Vegetables are powerhouses of nutrients, including vitamins, minerals, fiber, and antioxidants. Despite the common knowledge of their benefits, many people find it challenging to enjoy eating them. Here are some comprehensive strategies to help you cultivate a liking for vegetables.

I was raised by a junk food junkie and I was one too. When I married my wife, she was healthy, but I took her down with my bad habits and she had to do something to change things for us. So she did a lot of research and studying and learned how to cook really nourishing food and she dragged me and our daughter kicking and screaming down the path of better health.

I still ate too much and I’ve been working on that. I’ve lost 89 pounds over the past 3 years. It’s been hard to learn to balance macronutrients and to use portion control. I love working out, so that part was the easy part for me. But I had to eat nutritious foods which means learning to like fruits and vegetables.

If you want more of my weight loss story and how I grew up on little Debbies and soda and learned how to change my health and life through exercise and nutrition, check out this nutrition guide. It has some basic dos and don’ts that my wife and I used for me to lose 120 pounds and be on no medication at age 55. There are also some sample meal plans in there. It was a long process, not a quick fix, but if I can do it, so can you!

Understanding the Mental Block of eating vegetables

The first step towards enjoying vegetables is understanding your mental roadblocks. Many people’s aversions to vegetables stem from negative childhood experiences or cultural biases. Maybe you had to eat overcooked Brussels sprouts as a child, or perhaps you grew up in a household where vegetables were not a staple. Recognizing these barriers can help you approach vegetables with a fresh perspective. At our house, the only veggies we ever ate were french fries or mashed potatoes. It was a special occasion if we had salad and it was just lettuce dripping in thousand island dressing. I had to learn to give vegetables a taste instead of saying I didn’t like them because I didn’t know them.

When my wife and I were dating in high school, she asked me to try a bite of broccoli. I was actually scared to death. It seemed so gross. But one bite and still 35 years later, broccoli is my favorite vegetable. Don’t get her started on how close minded I’ve always been. She’ll go on and on… But she is right about a lot of things. I didn’t “like” bagels either, but dang it if they aren’t freaking amazing!

Your taste buds are malleable. What you didn’t like a year ago, you might enjoy now, especially if you try it prepared in a new way. Commit to trying one new vegetable each week. Keep an open mind and let go of past judgments.

How you Prepare Vegetables

How you prepare vegetables can make a world of difference in taste and texture. Here are some methods to explore:

1. Roasting: This method caramelizes the natural sugars in vegetables, making them irresistibly sweet and crispy. Toss them in some olive oil, add your favorite spices, and roast at a high temperature.
2. Sautéing: Quick and easy, sautéing vegetables in a pan with some garlic and olive oil can elevate their flavor.
3. Grilling: For a smoky aroma, try grilling vegetables like bell peppers, zucchini, and asparagus.
4. Steaming: For a softer texture, steam your veggies and season them well.
5. Raw: Sometimes, vegetables taste best in their natural state. Fresh salads with a delicious dressing can be incredibly refreshing.

Don’t underestimate the power of good seasoning. Salt, pepper, garlic powder, and herbs like thyme and rosemary can go a long way. Also, try incorporating sauces and dressings that you already like. For instance, if you’re a fan of Caesar dressing, start by adding it to milder vegetables like romaine lettuce or steamed asparagus. And work your way to less of that in the future. It works with bacon and butter too. Learn what seasonings you like, and use those to make healthier things enjoyable. You can do it.

So what can you make with all these wonderful foods? Check out these Rainbow diet recipes for inspiration. They are delish!

Hiding Vegetables

If you still find it challenging to enjoy vegetables, try incorporating them into meals you already love. Add spinach to your morning omelet, bell peppers to your pizza, or a handful of kale to your favorite smoothie. These are stealthy ways to get your daily dose without feeling overwhelmed by the taste. My wife is an expert at this. But besides me, she feeds 7 toddlers, so I guess it’s a skill of the craft! She’s amazing. She makes everything more nutritious by adding shredded or powdered vegetables of different kinds to her recipes.

Another trick is to pair vegetables with foods you already enjoy. If you love pasta, make a primavera with lots of fresh veggies. Love meat? Pair your steak with a side of grilled asparagus or roasted Brussels sprouts. Pairing vegetables with your favorite foods can create a balanced meal and make the experience more enjoyable. This steak salad is a great example of a recipe I just love that’s packed with tasty veggies. I love lettuce because as above, it’s one thing we had on special occasions. Over time, I learned to eat better quality lettuce and use far less dressing. Although I do still love a good soaking, I’ve learned to live with less.

Sometimes sharing food experiences with others can enhance your enjoyment. Consider dining at restaurants that specialize in vegetable dishes or inviting friends over for a vegetarian potluck. Positive social experiences can reinforce your new food choices.

Variety is the Spice of Life

There are countless varieties of vegetables, each with its own unique flavor profile. From the peppery kick of arugula to the earthy sweetness of beets, diversity can keep your meals interesting and make you more inclined to eat vegetables regularly. You can start with sweeter vegetables like corn and raw carrots with ranch dip and work your way to even more diversity until you are eating the rainbow every day. A variety of nutrients offers optimal health.

Your first experience with a vegetable may not be a love-at-first-bite scenario, and that’s okay. Palates evolve, and what may have tasted bitter and unappealing before might just become your next favorite food. The key is consistency. The more you expose yourself to different vegetables, the more likely you are to start liking them.

Setting Achievable Goals

Set yourself achievable goals like including one serving of vegetables in each meal or trying one new vegetable each week. As you hit these milestones, you’ll gain more confidence in your journey to love vegetables.

As you venture into this journey, you’ll start noticing the benefits—better digestion from increased fiber, clearer skin from the plethora of vitamins and minerals, and even potential weight loss from lower-calorie options. These health benefits can serve as additional motivation to continue incorporating more vegetables into your diet.

If you have kids or a partner who’s also not a vegetable lover, make it a family challenge. Not only does this provide moral support, but it’s also a wonderful way to spend quality time together. Plus, children are more likely to eat vegetables if they see an adult doing the same.

