Our Family's 100 Day Whole Food Challenge!

Towards the end of December (2014) our family decided, through a couple of discussions, we would do the 100 day whole food challenge.  We decided to do this as a family for a couple of reasons: 1- it would be something we could do as an entire clan and 2- help re-set our eating habits.  While we understood it was somewhat restrictive, we knew it was a short time and a good teaching/learning opportunity. And, who doesn’t love a good challenge?! Our reward will be a weekend at Camp Dakota! We decided to come up with our own rules: we would stick to whole foods only. No refined sugar, no white flour, things in packages could only have 5 or fewer ingredients. The kids could have birthday cake at birthday parties, but no candy and no soda. We didn’t exactly remember that two of the biggest candy holidays would happen during our challenge, but the kids rolled with it and we found ways to give them treats!

I felt like a newbie all over again- I found myself reading labels and having to put a lot of things back on the shelf!  

I noticed an immediate difference in our shopping trips and eating habits:

·        We rarely went in the isles, we spent most of our time (and money) getting veggies, fruits, meats, nuts and dairy

·        We spent more money, on average about $50 a week more

·        The bulk section and our family became besties

·        We bought a lot coconut oil, almonds and dates

·        Costco was a life saver for things like pure maple syrup and huge bags of organic apples

·        We went through, on average 15-18lbs of fruit and veggies every week, sometimes we’d run out on Friday (after shopping the previous Sunday)

What we learned:

·        We can, as a family, do anything we put our minds to!

·        Children will eat things you never thought they would when that’s the only option (spaghetti squash, acorn squash casserole etc.)

·        Reading labels is important! There is sugar in almost everything (not that sugar is inherently evil or bad, but it’s added to a lot of foods)

·        We learned how to make bread with 5 ingredients and tortillas and pizza dough with 3

·        We learned how to make knock off Lara Bars, because at a $1 a pop, that gets too expensive with a family of 6 (well 5 actual eaters)

·        There is literally ZERO need to buy pre-packed, full of junk, oatmeal when you can make your own oats in 2-3 minutes (cooking time included)

·        We learned how to make chocolate! Really good chocolate actually

·        Unless we were making our own almond milk, we weren’t going to be able to have it during the challenge- there are lots of added ingredients! (We never did make our own, we went without)

·        The first few days SUCKED. We all were coming off of a sugar filled Christmas and New Year’s; we really are addicted to sugar. Like Seriously.

What we will take away from this experience:

·        We probably won’t buy a chocolate bar again with how good the home made chocolate tastes

·        We really didn’t miss out on anything and neither did our kids- we made peanut butter filled chocolate hearts for valentine’s day, raw cashew carrot cake on Easter and peanut butter chocolate bars for deserts some days

·        Going anywhere took longer because we had to plan what we were doing for food (usually we packed fruit, nuts or homemade bars)

·        Our intention was NOT to lose weight; however Jessica and I lost a combined total of 41 lbs.

Would I recommend this challenge to anyone else? Yes AND be sure, if you are going to do it with your family, to include your partner (and children if you have them) in the discussion about what the “rules” and exceptions there will be. Use it as an opportunity to talk with your children about where food comes from, what types of food are most nutritious and what isn’t very nutritious but still delicious (hello maple syrup!).  Also, I would say unless you have amazing will power, doing this challenge when you have a family that won’t be participating (and therefore you will have all sorts of temptations around) will be difficult, probably really really difficult. 

Keep it real and set yourself up for success!

Including the Family in Planning for Success

Our family’s plan is in the form of a weekly meal plan, defined by our combined goal of staying healthy.  Now, we each have different nutritional and fitness goals under that overarching/umbrella goal of staying health, so creating a meal plan that meets all of our needs is key. I want to point something out (that I think has been a key to our success)- creating a combined goal and plan for the entire family.  This helps us all stay on track and provides avenues for discussion.  Jessica and I don’t create the plan independently- every weekend we take time to ask our kids what types of things they want to have for the week.  Requests can range from actual meal ideas (re: taco salad, baked chicken, pancakes) to pears, apple sauce, or even homemade chocolate.  It’s a fun way to talk with them about creating a balanced approach to eating and when dinner is put on the table we can say something like “remember- you said that sounded yummy?!” if they look less than impressed. We also try very hard to talk positively about food- all food. We might call out the fact that it is junk food, but remind our children that (for most people) all kinds of food is just fine in moderation. There is a lot of fear around food these days, we don’t want to perpetuate and allow them to internalize it. It also helps remind us- it is easy to fall into the flock and begin thinking certain foods are categorically evil (without scientific justification)- this type of thinking creates disordered eating.

