Food & Cooking

If you don’t like veggies, it’s hard to eat healthy. You can get plenty of carbohydrate and protein, but what about those vitamin & mineral micronutrients found in fresh produce? With a few tips and tricks, you can enjoy them more. Follow these steps to increase your vegetable intake to half your plate.

Why You Need More Veggies

Doctors and dieticians may disagree over which diet is most beneficial for health, but no one is saying you should eat fewer vegetables. Whether you are low-carb, low-fat, vegan, keto or embarking on intermittent fasting, the consensus is that vegetables provide much-needed nutrition. Here are just a few reasons to be bold if you don’t like veggies.

• They feed your microbiome. Vegetables come in green, yellow, orange, red, and purple. These colors are the manifestation of polyphenols, which are compounds that not only support your health, but the health of your microbiome. Polyphenols also help reduce free radical damage.
•  Vegetables help stabilize blood sugars. Because they are high in fiber, vegetables digest more slowly than juices, flour-products and sweetened foods that spike blood sugars. They keep you satiated longer and stave off cravings.
• They can contribute to weight loss. Because they are so jam-packed with nutrients but so low in calories, you can eat a lot, feel full, and not fill up on empty calories that make you gain weight.
• They contain antioxidants that help fight disease. Higher intake of antioxidant-rich foods is associated with lower risk of chronic diseases such as cancer and heart disease.

Enjoy Them Fresh-Picked

Many people don’t like vegetables because they are perceived as being mushy and flavorless. But vegetables don’t have to be cooked! Fresh-picked peas and tomatoes are sweet, savory, and satisfying. If you don’t have a garden, visit your farmer’s market, or eat flash-frozen vegetables straight out of the bag!

If You Don’t Like Veggies Straight, Try This

Sometimes, all it takes is a creamy dip to complement a crunchy vegetable. Bell peppers, celery, and carrots are great with hummus, Ranch dressing, and guacamole. Or try this traditional tahini dressing made from sesame seed paste.

Eat Them on a Pizza

Yes, of course, you can top a pizza with veggies. But if you don’t like veggies, why would you ruin a good meal? But if you crumple a bag of frozen spinach and mix it into the sauce, you won’t even know the leafy greens are there. In this video, I show the audience how to sneak veggies into pizza, cake, and other favorite dishes.

Try Crispy Veggie Chips

Katie Kimball, author at Kitchen Stewardship, knows just how addicting potato chips are – and how detrimental they are for health. But she has taken the concept of something salty and crunchy and applied it to garden produce in such a way that even the kids clamor for more. You can find her easy-to-follow instructions here, even if you don’t have a food dehydrator.

Kids Who Don’t Like Veggies Enjoy These Pancakes

Okonomiyaki are Japanese pancakes enjoyed as street food. They are made with cabbage! I share a recipe for them here, but you can also adapt a potato pancake recipe by substituting a bag of shredded cabbage for the grated potato. While you will probably enjoy them more with siracha sauce than with syrup, they are still comfort food that is easy to enjoy.

Veggie Nuggets, Anyone?

It’s not just kids that like finger foods. Don’t most of us enjoy little morsels of crunch that we can dip and pop into our mouths? It’s easy to make a breading that will result in a crisp product when roasted in a hot oven. Just toss moist vegetable pieces with a little flour, dunk in beaten egg, then roll in panko crumbs. Bake at 425 degrees F. until slightly browned.

Don’t like veggies, but love fries?

Veggie fries are the cousin of veggie chips. Instead of cutting slices, cut strips. Then put them in an air fryer instead of dehydrating them. Some light-colored vegetables that take a crisp well include turnips, parsnips, jicama, green plantains, rutabaga, and celeriac.

