Between 2014 and 2015, I lost more than 30 pounds using the Trim Healthy Mama plan and traditional foods. I posted that story last year right here (and here on my podcast).
Since then, I’ve received questions nearly every day about how I did it with traditional foods. As well as emails and comments from readers who say they’re so encouraged it could be done after all with traditional foods (many of whom were ready to give up but decided to take a second look).
For a while now, I’ve been promising that I would share more about that journey. And that’s what I’m doing today — sharing my tips for doing Trim Healthy Mama with only traditional foods.
A quick disclaimer: The 13 tips I share in this post are all in terms of “I” and this is because I’m not authorized to teach Trim Healthy Mama to anyone. These 13 tips are the things I would tell myself if I were starting all over again. I’m not telling you what to do, understand. 😉
Speaking of starting all over again… Keep an eye out for this Friday’s podcast: “If I Were Starting Trim Healthy Mama With Traditional Foods All Over Again…”. In that podcast, I share five more tips (with myself), including which foods I would absolutely never try again if I were starting all over. (And what they did to my insides.)
You can listen to that podcast here.
Before I get to the tips, let’s get some basics out of the way.
Trim Healthy Mama Basics
A very simplistic overview of Trim Healthy Mama (THM) is this:
There are two types of foods that provide fuel — carbs and fats. As we age or get more sedentary, we need less of these fuel sources, yet we are probably eating the same amounts we always have. Which means, we’re getting more fuel than we need.
Uh-oh. What happens to the excess? It gets stored as body fat. Uh-oh is right.
The simple way around this is to avoid eating both types of fuels (fat and carbs) in any given meal or snack, while always eating protein — it’s important.
So the meals are composed of either carbs and protein –OR– fat and protein. That’s how any one meal or snack provides your body with just one fuel source — and therefore nothing extra to store as fat.
And honestly, the fairly easy (in my experience) weight loss probably has a lot to do with reducing excess caloric load, too. When you’re careful about keeping sugar down, for instance, you simply don’t eat extra calories. Which don’t get stored as fat, etc.
In the THM world, here are the important acronyms that describe these types of meals/snacks and what they mean:
- E = Energizing (protein and carb)
- S = Satisfying (protein and fat)
- FP = Fuel Pull (protein only, eat sparingly on its own or often with E or S)
Again, you can read my story of losing more than 30 pounds in 1 year here. I am still following Trim Healthy Mama, and nearly a year later, I have maintained my 30+ pound weight loss.
Here’s a link to the brand-new plan book (a huge improvement over the first version). And, here’s a brand-new THM cookbook, which is also a huge improvement over the previous style of recipes in the first version.
And now… a baker’s dozen of tips for doing THM with traditional foods…
1. Yogurt is my bestest THM friend.
Though you can buy organic yogurt, it’s one of the easiest things to make at home and saves you quite a bit in doing so! Especially because you can end up eating a lot of it when doing Trim Healthy Mama.
The yogurt is actually healthier and works better on THM if you make it yourself. One reason is you can add gelatin — which thickens it and is really good for us. Also, you can ferment it for 24 hours to completely reduce the lactose (milk sugar). The lactose reduction makes it even more S-friendly than the six to eight-hour fermented store-bought yogurt.
If using non-homogenized milk, the cream separates to the top during the culturing, and you can skim it away after its chilled. This means you can turn your yogurt into a Fuel Pull (only protein, neither fat nor carbs). Use the skimmed sour cream in S meals or to make cultured butter.
If using raw milk and using the gelatin to thicken it (because raw milk yogurt doesn’t set up without gelatin added), it’s more diverse in probiotics than yogurt made with pasteurized milk.
Here’s how to make homemade raw milk yogurt using your Instant Pot. Or go here for my recipe that uses a dehydrator (you could use a cooler instead).
Also, I show how to make raw milk yogurt with gelatin inside Traditional Cooking School’s Cooking Outside eCourse. Though in that recipe you’ll see how I make it outside in the summer (when I avoid cooking in the house), the yogurt can be done in the dehydrator indoors as well.
