5 Tips to Feed the Fam—and Have a Flat Belly
August 4, 2010 by Jenn
Although I’m never one to openly embrace the four-letter “diet” word (diet equals restriction and deprivation in my mind, even though the word really just means what you regularly eat), I have to say that I’m becoming quite the Flat Belly Diet! fan. I fell in love with the original cookbook from the franchise and these Roasted Potatoes with Blue Cheese and Walnut Butter make a regular appearance on my din-din table (they won a Noshie for best recipe!). The publisher recently sent me a copy of the Flat Belly Diet! Family Cookbook (ya know, ’cause the FBG family is growing!) and I really, really liked it.
Right now my family just includes my husband and my dog, but I can see how this book could be useful with kiddos at any age. With comfort-food faves like cinnamon rolls, chicken tenders and enough sweets to make anyone drool, the book is a total crowd pleaser.
I tried the Thai Butterfly Pasta Salad, which is THE perfect vegetarian lunch at work, as it keeps really well in an airtight container over a few days. And it’s super tasty with wheat farfalle pasta, peas, roasted red pepper and a tahini-soy sauce—not to mention that it only takes 15 minutes to make and clocks in at just over 300 calories for a 1-cup serving. I also tried the Pan-Seared Chicken Breasts with Walnuts and Apples, another quick recipe that was tasty and has a nice savory and sweet flavor flav. (Although it’s not as easy to take for lunch.)
But probably my favorite recipes I made for my down-home-cooking meal were Crunchy Crust Mac and Cheese and Creamy Sesame Greens. Can you say comfort-food heaven? The mac and cheese took about an hour to make and was chock full of protein (from the milk and cheese), fiber, whole grains and good fats. You get a cup of the good stuff for 328 calories, and believe me, it’s rich, so a cup is really enough. Then there’s the Creamy Sesame Greens. Oh my. With a “cream” made of tahini, honey, salt and ground red pepper for a slight kick, these kale or collard leaves are doused in delicious. A half-cup serving is 252 calories, but in those cals you get protein, good fat and fiber. If you have kids, they may turn their noses up at the spinach-y looking appearance of it, but you should seriously try and try and try to get them to taste it. It’s tasty. And if you can’t get them to eat it, oh well. More for you!
Besides the yumtastic foods featured in the book, you also get some really good overall nutrition advice, including the importance of eating good fats or “MUFAs,” or monounsaturated fatty acids—a class of healthy fats found in foods like nuts and seeds, avocados, olives and certain vegetable oils. The Flat Belly Diet! touts these fats as being essential for a—what do you know—flat belly! Here are five other tips from the book!
5 Flat Belly Diet! Family Tips
1. We all need fat, but kids especially do. An incredible amount of brain development occurs in the first two years of life and good fats are essential for it!
2. Eat a MUFA at every meal. MUFAs aren’t just good for you and your brain, they help you feel full! The Flat Belly Diet! recommends eating one serving with each meal or snack.
3. Preggo? Make sure you’re eating plenty of nuts, avocados and dark chocolate for the bambino. And remember, pregnancy isn’t the time to diet!
4. Be a role model. Did you know that kids tend to like the same kinds of foods and take in roughly the same number of fruits and veggies as their parents? Someone is watching…and mimicking you…so take note!
5. Encourage slow eating at the dinner table. Some students only get 20 minutes to eat lunch at school (that was my public school experience unfortunately!), so your kids may be trained to scarf fast and furious. Eat together at the table as a family and remind them that at home, they have the time to slow down and enjoy.
Stay tuned for tomorrow when we share the Crunchy Mac and Cheese recipe with ya’ll! —Jenn
Wanna try this healthy cookbook yourself? Leave a comment about how you’ll use the book, and we’ll pick one random lucky U.S. reader to win! The winner will be contacted by email in about a week. Happy commenting!
I know I say this over and over again, but I so LOVE FBG dvd/book reviews. I would love to purchase or win this cookbook. I’m not vegetarian yet have significantly decreased my meat intake. I could use more ideas when it comes to tasty vegetarian meals and recipes. Thanks FBGs!
I would Love to use this book to find new vegetarian dishes. I can’t wait to try the pasta salad dish.
I would LOVE to have this cookbook. I have lost 83 lbs recently and this cookbook would continue to help me maintain at my current very healthy weight! I could use some new and exciting recipes too! I just might go buy this but it would be sooooo nice to win it!
I’ll use this diet with my family – which also just consists of my husband and dog right now! But we are planning on expanding this year so I’d love to use it for extended family celebrations.
Ooh, I’d LOVE to have this cookbook! My boyfriend tries to get me to go out to eat almost every evening that we’re together. I try to come up with creative healthy meals, but usually just go braindead and give in to the restaurant. This would be SUCH a big help!!
