Healthy Eating: What the Rut?

There are a few things that make healthy eating difficult. Changing habits is hard, modifying the way we think about food is challenging, learning that we will have to make the choice over and over again, day in and day out, can be discouraging.

One of the things I found most challenging about our Whole30 experience was the food “rut.” With the pretty strict rules to follow, I thought it was just easier to pick a few good go-to recipes and recycle them over the course of four weeks.

It’s only 30 days, right?

Like me, you may think “Oh, I could eat the same thing for 30 days, no problem,” but there is a problem. Without new and interesting things to try, I found it was easier to focus on all the delicious things I loved and wasn’t allowed to have. My palate was not distracted—it was bored. It wanted chocolate, not baked chicken.

Also, it turns out, there are only so many ways to eat eggs for breakfast until the mere sight of them brings you to tears.

Before we started, I made an entire 30 days of meal plans. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It was good to be able to see the beginning and the end. Having a plan in place made it more likely that we would see it through, but it also made it easy to just be like “Apple Mustard burgers every Friday? Sure! Scrambled eggs with Pico de Gallo three times a week? Sounds great!”

If you are just beginning a clean eating journey, whether it’s a Whole30 or not, I have one suggestion for you:

Keep it interesting!

Add at least one or two new recipes a week, something to keep you excited and engaged in your new healthy habits. Sure, there are bound to be a few flops thrown in with the successes, but it is better than becoming bored with your food!

For instance: Meatballs.

A tried and true family favorite, at our house, anyways. Simple, quick, kid-friendly, with or without pasta, they have been a consistent crowd-pleaser, but truthfully, usually kind of boring.

When I was researching some new ideas about 2.5 weeks in to the Whole30, I found a new and interesting recipe for meatballs. I had no idea there were so many different ways to make them, but ‘undried Tomato & Basil Meatballs sounded too good not to try.

I’m not going to lie, though—I did not give my kids a heads up that this was either “new” or “interesting” as they most certainly would have rejected it outright. Instead, that particular evening (although they couldn’t quite put their little fingers on why) as they happily munched down their dinners, they all agreed these were the best meatballs ever.

The message was clear: Stay out of the rut. Everyone will be so happy you did.

• 2 lbs grass-fed ground beef
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp fresh chives, minced
• 2 tbsp fresh basil, minced
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 2 -3 garlic cloves, minced
• ½ cup minced sun dried tomatoes
• 2 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp black pepper

First, preheat your oven to 350.  Then, mix all of the ingredients together in a big bowl and shape into golf ball sized (maybe a bit larger) meatballs.

Next, heat a skillet over medium to medium high heat.  Once the pan is hot, spray some coconut oil (if non-stick, or use other non-stick spray if you aren’t doing a whole30) and carefully place the meatballs in the pan.  Then, brown the meatballs on all sides.

Next, if your skillet is oven safe, cover it with foil and transfer to the oven and cook for an additional 15 or so minutes.  If the skillet is not oven safe, move the meatballs to a large baking dish, cover and cook for a few more minutes until desired temperature.

(The Foodee, where I found the link to this awesome recipe, is a great resource for finding new foods to try or a twist to an old favorite!)

(You can also find the link to my all–time-favorite tomato salad pictured above at The Food Network)

How do you keep your healthy-eating food plan varied and exciting? Share with us!