I have found that the best way to get my family ready for healthy eating is to introduce just a few things at a time. That way, things in the home are slowly changing, and they don’t seem to notice as much. One or two things, like some peanut butter and jelly without added sugar is easier for them to deal with than changing everything at once. Healthy eating in this house was next to impossible, I thought, but I am going to keep going until at least half of the things they eat are good for them.

If you want to introduce your family to healthy eating, you may have to be sneaky like I have to be. You should find some good things to change once in a while, but never do it all at once. If your family does not eat a lot of vegetables, you should start your healthy eating campaign by adding them to meals. They aren’t going to like it, and you shouldn’t force them. However, ask them to at least try each thing you present so they can decide on their own what they like. You are going to be surprised that they will all have some veggies that they are going to eat.

Don’t expect healthy eating to take over completely, but you can expect that your family may pick up some good habits without even realizing it. If they don’t get a lot of sugar in their diet at home, they are going to get it away from home, but they may find they don’t like it as much as they once did. Don’t be a tyrant about healthy eating, or you are just going to turn them off. Instead, do what you can, make suggestions, but don’t dictate everything that goes into their mouths. A few years down the road they may make good choices more often than not, and they won’t even realize it was your doing.

Shopping at a health food store is no longer something that people do to make a statement. It is something that many do because they are afraid of some of the ingredients in other products, and they want to keep their bodies as free from any toxins as they can. Some food additives are fine, but there are some that may not be. For most, they can’t tell the difference and stick to the foods that they find in the health food store.

If you are looking for a health food store, but you can’t find one in your community, you may not have to search very long. They seem to be popping up in more and more places as people begin to think about eating better and as they begin to be concerned with their impact on the environment. You can find some great information about such places online, and you may find there is one near you that you were not aware was there. You may find a farmer’s market nearby, and that is a great place to find some of the same things you would find in such a store.

There is more to a health food store than just food in many cases. You can sometimes find natural supplements that can be used for many different illnesses. You may also find some clothing and bags made with natural fibers like cotton and hemp. There may be many natural items made by local people who use nothing but natural and pure things to make their goods. You might find perfumes, candles, and even bath and body produces in a health food store. Though you will find that you spend a little more for these items, you may also find that you never want to use anything else ever again.

It’s a good idea to encourage children to eat fish from an early age and parents can be cunning in how it is presented! There are seafood recipes for fish cakes, fish burgers and pizza with fish toppings. Kids love any sort of cheese and fish dish or fish in pita bread.

When having a dinner party, seafood makes an excellent starter. It refreshes the palette for the main course and some dishes are quite sophisticated. Angels on Horseback is a well known dish and has various versions around the world.  The traditional recipe is to use oysters, wrapped in streaky bacon rashers. These should be grilled and go well with a mixed green salad.

Many starter dishes involve prawns and Citrus Prawn and Avocado is a particularly tasty one. Ingredients consist of peeled tiger prawn tails, lemon juice, lettuce and an avocado. The avocado should be ripe and chives make a good garnish. The perfect dressing is sunflower oil, orange juice, white wine vinegar, salt and black pepper.

People who like spicy food can still find a kick in seafood recipes. Curried sole, made with lemon sole fillets is cooked with curry sauce, onion and lemon rind. The garnish is toasted flaked almonds with coriander and rice is a good accompaniment.

Cheesy Citrus Cod is a delicious blend of flavors and haddock can be substituted if preferred. The other ingredients are orange rind, seasoning and soft cheese. The sauce is made with crème fraiche, orange juice and rind, seasoning and chives. If calories are of concern, the soft cheese can be low fat and the crème fraiche can be half fat. This dish goes well with creamy, mashed potato and a green vegetable.

Casseroles are not just for meat based dishes and they are a convenient one pot way of preparing seafood recipes such as Beachcombers Casserole. This contains red snapper fillets, a popular choice at the best restaurants these days. The snapper is cooked in a flameproof casserole dish with dried crushed chilies, onion, cayenne pepper, garlic, canned tomatoes and cream coconut. This dish could be served with rice or pasta. It also makes a tasty filling for a baked potato.

When I moved out on my own and wanted to lose some weight, my solution was to cut out sweets entirely. I hated not having something sweet after dinner, but I didn’t see any other way to do it. I would eat no sweets until my willpower gave out, then binge. I don’t know why fresh fruit didn’t occur to me as an option earlier, but it didn’t. Once it did, however, it revolutionized my eating habits.

My parents would cook with fresh fruits, but they would never use them for dessert when I was growing up. Then one day, I received a fresh fruit basket from a friend. It was filled with fresh citrus fruit from Florida: oranges, lemons, and pomegranates. A lot of people scoff when they get fresh fruit baskets. They consider them to be a mediocre and uninspired gift. I reacted much differently. I was overjoyed to be getting all those fresh fruits. I practically ate myself sick!

A lot of people talk about the problems of eating too much fresh fruit. Supposedly, raw sugars are not much better for you than processed ones, and you can  gain weight from eating fresh fruit almost as easily as from eating chocolate cake. This opinion is rubbish. If you eat your fruit fresh, you get the fiber, vitamins, and minerals that are incorporated into these natural foods, without the fats and carbohydrates that typical deserts are filled with. Yes it is possible to eat too much fresh fruit, but you can eat too much of anything! The bottom line is, fresh fruits are a great way to enjoy a little taste of something sweet without compromising your diet.

Most think that whole grain bread is a health food. In theory, this type of bread is better for the body in many ways. However, there are many things that people do to bread that makes the whole grain variety almost as bad as white bread. I can’t seem to find a loaf of whole grain bread that does not have added sugar. No matter how hard I try, I do not think of sugar in bread as a health food. It is better than white bread, which also has sugar, but it’s still not the ideal that I am looking for.

Most don’t think of peanut butter and jelly as a health food dish. However, it can be if you know what to look for. You can find some great brands of peanut butter that have no added sugar. They are simple peanuts and nothing more. You do have to stir them when you first open the jars, and you do have to keep in in the refrigerator, but it is much better and tastes great. You won’t miss the sugar. As for the jelly, you can find brands made with just the fruit. They also have no added sugar. They still taste wonderful and sweet, but the sweetness comes from the fruit, not from added sugars. It might not be an every day health food dish, but add it to whole grains, and it’s not all that bad.

You can find other ways to introduce health food into your family’s eating plan. You should look for organically grown fruits and vegetables, and products that do not have added sugar and a lot of preservatives. Some of these things will have to be stored in the refrigerator or used more quickly than what you are used to due to the lack of preservatives, but many feel that is much better than putting unknown chemicals into the body.

That, along with eating more fruits and vegetables should help me get back to a healthy way of eating.  Once you’ve fallen into the depths of junk food, it’s hard to claw your way out, but I will do it and myself and my family will be the better for it.  I just can’t wait to get started.  Stay tuned!