Tried to post and I lost it? Anyways, FBG I need some new heatlhy recipe ideas for my family. I’m in a recipe rut! My pre teen likes to eat healthy with me..fruits, veggies, salads. He has gained wait and he is worried about it. My husband, just joined the world of diabetics, mind you he is thin as a rail though. He does not eat all that healthy. He eats very, very little veggies and get a most of his calories from carbs. If I cook something healthy and he doesn’t like it, I will cook something different for him. I want to incorporate food all of us will enjoy at the dinner table.
Um…how I’ll use the book? I’ll cook from it, of course! Or my husband will – he’s my personal chef
I’m not a wife or a mother yet–but I am in the process of learning to cook for myself, my friends, and my boyfriend in ways that are both nutritious and delicious! I want everyone to be satisfied!
I would love to win this. I love to cook!
I would use this cookbook for inspiration! I am always looking for ways to change things up and make them healthier. Unfortunately, the round apple body shape runs in my family. I could really use this type of “diet” to slim down my middle.
Our family has been on a healthier living/eating plan for the last 1 1/2 years but lately we’ve hit a wall of boredom. This book would be great to add some added healthy recipes to our repertoire.
Today’s rates of childhood and adult obesity are staggering. If more people chose to prepare and eat healthy meals at home, this problem would be helped greatly. I think that most families should have a cookbook like the Flat Belly Diet, to give them guidance in the kitchen and healthy meals on their plates! A great place to start anyway!
I’m trying to become healthier for my 16 month old daughter and teach her great eating habits while she’s young. Our family has an obesety problem, and I feel like keeping myself on track and teaching her young will keep her (and myself) from falling into the habit our extended family has! This book would be a great way to try new recipes and keep it fun and flavorful!
Somewhere along the way, I have gone terribly wrong. My babies ate avocado, sweet potato, chicken, raisins, bananas, etc. You know — healthy. Now that they’re 7 and 5, their favorite foods are hot dogs, salami, and french fries. I don’t eat those things (often), but I’ve allowed and (apparently) enabled them to prefer these foods and reject all the rest. Eat This, Not That for kids has helped a little, as has Jessica Seinfeld’s book. The Flat Belly Diet Family Cookbook would be a great addition to my aresenal! I’m determined to get my babies back on track
I would use the book to expand my cooking and get some great, fun new meal ideas. I have 5 year old triplets and they love when I make healthy meals for them.
i would really like to get this cookbook. the ones that i have now are full of southern fried cooking. i need to be healthier, for my girls, husband, and most importantly, ME
Please, Please, Please, Please, Please can I win this cookbook! I love cooking healthy and I would love to have some new recipes. I wind up cooking the same old stuff and my meals have become boring
I sooo need this book…I have 4 children under the age of 12 and meal planning is, to say the least, a challenge. I do a monthly menu and am constantly swapping out recipes that worked, didn’t work, are new, etc. I have plenty of resources for foods that I love, but finding creative and clean, healthy ways to feed my family is like playing the lottery…I use my instinct to choose what I think will be a winner and when I find something they love I feel like I’ve hit the jackpot!
This is my first time navigating the tricky world of cooking for a guy instead of just myself, so I’d totally use it for that!! I love the original Flat Belly Cookbook!
I love to cook and I try anything I an get my hands on. I have three kids under the age of 13 (13, 5, and 3)and any inspiration is appreciated since my 5 year old is a very picky eater. My husband spent 14 years in the restaurant industry so finding new recipes is a must. I am also trying to prepare healthier meals and this is just the ticket.
I am about to have a baby so I would love this book to help me stay on track with healthy meals while breastfeeding.
I have recently made the decision to be a stay home mom. So I am now on the quest to find easy, healthy meals for my two little boys(3 &5) and my husband and I. My youngest loves mac n cheese and the recipe here is something I would much rather feed him than store bought processed stuff. I am constantly looking for organic non processed foods and these recipes would be the perfect compliment to all the good food weve been buying! I would be thrilled to have a book like this…I need all the help I can get in the kitchen!
What a wonderful cookbook !!! I love using Tahini ~ learning more and more about it, would LOVE to try these recipes !!
thank you so very much for sharing !!!
My husband and I love trying out new healthy food cookbooks!
I need something new to try I would love to see what new and exciting things they have in this cookbook!
Sounds like a good new cookbook to try. I love trying new healthy recipes, and family-friendly ones are important!
I’ve really been trying to get more good fat in my diet. This book looks like it has lots of good information in it!
My husband is a picky eater, but lately he’s been wanting to get healthier and I think this book would be a great tool for that. I could see myself making three or four recipes a week from the book!