Remember, learning to like vegetables is a lifelong journey. Your tastes will evolve, and you’ll discover new preparation methods and recipes that make you wonder how you ever lived without these nutritional powerhouses. By setting yourself small, achievable goals and being open to experimentation, you can cultivate not just a taste for vegetables, but also a healthier, more balanced lifestyle.

Here are some of my very favorite meals with vegetables or vegetable dishes. Pick just one and give it a try, you might be surprised at how much you love them:

• Roasted Broccoli
• Bacon and Broccoli in Creamy Garlic Sauce
• Fried Rice
• Picadillo Chicken Taco Salad
• Greek Yogurt Broccoli Salad
• Poblano Chicken Enchiladas without Tortillas
• Burritos

I can’t wait to hear all about how your life and health change when you learn to like vegetables. It’s a work in progress. I’ve been working on it for 20 years and I like a lot more than I used to, but I don’t love every veggie there is. I love that my wife incorporates as much nutrition into our diet as she can and that makes my health better. I know that you can change your life too!

The post How to Like Vegetables appeared first on Actionable Wellness.

Eating the rainbow

“Eating the rainbow” is a catchy and memorable phrase that encourages individuals to consume a colorful variety of fruits and vegetables daily. The varying colors in fruits and vegetables represent different nutrients and antioxidants. By eating a spectrum of colors, you ensure a diverse intake of essential vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients beneficial for overall health. And anyone can learn to like vegetables. Even if you have always hated vegetables. I did it. So you can too.

Remember, while aiming to eat the rainbow, it’s also essential to consider food quality. Whenever possible, choose organic, locally grown, and seasonal produce to maximize the nutritional value and support sustainable farming practices. The better quality of food you eat, the better health you will have. And we all want to live well while we’re living, don’t we?

Eat the rainbow chart

Here’s a breakdown of the rainbow food chart:

1. Red Foods:

• Examples: Tomatoes, strawberries, cherries, red bell peppers, raspberries, watermelon, red apples, pomegranates, red grapes, beets.
• Nutrients: High in lycopene, quercetin, Vitamin C, and other antioxidants. They can support heart health and provide anti-inflammatory benefits.

2. Orange Foods:

• Examples: Carrots, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, pumpkins, oranges, apricots, tangerines, mangoes.
• Nutrients: Rich in beta-carotene, which converts to Vitamin A in the body, supporting eye health, immune function, and skin health.

3. Yellow Foods:

• Examples: Yellow bell peppers, corn, pineapples, bananas, yellow tomatoes, lemon, yellow squash.
• Nutrients: Contains antioxidants like vitamin C, carotenoids, and bioflavonoids. These nutrients promote heart and vision health and support the immune system.

4. Green Foods:

• Examples: Spinach, kale, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, green beans, peas, zucchini, avocado, green apples, kiwi, green grapes, lettuce, cucumbers.
• Nutrients: Packed with chlorophyll, fiber, lutein, zeaxanthin, calcium, folate, vitamin C, and beta-carotene. These nutrients support blood health, bone health, and eye health and can have detoxifying properties.

5. Blue/Purple Foods:

• Examples: Blueberries, blackberries, eggplant, purple grapes, plums, prunes, figs, raisins.
• Nutrients: High in anthocyanins and phenolics, which can support heart health, reduce the risk of stroke, and have anti-aging properties.

6. White/Tan/Brown Foods:

• Examples: Onions, garlic, cauliflower, mushrooms, ginger, parsnips, potatoes, turnips, whole grains (like brown rice, quinoa, barley, and oats).
• Nutrients: These foods offer allicin, which can support immune health. They’re also rich in phytonutrients and can help balance hormones.

7. Black Foods:

• Examples: Black beans, black rice, black sesame seeds, blackberries, black grapes.
• Nutrients: Typically very high in antioxidants, especially anthocyanins. They can support heart health and reduce the risk of stroke and cancer.

Benefits of Eating the Rainbow:

• Diverse Nutrient Intake: Different colors offer different beneficial compounds.
• Reduced Disease Risk: Antioxidants and other compounds found in colorful fruits and vegetables can reduce the risk of chronic diseases like heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.
• Digestive Health: Many colorful fruits and vegetables are high in fiber, promoting good digestive health.
• Natural Weight Management: Many of these foods are low in calories but high in nutrients, making them ideal for weight management.

I hope this list helps you to think about eating diverse and quality foods that will help you get as much nutrition as possible into your diet. Because you’re worth it.

The post Rainbow Food Chart appeared first on Actionable Wellness.

They are easy to make and can be customized to what you like. There is no sweetener, it’s just pure ingredients with complex carbohydrates and lots of fiber and nutrients. And they are free of nuts and seeds as well. They are super easy to make too! And they can be gluten free if you make sure you use certified gluten free oats.

For more healthy snack or breakfast ideas, check these out:

• 15 Beautiful Smoothie Bowl Recipes
• Healthy Smoothies for Weight Loss
• Granola Cups with Yogurt and Fruit
• Ancient Grains Granola Recipe
• Easy No-Bake Oatmeal Protein Balls Recipe

Oatmeal coconut balls

These oatmeal coconut balls have tons of flavor and superfoods like oats and cacao powder. This is not the same thing as cocoa powder. Read below to find out more.

The oatmeal coconut balls are mixed up, rolled, and then rolled in coconut for the final touch. They only have four ingredients. And they last for a week or so in the fridge.

If you want to freeze them for later, put them on a baking sheet in a single layer. Freeze for a couple of hours until firm. Then store them in an airtight container in the freezer. You can take them out one at a time for quick snacking, or put a whole container in the fridge for the week. So bulk up and make some big batches.

What is cacao powder?

You’re probably more familiar with cocoa powder than cacao. We use it in a lot of baking. But cacao powder is a little different and is considered a superfood. Cocoa is processed at a much higher temperature (and often packaged cocoa contains added sugar and dairy). Both start out as beans from the cacao plant, which are separated from the fatty part known as cocoa butter. At harvest, cacao beans are fermented to develop flavor and texture.

