For the month of May Balance Point Wellness will be focusing on presenting healthy food options and recipes. Being surrounded by fresh options and amazing tropical food surprisingly Belizean Diets are not typically the healthies and our health statistics with diabetes  numbers reflect this truth. Belizeans are not even inundated with fast food chains, gigantic supermarkets, or corporate advertising as they are in the United States and still we have alarmingly high rates of childhood obesity and heart disease related to bad diets.   Belizeans do have have a traditional love affair with, salty sugary foods, mayonnaise, packaged food and spices, unhealthy vegetable shortening, white flour and chicken (among other things) Raw and vegetarian options can be hard to find in restaurants and it is easy to submit to the cheaper, oil saturated over salted and cooked street food or  highly processed packaged food options because they look easier or perhaps even more familiar.

So. to make a change in you life style here, does require a fair amount of courage and determination to make a decision to ditch the conventional Belizean food/cooking and look at healthier greener more raw choices and lifestyle. If you have a plan, a little help and support, take baby steps, it’s doable and preferable for your health and well being going forward. Maybe you are not yet ready to ditch the rice and beans and stewed chicken all together, that’s fine as well. But perhaps you could consider implementing more healthier recipes and habits into your daily life. A focus on the freshest of fruits and vegetables, raw nuts, seafood, legumes, spices, free range eggs, local dairy and nut milk, coconut oils and products. I buy my vegetables and fruits from the market directly from the farmers. 

Sometimes I buy produce I have never ever heard or seen before of myself just to challenge myself to cook and eat differently, not get stuck in a rut with my diet and routine. Washing everything properly before I prepare or eat it. 

You might try inspiring yourself by Researching recipes and spice combinations might take some concentrated focus but also making it important. It is all much more work than simply buying the amazing tacos from the corner in town, or making your mothers famous and ever popular stewed chicken. And will your family even appreciate and like your attempts at healthy cooking?  but, believe me, the effort to incorporate healthy fats (try olive or coconut oil),  raw and fresh fruits and veggies into your every day diet is so much more worth it for you and your body.

I think you will find it is not as complicated as it might at first seem. Habits are hard to break particularly when they are attached to cultural norms or family love. but you might find, as I did that the main attraction is that healthy tropical foods is really how simple they are to prepare and eat. If you spend a little time looking on UTUBE you will realize Tropical recipes are generally quite light, tasty and filled with tons of healthy properties that are readily available in the market. They’re also not packed with saturated fats, refined sugars, additives and preservatives which have been associated with a ton of really ugly and far to common health conditions that we find here in Belize.

Healthy Belizean options to Concentrate on eating:

•Root vegetables: carrots, squash, pumpkin and sweet potato

•Whole grains: brown rice, oats

•Legumes: beans, chickpeas, lentils, soybeans.

•Green vegetables: broccoli, spinach, kale, celery, cucumbers

•Fruit: Pineapples, citrus fruits and papaya

•Fish: red snapper and tilapia

•Herbs: ginger, turmeric, cinnamon, rosemary, thyme, basil and dill.

Stay tuned if you Want to know more. Sign up for the newsletter for recepies and tropical eating suggestions. On the contact for here form

DONT forget how important it is to give yourself time. When you give yourself downtime, your brain is able to concentrate and find peace among the chaos. start meditating.