Today’s American diet has grains in everything. Our typical side dishes include rice, bread, wheat pasta, or corn. The crops that go into these products are not necessarily that healthy and most people are sensitive to one of these grains, if not all of them and may not know it. The fact of the matter is that our gut is where our health starts and poor digestion can cause all kinds of disease over time.

I am going to give some good healthy choices to use instead of bread, rice, wheat pasta, or russet potato (high sugar). That’s right, these turn into sugar in our bodies which we need for fuel but today it is way over done and that is why our society is overweight, if not obese.

So let’s starts with a sandwich. Why not use some leafy green lettuce to wrap that meat around and the beloved hamburger could have grilled portabella mushrooms for the bun.

Spaghetti: I have used spaghetti squash it is wonderful! Buy it at your local market, just cut it open, scrape seeds out and steam it. After it is cooked you scrape the inside out and it comes out like noodles. With a good red sauce and meat, it is just great.

Side dishes for dinner can be a small sweet potato or yam.  They are very good for you and low in sugar and full of vitamins.

I also enjoy green beans steamed with sea salt and olive oil with a nice grilled chicken or any good quality meat you choose.

It’s summer so try some of the summer squashes, also a carbohydrate, but a good healthy one, and don’t forget your fat on the top of these great veggies.  A little butter or the olive oil is healthy and very good!

By Renee Woods, CPT, RKC