Eating Healthy

For couple of years now, I have been talking to my family members (Mar, Marl, Ry and Cha) constantly about eating healthy or making healthier food choices.

For example I would say, "Marl, I cooked some vegies, eat some, it's good."  Or, from time to titme, I would say to all my children , "eat some bananas, they're good", "apples are good, an apple a day keeps the doctor away", "vegies are good", etc... I call this 'brain-washing', I openly admit to it (brainwashing),it took years for my messages to sink in but I guess it finally did..  Persistence is a virtue, LOL.

I would also always remind my eldest, Marl, to drop just one thing and only one thing and it will do him a lot of good - that is sugared drinks.  He likes to drink softdrinks, sugared juices and power drinks a lot and supersize too.  I am very worried about his health and of him becoming a diabetic (like me - got it from my mom).  Now he only drinks water 95% of the time, my estimate.

Slowly, we as a family are choosing healthier food choices and slowly my children broke down their resistance.

The good news - here's list of changes towards eating healthy adapted by my family this year:
1.  rice - from white to brown
2.  bread - from white to multi-grain and whole wheat
3.  drinks - from sugared to sugar substitute to water, green tea and other kind of tea
4.  oil - from canola to corn and I use a lot of extra virgin olive oil
5.  desserts - from cakes, cookes, pastries, muffins to mostly fruits.  We had cake last week though.
6.  meals - from all meat to meat and vegies.  I try hard to always include vegies everyday.

Eliminating all kinds of sugared and artificially sweetened drinks from our lives 95% of the time is a major change for all of us and a huge factor towards being healthy.  The rest of the changes will make us all healthier slowly but surely.

Here's some funny stories:
Marl, who is a meat/burger/fries/softdrinks person, was overheard as saying he brings bananas to work as snack.  He now eats apples too.  He now likes bokchoy and tofu too.  He never liked to eat bananas or all kinds of fruits before.  I consider this as a little miracle.

Cha, when she came home from 11 months of back-packing from New Zealand and Asia exclaimed when she opened the rice cooker to get rice, "brown rice??!!", she was shocked.  She was the last one opposing the change from white to brown.  While she was away, our home has suddenly turned brown rice-eater.  She had no choice, she never said another word, she knew she's not winning this battle.  LOL.

Ry, has healthy choices of his own he's been lecturing me about.  He wants me to reduce salt in our food.  He wants me to use rock salt from iodized salt. 

My husband is the healthiest of all.  He loves everything healthy and he loves fruits and he makes all of us eat fruits by bringing it to us - apples peeled and quartered, strawberries washed and sliced to bite pieces, blueberries washed, etc...

Malou (yours truly) whose favorites are cakes and all kinds of desserts now eats 1 pc. banana for breakfast with tea or coffee.  A few months ago, it would have been a terrible joke if one would imply that one day Malou's breakfast would be a fruit.  I said once, while eating a banana, "never in my lifetime would I think I would be eating a banana for breakfast."  Unimaginable, but hey, nobody said one can't brainwash oneself.  This is a little miracle too.  LOL.

We, like all humans, 'sin' once in a while.  I call it a sin if we buy white bread or choco cake, but I accept that we will 'sin' to satisfy our cravings... then we go back to normal which is the list above.