Talk Healthy to Me...

Real Talk about Eating Healthy!

We were privileged to shoot a video with our friends the Goddard’s. Joel and Stacy are very well known around our community. Joel is the worship pastor at Bethlehem Church’s 316 campus and Stacy is a Regional Vice President for Arbonne. Despite all of their crazy success, these are two of the most down-to-earth people you will ever meet. Their love for the Lord and their love for people is contagious. We were super stoked when they agreed to let us invade their home with cameras and crew to film a recipe for our YouTube channel. Stacy chose a sheet pan fajita recipe that she fixes for her family, but it is clean and healthy. And by the way, it was remarkably delicious! Stacy shares her story of how when her dad was diagnosed with high blood pressure her mom completely changed their family’s diet when she was a kid. She has carried on what she learned from her mother and now shares those lessons with her own family and her customers. It was incredible to share the day with them and enjoy a meal together.

Living a healthy lifestyle hasn’t always been a cultural trend...

In today’s culture, there are plenty of reasons to eat healthily and there are plenty of excuses not to. From early on we have conditioned ourselves when celebrating a milestone event in life, you eat. If the weather is less than desirable, you eat. If you have a bad day, you eat. If you get the job promotion, you eat. If you didn’t get the job promotion, you eat!  Whether we realize it or not, culture has accustomed folks to be emotional eaters. Which, is a vicious cycle to be on and not healthy at all. One thought that Stacy said and maybe you have heard of before was, “you eat to live, not live to eat.” When we have conditioned ourselves or created a bad habit it is extremely difficult to break that bad habit and create a healthy habit. Maybe it sounds tough, but food shouldn’t have that much power over your life.

Food should fuel your body to take on the activities of life, not be our comfort or the highlight of our day. Stacy offered up some wisdom about finding substitutions or healthy options for foods. Instead of depriving yourself find a substitution that you like. Maybe try grain-free, dairy-free, or sugar-free options. Also, moderation helps a bunch too. Just because the whole pie is there doesn’t mean you have to eat all of it in one sitting. (maybe that’s just me with pumpkin pie!) Have a cheat meal, not a cheat day, week, or month—the Goddard’s like homemade ice cream as one of their cheat options.

Healthy eating does not have to be flavorless...

One of the most glaring stereotypes is that eating healthy doesn’t taste good. It’s boring bland food that, while it may help your health, has no flavor whatsoever. Or it tastes like cooked cardboard. HA! We all know we have eaten something and thought, “yep this is healthy for me because it tastes awful!” Enter Lane’s promotional advertisement here! Just kidding, but not really. Here at Lane’s over the years, we have tried to create savory flavors that go well with any dish. What started as the quality of excellence has now turned into a huge bonus for us. We use all-natural ingredients with no preservatives, no msg, and no anti-clumping agents. We wanted to keep the chemicals out of our rubs and sauces. Little did we know back then there would be this health craze for clean seasonings. We stand by the fact we have some of the best rubs on the market and they are healthy. We even have sugar-free rub options. For Joel, when Stacy fixes a huge pan of vegetables, his go-to is our Signature Rub. It is a part of our sugar-free rubs. It has a great taste and also serves as our “All-Purpose” rub. Goes great on chicken, pork, as well as veggies. Healthy eating doesn’t have to be bland or boring. These sheet pan fajitas with Fiesta were anything but bland. They had a great kick and excellent flavor. Ryan’s motto is #keepexperiementing and that goes for finding the flavors that you like to eat. It also includes healthy options. Cooking doesn’t always have to be big cuts of beef or something covered in duck fat. Even though those are tasty, maybe not every weekend.

Tips with Stacy

“The closer to the way God made it, the better it will be for you”, Stacy says. One of the coolest things was going out into their garden to pick fresh peppers and herbs for our side dishes. Homegrown tastes are different. Different from processed food and even different from organic. However, if you lack the space for a garden, trying organic products is a start. You would not believe the chemicals that are sprayed on our food or used to preserve food to get into the local grocery store. Trust us looking for all-natural ingredients can be a pain, but the end product is way healthier for you.

“Eat the Rainbow.” Not to be confused with a certain candy, but eat items that have color. We know, beef, pork, chicken, ribs they all have color too! However, Stacy was talking about vegetables. Peppers, onions, tomatoes, avocado, lime, all have great colors and they are packed with flavor. And guess what? They are healthy!

“Eating healthy doesn’t have to take a long time to prep/cook.” The prep time for this recipe is 15min. The total cook time is 35min. While the fajitas were cooking we made our side of guacamole which included a trip to the garden. The key is to find recipes that work for you and your family.

Start with One Healthy Choice

Maybe it is the push from society or culture, but have we fallen into the trap of just going with the flow? Choosing to eat healthier may make you feel like salmon swimming against the current upstream. Don’t bite off more than you can chew. Start with little choices. Once you have confidence in those choices move on to bigger ones. Maybe bake/grill your chicken instead of frying it. Maybe instead of using ground beef, you use ground turkey. Maybe, like the Goddard’s, you try grain-free chips and tortilla shells. Once you start and build momentum it becomes easier, but being truthful the first step is going to be the hardest. Hopefully, these tips will encourage you to move towards healthy eating or a healthy lifestyle.