2. Cottage cheese is my next-best THM friend.
Did you know that cottage cheese can be naturally low fat?
I make it with skimmed raw milk. Or, I buy organic low fat cottage cheese. Either way, it’s a perfect cheese (FP) to go with your E or S meals. Tip #3 is highly related to this, but needs its own spot in the list. 🙂
My recipe is here. Use cow milk and skim the cream off for another purpose before beginning the recipe.
3. Instead of mayo, use blended low-fat cottage cheese.
Whizz your low-fat cottage cheese in a blender or food processor and it becomes a smooth “mayo” that’s considered FP and can be used in S or E meals.
E ideas: Toss with chicken breast or wild salmon for chicken salad or salmon salad, then eat with sourdough bread for a great E meal. Add stevia and cinnamon to create a delicious “sweet” spread for sourdough toast or pancakes, or as a dip for jicama, in an E meal or snack.
With either S or E snacks/meals: Add herbs to turn it into a dip for veggies. Thin it down with apple cider vinegar and/or water and add herbs/spices to create a salad dressing. Mix with salmon or chicken and stuff into cooked egg white halves (pictured above).
4. Who needs cheese, anyway?
Seriously, stop bemoaning the fact that you can’t have regular cheese in your E meals (I’m saying to myself). Instead, cottage cheese or yogurt as toppings are delicious. Save the cheese for S meals and enjoy fully.
5. Use non-denatured, grass-fed whey protein.
If you’re going to pursue protein powders, here’s the one I recommend: Vital Whey Protein. It’s non-denatured and from grass-fed cows.
I did use this a lot in the beginning (in yogurt smoothies) but I don’t buy it anymore. I am good with the amount of protein that’s in my yogurt (and other meat sources) naturally.
So really, I don’t think this is a necessary expense. It’s nice to have around, though. Certainly, when traveling, it’s quite handy!
6. Traditional Cooking School’s sourdough is PERFECT for breads.
On THM, you can still eat bread. Only you want to eat small amounts and preferably soured. This is because the souring reduces the starch; the sourdough culture has eaten it during the souring time.
Well, our no-knead sourdough and the english muffins (found in our members course) are not only super easy, they’re sourdough, and they have no fat in the dough or for cooking. (More info here or go here for my free no-knead einkorn sourdough bread.)
These are the only breads I eat, and I use einkorn grain because it has less gluten and less starch than modern wheat. Einkorn is better overall for me because modern wheat triggers the return of my seasonal allergies. We have a whole class on einkorn inside Traditional Cooking School.
Also, THM pancakes make great breads. I use pre-soaked oats in the recipe. It’s a recipe where you blend oats, egg whites, and cottage cheese together and fry up like pancakes. Use as bread.
7. Traditional Cooking School’s grain-free coconut flour wraps are amazing in S meals.
Absolutely amazing! I have to credit my friend Jami Delgado for this wrap recipe. She shared it in our Allergy-Free Cooking eCourse in one of the grain-free lessons.
Tacos, wraps, sandwiches, alongside eggs… Whatever S meal you’re having, one of these wraps will go alongside it for dipping, wrapping, or anything bread-like you’d like to do.
8. Cook a whole chicken, debone it and separate it into S and E parts.
The fatty parts of the chicken are the dark meat (thighs and drumsticks). The lean part of the chicken is the breast. So when you debone your whole chicken, keep the parts separate. Use the thighs and drumsticks in S meals. Use the breast in E meals (like chicken salad or sandwiches).
The easiest way to cook whole chickens? Crockpot. 🙂
9. Hemp milk (or other homemade non-dairy milks) make great “creamer” for healthful beverages.
A bit of hemp milk and stevia in tea (or DIY Herbal Coffee) is absolutely delicious.
Hemp milk on its own is not sweet like regular milk and some people don’t care for it. Almond or hazelnut milk, or even homemade coconut milk (from defatted coconut shreds), are more mildly flavored.