Cacao powder is made from fermented beans that have not been roasted. They are processed at low temperatures and then milled into powder. The result is a powder that’s bitter in taste and higher in nutritional content. Cocoa powder on the other hand is made from beans that are both fermented and roasted and processed at a much higher temperature. The result is a less bitter, slightly darker powder that has lost some nutritional value.

Cacao products are rich in disease-fighting plant compounds including flavanols, which have antioxidant, heart-protective, and anti-cancer properties. It also has fiber, magnesium, and iron. For more on superfoods, check this out.

While you can substitute cacao powder for cocoa powder, you will lose some of the antioxidants during the baking process and the flavor will be bitter, so stick with cocoa powder for baking. But it’s great in raw applications like smoothies.

When you start your day with a healthy choice or fuel your afternoon hunger with nutrition, it helps tremendously to stave off cravings that impede your fitness goals. So planning healthy choices for food is such an important part of your fitness journey!

oatmeal cacao balls with coconut

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Apple Cacao Oatmeal Balls

Yummy balls of energy that have a chocolatelyflavor, are easy to make, and are good for you. Jammed with fiber and nutrients, but without nuts, seeds, or sugar. Great for breakfast or a snack.

Course Snack

Cuisine American

Keyword apples, cacao, coconut, energy balls,, oatmeal, oatmeal balls

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Chilling Time 1 hour hour

Total Time 1 hour hour 5 minutes minutes

Servings 16

Ingredients

• 2 cups cut oats
• 2 red apple sliced
• 2 tablespoons cacao powder
• Grated coconut for rolling

Instructions

• Mix apples and oats in the blender and puree until soft and smooth.
• Add the cacao powder and pulse a few times.
• Place in the fridge for about an hour.
• Scoop balls of dough out and roll them in coconut.
• Store in the fridge until ready to eat.

For more diet changes that help you have more energy, check these out.

The post Apple Cacao Oatmeal Balls appeared first on Actionable Wellness.

The problem is that everyone gets them, and everyone gives in to them sometimes. So it becomes crucial to understand the best ways to deal with food cravings if you want to maintain a healthy diet and promote weight loss.

I can’t stop eating sugar

It is easy to give in to the lure of too much calorie consumption. Learn how to fight temptation once and for all. There are many different reasons that have been speculated about why we get food cravings. Some are more substantiated in science than others, but the most common reasons are:

• Food cravings are physiological, which means that our bodies crave certain nutrients that can find in a certain food.
• Food cravings are emotional, which means that we are looking, for the rush we might get, from a certain food.
• Food cravings are a form of food addiction, which means that we crave the foods that pleased us throughout our lives, in other words, we look for comfort foods. This type of craving may have more to do with an emotional need, than with a desire for food.

However, no matter the cause of our food cravings, some ways can help us deal with them. Here is what you need to know about how to deal with food cravings.

If you want more of my weight loss story and how I grew up on little Debbies and soda and learned how to change my health and life through exercise and nutrition, check out this nutrition guide. It has some basic dos and don’ts that my wife and I used for me to lose 120 pounds and be on no medication at age 55. There are also some sample meal plans in there. It was a long process, not a quick fix, but if I can do it, so can you!

Craving Chocolate

While many of us work painstakingly hard to maintain our weight by eating a healthy diet and exercising, sometimes it is easy to give in to temptation. Whether the enticement finds you by way of chocolate, French fries, or a Frappucino, everyone has his pitfalls.

What’s worse is that succumbing to food cravings can throw anyone’s routine (and pant size) off track; you have one day of “bad” eating, which then leads to “feeling fat” which in turn spirals into avoidance of exercise or the gym altogether (because surely everyone at the health club knows of the previous night’s Peanut M & Ms binge).

Whether you are enticed by fattening and waist-line threatening foods only once in a while (perhaps the holidays are your hazard) or it is something you fight every week, there are ways in which you can stave off that temptation so you can still like yourself in the morning.

Don’t Go On A Diet

You may be surprised that this makes the top of the list, but the reason for this is that a diet, really is deprivation, If you are trying to avoid all of your favorite food, you are much more likely to crave them. You are much more likely to NOT have food cravings, if you allow yourself small portions, of these foods, in moderation. The bottom line is that if you focus on making better food choices, you will most likely get fewer food cravings.

Just Give In

While this may seem counterproductive it is just the opposite. Sometimes nothing but the real thing will do. If you can’t get that slice of triple chocolate cake, out of your mind, then go ahead and have a small slice. If save up a few of your daily calorie needs and eat your food craving in moderation, you are more likely to stop the craving and most importantly prevent yourself from overeating.

Sweet Tooth Healthy Snacks

If you find that the staff at your local pizza parlor, Chinese restaurant, or corner bakery, can call you by name, it may be time to put this strategy to use. When the impulse to get your favorite food hits, try to distract yourself with something non-food-related. Call a friend, jump on the treadmill, read a book, or try to accomplish something on your to-do list. You may find that when you return to where you were when the craving hit, you may be thinking that is not worth blowing your entire daily calorie count for.

Figure Out What’s Going On

While cravings aren’t always the results of emotional eating, for some people they are. If you feel that you eat to help you cope with your feelings, then now is the time to get to the root of what the problem is. Keep in mind that you will need to deal with the underlying emotional feelings before you can deal with the problems of your food cravings.

Brush Your Teeth

On the verge of blowing your calories for the entire week on your snack alone? Try brushing your teeth. Brushing with minty toothpaste and then flossing is a great way to ward off a food craving. Follow up by applying a refreshing and tingly lip gloss or balm. A clean, fresh mouth is sure not to want to comingle with the likes of potato chips, or cookies.

