Feb 1, 2013 2 min read

I bet you have been on a diet – or two or three. Diets typically mean that you are giving up many of the foods that you love.

Take a different approach.

Don’t diet. Weight Watchers has this right – diets don’t work. Instead of taking away your favorite foods, add in the really good ones. I add kale to my scrambled eggs. I add chia seeds to my yogurt. I add pumpkin puree to my cookies (see recipe below).

The nutrition school that I attended, The Institute for Integrative Nutrition, calls this technique “crowding out,” which suggests that if you add in more whole foods such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains, you will “crowd out” the unhealthy foods.

Over the course of a day, our bodies can only consume so much food. If we fill our bodies with lots of real food and water, our cravings for junk food will subside.

Willing to give it a try? I dare ya.

Need ideas for real food cooking? Check out my fall meal plans for sale over at http://bmoorehealthy.com/2012/09/30/downloadable-fall-meal-plans-now-available/.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup flour (all-purpose flour will work too)

½ cup old-fashioned oats

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon sea salt

pinch of ground nutmeg

¾ cup pumpkin puree

1 cup coconut palm sugar

¼ cup extra virgin coconut oil

½ tablespoon chia seeds

1 teaspoon pure vanilla

¼ cup vegan chocolate chips or carob chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Stir together dry ingredients (flour, oats, cinnamon, baking soda, sea salt, nutmeg) in a mixing bowl.

Mix together wet ingredients (pumpkin, sugar, coconut oil, chia seeds and vanilla) in a separate mixing bowl.

Combine wet and dry ingredients.

Stir in ¼ cup chocolate chips. Mix well.

Drop rounded tablespoons onto a greased cookie sheet. Press cookie dough down into a cookie shape with a spoon or your fingers. Cookies won’t spread very much so you can space them about 1 inch apart.

Bake for 15 to 16 minutes.