Many Don’t Like Cruciferous Veggies, so Here’s a Trick

If you think broccoli, Brussels sprouts, kale, and other cruciferous vegetables taste bitter, you’re not imagining it! And if you are a Super Taster, that bitterness tastes even stronger. Dr. Sarah Ballantyne explains the physiological reason why you can’t stand these sulfurous veggies. But there’s hope! When you blanch a crucifer for just 1 minute in boiling water, then transfer it to ice water, you neutralize the bitter compound. You can then munch on the vegetable cold, roast it, stir-fry it, make chips or fries, or use any of the other methods detailed here. You will be surprised at how much more enjoyable it tastes!]

You can also offset bitterness by adding acid (lemon juice or vinegar) and/or sweetness (honey or pure maple syrup).

Try Microgreens

It only takes one to two tablespoons of microgreens to make a serving of vegetables. And microgreens are super easy to add to sandwiches, soups, salads, spaghetti, tacos, burgers, and even puddings and dips. Margo Clayson, owner of The Mighty Microgreen, even adds them to ice cream! If you don’t like veggies, start small. Try microgreens first. They benefit your health in very small doses because they can have up to 40 times the nutrition of a mature vegetable.

Blend Them Up…with Cheese

If you have leftover vegetables in the refrigerator that no one wants, drop them into any canned or homemade soup. When they are well-cooked, put the soup in the blender to make a creamy bowl that you can dress up with cream, croutons, and/or cheese.

Grill Your Veggies

Even in the winter, you can create amazing kabobs and vegetable bites with an indoor smokeless electric grill. This appliance adds a little char to make your vegetable more appealing. Cook at a high temperature for a short period of time, and dress with plenty of healthy fat and spice. Adding a splash of balsamic vinegar just before serving enhances the flavor.

Eat Them When You’re Hungriest!

When do you eat your vegetables? Do you save them for last because you dread eating them? Do you stare at them wilting in the fridge after you have snacked on crackers or chocolate? The real key to enjoying your vegetables is to get good and hungry. Don’t spoil your appetite with sugar! Bell pepper and sweet potatoes are as satisfying as fruit snacks when you’ve been working in the hot sun and are looking for some sweet refreshment. Try going 4 to 5 hours between meals with no snacking, then eat your vegetables first!

Want More Tips?

This video from Dr. Sarah Ballantyne leverages ideas such as positive associative learning and other tools to help you overcome learned aversions.

You need essential thyroid nutrients like a car needs gas in order to run. Selenium, zinc, iron, iodine, tyrosine, and Vitamin A are crucial to thyroid health.

Your Thyroid Drives Your Physical Functioning

Your thyroid is like a car. Because it drives every function in your body, you will get the most mileage out of your body if you have a “sporty” model.

But what if you have one that doesn’t accelerate well and won’t keep up with the flow of life?

Then your digestion is sluggish, your detoxification is torpid, your thinking is lackluster, healing bogs down, weight loss is lethargic, and so on.

Essential Thyroid Nutrients to Fuel Your Tank

Just because you have a car, it doesn’t mean that it is driving anywhere at all! In order for your car to go anywhere, it has to have gas.

Now, the gas in the tank is called T4 hormone. Gas, or T4 hormone, has to be manufactured. Just as crude oil is required to make gasoline, iodine and tyrosine are required to made T4 hormone. Your body can’t invent them. So, you extract have to them from the food you eat, just as oil is extracted from reserves by drilling.

A great source of iodine is kelp flakes. The easiest way to use kelp is to mix it 50/50 with your Himalayan pink salt or Redmond Real Salt in your shaker. Tyrosine comes from animal products. Good sources are beef steak, pork chop, salmon, and chicken breast.

Turning Potential Energy into Kinetic Energy

So, now you’ve got gas in the tank. But still, the car won’t go if you’re not pressing on the gas pedal. You have to have some kind of action to power the engine. T3 thyroid hormone is what presses the gas pedal.

Essential thyroid nutrients to convert T4 to T3 are iron, zinc, Vitamin A and selenium. Your best source for iron and vitamin A is liver! For selenium, Brazil nuts are an excellent source, and for zinc, seafood and pumpkin seeds are supreme.

