What are your healthy staple foods?

[Jiffer]

I'm really working on eating healthier. Less processed foods, sugar, preservatives and more whole foods, veggies, etc. I buy a lot of organic. I have worked on eating this way for years with some success, making a life long change here and there, doing better at some times than others, but still had a long way to go when I started having health issues, which caused me to get way more serious about it. One of the harder things for me to do is add veggies. I'm not really supposed to eat a lot of fruit right now, but some is ok. Since changing my eating, I have developed some "staples" I tend to eat a lot of as my go to foods. I need to develop more go to foods and figure out how to add more veggies to my life without randomly buying veggies and never actually eating them!

Here are some of my staples.

Eggs, Tomatoes & Avocados

I usually have two eggs for breakfast, sunny side up (the closer to raw, the more nutrients). I just decided a good way to add veggies to my breakfast is to add sliced tomatoes and avocado. It's quick and easy and yummy, and something I can see myself actually doing consistently.

Apples and Peanut Butter

Once a day I usually have apple slices with peanut butter. I need to have protein with every meal or snack. I also have whole wheat toast with peanut butter a lot.

Carrot Sticks

I try having carrot sticks dipped in ranch with a sandwich sometimes. It's really not my fave, but it's good for me. Not the dressing so much, but gotta do something to make myself eat veggies!

Spinach

I try to make salads with either all spinach or spinach mixed with romaine. I also put spinach on a sandwich instead of lettuce a lot. I'm not a big salad person, but trying to work on that.

Nuts

I found small prepackaged bags of various combinations of nuts at Trader Joe's. I LOVE this! I try to keep some handy in my car, so I have them whenever I'm hungry. It was perfect yesterday when I was going to the grocery store and realized I needed a little boost before trying to make food decisions.

That's all I got for healthy "staples". What do you guys do?

[Veronica]

Fage yogurt.

Veronica

[shootingstar]

Healthy staples for me which is more of last 12 months:

Light noodles (durum wheat, seminola, buckwheat, green tea or light egg noodle...)
red/ yellow/orange peppers (I find green peppers just boring)
egg whites (I haven't bought real round breakable eggs for a long time)
cornflakes (no sugar) or oatmeal
skim milk (Canada's version is not a terrible blue-white milky stuff.)
Chinese green veggie (different varieties here)
onions
garlic
ginger root
tomatoes
couscous


I don't eat much bread nor white rice anymore. When I have bread, it's an artisan bread, so good that it needs no spread of any kind.
I have not bought peanut butter for home in...the past decade or so. I have peanut butter on toast at restaurants.

[indysteel]

I make a lot of soups. Vegetable, black bean, mushroom and barley, red lentil and lemon, Italian lentil, minestrone, and split pea are my favorites. We also eat beans in a number of other dishes. My DH's favorite is a black bean and sweet potato filling for burritos. We make stir fries and eat a lot of steamed or roasted veggies as side dishes, along with salad. This week we ate grilled portobella sandwiches on whole wheat with pesto, roasted red peppers, red onion, spinach and feta. We also eat pasta with any number of fresh sauces and pestos.

I try to make one vegetarian main dish and one meat-based main dish each week to cover all of our dinners. We usually get some lunches out of that, too.

[Jiffer]

egg whites (I haven't bought real round breakable eggs for a long time)

Thanks for your post. I wonder why don't you eat the yokes? That's where all the nutrition is. It's one of the most nutritious foods you can eat.

[Catrin]

The yolks are where the cholesterol and fat are found, egg whites have lots of protein and few carbs. It is a great low-fat protein source. I do consume quite a lot of these, with the occasional whole egg.

Other staples are skinless chicken breasts, turkey bacon, turkey sausage, broccoli, brussel sprouts, apples, bananas, peanut butter, salad greens, onions, tomatoes, carrots, and other veggies. Some brown rice and low fat granola.

