Baby Steps in the Kitchen, 3

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Time for the next three steps in the Baby Steps in the Kitchen Series! If you have missed the first two, go back and read part 1 and part 2!

7. Replace white flour and white flour products with healthier alternatives (whole wheat, spelt, etc.)

8. Choose healthier oils

9. Try making your own chicken stock instead of buying broth or bouillon cubes, and your own soups!

Okay, so, why these three steps? Good question! Read on for more information!

White flour is basically a non-food. It is stripped of nearly all its nutrients when the hull is removed from the kernal. Most of us know that white flour isn't good for us for all of these reasons, because health experts are constantly asking us to switch to whole-grain alternatives. Right now, I'm going to tell you the same thing: get some whole grains! Buy brown rice instead of white (and NO instant!), whole grain bread, and whole grain flours to bake with. Spelt is an even better option for some -- lower in gluten and generally less "messed with." It can be found at many health food stores and before we went grain-free, I used only spelt flour in my baking for a long time. There will be more steps about grains later, but for right now, just switch to whole grains! Simple, easily available at any grocery store, and not too expensive!

Oils -- Good fats are essential in your diet. I've written two posts about fats so far, so I'm not going to write about why you need them here in detail. People use oil for a lot of things, too, like frying, in many boxed mixes (we'll talk about those later), baking from scratch, putting on bread, dressing salads, etc. Hydrogenated oils and even most liquid vegetable oils are not good for you, so you should limit your consumption. Replace them with healthy oils. These, too, are generally affordable ($4 - $5 for a pound of butter on up to $20 for a jar of coconut oil or bottle of really good olive oil) and easy to find. They're also very nutrient-dense. If you aren't sure of ways to use all these new fats, you'll want to check out my "30-Day Eat More Fat Challenge," starting on March 1st! (Only 2 more days to register!!)

Chicken stock is a wonderful food. Fresh, homemade chicken stock, that is. Canned broths (and canned soups) and bouillon cubes are NOT good. They're mostly made of salt and MSG so that they're "meat flavored" but contain little to no actual meat. (That's why you can get vegetarian "chicken" flavored broth.) These are highly processed, and we've already talked about avoiding MSG or other packaged food ingredients. And although there may be brands out there that are acceptable, be wary of any brand that says "natural flavors," "hydrolyzed" "autolyzed" etc. -- this is MSG too. But, it's so easy to avoid if you just make your own! Buy a whole chicken or turkey, or buy bones (thighs, backs, necks are great -- feet are even better if you can find them! I haven't tried that yet). Put the bones in a large stock pot (at least 8 quarts; 16 is even better) and fill with water. Add vegetable scraps -- onion ends, carrot peels, celery pieces, etc. -- and arguably, a little apple cider vinegar (I tried it once or twice and it didn't make a difference for me, but some swear by it) and turn it on low. Then walk away, for about 24 hours. You'll come back to a big pot of rich, golden broth. This broth is full of calcium and other minerals, it makes great soups and gravies and lots of other food, freezes well, is very healing, and more. It's a wonderful, all-purpose food, and it couldn't be simpler or cheaper to make. A quart of good-quality stock in the store would cost you $2 - $5, depending on brand. At home you can make a whole gallon (or more) for that much! Stock is so wonderful, I could write an entire post about it. This is a small change that is easy, will bring a ton of extra nutrition to your diet, and actually SAVES you money! Why not do it?

What are your next three steps, if you're further along? How are you doing on these? How have your changes been going over the last couple of weeks? Is there anything else you'd like to see in this series?



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