Please note that it doesn’t do any good to keep pouring gas in the tank (taking T4 hormone, usually in the form of prescription levothyroxine) if the tank is already full. Overflowing gas does not make the car move better. First, you need to address why the gas pedal is not working. Mineral deficiencies are common.

Another Essential Thyroid Nutrient

Regardless of how much potential there is to race down the freeway, the car simply will not get you there if you’re pressing on the brake instead. Reverse T3 hormone is like a brake pedal. It keeps the gas from doing its work.

Stress is a brake pedal. No matter how many nutrients eat, too much physiological or psychological stress just slows the car down!

If you want your thyroid to work, you have to prioritize essential primary nutrients such as sleeping 8-9 hours, deep breathing at mealtimes, meditating morning and night, laughing often and deeply, and finding joy every day through some form of play.

Food Inspiration for Essential Thyroid Nutrients

The next time you make pesto, use Brazil nuts instead of pine nuts to help supply selenium to your thyroid. When you brown some ground beef, mix in some pureed or grated liver to supply iron and Vitamin A.

Believe it or not, you can even add liver to muffins! Here is a delightfully delicious muffin recipe designed for skeptics of organ meat. You won’t be able to detect the liver, and you will love the sweet blueberry flavor!

Print Recipe

Mystery Muffins

Sweet and delicious, you would never guess they contain thyroid-nourishing chicken livers!

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time30 minutes mins

Total Time40 minutes mins

Course: Breakfast

Keyword: banana, blueberries, oat flour

Servings: 12

Author: Adapted from Healing Family Eats

Ingredients

• 6 oz. fresh chicken livers
• 1 large ripe banana
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cup oat flour
• 1 Tb. arrowroot, tapioca, or corn starch
• 1/4 tsp. sea salt
• 1 1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners.
• Blend the liver and banana in a high-powered blender or food processor until smooth.
• Add the oil, syrup, and eggs and process again until smooth.
• Transfer batter to a bowl and mix in the flour, starch, salt, baking soda and cinnamon.
• Fold in the blueberries.
• Scoop the batter into the muffin tin, filling 2/3 full.
• Bake in the center of the oven for 30 minutes, until the muffins are lightly brown on top. Place on a cooling rack to cool.

Notes

Makes one dozen.

You know vegetables are good for you, but you don’t enjoy them. So, you have come here. Relax! You can make your vegetables taste good without extensive culinary skills. Nor do you need more than a few minutes. The ingredients are readily available in most grocery stores. Further, it only requires a couple of condiments in most cases. Vegetables not only can taste good, but they can also be an enjoyable part of a healthy food plan.

Buying Vegetables

To make vegetables taste good, buy them fresh! The longer they sit in a truck, on a shelf, or in a refrigerator, the more flavor they will lose. So, when possible, buy locally from a farmer’s market or from a CSA (community-shared agriculture) organization. You can identify markets in your area by putting in your zip code at LocalHarvest.org

Another tip is to find out what day your grocery store receives produce shipments and shop on that day. Always look for bright colors and avoid yellowed, browned or wilted produce. Keep your eye out for products that are in season in your climate and have been grown in your state. For example, in Idaho, strawberries peak in June. If I’m buying strawberries in December, certainly they have been shipped from Mexico, spending more than a week in transport.

Cooking Vegetables

Less is more when it comes to making cooked vegetables taste good. Although frozen vegetables may cost less and do offer prompt harvest-to-freezer freshness, they often are soggy and mushy when cooked. So, less handling between the farm and you will yield more satisfaction in taste.

Water is an important factor. Less water generally results in a tastier product. So, steam instead of boil; roast or sauté instead of microwaving. Low and slow may be fine for pot roasts, but quick and hot is better for fresh produce. If you have time to grill, that is a delicious option. For no-fuss indoor grilling, check out Ninja Grills.