I have worked hard to clean up my diet lately, and would really enjoy this resource for good, fairly quick dishes!
I love healthy cookbooks! I have the original FBD cookbook and enjoy it, but my kids won’t eat a lot of what I make from it. So maybe they’ll like the recipes in this book better.
I only cook from scratch, and would love some new ideas to experiment with.
This cookbook sounds great! My 7yo DD & I are meeting with a nutrition clinic in a week to help both of us lose a little belly fat and this sounds like it’d fit right in.
I need to find recipes which are great tasting and my kids will eat. Also trying to find balance for the whole family is tough. I loved the book so I think this will be a great addition to my cooking arsenal.
My husband eats like a kid, so learning some tricks to get him to expand his diet would be great!
This cookbook would be great to have for family-friendly recipes, so we can all eat healthy!
I actually started the Flat Belly Diet about 3.5 weeks ago & have finally seen some weight loss – I’m 46 & have been doing boot camp classes 5 days a week & counting calories, but nothing worked. I would love to get this cookbook so that I could find some new recipes that are on the diet plan, I plan to stay on this one for the long haul. Thank you!
I have been trying to feed my family healthier, and lose some of my extra weight in the process, since January of this year, so I would love to use the cookbook for ideas and more healthy recipes to feed my family of me, my husband, and my two daughters (ages 5 and 2).
I would love to have this book !
I am a single Mom can always make baked chicken for dinner, I know my son would love something different , besides that, I can send him to school packing a healthy lunch !
I would love the flat belly diet. I am a day care provider for my brothers 3 children along with 4 children of my own. I am on a lifestyle change mission of sorts and I have lost 40lbs thus far. This book would be a great tool for me to make healthy meals daily for my family and teach my children the proper way to eat healthy without all the fad diets. It really is not abot “diet” but about lifestyle in our home now.
Okay finally figured it out….duhhhh…I would love to use these recipes to develop healthy eating habits for my two boys and promote adventurous eating. They are developing their pallets very slowly, but I still encourage the 2 bite minimum rule…they could also help make the recipes, because they love to cook and it seems like if they help make it they will try it!!!
I have been obese most of my life, and now my 6 year old son is starting to gain weight. I want to stop this cycle now before he has to struggle like I have. This recipe book would be a great way to start easing my son into healthier eating. I have been having him help me prepare dinner, so he can be more involved … and Mac and Cheese is his all time favorite, so I can’t wait for the recipe tomorrow.
My family is stuck in the never ending staple food circle. Every week same thing, chicken breast and salad, frozen pizza, hot dogs, tacos, etc. They aren’t the most adventuress guys but I’d love to try some different spins on the old stand by’s and totally new stuff! Go ahead and step out of the box!!
I’ve really made an effort to include more olive oil in my diet and my dry skin has really improved. I was always taught to avoid fat, like most women. Mac & Cheese–Mmmmm good.
I would love to win this cookbook! I’ve lost 68 lbs by eating healthy and exercising but I’m having a hard time getting my husband and our 3 kids to get on board. This cookbook seems like it’ll have recipes the whole family will enjoy.
I would LOVE to try this cookbook! It would be great to get recipes to help my kids eat healthier, and it sounds great for quick weeknight meals.
This book sounds AMAZING!!! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE pick me!!!!!
I would LOVE to win this book!! It would help me eat alot better and also for my family!!
I’d like to see how this book fits into my life. I’ll explain: I’m a junior in college, and it seems like finding recipes that I can make quickly and on a budget, are hard to find. Also, I’m a student in New Orleans, so it’s always a challenge to eat well when you live in a place known for it’s great (and not very healthy) food. New Orleanians live with a Laissez Faire attitude towards life and food, and while I love where I’m from, I don’t love the extra pounds I find myself carrying.
I have made a commitment to changing my lifestyle, but most of it has been through exercise: Step aerobics 3X’s a week. I am constantly trying to find ways to eat better with my schedule. I’d love to see what this book has to offer!
I would love this book! I am a single mother of two (both c-sections = major flabby belly) and unfortunately I have gained a lot of weight with both my pregnancies and still have not lost it all ( still have 60lbs to go) and my youngest is 4 1/2. So a book with recipes that would encourage a flat belly and be nutritious and food my kids would eat would be awesome for my family and I. I’ve been on several diets. Weight Watchers (kids wouldn’t really eat the WW recipes I made) and Atkins (once again I would have to make 2 dinners because the kids need more then just meat) So I end up having to make 2 dinners a night and I make them the same 5 dishes for weeks. I’m looking forward to this book to make myself and my kids healthy and happy
Me, me, me….