Elicia Zahler - Healthy Cookbooks For Families: Clean Eating and Slow Cooker Recipes

Healthy Cookbooks For Families

Clean Eating and Slow Cooker Recipes

Elicia Zahler and Celena Tolman

Copyright 2013 Elicia Zahler and Celena Tolman

All rights reserved.

Introduction

Making the decision to change the lifestyle of the entire family is a big one. If this is your goal, then you start with nutrition and work your way from there. By preparing healthy foods for each meal, you are giving your family the best nutrients possible. This will work to strengthen their immune system and keep them healthy. All the recipes within this book call for healthy ingredients. If you work on all areas of life, you can make the greatest impact on your family's health.

The first thing you want to do when turning around the diet of the family is to clean out the refrigerator, freezer, and cupboards. Get rid of the junk food and do not buy more. If your family is addicted to the junk food (sugary processed and white flour processed convenient foods) wean them off by cutting back every couple of days. Replace it with nutritious snacks and healthy pieces of fresh fruits and nuts.

Keep in mind that parents (or the main caregivers) set the example for children. If you are telling your children to eat healthy foods and not junk food and you are eating junk food, you do not have credibility. Stay credible with your children, because they do pay attention to what you eat. Set the example by getting rid of the junk food and choosing only nutritious foods.

If you are dealing with bad habits, like excessive drinking (alcohol) or smoking, you need to stop. Show your children you can quit these bad habits and show them it is possible to enjoy life while being healthy. Set the standard and stick with it. When your children are grown, you can hope that they too will avoid starting any bad habits.

Plan fun outings with the family and teach your children the importance of exercise and physical activity. Most children are brimming with energy anyway, but give them the example that you are also exercising. There is too much going on these days that keeps our children more sedentary than children were a decade or longer ago. Turn off the game systems and the TV and computers and take them outside for a vigorous walk. Ride bikes, swim, or play a fund game of bad mitten or horseshoes. Dieting along with exercise just increases the energy and metabolism and helps to strengthen the immune system even more.

Make sure the family stays well hydrated. Many people do not drink enough water. Instead, they fill up on sugary sodas, sugary drinks, or worse, artificially sweetened sodas and drinks. Nothing is as good as plain water for keeping the body hydrated and healthy. Encourage the children to drink plenty of water, make it easy for them to have access to good drinking water throughout the day.

Make sure the family gets plenty of rest. A well-rested body is able to digest their food better. If they are able to digest their food better and the body is able to assimilate the nutrients from the food easier. Children need at least 8 or more hours of sleep each night. Adults need at least 6 to 8 hours of sleep a night. If you are not getting adequate rest, take time to rest during the day and encourage the children to take short naps too.

By feeding the entire family healthy meals, you are helping them to be healthy and to stay healthy. Nutrition is one of the best preventions because the body pulls the nutrients from the foods consumed. If nothing but junk is consumed, then the body is starved for nutrients. If your children are sick a lot, or if you are, assess your diet first. Chances are you have not provided the body with enough of the right nutrients to fend off illnesses. Also, a deficiency in nutrients will show up as physical ailments, or illnesses. By eating right, you insure the body has all that is needed to be healthy.

This cookbook helps a busy family to eat right. Combine the slow cooker recipes with the clean diet recipes and plan menus for weeks in advance. If you want to make it easy, write the menu plan, build the grocery list, and plan according to how busy you will be. The slow cooker meals are easy to prepare. Go grocery shopping and spend some time preparing the foods for the coming week. Wash and chop the fruits and vegetables when possible. Put together the meals and either store in the freezer or the refrigerator to prepare at the last minute. By planning and preparing ahead of time like this, you will save a lot of time and effort in cooking the nutritious meals.

Make mealtime fun by allowing the children to pick out their favorite recipes to serve for the meal. Encourage everyone to sit down at the table together and eat the meal as a family. This encourages a healthy family life. Diet and nutrition can go a long ways in helping to bring the family together and enjoy the meal.

When you decide to change the lifestyle of the family as a whole you are helping your children to grow into happier and healthier adults. Even starting with something as simple as the food you cook and serve, you will be encouraged to go further by making sure the children get plenty of exercise and rest. The results will show up immediately too, because if you are feeding the family nutritious meals, then their immune systems will be stronger. They will be sick less. When everyone at school is coming down with a cold or a stomach bug, your children may be well because their immune systems are stronger.

It is definitely worth it to change the diet plans into one that only includes healthy and nutritious foods and by getting rid of all the junk food. This recipe book makes it easy with all the nutritious recipes to get you through breakfast, lunch, supper and desserts and snacks.

Section 1: Slow Cooker Cookbook

The old style cookers were called "slow cookers," where the heating element is in a separate unit from the main food holder. Actually, larger slow cookers and "crock pots" still come this way. When the "crock pot" made the scene, it was with the heating element cased within the food holder all in one. If you were lucky you had a removable plug for easy cleaning. Not so lucky were the ones where the plug was a permanent fixture. Crock Pot, by the way, is a registered trademark by the Rival Manufacturing Company, but their name brand became a nickname for slow cookers.

Some slow cookers may have the heating elements that surround the food holder, helping to give it even heat. Others may only have the heating element on the bottom, causing the need for extra stirring to keep from burning and sticking with the food.

Slow cookers come in three sizes, with a 3.5, 4 and 5 quarts being the most popular sizes. Obviously if a recipe serves 12 you will not want to try to cook it in a 3.5 quart sized slow cooker. Most people only have one or two sizes and know how to adjust. Normally, if you have a larger family, you will have a larger slow cooker. It helps to eyeball the food. You want the slow cooker to be filled to at least half way point, but you do not want it bubbling over the top. So consider the size of the foods you are going to cook and gauge whether or not you need a small or large slow cooker. Most of the recipes here do well with a 4 to 5 quart slow cooker.

When purchasing a slow cooker you need to decide first how big of one you need. Obviously if you are cooking for only two or three people, you would do well with a smaller one. If you have a large family, you need a smaller one. Also, consider whether or not you wish to cook extra to freeze and eat later or to have meals for a couple of days. People are finding this an excellent way to save on groceries and energy, to cook a double or triple portion and eat on it for a few days.