Less time under heat preserves the flavor, too. Don’t cook them until they can be mashed – unless they are potatoes. Vegetables are best when they can be poked with a fork but retain a slight crunch. I like to roast vegetables on a sheet pan in a 425° oven with a drizzle of cooking fat just until tender-crisp. Also, stir-frying them in a skillet preheated to medium-high with some cooking oil works well. If you do add them to soups, chop them fine so that you don’t get big, soggy pieces. Add lots of seasoning to your soup to enhance the end result.

Make Vegetables Taste Good

Now, dress them up! Nobody expects you to eat them plain. Like a woman, they present themselves best when they are made up. Here are some simple ideas you can stir together while your vegetables are on the heat.

• Teriyaki flavor: Combine equal parts soy sauce and pineapple juice concentrate. Drizzle over vegetables and garnish with grated ginger root.
• Tai: Whisk a spoonful of curry paste into a small bowl of coconut milk. For depth, add a dash of fish sauce and a shake of chili flakes. Dunk your vegetables.
• Mexican: Mix 2 parts honey with 1 part lime juice. Spice with chipotle powder and chopped cilantro.
• French: Sprinkle herbs de Provence into cream. Pour over finished vegetables.
• Italian: Dilute pesto sauce with some chicken broth and toss with vegetables.
• Grill mix: Shake together in a jar 4 tsp. salt; 2 tsp. each of paprika, sugar, parsley flakes, onion powder, and garlic powder; and 1 tsp. each of celery seed, chili powder, turmeric, oregano, and basil. Sprinkle over any vegetable or add to soups. For a larger batch, use a tablespoon instead of a teaspoon.
• Mediterranean: Blend 1/3 cup each olive oil & tahini; 1 tablespoon each soy sauce & honey; 3 tablespoons lemon juice; and 1/2 tsp. each garlic powder and salt. Spoon over vegetables.
• For cruciferous & Sulphur-containing vegetables (such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, asparagus, & artichokes): Stir together 1 part Dijon mustard and 1 part pure maple syrup. Dribble onto vegetables.
• For sauteed greens (spinach, chard, kale, arugula): splash with balsamic vinegar, then drizzle on a little honey.
• For raw salads: Whisk 2 parts olive oil with 1 part lemon juice. Add herbs if desired (garlic, chives, parsley, basil, dill, cilantro, etc.)

Expand Your Repertoire

If you don’t typically eat any vegetables besides corn, peas, and beans, here are some fun ways to add more vegetables to your diet.

• At the grocery store, try to buy 1 vegetable in each color of the rainbow for the week.
• Choose a vegetable that you have never eaten before, and Google recipes for it. Pro tip: for nearly any vegetable (except lettuce and avocado), it can likely be washed, chopped, tossed with olive oil + salt, and baked at 350ºF until you can pierce it with a fork.
• Consider making a vegetable soup, stir fry, or salad that has at least 6 types of vegetables in it to get great variety in one sitting. Good vegetables for all of these dishes include onions (red and white), garlic, carrots, celery, bell peppers, cabbage (red and green), string beans, zucchini, tomatoes, cauliflower, sturdy leafy greens (e.g. kale, spinach, arugula, chard), and cooked winter squash.
• Consider having a dip alongside chopped vegetables for a snack – guacamole, hummus, and black bean dip are some favorites.
• Toss some chopped herbs onto your dishes for added flavor. These are especially abundant in the summer months. Consider fresh herbs such as parsley, cilantro, basil, mint, dill, oregano, and chives. Great herbs to throw into a soup or roasting meat include sage, thyme, bay leaves (remove after cooking), and rosemary. Garlic and ginger are other excellent, easy to find additions, both raw and cooked.

A healthy breakfast provides not only appropriate carbs, fats, and proteins, but essential micronutrients, too. When you eat a healthy breakfast, you feel energized for the day; your mood is stable, and you maintain a sense of satiety. Whether you eat when you first wake up, or practice intermittent fasting, your breakfast sets your blood sugars for the rest of the day. When you eat may not be nearly as important as what you eat.

Here are some suggestions for every lifestyle, so you can eat what you enjoy, knowing you are getting the nutrient density you need.