Of course Jessica and I have to gather the suggestions and try to come up with a variety of options for the week- generally we try to do one or two vegetarian based meals a week and limit red meat consumption.  We plan for dinners to include a protein, fat, and carb source and to stay with portion sizes that are age appropriate (our twins usually split a serving, while our 14 year old eats about the same as we do).  Breakfast and lunches are more flexible in the sense that they aren’t necessarily written out for the entire week. Go to breakfast items are protein pancakes, quick oats with raises/fruit and a small amount of agave or smoothie.   (We are in the 98^th day of a whole food challenge, which took out cheerios as an option for breakfast. In hindsight, there is really no reason for cheerios- challenge or not. The depth of the nutritional content in cheerios isn’t great).  Lunch can be as planned as sandwiches on homemade whole wheat bread, fruit and juice or as thrown together as organic popcorn (popped in coconut oil), peanut butter and bananas. There have been times where we have only eaten fruit for dinner! There have been (and will be) times we have eaten nachos, hamburgers and (gasp) ice cream! Because every once and a while it sounds good and tastes good.  The point is to foster a good relationship with food while enjoying it (and life).

How Jessica and I work our individual nutritional goals in under this larger family umbrella is important.  We decided together that we didn’t want our children to see us on excessively restrictive diets over and over again (which is a bit reason why we made an entire lifestyle change).    I typically ensure that what I have eaten for breakfast, snack and lunch will allow for about 600-800 calories at dinner time (and possibly before bed snack).  We track our food using the myfitness pal app and will vary portion sizes of dinner foods to help meet our goals. For example if my goal is to have 160g of protein and by dinner time I have only had 120g, I will either increase my protein portion or ensure that my snack is protein based.  If I see that I am almost at my carb goal for the day I will take a smaller portion of the carb at dinner time.  I am a person of habit- I can eat the same thing for breakfast, snack and lunch every single day. In the last three years, I have had chicken with rice/sweet potato and veggies for lunch at least 80% of the time. Jessica, on the other hand, doesn’t and couldn’t do this; she very much needs variety!

What are your familys' goals and how have you mapped out the path?

The Protein Pancake!

Over the last 3 or so years I have discovered the amazing, tasty protein pancake! It can be made with as little as four ingredients- ANYONE can make this and variations of it. Basic ingredients are quick oats, egg whites salt and vanilla extract.  This morning, I decided to attempt a super high protein pancake. I’d say I succeeded- About 270 calories made up of 5.4g of fat, 33g protein, 29g of carbs and 11g fiber (net carbs = 18).  Here is my recipe (makes 2 pancakes):

8 Egg White, Jumbo

4 tablespoons Hemp Protein and Fiber Powder

0.75 Dry Cup Oatmeal Quick Oats

7g (1 tbsp) Brown Flax, Ground

1 tsp natural Vanilla Extract

Cinnamon to taste

Pinch of Sat

In hindsight, I wish I would have added ½ of a banana (which would have added about 55 calories (mostly carbs) to help the taste. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t the best tasting pancake I’ve made. 

If you’re looking for a high quality (complex carb & protein) food to eat on the go (you can add real maple syrup or agave to the batter for less mess) consider pairing oats and egg whites.   You can add banana, apple, pumpkin, zucchini, carrots- you name it- to dress it up.  I’ve even made several of them at a time, stored them in the fridge for super easy options in the morning.

Another great thing- our kids love these.  Our pre-school aged kids (yep, we have twins!) love protein pancakes.  Our oldest daughter does as well and as soon as our son is old enough I’ll get him hooked too!  Generally I have not add any additional protein supplement, since they are young and do not need near as much protein as adults. If they ate the entire pancake made today, it would have covered their entire protein requirement!  (The kids had 2 egg whites, 1/3 cup of oats, vanilla, cinnamon, 1/8 c maple syrup, 1tsp hemp & fiber powder, ½ tsp ground flax).

Bring the kids into the kitchen to help make these is a great way to open the door for conversations about nutrition and health.  Kids are much more likely to eat something they helped create, at least in my experience.  Let them help you pour the oats and mix everything in. Talk with them about the importance of a healthy diet, talk with them about what a healthy diet is (portions, protein, carbs, fat, fiber and enjoyment)!

Post your oat and egg white creations in the comment section, I’d love to see what other people have tried! 

Define Your Diet

I get asked about what kind of diet is "best" a lot; but usually in the form of "are carbs evil?" "is fat bad?" It boils down to the following (in my opinion): no macronutrient ("marco") is evil. In fact no food is necessarily evil either. Now, that statement is a license to eat Twinkies and Ho-Hos for dinner tonight, unless you really, really wanted to do that.