Take a Walk

Usually, when we want to blow our food intake by consuming enough calories to last us until the next millennium, it is rarely because we are hungry. Chances are it is because we are upset about something in our day (or in our life) and it manifests itself through the self-sabotage of an eating binge. If a craving comes on, you probably need to calm yourself; so breathe deep and collect yourself. Taking a short, relaxing walk can bring about the calm that you need to overcome that menacing desire to overindulge.

Drink Water

Not only will a refreshing glass of water help to make you feel full, but it will revitalize you and perhaps even give you a little extra energy- enough to take your mind away from the nagging craving that hounds you at that moment. The cool, thirst-quenching water will flush through your system and thus flush away with it your desire to eat all the wrong foods for all the wrong reasons.

Find a Role Model

Find someone whom you can aspire to be like physically. It could be a famous athlete, a personal trainer at the gym, or even a friend who keeps themselves in great physical shape. I’ve always admired Arnold Schwarzenegger and used him as a role model. Whoever it is, just think of someone so that when you find yourself in a pinch, about to take out an entire gallon of ice cream in one fell swoop, you can remember that individual who motivates you to stay healthy and in shape just by looking at them. One caveat, however: The goal is not to try to compare yourself or to be exactly like this individual so don’t make comparisons, but rather use their fitness and discipline as a means by which to motivate yourself.

Wait it out

If nothing else seems to work, then take heart and understand that the craving will eventually pass. While no one is saying it won’t be back, sometimes if you wait, it will simply go away. If you find that you can successfully wait until your food cravings pass, you will find yourself taking a major step on the path to healthier eating.

Remember it is not about never having another food craving again, and it is certainly not about being perfect. Doing so would mean never attending another Christmas party or celebrating another birthday with birthday cake again. It is simply about learning how to manage such cravings in a way that you can still maintain your health as well as your well-being, both physical and emotional.

For more ideas on how to keep your eating under control, check these out:

• Balancing macronutrients for weight loss
• Breakfasts for weight loss
• Taking measurements of weight loss correctly
• High rep, low weights for weight loss
• Meal prep for weight loss
• High fiber foods for weight loss

Get your macro cheat sheet, macro tracker, and water tracker bundle here!

The post 5 Ways to Control Food Cravings appeared first on Actionable Wellness.

Why You Should Eat the Rainbow

Nutrition is an important wedge of the wellness wheel and an important part of your fitness journey. Good food can actually heal your body.

Hi, I’m Christina, happy to join you today to talk about eating the rainbow for good health. Different colors of the rainbow offer different nutrients from the fruits and vegetables in our food. So eating every color of the rainbow each day helps us get a variety of nutrients in our bodies. We need all the vitamins and minerals in a variety of foods for optimal health. Something like this rainbow pasta dish can help.

There are so many health benefits in a variety of colorful fruits and vegetables with powerful antioxidants that fight free radicals that harm health. Eating a variety of colors in a balanced diet gives you the essential nutrients that you need to reduce the risk of heart disease, and the risk of cancer, reduce the chances of cardiovascular disease, improve skin health, reduce oxidative stress to help with disease control, and more. When you eat a variety of colorful foods, you get natural compounds that have anti-inflammatory properties and anticancer properties. Each color in the rainbow gives you a different nutrient content and gives you a good reason to eat a variety of foods. 

Rainbow food chart

You can use this rainbow food chart linked below to give you ideas of what kinds of foods to put on your shopping list.

Rainbow diet

The rainbow diet just means that we try to get a rainbow of variety in every day from fruits and vegetables. These rainbow colors include purple and blue foods, yellow and orange foods, green foods, red foods, and brown and white foods.

Once you have had something from every color group, you will have had 5 servings of fruits and vegetables in that day. Isn’t that awesome!

If you want more of my weight loss story and how I grew up on little Debbies and soda and learned how to change my health and life through exercise and nutrition, check out this nutrition guide. It has some basic dos and don’ts that my wife and I used for me to lose 120 pounds and be on no medication at age 55. There are also some sample meal plans in there. It was a long process, not a quick fix, but if I can do it, so can you!

Rainbow fruits and vegetables

You can see that eating out, especially fast food, would make it hard to reach this goal. Because mostly there are just french fries. How often do you see something red on a menu at a restaurant? Tomatoes? What else? Purple and blue? Anything? Anyone? Bueller? This is why eating at home is so good for your health!

When talking about the rainbow, we aren’t counting meat, breads, fats, or anything like that. We are talking about just fruits and vegetables only. If our diets are based on fruits and vegetables, we are going to find a whole lot more health in what we eat. So our plates should be at least half full of these foods.

Purple and blue fruits and vegetables

Purple and blue fruits and vegetables have a variety of nutrients that boost immune systems and fight diseases. And there are plenty of yummy choices in this category. These colored foods are also may help slow cognitive decline, improve motor skills, and reverse memory loss.

• Purple cauliflower
• Purple asparagus
• Beets
• Blackberries
• Purple carrots
• Purple corn
• Plums
• Purple potatoes
• Purple kale
• Purple broccoli
• Eggplant
• Purple peppers
• Blueberries
• Purple grapes
• Elderberries
• Raisins

Yellow and orange fruits and vegetables

Yellow and orange fruits and vegetables have tons of beta-carotene which helps you resist infection and heal. This color of foods also helps with heart health and vision.

• Cantaloupe
• Lemons
• Pineapple
• Yellow peppers
• Butternut squash and other winter squashes
• Pumpkins
• Yellow potatoes
• Yellow apples
• Apricots
• Grapefruit
• Mangoes
• Oranges
• Papaya
• Peaches
• Yellow pears
• Tangerines
• Carrots
• Corn
• Yellow tomatoes
• Sweet potatoes
• Yellow squash

Green fruits and vegetables

Green vegetables are full of antioxidants and folate as well as other nutrients. They support heart and vision and fight disease as well as lowering the risk of birth defects.

