Have you been considering a healthier lifestyle to begin the new year? There’s something about January 1st that is so appealing to begin a new habit! Here are eleven Trim Healthy Mama tips to help get you started on the right foot.
I felt a little overwhelmed when I started following the Trim Healthy Mama lifestyle. You can read more about how I discovered THM.
After reading the plan book I understood the basic concepts.
But putting the meals together took a lot of thinking. And even then, I still wasn’t sure I was doing it “right.” You may find our What’s On My Plate posts helpful too where AnnMarie and I share how we put our meals together!
I wrote up these Trim Healthy Mama tips for myself and put them in my phone so I could refer to them easily. Then I made copies of the pages with suggested foods for each type of meal and printed them out to hang inside my kitchen cabinets!
I thought I would share the Trim Healthy Mama tips that helped me make sense of this plan with you! Keep in mind that these tips are very simplistic.
If you’re interested in the details about how this plan works, I highly recommend purchasing the plan book! Pearl and Serene do a great job of explaining the nutrition theory and their writing is authentic and easy to read.
Please note: we are not doctors or nutritional experts. We are simply sharing what has worked for us. Before starting any lifestyle change you should always consult with your healthcare provider. You can read our full disclosure here.
Trim Healthy Mama Tips
- Cut out sugar in all its forms.*
- Stay away from refined wheat products. Sprouted wheat is okay for E meals.
- Avoid white potatoes when trying to lose weight.
- Remember to eat every 3-4 hours!
- Drink LOTS of water or “sipper” drinks between meals and snacks. You can find lots of Sipper recipes on our Pinterest board.
- Every meal or snack starts with protein.
- Eat lots of non-starchy vegetables!**
- If the protein you’re making is fatty then add foods from the plan book to make an S meal. Keep your carbs under 10 net grams.
- Lean proteins can be used for S, E, or FP meals.
- Don’t go over 45 net grams of healthy carbs for E meals.
- Keep fat under 5 grams and carbs under 10 grams for FP meals.
If you’ve been following Trim Healthy Mama for a while and find yourself in a weightloss stall, you may find these tips helpful.
* About Hidden Sugar
Sugar manufacturers love to deceive consumers by giving sugar lots of different names. There are currently 61 names for sugar, and counting.
This has helped the sugar industry to hide sugar in our foods.
New labeling laws from the FDA will help you to see the grams of “added sugar” in products.
Here is a list of the 61 names for sugar from the University of California San Francisco’s SugarScience team.
| 61 Names of Sugar | ||
|---|---|---|
| Agave nectar | Demerara sugar | Maple syrup |
| Barbados sugar | Dextrin | Molasses |
| Barley malt | Dextrose | Muscovado |
| Barley malt syrup | Evaporated cane juice | Palm sugar |
| Beet sugar | Free-flowing brown sugars | Panocha |
| Brown sugar | Fructose | Powdered sugar |
| Buttered syrup | Fruit juice | Raw sugar |
| Cane juice | Fruit juice concentrate | Refiner’s syrup |
| Cane juice crystals | Glucose | Rice syrup |
| Caramel | Glucose solids | Saccharose |
| Carob syrup | Golden sugar | Sorghum syrup |
| Castor sugar | Grape sugar | Sucrose |
| Cane sugar | HFCS (High- Fructose Corn Syrup) | Sugar |
| Coconut palm sugar | Honey | Sweet sorghum |
| Coconut sugar | Icing sugar | Syrup |
| Corn sweetener | Invert sugar | Treacle |
| Confectioner’s sugar | Malt syrup | Turbinado sugar |
| Corn syrup | Maltodextrin | Yellow sugar |
| Corn syrup solids | Maltol | Dehydrated cane juice |
| Date sugar | Maltose | Mannose |
** Non-starchy vegetables
While non-starchy vegetables may contain some carbohydrates, they don’t raise your blood sugar significantly so they can be eaten with any kind of meal.
| Non-starchy Vegetables | ||
|---|---|---|
| artichoke | cucumber | pumpkin (1/2 cup) |
| asparagus | eggplant | radishes |
| baby corn | greens | salad greens |
| bean sprouts | jicama | spaghetti squash |
| beets (1/2 cup) | kale | summer squash |
| broccoli | leeks | tomatoes (1/2 cup) |
| brussel sprouts | mushrooms | turnips |
| cabbage | okra | water chestnuts |
| carrots (1/2 cup) | onions (1/2 cup) | yellow s quash |
| cauliflower | peppers | zucchini |
| celery |
If you have any questions or suggestions, contact me or leave a comment! Follow us over on Instagram and Facebook to see everything we’re up to.
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