Macros or macronutrients are simply a class of chemicals we consume in the large quantities and provide the majority of our energy- the three old school stand byes are: fat, protein and carbohydrate. New school info tells us we should also be looking at and considering fiber, which is really a part of carbohydrates that is digested differently.

While no macronutrient or certain food is evil or bad, the quality and quantity of marcos and foods DO (and should) play a key role in your diet. Macros should be part of the thought process when structuring your diet. Once you have determined what is best for your body, macros break down can then influence your food choices. This idea of a structure to diet is usually connected with the desire to change the way you look, or sometimes, to change the way you feel. Macros can look very different for two people of the same gender, weight and fitness level based on their individual goals, so remember to let your goals define and lead the way through everything you do.

How do you know how many macros you need? Start by defining your goals- lose weight, maintain weight, gain weight, get stronger, get faster, etc...Then figure out what your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate)- this is the number of calories your body would need to do nothing all day (literally nothing except sleeping).

For Women: 655 + (4.35 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) - (4.7 x age in years)

For Men: 66 + (6.23 x weight in pounds) + (12.7 x height in inches) - (6.8 x age in years)

Or you can use a calculator online (google BMR calculator). Then find out what your total daily energy expenditure is (TDEE) by taking your BMR and multiplying by your lifestyle:

Sedentary (little or no exercise): BMR x 1.2

Lightly active (easy exercise/sports 1-3 days/week): BMR x 1.375

Moderately active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week): BMR x 1.55

Very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week): BMR x 1.725

Extremely active (very hard exercise/sports and physical job): BMR x 1.9

For example (me) male, 182 lbs, 5'6", (almost) 32 years old:

66 +(6.23 X 182) + (12.7 X 66) - (6.8 X 32) = 1,718 Calories a day (to do nothing but sleep). I'd say I am moderately active = 1718 X 1.55 = 2662.9 as my TDEE.

Adjust your goal calorie intake to reflect your overall goals. If you hope to lose weight, consider subtracting 200-500 calories from your TDEE. Any more than 500 calorie deficit over a long period of time will step into nutritional compromise. If your goal is to gain weight then add 200 calories to your TDEE.

Back to Macros... Standard recommendations indicate a 40% carb, 30% protein and 30% fat breakdown. This is a good place to start- a good place to see how your body responds. Some individuals literally feel better and perform better with 60% carbs, 20% protein and 20% fat; while others feel and perform best with 20% carbs, 40% protein and 40% fat. In any event it is important to assess how you're feeling in relation to how much and what you are eating. If you are striving for very specific goals (certain body fat or strength increase) or feel too bogged down to create a macro profile and meal plan- consult with a professional or someone who has been in your shoes before. Remember, we all had to start somewhere.

Diet Redefined

Diet is such a hated word these days; "Diets are bad" "diets won’t last" "if you go on a diet you will gain all the weight you lost back and then some" they say. In reality the word diet simply means the deliberate selection of food to control body weight or nutritional intake. I'll say it- we all need a diet. Yep, that's right we do. Small people, big people, tall people and short people, strong and not so strong people. We need diets because without being deliberate with our food we run the risk of not taking care of our bodies and minds. What we do with our diet- now that’s where the trouble is lurking.

Most people think of diets as severe caloric restriction or restriction of certain types of foods in an effort to lose weight and/or feel better. There are several marked diet programs out on the market right now which call for an individuals to significantly restrict calories and sometimes part of the program is buying the (extremely overpriced) pre-packed food. The problem with significantly restricting calories (reducing intake consistently by more than 500 calories of your daily overall burn) is that it will, eventually, damage your metabolism. Overtime the body will go into a starvation mode and significant damage can result. Your hormones, which play a significant role in ability to lose weight, will be in complete disarray.  And you will lose the ability to lose weight. The mind also suffers from the practice of prolonged significant calorie restricting and can easily turn into disordered eating habits and in some cases, a true eating disorder. I also have concerns related to consuming a lot of pre-packaged food. For the most part this food is highly processed and full of additives to increase shelf life. In the short term it is, potentially, more convenient, but long term effects of eating primarily processed food are yet to be totally understood.

In the new world, diets should be thought of through the eyes of Wikipedia: deliberate selection of food to control body weight or nutritional intake AND in the context of your lifestyle. Be real with yourself when identifying your lifestyle as it will dictate your diet. If you want to change the way you look and feel- don't look to your diet first- look at your lifestyle. Where do you see yourself? What are your goals? What is keeping you from your goals right now? How are you willing to adjust your lifestyle to get where you what to be? If you aren't sure what to do or where to start- reach out to a professional or someone who has been where you are and might be willing to offer some advice.