The Power of Your TableYou don’t have to look far—weight problems and degenerative diseases like type 2 diabetes are afflicting families everywhere. Now it’s no longer just adults who are suffering. For the first time in history, children are being diagnosed with the same issues at an alarming rate. But this weight and health epidemic won’t be solved in the doctor’s office. It has to be fixed where it starts: in our homes and around our tables.
You and your family can trim down and gain health and you don’t have to lose your mind doing it! You are going to fill your table with delicious, filling, Trimming meals that meet the needs of the whole family. This is not some out of touch fantasy that you can never attain—this is real-world stuff. It’s you in the midst of your too-busy and crazy life, discovering health for you and your family little by little as you chow down on good stuff!
You have to eat, right? You’re going to feed yourself and your family something, so while you are at it why not make your meals both scrumptious and slimming? The family-friendly, quick and flavorful skillet meals, hearty casseroles, comforting crockpot meals, filling stews, big bowls of soup, huge tasty salads—and of course, let’s not forget desserts—in this book are going to bless your pants off, literally. You’ll notice your pants become looser the more of these meals you eat! Our tricks, tips, and tweaks take the sort of meals your family already loves (the very ones that were exploding your waistline) and make them both trimming and healthy.
The Mama MovementJust a few years ago, we wrote a self-published book and titled it
Trim Healthy Mama, never guessing in our wildest dreams what would happen with it. Women began to discover the book and it resonated with a longing they had deep down in their souls. Like us, they felt “done” with diets and yearned for a doable way of eating that would enable long-term success rather than shortterm, extreme results. Those women shared the plan with their friends, who shared it with their friends. Trim Healthy Mama became a grassroots movement and now close to a million people have slimmed down and gained better health eating this way.
It was not us who caused this movement, it was Mamas everywhere who couldn’t keep the good news to themselves. Soon it was not just Mamas slimming down and gaining health, but also whole families, churches, and communities. Daily we hear stories and see pictures of men, children, and teens with incredible health and weight transformations. We have Trim Healthy Daddies (commonly known as Trim Healthy Hunks), teens, singles, grandparents, second cousins, and longlost uncles, all coming on board.
This book is for all of you who took us two crazy sisters into your hearts and homes and who shared our plan with your family members and friends. You wanted more family style “get ’er done” recipes, and you wanted a simple start guide of the eating plan to share with others. Well, here they are.
The recipes in these chapters can fulfill the needs of all the different members of your household. At the bottom of each family recipe, you’ll find how to make it work for the various challenges in your family so you don’t have to cook two different meals. Some members in your family may need to slim down, others may need to actually gain weight, and still others may need to learn to maintain a healthy weight. These recipes can healthfully meet all those challenges. There are also a whole bunch of 5- to 10-minute single-serve meals in here, too, perfect for quick lunches or easy dinners . . . because you are not always going to be eating with your family, and we also have thousands of singles doing the plan.
A Gentle ChangeIf you are new to this whole Trim Healthy Mama thing, perhaps you’re thinking this is impossible. You don’t have the time. Your kids are too picky. Your husband (or wife, if you are a guy reading this) won’t play along. You don’t have the money. You’ve tried “healthy” in the past only to give up and gain the weight back (and more). You’ve got a feeling that dragging your whole family along for the ride will make that sort of repeat failure all the more miserable. Most of all . . . like us, you get hungry and don’t want to feel deprived!
We know change can seem daunting, but the Trim Healthy approach is gentle. This is not a boot-camp lifestyle. You don’t have to militantly preach this to your family (actually . . . we forbid that!). You’re not about to put anyone in your family on a “diet.” (And we’re definitely not going to say the word “diet” to our kids!) You are simply going to bring food sanity to your home through tasty, healing meals that nurture and honor the lives that you are entrusted to raise. And eat? Oh boy, are you going to get to eat. None of this calorie-counting misery, thank you very much!
If at first your family doesn’t join you perfectly on the minor details of this eating plan, that’s okay. Give them grace. Certain family members (can we say stubborn hubbies?) learn these truths in their own time, which may be different from your time. Or they may never learn them at all. That’s okay, too. Simply start making our family-friendly meals and soon your family will be eating healthier without even knowing it. This begins with you and trickles down.
These recipes are sneaky (in a good church attending way of course). There are times your family will scarf down your meal and ask for seconds, and you’ll have to hide the smile that knows what’s in it! We have a unique, God-given ability to hide veggies and other healing ingredients in undetectable ways. This is Sunday Service approved deception! Can we get an Amen? Cue the choir! (We are a preacher’s kids after all, can’t help ourselves.)
You are not going to have to stay chained to the kitchen or kill your grocery budget. We have plenty of level 1, insanely quick and simple meals for you to start with, then we have some that use a few more ingredients, that you’ll grow into when you feel ready. It is a proven fact that if you cook more of your meals at home, you and your family become healthier and slimmer, but while we encourage home-cooked meals on your table, we also know there are plenty of times for eating out. You can do that with ease. Even if you are a traveling businessperson and have to eat most of your meals in restaurants . . . yes, you can do this! You also don’t have to run straight out and buy a bunch of special ingredients. The majority of the recipes have an NSI sign, which means No Special Ingredients, or NSI Friendly, which means we give you easily found subs for any special ingredients. Lay down your fears and give us some baby step belief here.
And speaking of fear, let’s address it for a minute. Most diets are fear based. They make you fearful of certain food groups. Take your pick. Carbs are evil! Or fats will do you in! Or grains aren’t for human consumption! Or meat will give you cancer! Or more than 1,300 calories will cause weight gain. We embraced most of those fears, too, at one time or another. But the day we threw them all down and chose food peace and freedom . . . wow, it felt good! Fear and self-loathing are not part of this lifestyle. Don’t do this plan because you hate your body and wish it were completely different. Do this because you are fearfully and wonderfully made by our Creator and because you want and
need to honor this unique body He gave you. Stop self-loathing and start self-honoring!
Copyright © 2017 by Pearl Barrett and Serene Allison. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