• Avocadoes
• Artichokes
• Lettuce
• Limes
• Green pears
• Green grapes
• Green apples
• Asparagus
• Zucchini
• Peas
• Tomatillos
• Green peppers
• Okra
• Green onions
• Spinach
• Cucumbers
• Celery
• Cabbage
• Green beans
• Brussel sprouts
• Broccoli

Red fruits and vegetables

Red fruits and vegetables are full of flavonoids and lycopene. These support healthy bones, skin and teeth, a healthy heart and healthy vision. It also supports urinary tract health and fights disease.

• Apples
• Rhubarb
• Tomatoes
• Strawberries
• Watermelon
• Beets
• Red peppers
• Radishes
• Radicchio
• Red onions
• Red potatoes
• Cherries
• Cranberries
• Red grapes
• Raspberries
• Pomegranates
• Red pears
• Blood oranges
• Red grapefruits

For a great treat, try this roasted cherry tomato toast for your reds. So good!

Brown and white fruits and vegetables

Brown and white fruits and vegetables contain a lot of potassium and selenium. They support a healthy heart and immune system. They lower blood pressure and cholesterol. And fight disease.

• Ginger
• Fennel
• Mushrooms
• Onions
• Leeks
• Kohlrabi
• Jicama
• Garlic
• Coconuts
• Brown pears
• White peaches
• Bananas
• Dates
• Cauliflower
• Parsnips
• Shallots
• Turnips
• White corn
• White potatoes
• White asparagus

For inspiration on how to include vegetables in your diet, check out these meals with vegetables. Check out these beautiful and healthy smoothie bowls too! Also, meal prep planning helps a lot.

So what can you make with all these wonderful foods? Check out these Rainbow diet recipes for inspiration. They are delish!

Eat the Rainbow challenge

So let’s challenge ourselves to try to eat the rainbow for good health every day for 7 days. Then try it for 21 and see if you form a habit that will last a lifetime. If you fall off the wagon, get back up and try again. Print out the checklist below so you can check them off as you go! And here are some great ways to save money on those healthy groceries.

I hope you are inspired to eat a rainbow today and in the coming days for good health! There are lots of great recipes using these fruits and vegetables over on Little Sprouts Learning.

For more ideas to get healthy, check these out:

• 9 Simple Steps to Wellness

The post How to Eat the Rainbow for Good Health appeared first on Actionable Wellness.

Staying well with good nutrition is important. Ain’t nobody got time to be sick. My wife and I make this elderberry syrup all the time and we take a tablespoon a day during cold and flu season.

If we happen to get a cold, we take a tablespoon three times a day and it helps us heal up faster. Kids can take a teaspoon a day the same way.

Of course, always check with your doctor before using something like that, and always take the medications you are prescribed or go see a doctor if you run a fever for more than a day. We make our own organic elderberry syrup so we know exactly what’s in it. You can grow your own elderberries too.

My wife is allergic to cinnamon and store-bought syrup contains it. So do most people’s recipes. Cinnamon does have wellness benefits, but if you can’t take it, you can’t take it.

Elderberry syrup with lemon

We like to add some peeled orange zest and lemon zest to our elderberry syrup. We like the flavor, and the oils in those peels do have health benefits as well.

We use organic ingredients because this is a concentrate and while we can’t afford or even get all organics, we do try to use them when it really matters. We buy organic dried elderberries and are working on growing our own. And we also use organic raw honey and other ingredients for the most health benefits possible. Check out here how you can dehydrate your own elderberries.

Best elderberry syrup

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Organic Elderberry Syrup

Nutritious elderberry syrup to support your immune system with organic ingredients that promote health.

Course nutritious supplement

Cuisine American

Keyword cloves, elderberry syrup, ginger, lemon zest, orange zest, organic elderberry syrup, raw honey

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour

Total Time 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Servings 3 cups

Author Christina Kamp

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 c water
• 2/3 c dried elderberries
• 2 T grated ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• zest one orange and one lemon
• 1 c raw honey

Instructions

• Bring water,elderberries ginger, cloves and orange peel to boil in a pan.
• Cover and simmerfor 45 minutes to 1 hour or until liquid is about ½.
• Remove from heat and letcool until you can mash berries.
• Pour through a strainer and discard what it catches.
• Cool to lukewarm. BE CAREFUL to make sure it’s lukewarm. Cold syrupwon’t dissolve the honey into the mixture, but hot syrup will kill the beneficial qualities of raw honey. Make sure it’s still warm, but under 120 degrees.
• Mix honey into syrup well.
• Store in the fridge for up to 2 months. Take 1 tablespoon daily for immune boosting, or 1 tablespoon three times a day if you are sick. Kids can take a teaspoon a day.

Fresh elderberries

You can substitute fresh elderberries or frozen elderberries for dried ones. Just use 1 1/3 cups in place of the 2/3 cups of dried elderberries.

I love the difference in my wellness when I take my elderberry syrup regularly. And making it is fun. You can make it into elderberry gummies as well. Or try this awesome elderberry jam recipe if you prefer to get your elderberries that way. Check out how and give it a try.

Me: I got chills, they’re multiplying, and I’m losing control. ‘Cause the power you’re supplying, it’s electrifying!

Dr: You have swine flu.

Ha ha ha ha

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Hi, I’m Christina and I have a home daycare with 7 kids. I feed my family and the kids on a tight budget every week. Most meals I make are for 9 people, so I do what I can do save. Here are some easy ways to save money on groceries.

In my grocery store, I can buy a big sweet potato for $.78. A big package of fresh celery is $.98. A big bag of oranges is $4.48. How much did you spend on the last beverage you bought? What’s the price of a fancy coffee drink or soda with your meal at a restaurant? And nutrition is one of the most important parts of your fitness journey.

There are so many ways to save money on food, but simple, whole foods are not that expensive. I can buy a bag of beans, cook it up and serve it throughout the week for a very healthy side dish to my meals for pennies a serving. I just dump it in the crockpot with a packet of taco seasoning (I make my own taco seasoning mix here) and fill it up with water. I turn it on and at the end of the day, it’s ready and delicious.

Brown rice is really inexpensive. So is a rice cooker. I toss it in there and it goes off when it’s done. Super easy and I save money all year. Rice is a great base for a lot of meals and will keep in the fridge for a week so you can use it different ways.