Eggs

Fried, boiled, poached, scrambled – you have so many options for such a simple food! Don’t limit yourself to the same recipe every day. Variety is the spice of life!

• Frittata: like an omelet, only easier. Stir in veggies & herbs, then bake.
• Eggo-cado: Crack egg into the hollow of a halved avocado; bake until set.
• Pizza with egg “crust”: top an omelet with olives, mushrooms, tomatoes, spinach, Canadian bacon, & Italian seasoning.
• Taco eggs: scramble eggs with taco meat, avocado, salsa, cheese.
• Curried eggs: Slice hard-boiled eggs into coconut milk with curry paste and sautéed bok choy, pea pods, and mushrooms.
• Indian eggs: poach eggs in cooked tomatoes, coriander, cumin, turmeric and ginger.
• Eggs in a nest: Sautee fresh greens. Crack eggs over the top. Cook gently until set.
• Fishermen’s eggs: Fry fish in an oven-proof skillet. Add vegetables. Crack eggs over the top. Transfer to the oven and bake until eggs are set.

Smoothies

Refreshing, quick, and delicious, smoothies are a favorite with moms and kids. But to make sure they provide a healthy breakfast, be sure to follow these rules:
1. Include 8-12 grams per serving of a healthy fat: avocado, almond butter, coconut milk, coconut oil, flax seed oil, or hemp seeds.
2. Add some protein. You can choose a quality animal or plant-based protein powder without added ingredients. Aim to get 20 grams of protein per serving.
3. Limit yourself to 1 cup of low-sugar fruits, such as berries, kiwi or apples.
4. Add fresh leafy greens if you like.

Here are some creative combinations to consider:

• Spiced pumpkin with real cream or coconut cream
• Strawberry almond coconut
• Cocoa-almond (with almond milk and almond butter)
• Acai cherry chocolate avocado
• Green Pina Colada with spinach, coconut and pineapple

Healthy Breakfast Meats

Sausage and bacon may be obvious breakfast choices, but have you considered duck, fish, or even flank steak? These suggestions may help you brainstorm your own combinations.

• Kielbasa Skillet with sweet potatoes and kale. (use nitrite-free sausage).
• Sausage & cabbage: Sautee cabbage and apples in butter, maple syrup and nutmeg. Stir in ground turkey and sausage seasonings.
• Sausage stack-up: Homemade sausage patty and pineapple rings topped with cheese. Good with bell peppers and tomatoes
• Smoked salmon and cream cheese on whole grain sourdough toast. Garnish with sprouts and arugula
• Duck hash: toss fried sweet potatoes with diced duck breast, chives, and purple onion. Serve with poached eggs and wilted greens.
• Carne Asada: Stir-fried flank steak, jalapenos, new potatoes or pinto beans, cherry tomatoes, onion and garlic – with or without eggs & salsa.
• Canadian Bacon Cups: Line muffin tins with Canadian bacon. Fill cups with any omelet ingredients (eggs, a variety of vegetables) Bake until set.
• Sardine Toast: Multi-grain bread, sardines, tomato, onion, parsley, spinach, mozzarella, Italian seasoning.

Dairy-based Meals

If you have no appetite for meat in the morning, consider these dairy options, which are high in protein and low in sugars.

• Parfait: plain full-fat Greek yogurt, a little fruit, a variety of nuts and seeds (hemp, chia, flax, pumpkin, sunflower). For a bonus, layer with cooked steel-cut oats.
• Cottage Cheese, fresh basil, cherry tomatoes, and cucumber slices. 
• Pancakes: Ricotta or cottage cheese blended with raw eggs, then baked on griddle. Try a savory vegetable topping, such as mushrooms & herbs.
• Purple smoothie: Full-fat cottage cheese, blueberries, almond milk.
• Banana Nut Smoothie: Greek yogurt, almond butter, banana.

