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Briana Thomas

easy, healthy recipes...and lots of ice cream!

Starting THM

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Starting THM - www.briana-thomas.com

What is Trim Healthy Mama?

Trim Healthy Mama is a healthy eating lifestyle and the brainchild of Serene Alison and Pearl Barrett, two sisters who went through much personal trial and error to come to a better understanding of the way our bodies work and react to what we put into them. The Trim Healthy Mama (THM) approach is centered around low-glycemic eating: eating food that doesn’t spike your blood sugar. (A blood sugar spike leads to many health problems as well as weight gain, so stabilizing the blood sugar leads to increased health and a healthier weight!)

WHAT IT DOES:

  • Centers around protein. All THM meals look for protein first.
  • Focuses on real food, not processed junk. Refined sugars and flours are out because they spike the blood sugar so readily.

WHAT IT DOESN’T:

  • Cut out any major food groups. Both healthy fats and slow-burning carbs are welcome!
  • Eat fats and carbs at the same time. (Unless you have no weight to lose. And children and nursing mamas need a good crossover once in awhile! That’s what we call the combination of carbs and fats in the same meal.) In order to rev up your metabolism, THM advocates eating either fats or carbs in a meal (centered around protein, of course), but not both together.

WHAT’S UP WITH THE ALPHABET LETTERS?

Trim Healthy Mama recipes/meals are categorized as follows:

  • (S)atisfying – S meals focus on protein and healthy fats and keep carbs to a minimum.
  • (E)nergizing – E meals focus on lean protein and healthy carbs and keep fats to a minimum.
  • (F)uel (P)ull – FP meals focus on a moderate amount of lean protein and keep both fats and carbs to a minimum. They really “pull the fuels” back for a metabolism shake-up. Fuel Pull ingredients are neutral, so they can be added to either an S or an E meal! They’re your freebies. Things like non-starchy veggies, berries, spices, and low-fat dairy products fall into this category.
  • Crossover (XO) – Crossover meals combine protein, carbs, and fats in the same meal. These meals are still healthy but not as weight-loss-promoting as the previous three.

THM focuses on ingredients rather than numbers (although Serene and Pearl do offer a few numbers here and there for those of you who like hard-and-fast guidelines), and you can find lists of S, E, and FP ingredients in the THM plan book. That book is your key to opening the nuances and science behind the plan, and I highly recommend that you read it – and reread it.

In case you’re wondering, all of my recipes are THM-friendly to the best of my knowledge, and with 6+ years on plan, I like to think I’m decently qualified.  😉  If you see any heretical info on my website, please let me know!

HOW DO I START?

  • Read the plan book. This is a non-negotiable point. If you can’t afford it, check your local library!
  • Cut out flour, sugar, potatoes, white rice, corn, and their derivatives. Sprouted or fermented grains/flours are fine because they’ve been broken down to a state kinder to your blood sugar, but keep in mind that store-bought items that tout the “sprouted” label often use sprouted flours in conjunction with regular ol’ white or wheat flour. Sweet potatoes are a great carb source for an E meal, but white potatoes have a higher glycemic index so you should abstain from them. Corn can be used in very small amounts in E meals for flavor but is not recommended for weight loss (after all, corn is one of the best ways to fatten animals quickly). If you eliminate a lot of processed foods like bread, pastries, pasta, French fries, soda pop, and the like from your diet, you’re halfway there. Don’t worry – there are plenty of healthy alternatives! CLICK HERE for a big long list of helpful ingredient substitutions or look for suggestions in the THM Facebook group or on Pinterest.
  • Take it one meal at a time. Sure, you can try changing everything at once, but you might get burned out with that method. A more manageable way to start is to change over one meal at a time. Try eating on plan for breakfast for a week, then add lunch, then supper. Eat the elephant one bite at a time. As you learn the way the plan works, by the time you actually get around to making sure all your suppers are THM-approved, you’ll probably have started making better choices already!
  • Find healthy versions of your family’s favorite dinners instead of trying totally new recipes. This is a great way to get the whole family on board with you so you don’t have to cook two meals. Plus, it’s less daunting than leaping into totally unfamiliar territory! Most family favorites are easy to THM-ify, and you can find all kinds of healthy versions on Pinterest. You can find some of our family favorites made healthy here on my website, and my cookbook includes a lot more. CLICK HERE for a post that shows you how to THMify many family favorite entrees and side dishes!
  • Give yourself grace. This way of eating is a big learning curve, but you’ll get it. Any progress is a step in the right direction!

To find out more about Trim Healthy Mama, check out their website, Facebook page, or the growing THM Facebook group. For lots of THM-friendly recipes from veteran bloggers dedicated to THM, check out the THM Blogger Test Kitchen (Unofficial) Facebook group.

To see the 5 tips from above fleshed out in more detail, check out this blog post!

Which book do I need?

This is the original book. It’s a super-thick wealth of information and recipes all in one book – all written in a sisterly chat form. This is the book I started out with because it was the only book available back in 2013! It holds a special place in my heart, but it’s not the easiest read in the world and Serene and Pearl have added info and condensed things since the first mammoth volume was released. I highly recommend reading this book eventually, but for those of you just getting started, check out the next book in line:

This is the new book detailing the Trim Healthy Mama plan in an easy-to-read format. Think THM for Dummies. There are no recipes included – just the THM plan simplified. It’s several inches thinner than the original book, so much less daunting for newbies. This is the book you need when just starting out. Trim Healthy Table, THM’s 2017 cookbook, includes a brief synopsis of the plan in its introduction, but I personally feel that a read through the Trim Healthy Mama Plan is in order for the best understanding of plan.