Eating healthy on a budget grocery list

My suggestions for healthy foods on a budget include:

• Packages of different kinds of dry beans
• Brown rice
• Whole wheat pasta
• Old fashioned rolled oats
• Whole wheat flour
• Broccoli
• Onions
• Spinach
• Carrots
• Canned tomatoes
• Apples
• Bananas
• Frozen berries
• Oranges
• Pears
• Grapefruit
• Celery
• Cabbage
• Potatoes
• Sweet potatoes
• Whole chickens or chicken leg quarters
• Ground turkey
• Canned tuna
• Eggs
• Peanut butter
• Cottage cheese
• Yogurt

Budget grocery list for family

Using these budget-friendly items, most under $1, you could make any number of meals.

• Baked chicken with brown rice and roasted broccoli.
• Turkey burgers with cabbage and oven fries.
• Whole wheat spaghetti with ground turkey and marinara sauce with a spinach and carrot salad.
• Think about your normal go to family recipes and find ways to tweak them for budget friendly health. Replacing boneless skinless chicken breast with leg quarters gives you a more flavorful meat for 1/3 of the price. Plus, you can use the bones leftover to make a nourishing bone broth.
• Buying old fashioned rolled oats and flavoring it yourself instead of buying sugary cereals or instant oatmeal packets is a great way to save money and know what’s in your food.

Using apples and oranges for snacks or making smoothies instead of stocking the pantry with little debbies will do your health a world of good. I have a great friend who calls little Debbie the devil’s wife. And you know why. So, leave that girl at the store!

Cooking at home is one of the best ways to save money. And leaving fast food alone is the number one way to get back to wellness. There is NOTHING in fast food that you need. Nothing.

Making food homemade like tossing a pork butt in the crockpot or a whole chicken instead of buying a tv dinner full of processed junk will save you years on your life of illness and a ton of bank. And it doesn’t have to be difficult. And it can get you closer to your fitness goals.

You can cook one pork roast and make 5 meals for a family. It freezes great and you can portion it out into individual servings. You can top baked potatoes or sweet potatoes with it, make soup, tacos, just about anything you can imagine. It’s versatile, inexpensive, and all you need is an oven or crock pot to cook one up.

You can also cook one whole chicken and make 3 different meals out of it. Then use the bones to make broth. It’s a great money saver and using leftover meat is a wonderful time saver. We all need more of that.

Order food in bulk. You can get a 10-pound bag of rice or beans and it will last you months. They don’t go bad. Just keep them sealed in a container and you’ll be golden. These resources are great for healthy meal plans on a budget.

Making homemade bread is so much less expensive than buying store-bought. I know it’s a stretch and not a time-saver, but bread products are the most chemical-laden foods at the store in my opinion besides tv dinners and food mixes. So much so, that I can’t even eat them without getting a rash from all the preservatives in them. I have a lot of sensitivities. And bread products make me sick when I buy them store-bought.

I am allergic to sulfites and they are used to preserve many bread products, but when I found that out and studied what they do to your body, they are really responsible for a ton of illnesses and no one should be consuming them. So, if you don’t want to make your own, go to a bakery and get fresh bread that doesn’t have a shelf life. Leave the chemicals at the store.

Fresh fruits and vegetables are less expensive than frozen or canned. You can grab a head of broccoli or cauliflower or a bundle of green beans or carrots and roast them up in the oven for a magical flavor bomb. Just cut them up, season them the way you like, sprinkle on some olive oil, and bake at 400 until they are lightly brown on the edges and soft enough to stab easily with a fork. YUMMY!

If you roast up a couple of sheet pans full, you’ll have sides or ingredients for your meals for several days. I do this every week for us and the daycare kids. They love them, we love them, and I can add them to soup, pasta, use them to top a baked potato or homemade pizza, or use them as a side and they are ready to go to reduce my cooking time.

Cooking time reduction is important, especially when you have 7 kids that can go rogue while you’re working on their lunch. So, I’m obsessed with time-saving measures that still give my kids wonderful nutrition.

Saving money on food

Another great way to save money on your grocery budget is to eat less meat. Meat is expensive. And quality meat is really expensive. So, try using beans and dark leafy greens to get more of your protein. Also, making something like stir fry with a little chicken instead of a plate filled with a giant piece of chicken and a big serving of potatoes is a great way to stretch your dollars. And you don’t need a giant serving of protein. We just need two 4 oz servings of protein a day. And that doesn’t have to be meat for your meal plan.

Eating what’s in season gives you healthier tastier food AND saves money. In the summertime the foods that are cheaper are melons, cucumbers, tomatoes, corn, cherries, squash, peppers, peaches, berries, greens, and eggplant. In fall you can get lettuce, potatoes, pumpkins, carrots, sweet potatoes, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage for less. In the winter the seasonal items are avocado, citrus fruits, apples, pears, and pineapples. And in the spring the cheapest and tastiest foods are lettuce, radishes, carrots, berries, greens, peas, and one of my favorites, asparagus.

You can also get really cheap produce from imperfect foods. They save missized or less pretty produce from the landfill by bringing it to people like me who appreciate delicious healthy food and don’t care if it looks funny.

Healthy weekly meal plan with grocery list

Here’s a healthy weekly meal plan for two people. If you are one person, you can freeze the second half or do leftovers every other day and use the menu for two weeks. If you have a big family, you can double everything. No matter who you are feeding, use this as a jumping off point to plan out your week.

