You’ve always been told about the benefits of stretching your body . . . but what about your food?
Food stretching is one of our favorite strategies for upping your nutrition game. But what is it exactly?
Food stretching is a term we made up that means the following:
“The addition of extra vegetables to dishes to improve their nutritional quality, while at the same time cutting back on either carbs or animal protein.”
We’ll get to examples in a minute, but first, here’s three main reasons we love and embrace this concept.
- Allows you to keep foods in your meal plan that you may otherwise feel you have to limit in order to reach your weight and health goals (IE: pasta, rice, potatoes, meat, etc).
- Adds an abundance of vitamins, minerals, and other plant compounds that deliver on an amazing array of antioxidants and other critical nutrients to your daily meals.
- Saves money. Quality organic animal protein (and even grains like quinoa or wild rice) are quite a bit pricier. When you stretch, you still get the wonderful benefits but allow your dollar to go further.
Ok let’s dive into some examples. Here are a few of our favorites.
Stretching Carbs:
Have your cake and eat it too! We LOVE carbs, but know they can add on the pounds when we overdo them. That being said, who wants to give up pasta and rice?
By incorporating more veggies, you get the best of both worlds.
- For cooked grains such as rice, quinoa or farro, mix in 1-2 cups of cauliflower rice for each cup of grain (to boost this up a notch, also add in 1 cup of finely diced greens such as spinach, kale, arugula)
- For pasta, mix two cups veggies into each cup cooked pasta; good choices include zucchini, eggplant, mushrooms, onions, bell peppers, broccoli, and greens (extra bonus for using bean pastas like chickpea, lentil, or black bean)
- For potatoes, replace half with turnips or celeriac – they are still starchy and delicious but with almost half the carb content
Stretching Animal Protein:
- Animal protein provides an array of good nutrients such as iron, protein, B12, and zinc. However, keep in mind that your health will benefit greatly when plant foods are the primary focus on your plate (plus you’ll save $$).
- Scrambled eggs: Mix in any veggies such as chopped greens, broccoli, peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes; or use in a quiche.
- Ground meat: Stretch with mushrooms, zucchini, greens and/or cauliflower rice; this also works well with homemade patties (just mix them in before cooking)
- Stews: A pound of meat goes WAY farther when you stretch with 3-4x the veggies called for in a dish, which could include carrots, turnips, onions, peppers, greens, etc.
Getting creative is the name of the game when stretching food. The possibilities are endless. Discover more ideas by visiting our recipe page.
For even more details about eating healthy after 50, check out PM Meal Mastery, a scientifically-backed nutrition plan for optimal health, energy, and confidence after menopause.
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts
Hi Pamela – what specifically were you looking to hear more about?
Yes
I enjoy healthy tips and money saving tips
Glad you liked it Linda!
Wonderful article. I have found this to be so true. A bit of a “cheater” for me is cooking the Birdseye Voila one pan meals. Thank you for some new inspiration!
You’re welcome Marta! So glad you enjoyed the post.
I liked this read very much. I always cooked liked this and started getting away from meat about 20 years ago. I tent to put or keep weight on cuz I always incorporated junk food and l have pretty much stopped that and recently lost 28 lbs!! I’m 72 and glad with the weight loss, plus my doc said I should start watching my food better anyway
Carrie that is fantastic about your successful weight loss! And sounds like you are doing it the right way:) Glad you enjoyed the article.
I’ve been doing this for years with rice noodle stir fry… and I add lots of shredded lettuce or broccoli sprouts into our tuna salad!
That’s wonderful Lania!
So cool to know its a thing….ive been doing this for 15yrs since I gave birth to a preemie and became conscious of nutrition whole still having my cake and eating it too.
Love it Bren! It’s such a good habit to teach your kids too 🙂
This is the best advice yet! Not only do you save money, but you enjoy a variety of flavors by incorporating more veggies!
Thanks Renee! We agree it’s a double win!