THM OFFICIAL COOKBOOKS: The Original Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook (Sept. 2015) & Trim Healthy Table (Sept. 2017)

 

Shop Briana Thomas Burkholder's Cookbooks - Convenient Food and Necessary Food

(Shameless plug: I have cookbooks too!)

 

Pages you might find helpful:

Popular Tips Posts:

If It’s Recipes You’re After…

What ingredients do I need?

None! You can do this plan with what you already have in your cupboards. Nothing is required. However, you might find the plan more doable with some ingredients to help you make goodies or to replace some ingredients you’re used to cooking with. Here’s some info about some of my favorite products, and farther on down I’ll provide sources for other products as well.

My Top 5 Most Used Special Ingredients for THM

My Top 10 Non-Special Ingredients for THM

  • I use THM Pure Stevia Extract Powder for as many of my sweetening needs as possible. It’s the most economical natural sweetener that I know of because it’s so concentrated. Quite a few stevia extract powders have funny aftertastes, but I’ve found the THM brand to be very good-tasting and not bitter. That being said, if you’re just coming off sugar, the taste of pure stevia might take some getting used to. (You can click here for some tips for baking with stevia.) In that case, I suggest THM Gentle Sweet. It’s very gentle on your tastebuds, and has that sugary sweet taste that we all crave. A good middle-of-the-road sweetener that has become my favorite for versatility is THM Super Sweet Blend. It’s more concentrated (and more economical) than THM Gentle Sweet but less finicky than pure stevia.
  • THM Baking Blend is a wonderful blend of low-carb flours. As you can read on my baking tips page, when baking with alternative flours, I recommend baking with a mixture of flours for best results. THM Baking Blend takes the guesswork out of ratios and produces a very nice baked good. I’ve formulated my own baking mix (which is nut free, unlike THM Baking Blend) that you can mix up yourself if you prefer that to ordering online. My baking mix is a little drier than THM Baking Blend, so you don’t need quite as much of it.
  • Aldi and Sam’s Club are the stores where we do most of our local shopping. Veggies, dairy products, meat, canned goods – all the basics can be found at these two stores, and Aldi has even started carrying some “specialty items” like sprouted bread. Click here to see lists of what we buy at these two stores.
  • If you’re around here for any length of time, you’ll quickly find out that I love ice cream. I have a whole page dedicated to ice cream equipment and ingredients, so you can click here to see that if you’re interested. Click here to see the ice cream maker I use.

Click here to check out Trim Healthy Mama’s great products, from skincare, to food products, to kitchen equipment:

Trim Healthy Mama Store

Some of the Basics:

This is a general list of some basics that I try to keep updated with my current recommendations from various sources. Keep scrolling for lists of (more) products by company.

EQUIPMENT:

 

Companies I buy from:

These are the companies I’ve found that carry a great assortment of healthy products. I’ve listed direct links to some of my favorite products below each banner, but shop around on the sites themselves to see what else they carry! (Please note that these products are not mandatory by any stretch of the imagination! I myself don’t have all of them on hand. Some I buy only every great once in awhile or ask for as birthday or Christmas gifts – because who can afford $7 chocolate chips?) Click on the banners themselves to go to the site’s homepage.

 

Starting THM - here's a handy page with my quick synopsis of the plan and links to great resources, like my favorite products and a quick start guide.

Trim Healthy Mama products are top notch in quality. My life would not be the same without THM Super Sweet Blend and THM Pure Stevia Extract Powder!

TOP SKINCARE & HERBAL PRODUCTS:

ACCESSORIES & WORKOUTS:

 

Starting THM - here's a handy page with my quick synopsis of the plan and links to great resources, like my favorite products and a quick start guide.

EQUIPMENT:

 

Starting THM - here's a handy page with my quick synopsis of the plan and links to great resources, like my favorite products and a quick start guide.

Swanson offers free shipping on orders of $50 or more and often has great sales going on! This is where I buy my whey protein powder (see note below).

CLICK HERE to see a list of all the THM products from Swanson Vitamins.

 

Starting THM - here's a handy page with my quick synopsis of the plan and links to great resources, like my favorite products and a quick start guide.

If you purchase collagen and gelatin directly from Great Lakes you can receive some pretty awesome bulk discounts as well as free shipping on various offers! CLICK HERE for more buying options and to see an exhaustive list of Great Lakes products.

 

Starting THM - here's a handy page with my quick synopsis of the plan and links to great resources, like my favorite products and a quick start guide.

Netrition is my go-to for oat fiber! 

 

Starting THM - here's a handy page with my quick synopsis of the plan and links to great resources, like my favorite products and a quick start guide.

iHerb offers many similar products to Swanson. If you put my referral code HLG949 in at checkout, you’ll automatically receive 5% off your order!

 

Lakanto Affiliate Link

Lakanto is home to a monk fruit sweetener that is acceptable for use on the Trim Healthy Mama plan! Some mamas have found that they tolerate monk fruit sweetener better than stevia, either because they prefer the taste of monk fruit or because they have an allergy to stevia. Lakanto’s 1:1 sweetener and many of their other products are made from a combination of erythritol and monk fruit extract, but they also sell a very concentrated pure monkfruit extract. CLICK HERE to see the full range of products.

NOTE: While the Lakanto sweeteners are on plan (except for the sweetener specific for baking, which is considered a personal choice item due to the tapioca fiber it contains), most of the other items are considered off plan for THM or personal choice due to their ingredients. Do a search in the main THM Facebook group if you want clarification on a specific product.