me to transform my diet while keeping my husband and family excited about meal times.
1. Start with your favorite family recipes.
Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water. Look at your favorite recipes and what you can change to make them healthier. For example, my chicken and rice casserole was the first recipe to change. I substituted organic chicken, whole grain brown rice, organic eggs, avocado mayonnaise, and organic celery, and I added sesame seeds and lots of fresh parsley. My goal is to use organic produce and meats, whole grains, healthy fats, and more plants.
2. Vary your protein sources and be willing to try new things.
I’ve found some recipes that contain plant-based protein such as quinoa, lentils, beans, etc. that are delicious. This gets us away from eating animal meat three times a day (like we used to), which is difficult to digest. Did you know that seventy-five percent of our body’s energy goes towards digestion? By eating more plants, which are easier to digest, more energy can be used to repair and heal our bodies.
3. Use nuts, seeds, fruits, and vegetables for snacks.
All plants help us to fight cancer and disease. The more we eat the better. Nuts and seeds contain both protein and healthy fats. Fruits and vegetables are like magic bullets for healing our bodies. Our health will fare better when we eat celery and carrot sticks, fresh fruit, nut butter on apples, and celery sticks, nuts, hummus, and vegetable chips as snacks.
4. Substitute a smoothie as a meal replacement each day.
My smoothies contain 7-8 superfoods, organic ingredients, rich sources of seed fiber, dark leafy greens, plant-based protein, and healthy fats. Instead of cooking, I just throw everything into the Vitamix or blender. This enables me to use plant-based proteins healthily and deliciously and guarantees me eight plants daily. Everyone loves my smoothies and it’s easy! And I’m not slaving in the kitchen all day. My Chocolate Banana Blueberry smoothie is brain-boosting, gut-building, cancer-fighting, immune-boosting, and heart-protecting. How to make this smoothie is a popular YouTube video on my channel @ginnybrant. Click here to view this YouTube video.
5. Use intermittent fasting.
When you know you’ve veered over the edge with your diet during a family vacation or special event, simply water fast until noon the following day. This balances your blood sugar, curbs your appetite, promotes weight loss, and provides many health benefits. When you return to normal life, try fasting with water for an entire day. This tip is not for type 1 diabetics.
6. Compromise with the 80/20 rule.
When at home, we eat healthy, organic foods. When we go out to eat with others, we choose wisely from the menu. It’s okay to compromise and enjoy those comfort foods occasionally. By eating 80 percent healthy, we can afford to cheat a little.
According to Drs. Dean and Ayesha Sherzai, the more plants we eat, the healthier we will be. A more plant-based diet lowers our risks for almost every disease including cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, autoimmune conditions, and heart disease, and even can lessen symptoms of Covid-19. This should motivate all of us to include more plants in our diet. Be creative and take it one step at a time.
What suggestions helped you to move towards a healthier diet? Please share them in the comments below.
View this video on YouTube:
Six Tips for Changing to a Healthier Diet
Here’s another YouTube video:
Five Spices You Can Use as Medicine
For Your Health,
Ginny
Ginny Dent Brant is a speaker and writer who grew up in the halls of power in Washington, DC. She has battled cancer, ministered around the world, and served on the front lines of American culture as a counselor, educator, wellness advocate, and adjunct professor. Brant’s award-winning book, Finding True Freedom: From the White House to the World, was endorsed by Chuck Colson and featured in many TV and media interviews. Unleash Your God-Given Healing: Eight Steps to Prevent and Survive Cancer was released in May 2020 after her journey with cancer and was recently awarded the First Place Golden Scrolls Award for Memoirs, and Second Place in both Selah Awards for Memoirs and Director’s Choice Award for Nonfiction at the Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writer’s Conference. It recently received the Christian Authors Network’s (CAN) Gold Award for Excellence in Marketing for reaching 62.5 million people with a message of cancer prevention and survival. It was written with commentary from an oncologist and was featured on CBN’s Healthy Living Show, Atlanta Live, and CTN’s Homekeepers along with over 75 media outlets. Learn more and cancer and wellness prevention blog and book information at www.ginnybrant.com.
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