We have instructions for all sorts of dairy-free nut and seed milks in our Allergy-Free Cooking eCourse.
10. Sweet Leaf stevia has no aftertaste.
Most people that I talk to who have tried and eschewed stevia in the past are pleasantly surprised by the no-aftertaste Sweet Leaf stevia.
I use Sweet Leaf stevia in warm and cold beverages, my “lemonade”, smoothies, and even desserts. (Though I don’t have special desserts too often; dark chocolate suits me fine most of the time.)
11. A lot of your existing traditional food recipes can be THM-ified easily.
I hardly ever use the THM recipes. (Except the cheesy cauliflower side dish from the original cookbook — it’s awesome.) Not to say the cookbook isn’t worth getting. I do have it, both of them actually, and I look at them for inspiration more often nowadays.
Most of the time since I began this, though, I’ve THM-ified our existing meals and recipes. Like…
Spaghetti sauce goes over spaghetti squash (for me). This is an S meal.
For my S meals, I keep starches out of soups and casseroles and skillet dishes. The rest of the family serves the starches on their plates together with the rest of the main dish, and I leave the starches off mine.
Or, I will have the non-starch sauce or dish with a big heaping green salad. Or put a cut-up hamburger right on top of a big salad. I call this hamburger salad and it’s yummy.
For an E meal, I’ll make wild salmon salad or chicken salad using blended cottage cheese as mayo and then eat it on sourdough bread. (Or wild salmon salad or chicken salad the usual way with real mayo and a coconut flour wrap is an S.)
Once you get in the hang of it, you will easily be doing the same. And the main reason is that with whole food cooking, you know what ingredients you’re using (nothing hidden) so you can rearrange and get it to work.
12. Noodles? Use Vegetables!
Spaghetti squash, shredded cabbage, or zoodles (zucchini strips) make fabulous noodles. So you can still have “noodles” in your S meals, too.
More info on these types of grain-free noodles is in our Allergy-Free Cooking eCourse.
13. Your favorite superfood supplements work right in!
The superfood supplements I eat most often are: maca, gelatin or collagen, or fermented cod liver oil.
All are still so good for you on Trim Healthy Mama.
I stir maca and collagen into my first warm drink of each morning. (Usually this DIY herbal coffee…)
I have my cod liver oil with an S meal or snack.
And those are the 13 tips I’d give myself if I were starting this journey all over again!
If you’ve done Trim Healthy Mama with traditional foods, what tips would you add?
Looking for more Trim Healthy Mamma Tips?
- 5 Tips To Help You Stay On Trim Healthy Mama… Even During The Holidays! #AskWardee 102
- Trim Healthy Holidays: 8 Tips To Stay On The THM Plan (despite mashed potatoes & pie!)
- How I Lost More Than 30 Pounds In 1 Year
- My Top 3 “Go-To” Traditional Foods For Trim Healthy Mama {purist} #AskWardee 064
- If I Were Starting Trim Healthy Mama With Traditional Foods Over Again… (KYF147)
- 19 Foods You Need To Start Trim Healthy Mama {The Traditional Food Way}
...without giving up the foods you love or spending all day in the kitchen!
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I have a question, please. Is it still possible to do the THM plan and be dairy-free? I just cannot have dairy, too many sensitivities. I normally use coconut milk for cooking and in my kefir.
Yes, it is. There are many dairy-free mamas on the Facebook group. There is also a THM Food Allergy group.
Joy, yes, it is possible. Although I’m not one to ask because that’s not how I’ve done it. I would join one of the THM facebook groups and poke around. Lots of people are working around sensitivities and having success. 🙂
https://www.facebook.com/groups/trimhealthymamas/
Thanks so much for this post, Wardee. This is exactly how I lost weight a couple of years ago. It is amazing how easy it is. I basically just modified the recipes I prepared for my family so that I didn’t have to have the two fuel sources together. The weight just melted away! I hope this is a help to others who are needing to lose weight but haven’t been able to. We are now on the GAPS diet for other reasons, but I can’t wait to have THM pancakes again. They are the best!