Pancakes & Waffles

It might seem criminal to outlaw warm, golden cakes, fresh off the griddle as a morning starter. So, to avoid an insulin surge in the morning, follow these guidelines for the occasional pancake or waffle breakfast.

• Substitute almond or coconut flour for the usual high-glycemic, all-purpose or gluten-free flour.
• Limit your portion and add a side of meat or eggs.
• Top with coconut milk, Greek yogurt, ricotta, or cottage cheese instead of syrup or jam.
• Consider adding protein powder to your batter and to your syrup.
• Stir in grated or pureed vegetables.
• Incorporate nuts, nut butters, and seeds as toppings or fillers.
• Sandwich between slices of ham and fried egg.

Healthy Breakfast Cereals

What’s more American than a bowl of cold cereal to start your day? Unfortunately, that’s a quick trip to a blood sugar roller coaster. Try these options instead.

• Brown rice porridge (congee) served with shredded chicken, avocado, peanuts, and kimchi 
• Mung bean and Basmati rice porridge (kitchari) cooked in bone broth with ghee or coconut milk, ginger, cumin, turmeric, fennel, and coriander. Garnish with cilantro and serve with mixed vegetables on the side. 
• Buttered oatmeal: Jazz up this traditional hot cereal bowl with a pat of real butter, a spoonful of chia seeds or hemp hearts, and some protein powder. Serve with nuts and sweeten with coconut flakes. Also good with link sausage.
• “No-oatmeal”: pumpkin and sunflower seeds tossed with walnuts, flax seeds, coconut flakes, and cinnamon; served in creamy coconut milk. You can buy grain-free granola if you don’t want to make it. 
• Quinoa, millet, amaranth, or buckwheat porridge, served with Greek yogurt and a side of bacon. Make it savory with parmesan cheese in place of yogurt and the addition of wilted greens. I also like buckwheat porridge with avocado and tomato.

More Healthy Breakfast Ideas

Perhaps cooking is a problem for you – you don’t have the time or the desire. Check out this post on how to prep a nutrient-dense breakfast in a hurry. If you’re looking for specific recipes, here are some of my favorites. When you need something adventurous to get you out of the doldrums, try breakfast soup!

Balanced blood sugars are the key to hormone stability. If your blood sugars are unstable, your hormones will follow suit. But why is that important? Stable hormones – thyroid, insulin, cortisol, and estrogen – are necessary for maintaining normal weight. Whether you like it or not, you do not control your weight. Your hormones do. Hormones are chemical messengers that tell your body how to feel and how to respond to your world. In short, it’s those messengers that decide whether you should store fat or burn it.

It follows then, that if you want to avoid holiday weight gain, you must balance your blood sugars. But that doesn’t need to be as hard as it sounds. My tips are easy to incorporate into your busy schedule and mesh well with social events. Most of them only take awareness and a commitment to make a good choice.

1. Eat A Savory Breakfast

Balanced blood sugars begin with breakfast. Set a steady, not an erratic, metabolism for the day by choosing savory over sweet. Savory foods, such as eggs and sausage, are loaded with proteins and healthy fats. These macronutrients give you a low, slow burn. Insulin, cortisol, estrogen, and estrogen are not then skewed by inappropriate blood sugar levels.

On the other hand, a sweet meal sets you up for food cravings later. Sweet breakfasts are usually baked goods and/or fruit juices. These high-glycemic foods burn hot and fast, then leave you in ashes. That opens you up for snacking temptations when you hit rock bottom. High-carbohydrate snacks perpetuate the cycle. Your roller-coaster blood sugars destabilize your hormones and set you up for weight gain.

2. Move Vigorously Before your Meal

When you use your muscles before a meal, you leave them hungry. The glucose from your meal goes to replenish them instead of staying in the blood stream or going into storage. That doesn’t necessarily mean you have to hit the gym. Even walking has a beneficial effect on blood sugars. So, why not park a little farther from your destination and walk the remainder of the way? Likewise, take the stairs instead of the elevator if your event is not on a ground floor. HIIT routines (High Intensity Interval Training) take very little time but provide great stabilization to blood sugars. You can quickly fit in a 5-minute HIIT such as this one before getting ready for your party.

