I have a treat for you today, boomer gals!  I asked a fellow Baby Boomer and health blogger, MaryPat Fitzgibbons, to do a guest blog post for me.  You’ll find that she and I think alike.  We believe in getting back to basics with regard to nutrition.  She’s got some great ideas on how to eat healthy.  So, without further ado, I give you Mary Pat Fitzgibbons….

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So you think it costs too much money to eat healthy? It might indeed cost a little more today to shop for healthy foods. Good quality foods do cost more money than processed foods high in carbohydrates, fats and salt. If you will spend the money up front, the pay back will be in many years of good health. Once you are sick, it will cost a bundle to get your health back. To keep your health, you must look in the kitchen. Back to health and back to kitchen basics.

It is very important to me to be healthy now and through my entire life. If you have been reading my blog for a while you will know that I am a hospice nurse. I recently had a very interesting patient who at the tender age of 91 was on no medications until a few weeks before he passed. That is very unusual. Most of us are on some form of medication either as a regular medication for a disease process or for periodic symptoms. By the time we are in our 30-40’s the chronic diseases start to creep in and the medication list starts to grow. Medications, for the most part, only treat symptoms. That means you will experience some progression of disease as well as side effects from the medication that may require additional medications. We can prevent disease by what we choose to eat.

Now let’s get back to the kitchen. Food and fitness are tied to our well being. Did you know that the companies who provide our foods have many practices that will reduce their costs (good for profits), extend the shelf life of product, and add ingredients like sugars, fat and salt that will entice you to buy the product? Not every food product in the supermarket is healthy eat.

Never fear! There are ways you can have a healthy diet on a budget.

The first thing you need to start is a menu plan. Write down what you will eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks for the next week.

When you are planning your menu, make your grocery list. I find that  I spend about the same amount of money whether I plan a menu or not. But, when I plan my menu, I eat much better.

Generally, my breakfast during the week is all the same. That usually is hot cereal. Sunday is an omelet/pancakes and Saturday we go to a diner. So write that out. You can figure out how much bread, cereal, eggs, milk, juice etc that you will use in a week.

Lunches: I usually have PB&J on whole wheat, double fiber bread. I use fresh peanut butter and homemade no sugar jam. I add vegetable sticks and some fruit. For the work week, that would be 10 slices of bread, 5-7 tablespoons of peanut butter and 5 teaspoons of jam. My husband has a meat and cheese sandwich. That would be 10 more slices of bread, 10-12 slices of turkey, 5 slices of swiss or provolone cheese, and mustard.

Dinner tonight is shrimp scampi as I have a little shrimp and lots of peppers, onions, and mushrooms. I will cook brown rice with onions and garlic and add a vegetable. Tomorrow is soup and salad. One evening will be grilled chicken, baked potato, and vegetables. Another evening will be left overs. I also fill in a night out or pizza night if that is what we will do.

Do you get the idea? I also will put the cookbook page next to the menu item so that it is easy to find. When I am making out my menu, I make out my grocery list. I include snack items too.

You can do this for a week at a time or for 2 weeks. I get paid every 2 weeks, so I like to do a 2-week menu. I shop every 2 weeks.

2 tips for today

Tip 1: Make out a menu and your shopping list at the same time. When you shop, stick to your list. That will cut down impulse buying. If you shop every 2 weeks, your annual food bill will be lower than if you shop every week. You have half of the temptation to buy extras. You wallet and your body will thank you.

Tip 2: Buy local. Support local farms by shopping at the farmer’s market or join a CSA farm (consumer supported agriculture). I belong to a CSA farm in NY Southern Tier. The cost is about $18.75 per week for a huge basket of fruits and vegetables. It is good, wholesome organic food. Buy free range beef, chicken and eggs from your local farmer.

Choose healthy foods and your body will pay you back with many years of good health.

Blessings, Mary Pat

Mary Pat FitzGibbons RN MS writes on weight loss, healthy weight and other issues facing Baby Boomer Women today.

www.HealthyWeightLossForBoomerWomen.com/blog/

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Okay, it’s Becky again. Mary Pat, thanks so much for your great tips on healthy eating for Baby Boomer women!

Ladies, take Mary Pat’s advice and you’re sure to eat better, eat fresher and maintain a healthy body.

Committed to your success,

Becky

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Many of us “boomers” have tried a lot of hair-brained diets over the last few decades. There have been some doozies! Remember the grapefruit diet?

Unfortunately, a lot of us are still tied up in the “diet” loop and go through periods of trying to live on a near-starvation diet to lose weight. I really do understand why women do this, but my baby boomer weight loss tip #2 for you is: STOP DIETING.

First, let me define what I mean by “diet”. I’m referring to a restrictive way of eating (usually very restrictive in calories) that isn’t really something you can live with for the rest of your life. Sometimes I’ll use the word “diet” to refer to a way of eating. I don’t mean that here. What I mean by “diet” in this post are things like eating only 800 calories a day, or eliminating a whole food group (bread, for example) or a macronutrient (dietary fat, for example) from your eating plan.

All of the above are examples of things you really can’t live with the rest of your life. The problem with dieting like this is that we lose muscle when we go too low in calories, and when we eliminate a whole food group or macronutrient, well, is just isn’t realistic. Very low calorie dieting really comes back to haunt us when we go back to “regular” eating (and we always do!).

Muscle IS our metabolism! If we lose some muscle due to severe dieting (because our body has had to break down some muscle for energy), we end up with a slower metabolism. This is bad for a boomer body. Really bad. We’ve got hormonal issues to deal with, bone issues, skin and hair that is changing (and, heck, some of us have teenagers at home!). We don’t need to add muscle loss to our list of issues! We have enough things to keep us busy. Let’s not let lost muscle mass be another thing to add to the list!

So, how does a boomer lose weight and maintain muscle? One way is by eating regularly. Here’s a fool proof plan for you:

• Eat small meals about every 3-4 hours. I suggest most women aim for 3 small meals and 2-3 small snacks throughout the day. This keeps you full, keeps your blood sugar steady and keeps your metabolism slightly elevated several times during the day, as your body burns a few extra calories during digestion.

• Include some lean protein, a little healthy fat and some produce in every meal or snack. Protein and fat take longer to digest and therefore keep you fuller longer. Healthy fats include olive oil, walnut oil, avocados, almonds, and nut butters.