Another small step that will improve your nutrition without making major changes that may cause stress in the family.
Organic
Another one of the small steps that you can fairly easily do without having a whole family revolt is changing the quality of the products you buy. Organic produce is in several ways better for you and your family.
Of course I do realise that organic is more expensive in many cases. For most families this will work, for others it will be hard. When it is hard to do this, try to find your produce in the reduced isle. I have often found a lot of good organic produce there.
I will write another post about the “dirty dozen & clean fifteen” lists, so that you can find the best way for your family to eat organic strategically.
This was one of the first steps I took many years ago to make the diet of my family healthier. I was pregnant with my first child and really wanted to make sure my baby would grow up healthy. I did quite a bit of reading and found that organic food is much healthier and better for the environment. It was by far one of the easiest to implement steps I took. I didn’t actually change what we ate, just where I bought it. It was also not all that much more expensive as I had expected it to be. It was surprisingly doable.
Higher nutrient content
There is always this discussion going on whether organic has a higher nutrient content or not. I have done quite some reading up on the research and it is higher in nutrients overall. But even if that were not the case there is also another argument that can be made about toxins and the environment.
Less toxic
Because the produce is being sprayed with herbicides and pesticides there are always left overs that have gotten into the plants. Therefore it is better to buy organic as that way you can avoid all those toxins getting through your food into your body.
Better for the environment
And then it is also better for the environment, those toxins harm the soil and in the long run will cause problems for our food supply. When buying organic you take care of future generations.
Grass-fed
Grass fed meats are from animals that have lived in their natural environment in a natural way. They treated naturally and are outdoors as much as they can. it depends on the type of animal and breed whether they can be outdoors 24/7. Many can. There are various producers in the UK that rear their animals this way.
Their products are somewhat more expensive, but you do not end up with the added water and with that volume loss. Furthermore the nutrient profile is different than that of animals which are conventionally reared.
Fatty acid profile (1)
There are differences in fatty acid profile between grass fed and grain fed beef.
Those are important differences as the grass fed beef has a fatty acid profile which is healthy for us to eat, while the grain fed fatty acid profile has it’s downsides.
Coaching
As I’m running a business I will talk about this bit as well.
If you would like to have an accountability buddy, I’m here for you. I do this for a living, so just let me know whether you would like some coaching, we can talk once a month. It doesn’t have to cost you an arm and a leg. You’ll have email support as well. Just have a look at what I have to offer.
Health Coaching might be right up your alley, or Children’s nutrition or Teenager nutrition. In case you are starting to introduce food to your baby then Introducing solids could be exactly what you want.