3. Move Vigorously After your Meal

Similarly, moving after your meal shunts glucose to the muscles. This keeps blood sugars from rising as dramatically. Researchers studying older adults with pre-diabetes found that 15 minutes of easy-to-moderate exercise after every meal curbed risky blood sugar spikes all day. So, invite your friends and family to stroll with you. Or better yet, how about dancing?

4. Start with Vegetables

The higher the fiber content of a food, the slower it digests. This means your body converts it to glucose less rapidly. Eating high-fiber foods, such as asparagus, mushrooms, artichokes, and Brussels sprouts for an appetizer will provide the necessary fiber to slow down a blood sugar surge from a special meal. If the special occasion is potluck, you can bring a simple dish like this to help keep your blood sugars stable.

5. Swig Some Apple Cider Vinegar

While apple cider vinegar is best known in media for reducing heartburn, it also positively impacts blood sugars. Several studies have shown that it can improve insulin sensitivity and reduce blood sugars. Although the most common way to take vinegar is in a 1:8 ratio in water, it also works well as a salad dressing. Since starting your meal with vegetables is a good idea, adding a simple vinegar and oil dressing may just enhance the effect.

Easy Oil and Vinegar Dressing

6. Save the Carbs for Last

Fiber isn’t the only thing that will reduce a blood sugar spike. Fat and protein, much slower to digest than carbohydrates, also ensure that your meal isn’t converted to glucose too quickly. Test subjects who wore continuous glucose monitors discovered a surprising truth. When eating the same foods, but in a different order, their blood sugar levels were lowest when they started with meat and vegetables. In this study, they consumed rice with their meal. The greatest blood sugar responses occurred when they ate the rice first.

7. Eat Whole, Not Processed Carbs

The higher the amount of glucose in a set volume of food, the more it will tend to imbalance your blood sugars. It’s simply a matter of concentration. Less concentrated forms of glucose will have a lower impact and be less destabilizing. The act of processing foods tends to concentrate the amount of carbohydrate in them. Why? Because often the fiber is removed. Some examples include fruit to fruit juice, whole grain to white flour, and fresh fruit to dried fruit. The following graphic from The Glucose Goddess demonstrates this principle.

8. No Naked Carbs

Since it is becoming apparent that carbohydrates add kindling to the metabolic fire and interfere with a balanced burn, it follows that you should be wary of eating carbohydrates by themselves. When you are at the holiday potluck, look for food combinations that pair protein and natural fats with carbohydrate. To decrease the temptation to eat sugary desserts and high-carbohydrate side dishes, eat a smart snack before you go. These are simple snacks, such as carrot sticks, grape tomatoes, or apples paired with a sugar-stabilizing fat.

9. Prioritize Protein

Statistics estimate that roughly 70% of the modern diet comes from refined carbohydrates. It’s easy to crave and indulge in these foods that don’t create balanced blood sugars. But if carbohydrates are high, doesn’t that mean by default that protein intake is lower? As discussed above, protein helps maintain balanced blood sugars. This, in turn, protects hormone balance. However, there’s another reason to prioritize protein. It’s what hormones are made of! If your protein consumption is too low, you won’t be able to make enough thyroid hormone to keep your metabolism from being sluggish. Make sure your holiday plate is at least 1/4 protein. If half of your plate is vegetable, that necessarily restricts refined carbohydrates without counting calories or dieting.

10. Fuel with Fat

Fats are satiating. They keep you from being hungry two hours after you eat. Also, they insure balanced blood sugars. If your gall bladder is in good health, you should be able to eat 2-3 natural fats per meal. Then, you will not only eat less frequently, you will consume a smaller quantity of food because fats are filling. Natural fats include olives, avocadoes, nuts, seeds, egg yolks, coconut meat and coconut milk, butter and cream. You can learn how to choose the right kinds of fats here.