[KnottedYet]

Miso (red miso is my favorite)
Chili sauce (love Sriracha)
Green leafy things (like kale and chard)


It is so very easy to make a hearty satisfying soup of miso, chili sauce, green things, and maybe some rice noodles and a whipped egg.

Miso is also good spread on crackers or toast, kind of like Vegemite.

Miso makes a great broth, and a great base for just about any stew or pot roast.

(and it keeps for about 3 years in the fridge, though a jar never lasts me that long)

Not sure if it's really "healthful" or not, but it adds a world of taste to many things!

[nscrbug]

My healthy staples include -

raw almonds
walnuts
plain greek yogurt (Fage & Chobani)
ground flaxseed
Ezekial 4:9 low-sodium bread
natural peanut butter (no salt, no sugar)
natural almond butter (no salt, no sugar)
oatmeal
brown basmati rice
whole grain pasta
bananas
berries (fresh if in season, otherwise frozen)
broccoli
baby carrots
eggs
hummus
boneless, skinless chicken breasts
ground turkey breast
fat-free, low sodium chicken broth (I use this a lot in cooking)

[KnottedYet]

Eggey-bits http://www.cholesterol-and-health.com/Egg_Yolk.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg_(fo...ritional_value

My doctor had me start eating 1-2 whole eggs a day.

My total cholesterol DROPPED. My good cholesterol got HIGHER than it had been.

Niiiiice...

[emily_in_nc]

Eggey-bits http://www.cholesterol-and-health.com/Egg_Yolk.html

My doctor had me start eating 1-2 whole eggs a day.

My total cholesterol DROPPED. My good cholesterol got HIGHER than it had been.

Niiiiice...

Yep. My DH eats a fair number of whole eggs. Just got his cholesterol counts done: Total chol = 187, HDL = 100...Now that's a great ratio! Also his triglycerides were only 23. Wow. Whatta guy!

[KnottedYet]

Yep. My DH eats a fair number of whole eggs. Just got his cholesterol counts done: Total chol = 187, HDL = 100...Now that's a great ratio! Also his triglycerides were only 23. Wow. Whatta guy!

My cholesterol changes were better than what would have been expected with a statin drug.

I'd much rather eat an egg or two than take a statin!

[shootingstar]

The yolks are where the cholesterol and fat are found, egg whites have lots of protein and few carbs. It is a great low-fat protein source. I do consume quite a lot of these, with the occasional whole egg.

I'm like Catrin....I will eat the whole egg occasionally at restaurants. Let's see we buy half dz. eggs once a year...it's for baking or he wants to prepare a special dish that requires whole eggs.

I don't see miso much of a health food. It's not something I would recommend having much several times per week, unless it's tiny amounts: it's high in salt. Like soy sauce. It horrifies me to see recipes that require alot of it.

I repeat soy sauce, unless you buy the low-sodium, is high in salt. My mother has been instructed (by her Chinese speaking doctor, Western trained) to avoid high sodium soy sauce. She has hypertension, high blood pressure.

So she cooks Chinese style dishes with very little soy sauce or none. It is possible...it's technique and how you combine other ingredients.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I seldom have days where I eat only healthy food. Usually it's a mixed bag.

But now that I'm getting fresh lettuce, radishes, spinach, scallions, kale, and bok choy from my veg garden again, at least I can have fresh greens at some point every day.
Tonight we had a big salad from the garden for dinner, with crusty bread, chevre cheese, and fruit juice.
And I just ate some chocolate Rollos as a late night snack.
So I'd have to say my healthiest staple foods during Spring-Fall tend to be greens from the garden mostly.

[jessmarimba]

I could happily eat salsa or pico de gallo on almost anything. I love it on eggs/omelets, baked potatoes, meats, etc...Quick way to add mixed veggies.

[tulip]

So I'd have to say my healthiest staple foods during Spring-Fall tend to be greens from the garden mostly.

Same here. Right now I'm eating alot of salads and kale. Pretty soon, peas, beans, and tomatoes. I'm behind on planting my zucchinis!

(I wish they made Rollos with dark chocolate!)