Grocery list

• Dozen eggs
• Butter
• Sour cream
• Milk
• Parmesan cheese wedge
• Yogurt 4
• 2 c ricotta cheese
• Cheese sticks
• Block of cheddar cheese to shred for tacos
• Block of mozzarella to grate
• 2 pounds breakfast sausage
• 1-pound chicken thighs
• Citrus fruit of your choice 4
• Cabbage
• Onions 5
• 2 heads lettuce
• Apples 8
• Carrots
• Celery
• Garlic
• 2 pkg mushrooms
• 1 crown broccoli
• Bananas 8
• Raisins
• Butternut squash
• Kale
• Cauliflower
• Cucumbers 2
• Tomatoes
• Zucchinis 4
• Spinach
• Bag of frozen corn
• Tortilla chips
• Canister of oatmeal
• White rice
• Wild rice
• Flour
• Granola (or make some)
• Peanut butter
• Olive oil
• Bag of beans
• Taco mix 3
• Tuna
• Mayo or miracle whip
• Spicy mustard
• Pickles
• Chicken stock 6 quarts
• 1 jar artichoke hearts
• Whole wheat bread
• Nuts
• Whole wheat flour tortillas
• Can of Rotel
• English muffins
• Dried thyme
• Sage
• Dill
• Oregano

Once you have purchased all of these items, you’ll see that it’s far less expensive than a week of eating out and you’ll have leftover supplies for many meal plan dishes in the future.

Sunday

Monday

Breakfast

Boiled egg

Whole wheat toast

Banana

Snack

Handful of nuts

Lunch

Chicken artichoke and wild rice casserole

Roasted broccoli

Snack

Banana

Dinner

Cabbage Rolls

Side salad

Tuesday

Breakfast

Yogurt and granola

Apple

Snack

Boiled egg and raisins

Lunch

PBJ

Sliced cucumbers with a little drizzle of vinegar and salt and pepper.

Side salad

Snack

Banana

Dinner

Cauliflower, butternut squash soup

Whole wheat toast

Wednesday

Breakfast

Cook up the pound of sausage in patties and put a pound of beans in the crockpot with taco mix.

Sausage

Apple

Snack

Carrot sticks

Lunch

Tuna salad recipe with eggs on a sandwich

Cucumber salad

Snack

Cheese stick

Dinner

Taco/Nacho salad using browned ground turkey and beans, fresh diced tomatoes, lettuce, onions, and shredded cheese.

Thursday

Breakfast

Yogurt and granola

Banana

Raisins

Snack

Apple

Lunch

Soft taco using leftover meat, beans, and toppings from last night

Snack

Peanut butter and celery

Dinner

Taco soup using leftover beans, a bag of frozen corn, and a can of Rotel

Friday

Breakfast

Sausage English Muffin

Snack

Apple

Lunch

Snack

Boiled egg

Dinner

Vegetable lasagna using zucchini noodles

Side salad

Saturday

Breakfast

Healthy Pancakes

Citrus fruit

Sausage patty

Snack celery (chop up the rest of the celery in slices and toss in the freezer for soups later)

Rest of the day use up any leftovers

Free Printable PDF Week Meal Plan on a Budget with Shopping List

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One area of wellness is not more important than the other. But they all work together to support and help each other. There are six focus areas on our wellness wheel at actionable wellness. The wellness wheel is a tool to help you visually recognize what areas you are succeeding in and what areas need work.

Wellness wheel area 1: Exercise. Exercise or physical movement is the cornerstone of any wellness journey. Physical activity directly affects your total health from blood sugar, to blood pressure and so on. It also affects your mental and spiritual health. Check out all the benefits of exercise here.

Wellness wheel area 2: Nutrition. Food is the building blocks for healthy cells that help prevent illness and disease. We need a variety of nutrients for good health and longevity.

Wellness wheel area 3: Mind. Mental health and spiritual health are far more important than they are given credit for. No one can function physically or in any other area well without a balanced spiritual life and good mental health. Something will always suffer until this area is balanced and taken as seriously as the others. You have to keep stress in check and keep yourself on the path of success. Spending 5 minutes a day being mindful can help!

Wellness wheel area 4: Environment. Homelife, work-life, and social life do affect the body and its health. So, the environment is super important to take care of. Changing the way you handle things and having a positive attitude can totally change the way you see these areas. Think about doing a digital detox from screen time, or having your home free of clutter. This can be a great place for How Chiropractic Care Supports Overall Wellness.

Wellness wheel area 5: Habits. Balancing good sleep habits and other habits that set you up for success is important. There are also many bad habits that we may need to work on that reduce the quality of our health such as smoking, drinking, gambling, overeating, over-shopping, and so on. Habits are a big part of our health and we can use them to produce better wellness in our life.

Wellness wheel area 6: Finance. Our finances affect a lot of our life and stress levels as well. When we get a handle on them, we make everything in our lives run more smoothly too.

Back to wellness

This wellness wheel is a tool to look directly at the balance we can achieve in our life if we put more thought into our daily living. You can print it out with the pdf below and have it in your hands to remind you to work on each area. Hold it and focus on the differences and the weight each section carries to your overall wellbeing.

Wellness Wheel PDF Printable

This way you can break the steps you need to take into actionable pieces without so much overwhelm. Spend some time thinking about each section and making plans to work on it. Make a list of each section and order them in importance of what you are going to work on changing this year. And learn to stay consistent in working on you.

Of course, all of these things won’t be done at once, don’t let it overwhelm you. But it’s a way to break it up so it’s actionable.

When you spend time working in one area until you make improvements, the wellness wheel will help you get more clarity and stability in your life. One area improved supports another area. So, it has a trickle-down effect on the other sections. Here are 9 simple steps to wellness you can try first.

I hope this wellness wheel activity helps you find balance in your life as it has helped me.

Now, what do you call a cow with no legs?

Ground beef. Ha ha ha ha.

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We aren’t thin, we have always struggled with our weight, but our bodies need healthy food to function. We save a ton of money on doctor bills and medication by letting food be our medicine and sticking with natural things that are as close to the way God made them as possible. Good food can actually heal your body. And there are diet changes that help you have more energy. This is an important part of your Health and Fitness goals.

What did your great-grandparents eat? Just simple food, without chemicals. We call it real food. We need several servings a day of fruits and vegetables to stay healthy. Different foods have different vitamins and minerals and we need all of them to stay well. We need to pay attention to nutrition because it’s a big part of our wellness wheel. It’s just as important as exercise on our fitness journey.