Because getting the right kinds of fats is foundational to good health, work with a functional nutritional therapist if you are not able to tolerate fats in your diet.

Foods that cool the body are more vital in the summer than foods that keep the kitchen cool. Just as you need coolant in your car to drive across the desert mid-day, you must also have “coolant” in your body to keep from overheating. Below are three tips to for finding and eating foods that cool the body in the heat.

Don’t Put a Match in the Tank

While it is true that you probably don’t feel like cooking when the temperatures outside skyrocket, running through the drive-up window for a meal may be even worse. We could compare that meal to a match inside your car’s gas tank.

Fast foods and processed foods have two strikes against them. First, they are inflammatory – they create more fire in your body. Partly this is because they alter the microbes in your gut. Dr. Edwin McDonald of the University of Chicago Department of Medicine suggests that you avoid foods you couldn’t make at home, such as corn chips.

Second, processed foods are dehydrating. Did you know that most products made with flour have a moisture content of less than 10%? Therefore, they rob your body of water in order to digest them. When you become dehydrated, you have more difficulty regulating your temperature and staying cool enough. In this post about fast foods that don’t rot, Serious Eats posits that it is the dryness of certain fast food burgers that inhibits mold growth.

By contrast, foods that cool have high water content and are anti-inflammatory. But just eating a cooling food here or there will not do the trick. Cooling foods must be part of a long-term lifestyle.

Start with Coolant

To regulate its temperature, your body’s primary need is for water. But perhaps drinking plain water is boring or unsatisfying to you. Do you like fizz and flavor? I suggest that you grab sparkling water if you like carbonation, add an herbal tea bag for flavor (and electrolytes), and sprinkle in some powdered glycine (an amino acid) if you you need a sweetener.  But you don’t just have to drink your water. You can slurp it, crunch it, and swap it!

• Slurp your water: Bone broths are very hydrating. Not only are they mostly water, they also contain many electrolytes to help you hold onto your hydration. There’s no sense in gulping down lots of fluids, just to end up urinating them off. If a tall mug of broth sounds unappetizing for your summer picnic, consider a broth-based cold soup, such as this refreshing gazpacho.
• Crunch your water: High water content foods, such as melons, leafy greens, and cucumbers are perfect for slaking your thirst and hydrating your body. As a bonus, they require no cooking! An entree such as this roasted peach and arugula salad might be just perfect for a hot summer evening. Another tip is to blend frozen watermelon into your beverage. Pink lemonade, anyone?
• Swap your water: Exchange flour products for vegetables. For example, you can replace commercial chips with thin-sliced jicama, and trade out conventional noodles for spiralized vegetables, which are much more hydrating and much less inflammatory. A great weeknight dinner could be butternut squash pasta smothered in pesto and topped with rotisserie chicken.

Remember Foods That Cool

Yes, melons and cucumbers are hydrating. But other foods can help cool the body, too.

• Anti-inflammatory foods will take down some of your fire: Pineapple and papaya have proteolytic enzymes that help “digest” inflammation. Why not sip a pineapple-cucumber-basil smoothie and get the best of both anti-inflammatory and hydrating foods?
• Foods with cooling properties quell your heat from the inside out: Mint has a reputation for being able to lower body heat. I like these suggestions from blogger Elizabeth Rider to add more mint to your repertoire.
• Citrus fruits help break down fats that warm the body: Especially use lemons and limes abundantly. Mix fresh-squeezed lemon juice with olive oil for an easy salad dressing, stir some orange zest into your morning oatmeal, blend limes into your morning smoothie, sip a lemon-ginger tea with your meal, or juice limes into marinades for grilled meats. My favorite use is to squeeze the juice of 1 lime into a fruity sorbet made from 1 avocado and 1 cup of ripe frozen berries.
• High-electrolyte foods retain the water that keeps you cool: coconut water is particularly high in electrolytes. I like to add a splash of coconut water to my water bottle, or blend it into a smoothie.