Cart 0
 

Nutrition & Cooking

Nutrition Basics

The age-old wisdom, “You can’t take care of others for very long unless you take care of yourself first,” applies just as much to priests as it does to other caregivers. Many priests live on survival mode, ignore their own self-care needs, and eventually become burned out.

Nutrition plays a crucial role in the self-care of a priest. A busy schedule of heavy demands cannot be adequately fueled by not eating all day, and subsisting on dinners of fast-food, bar food, pastries left over from a meeting, and bowls of cereal.

Eating on survival mode also leads to obesity — now a major health issue among the clergy.  Gaining just 5 pounds a year will result in a gain of 50 pounds in 10 years, and 200 pounds in 40 years. (Sadly, for many priests it does not take decades to put on enough weight to endanger their health).

In broad strokes, a diet to strive for includes:

 
  • Eat freely: vegetables, fruit, meat, egg whites, water.

  • Eat in moderation: whole grains (bread, pasta, brown rice), sweet potatoes, eggs, fish (due to concerns for heavy metal content), hard cheese, olive oil, low fat dairy, wine, beer.

  • Limit to small quantities or limit frequency: sugar, processed carbohydrates (white bread, pasta, white rice, potatoes), full fat dairy, butter, oil, peanut butter, mayonnaise, animal fats (such as bacon), dried fruit, cheese, nuts, liquors.

 

For those interested in maintaining their current weight, moderating and lowering the consumption of carbohydrates (such as sugar, bread, pasta, potatoes, rice, and low fat dairy) and fats (such as fast-food, butter, oil, full fat dairy, ice cream, nuts, and animal fats) is recommended.

Also note that “real” foods are far healthier to manufactured “diet” foods.

 

References and Links

Nutrition 101

 

Weight Loss

Food budget and tracking programs designed for long term lifestyle change are recommended over short term "crash" diets. These have worked well for others and might work well for you:

  • Weight Watchers (program is available as a phone app only, and also provides a program option that includes meetings)

  • Phone apps

  • Low carb/ketogenic diet

For individual questions about losing weight safely, consult a physician.

 

References and Links

Weight Management

Weight Watchers

Keto Diet

Calorie Counter

 

 

DSC_9829 fafebook.jpg
 

The Cookbook

Coming soon! Priests Thriving Not Surviving has developed a cookbook for priests and seminarians to help them understand the basics of cooking and nutrition. The following excerpts from the cookbook are intended to help priests get started in the kitchen.

Our Self-Care Package includes a copy of the full 60-page cookbook.

 

Basic Kitchen Tools

Learn what tools you need to have to get started, along with others that would be helpful or nice to have in the kitchen.

 

Pantry Basics

See what dry goods, herbs, spices, oils, condiments, and baking ingredients would be good to keep on hand in the pantry.

 

Food Safety Basics

Learn basic safety tips for handling raw meat and seafood, and tips for safely transporting food.

 

Microwave Days

Find out what meals and frozen entrées can be cooked quickly in the oven or microwave, and learn basic microwave safety tips.

 

Snack Ideas

Discover great options for snacks to keep your energy up in between meals.

 

Eating Your Vegetables

You’d probably like them if they were cooked properly. Explore recommendations for the best cooking methods for different kinds of vegetables.

 

Steaming Vegetables in the Microwave

Steaming vegetables in the microwave can be an easy and tasty way to cook certain vegetables.

 

Blanching and Butter Steaming Vegetables

Blanching is the process of scalding a vegetable in boiling water for a brief interval. Swiss chard, fresh spinach, and broccoli all blanch well.

 

Sautéing Vegetables

Sautéing is an easy and popular method for cooking vegetables that involves browning them lightly in oil or butter in a preferably non-stick frying pan. Learn tips and techniques for sautéing vegetables.

 

Oven Roasting Vegetables

Oven roasting is a great way to cook for root vegetables, Brussels sprouts, eggplant, asparagus, and potatoes, to name a few.

 

Grilling Vegetables

Cooking vegetables on the grills is a quick and easy way to make them taste great.  Learn tips for preparing the grill and grilling vegetables.

DSC_9424.jpg