Leslie — Fantastic! way to go!
Gosh — I’ve been going crazy trying to do THM ‘traditionally’ and just can’t grasp it — I don’t like all the processed ingredients and seems so many concentrate on sweets…… so this article is extremely helpful — thank you!!! I do have a question if you can clarify why the spaghetti sauce over spaghetti squash is an S meal.? If S is more fat and protein I am not sure why — are you including ground beef here so that is the fat? I am assuming if only the sauce (no meat) over squash then that would be E ??? I think I am ‘getting it’…… I look forward to your podcast on the next 5 tips — thank you for all you do! (Loving your periscopes and other media too!)
Lynn — It’s an S because of the fat in the ground beef (unless it was drained away). To my understanding, a modest amount of veggie “noodles” in an S meal doesn’t tip it toward E. If I had a ton of spaghetti squash, it would be a crossover. To be honest, I don’t measure or weigh; I probably have 1/2 cup of spaghetti squash with my meat sauce. I hope this helps!
Now I can’t wait till Friday for your podcast! Especially for the list of foods you would absolutely never try again. I have been doing research on the special ingredients and thinking about ordering some of them (cheaper versions from VItacost), but would love to hear your story first. Thank you so much for sharing your experience. The blended cottage cheese is brilliant. And burger salad is one of my favorite types of salads!
I joined the whole food style group on Facebook and am enjoying that. I can’t have stevia (major headaches) so I am following their tips on using coconut sugar instead. I decided I feel better about cutting back on sweets to just a few times a month and enjoying them with a low GI sweetener when I do have something. I have found that a good E meal (FP yogurt with nectarines as an example) can fully satisfy my sweet tooth! I don’t see a need to have dessert every day as some of the groups seem to portray.
I don’t know if you will bring this up in your podcast, but I would love to hear your thoughts on oat fiber. I found a 5 lb bag for fairly cheap online and was thinking about buying it to make the baking blend myself (Runamok Mama’s version) but am concerned about phytic acid. Could I soak it with apple cider vinegar or yogurt and then dehydrate it?
I’ve been wondering about this, too. We like a lot of the baking, etc, so would like to use it properly.
Brianna Thomas on facebook and has a blog , uses oat fiber in her THM recipes that she makes up herself. She has a cookbook coming out soon. She also uses Masa flour which is very cheap. She explains why they are okay in THM on one of her cornbread recipes.
I love the cottage cheese as mayo tip! I’ll try it with chicken for Mr. Wonderful’s lunch this week.
Great tips. Thank you for the traditional foods version of THM! I love the blended cottage cheese as a “mayo” idea!
I started THM in October, after re-reading your earlier article and using mostly the traditional foods. My favorites are cottage cheese, homemade kefir, 0% greek yogurt, eggs, Ezekiel bread or homemade sourdough, cauliflower.
I love to make 4 crepes, using two eggs and two tablespoons (or more) cottage cheese, then blended smooth with an immersion blender. I cook them in butter in a small cast iron pan. I eat them with blueberries and a teaspoon of real maple syrup. Delicious.
I don’t do stevia because when I did for a few months, I felt like my hormones were negatively affected. So I’m sticking with honey and maple syrup and try to stick to 1-2 teaspoons at a time; I sweeten my kefir smoothie with maple syrup, for example.
I use collagen and heavy cream in my S coffee. I like the good girl moonshine, but since I don’t sweeten with stevia, it is pretty tart but I’ve gotten used to it. I just add ACV to water or sparkling water and flavored with a bit of vanilla extract.
Thanks so much for sharing Wardee. I just sent an email with questions yesterday and Millie was quick to to respond and let me know this post was coming. 🙂 I am so looking forward to this weeks podcast as well.
Best Wishes
I am have a bad time with painful arthritis in the joints in my hands. I am currently avoiding the nightshade plants and drinking turmeric in my coconut milk. Is there anything else I can do? I am trying to eat alkaline.