If you look at a typical plate of food from a restaurant, the food groups are not well represented. There is usually a large portion of meat, a large portion of bread, and maybe a small number of vegetables as an afterthought. We need meals with vegetables. And we need to try to avoid glyphosate. Even healthy snacks are important in a well balanced diet.

Importance of good nutrition

I always liked to get the two-meat combo at a BBQ joint. So, my plate was half filled with meat and a quarter filled with bread, usually Texas toast. Toss some fries on that and maybe some baked beans that are covered in sugary sauce and you don’t have a very well-balanced meal.

I love to eat junk food; it’s been hard for me to change. But my wife stays diligent in trying to put our health first and she always encourages me to try to do better. I love her for that.

Healthy actions

Over time, we have added a ton more variety of fruits and vegetables to our diet and cut out a lot of chemicals such as additives and preservatives, and we are enjoying better health than we did in our twenties.

We are at the age where most of our friends are on multiple medications, but our cholesterol, blood pressure, and blood work are all really great. We get a clean bill of health year after year since changing our lifestyle except for our weight. We are working on portion control and slowly losing weight to get to our healthiest selves possible.

Nutrition and wellness

Every step we take toward a healthier future is a big deal. So, we try to celebrate each accomplishment.

So, what constitutes healthy eating?

We need a variety of nutrients so we try to eat a rainbow of fruits and vegetables every day. We also try to eat a small portion of protein and a small portion of whole grains at every meal. And by portion, we mean one serving. One pancake, one piece of whole-grain bread, or one serving of crackers. Not a plate full. A serving of protein is 4 ounces, not the 8-12-ounce steak you get at a restaurant meal. You can learn to like vegetables, I did it and you can too. We also need healthy fats every day for brain function and overall health. You can make these changes with a few healthy food swaps. And don’t forget there are a lot of empty calories and wasted chances to add nutrition to our diet in what we are drinking. Choosing healthy drinks is important!

A great way to avoid a lot of unhealthy eating is to eat at home. My wife works really hard to cook healthy homemade food for us as much as possible so we can avoid processed food. She does meal planning, buys cookbooks for me to flip through and choose meals I might like to try, and she makes healthy food taste good with her magical touch. I’m grateful for her. She even makes us healthy homemade bread, and it’s amazing!

If you want more of my weight loss story and how I grew up on little Debbies and soda and learned how to change my health and life through exercise and nutrition, check out this nutrition guide. It has some basic dos and don’ts that my wife and I used for me to lose 120 pounds and be on no medication at age 55. There are also some sample meal plans in there. It was a long process, not a quick fix, but if I can do it, so can you!

Importance of nutrition

There are several things she does to make it easier. She batch cooks. So, she might make a big pot of soup and freeze half of it for later in containers. Then she serves it left over for another day or two. This way we can have really healthy meals for multiple days from one big effort from her with cooking. Also, meal prep planning helps a lot.

This batch cooking saves a ton of clean-up time because you make the same mess if you cook one pot of spaghetti or 4 times that much.

She also saves a ton of money by cooking healthy food. Cooking dried beans in the crock pot all day is healthier than using canned. She cooks a big pot full and freezes them, so we avoid the chemicals in canned beans and get all of the nutrition from fresh. Most simple ingredients are far less expensive than the processed junk you can buy in the middle aisles of the grocery store.

She even grinds her own flour and makes us homemade bread. It saves us a ton of money. She can make a loaf for about seventy-five cents. Dried beans are far less expensive than canned as well. You can see that if you do this with 50 different foods, you would be saving a lot of money over time.

If you don’t like fruits and vegetables, check out how she has helped me and a ton of her daycare kids learn to like them by learning to make homemade food really flavorful with her homemade spice mixes and extracts, and by roasting vegetables to bring out their wonderful flavors. She has a ton of tricks that help food taste better and I’ve even learned to love a few really healthy things like broccoli since she came into my life. Also, these Healthy smoothies for weight loss are delicious! Check out these superfoods for health! Or this rainbow diet plan to make sure you get all of your nutrients in a day.

So, remember, 4 ounces of protein, one serving of whole grains, and fill yourself up on wonderfully healthy fruits and vegetables, and your health will thank you for it. You’ll be experiencing far more wellness in just a few weeks. And as we age, we want to live well, not survive with tons of ailments. Healthy food and good nutrition are the best ways to do that. And it’s simple to make food like this 2 ingredient tilapia recipe. You don’t have to spend all day in the kitchen to do it. (For inexpensive protein ideas, check these out).

Natural wellness

For us it’s helped us have fewer headaches, less acid reflux, have tons more energy, helped us think more clearly and be in better moods, give us more interest in life, and helped us to get stronger and have more stamina so we aren’t falling over-exhausted by the end of each day. This way of eating saves us a ton of illness treatments and medications and makes us feel and live better every day.

• Tips for How to Eat Healthy When you Hate Cooking
• 20 Easy High Protein Dinner Ideas to Make
• Check out this rainbow diet meal plan for ideas on how to get a variety of nutrients daily.
• If you’re on a budget, check out these cheap nutritious foods to keep in your diet.
• Here are some great ideas for meals you can cook in bulk and enjoy over time.
• Check out how to balance macronutrients for weight loss.
• Try these weight training ideas for beginners to help you burn the calories you eat too.
• Check out these healthy breakfasts to help you lose weight for ideas to start your day!
• And healthy lunches to help you lose weight as well.
• Remember to set Fitness Goals to keep you on track too.
• Try these organic Banana Walnut Oatmeal Cookies for a sweet treat that’s healthy too.
• Fit Over 50, Older Adult Wellness
• 22 Healthy Snacks from a Vending Machine
• Healthy High Protein Breakfast Ideas to Start the Day
• Simple Breakfast Ideas, Quick and Healthy
• Quick Breakfast Ideas for Healthy Mornings

Now, what did the ear of corn say when all of it’s clothes fell off?

Aw shucks! Ha ha ha ha.

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