News Taffy

I’m on a renewed health kick lately. I’m determined to add more fruits and vegetables to our diet and to have more meatless meals. I’m sure my family will utter a collective groan if this gets back to them so let’s keep this between us. The idea of eating “healthy” doesn’t alway sound appealing to my family but after they eat most of my meals, they find they enjoy them. I always say, “Try it before you say you don’t like it.”. This has all been prompted by some reading I’ve been doing and after hearing about the problems a friend’s child has been having.

Actually, two of my friend’s children are having digestive system problems and in both cases, the doctors told the families to switch to a vegan diet. One child has seen a dramatic improvement after 4 weeks but the other has barely gotten started. The first family admits that it has been a tremendous challenge to drastically change the family’s way of eating. It is hard to argue with the success of the diet when you consider that the child was not placed on any medication.

We bring on so many of our own health problems by the foods we chose to eat. I’m not sure some of the crap that goes under the heading “food” deserves to be called such. While flipping through a Wal Mart sales circular recently, I suddenly realized that very little that was advertised was real food and not processed fake food that is detrimental to your health in the long run. There were sugary cereals, Pop Tarts, Lunchables, chips, sugary drinks and snacks. There were only a tiny bit of fruits and vegetables on the sales circular. Everywhere you turn, you are bombarded with unhealthy choices. Most people have no clue what constitutes real, nutritious food anymore.

I invite you to try the chopped salad I made last week. So many people don’t like to cook and this involved only grilling or baking a chicken breast. Any leftover meat is great so plan ahead to have extra leftover from one meal to make this salad. Leave out the chicken for a vegetarian salad. The best part about making a chopped salad is the fun you have with a large butcher knife. Mad at your spouse? Chop, Chop! Kids misbehave after school? Chop, Chop! Boss give you extra work? Chop, Chop! Try it for the stress relief alone.

Chopped Salad

INGREDIENTS: 1 head Romaine lettuce. Then, select any combination of raw vegetables that appeal to you: carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, avocado, peppers, green or red onion, mushrooms, sugar snap peas, snow peas, broccoli or cauliflower.

DIRECTIONS:  Place lettuce on a cutting board and chop into bite sized pieces. Chop other vegetables as necessary and add to bowl, tossing to combine. Add other toppings such as sunflower or pumpkin seeds, cheese in moderation, tofu, black or kidney beans for protein or chop a grilled chicken breast. Make a nonfat dressing by mixing non-fat plain Greek yogurt with a packet of dry Ranch dressing mix and thin a bit with milk as desired. Whatever dressing you use, don’t drown the salad with it. Serve with a nice hunk of bread.

Until next week,

Lisa