Dee, Are you grain-free? Many folks with arthritis see tremendous relief when they cut grains from their diet. Arthritis is generally related to toxins and inflammation in the body. There are many diets that allow for your body to heal and then you may be able to add some grains back in. There is a lot of information on this online if you are interested in learning more.
Yes as much as I can be. It can be a deposit from too many minerals as well as a deficient in.
Yep, and proteins deposited in the joints as well. Have you done any research on gut health and arthritis?
Yes I have. I am a nurse and alternative health and healing Practioner.
I am drinking greens and turmeric in coconut/almond milk. It helps some. I use glucosamine chondrotin with MSM for my knees too.
HI Wardee, I would love to have the Coconut Flour Wraps recipe but I can’t find it on your site. Where can I get it?
Thanks
Hi Leslie,
Here’s a link to our Allergy-Free Cooking eBook
The recipe is also in this eBook.
Hi Leslie,
This recipe is inside one of the Grain-Free lessons of our Allergy-Free Cooking eCourse. 🙂
Millie
Traditional Cooking School
What dark chocolate do you like Wardee? Thank you for these tips – I have followed THM posts on Facebook and I have the book but I honestly haven’t dived in because I don’t want to eat fake food and I have 5 other people to feed. This will really help me a lot to get started!
Do you have any of your traditional food versions of THM recipes on your site? I was especially interested in the cheesecake made with stevia that you mentioned. I love traditional foods but I found out that I have cancer and want to avoid sugar. It is really hard to find traditionally prepared food with stevia…
Hi Theresa,
The cheesecake recipe is in the show notes of this podcast. Enjoy!
Millie
Traditional Cooking School
Wardee, do you strain the whey from your skimmed yogurt, in order to make it an E or FP food? Or are the whey carbs already transformed by the fermentation? Thanks.
Hi Kim,
The whey is transformed by fermentation. Wardee doesn’t strain it. She doesn’t get much due to the yogurt staying thick from gelatin.
Millie
Traditional Cooking School
Thanks!
Just to clarify, is it not necessary to strain it? for THM. I have been making my own skim milk yogurt and was under the impression I needed to strain out the whey.
Hi Jessica,
That does make it more concentrated (like Greek yogurt) but it’s not necessary for THM.
Millie
Traditional Cooking School
I’ve been curious about using fermented foods and traditional foods with their plan. Thank you! I, too, thought there was too much sweets as well!
Are all sourdough recipes compliant to THM E? I am confused about what is ok with the fats added to the recipes… I’d love a post about that, unless its a quick answer! Thanks!
Hi Jessica,
No, they’re not all compliant. Our English muffins and others are IF there is no added fat (eggs, oil, frying). It’s as simple as that. You can tell easily by scanning a recipe. Also, not too much sweet to keep the carb count down. 🙂
Millie
Traditional Cooking School
Thank you for all your info- I’m definitely going to check on the einkorn bread recipes because I can’t have nuts, chocolate,gelatin,coconut,chickpeas and anything too high in arginine this has been vexing me on how to “bake” on the plan- I do t need dessert all the time but sometimes it’s nice- I’m the same- a square of white chocolate after dinner and I’m good. I’m working on making my own stevia/xylitol white chocolate. I found powdered stevia white chocolate! It’s been awesome! Thanks again, I look forward to reading more on your blog 🙂
I’m so excited to find this! Thank you! I do need a little clarification on the yogurt please. So if I ‘incubate’ my yogurt for 24 hours instead of 8, It’s fine for THM and Gaps? That is all there is to it? I have a yogurt maker, that i use about 1 and a fourth liter of raw milk to make. Seven single serving jars. I plan to try it your way with the addition of gelatin. It does seem to me though, that once when I forgot to shut my yogurt maker off, the bottom of the yogurts became too thick.
Hi Lori,
Yes when you let the yogurt incubate for 24 hours most if not all the milk sugars are consumed.
We don’t use a yogurt maker with individual serving jars but you should be able to stir the yogurt after chilling so the consistency is better.
~ Vicki, TCS Customer Success Team