Injecting health tricks into your cooking

I reduce sauces rather than using (extensive) thickeners or butter. Sometimes I puree some of the veggies to thicken the sauce a bit and provide body. But sometimes only butter will do! I guess I'm with Julia Child on this point.

I limit salt. I've become quite sensitive to salt - my fingers seem to puff up before my eyes, and I can taste it right away. I use as few processed foods as possible because of added salt and sugar and oddball chemicals.

We rarely eat pasta of any kind, and not much bread. What we do eat is whole grain. Carby veggies are limited, too. Dinner is usually a lean protein and a low-carb veggie and/or fresh fruit. I used to follow a low-carb regime, and now I'm on a carb-conscious one prescribed by my diabetes educator. It's sane, and I'm not rabid about counting every single carb. My blood counts are lovely.  And I'm losing weight- slowly, but I'm losing.

I try to think in terms of eating 'just enough' to satisfy hunger. It gets easier as I get older, I have to admit! 

i dunno.. maybe cuz im asian?
i seem to always be full lol
3 meals a day... and enough cals to get me by

breakfast - 1 serving of grain 2 eggs 1 serving of meat

lunch - 2 serving of grain 1 serving of meat 1 serving of veggie

dinner - same as lunch

(other than that... ALWAYS 2 serving of fruit...)

personally dont think you ALWAYS need to "think healthy/ inject healthy tricks"

its all about portion control...
i dont snack.. other than the fact that im working out atm.. tryin to gain some muscle so i drink 3 -250ml low fat milk along with my 3 meals

eat what ever you like... as long as you dont eat too much of it...

dont starve yourself... dont stuff yourself either

this way.. u can get a healthy happy body

another tip

FIND THINGS TO DO... when your doing things.. u wont b hungry and u wont have TIME to be snacking

save you money and allows ur to get more stuff done

give urself these rules

1. 3 meals a day

2. eat breakfast within 30 mins after u wake up

3. sleep early

4. exercise (walk... stroll...) 30 mins a day

5. no snacking (unless ur diabetic?)

6. always eat veggie and fruit.. 2 serving of each a day

7. no dessert/ sweet unless its after you finish ur 3 meals .... NOT BETWEEN meals

8. enjoy doing something... other than EATING hahahaha

i see... well if that really is the case haha veggie is "definetly the way to go..."

but you can make shakes or stuff... like throw in some veggies and i dno... fruits? nuts etc blend...
fast meal yet nutritious etc
 

For pasta dishes replacing some of the pasta with vegetables is a nice way to get some extra veggies in. Reducing the amount of pasta you cook and then adding thin strips of carrots to the cooking water for the last few minutes is nice. Carbonara made with half spaghetti and half courgettes works well. Strong meat based pasta sauces are nice with half pasta half veggies as well, a nice slow cooked meat ragú with pasta shapes and nicely chopped root veg is lovely.

Adding fresh salads to all of our dinners may be the healthiest habit we came up since years. Very low salt −the vinegar or lemon juice is usually enough− and almost always we add some fruit to the salads. 

KK, when I first met Mr. k~girl, the only thing he had in his ‘fridge was a six pack of beer, a six pack of coca-cola and ground coffee to brew up.  He ate take out/fast foods and had a VERY large salt shaker on his kitchen table.  He never drank any water and in his kitchen pantry were junk foods (a huge bag of potato chips, candies, cookies and the like). 

Over a long period of time, I slowly got him away from eating that cr--, oh I mean stuff.  No salt shaker on the table anymore, you know the rest … but it was a hard fought battle to change his eating habits.  Tackle one hurdle at a time.

Finding other ways to flavor foods, maybe herbs rather than salt.  I like several small ‘snacks’ than a set time or a full meal sometimes if we’re busy.  I try to cook more than we’ll eat; that way there’s always a better choice when we get peck-ish.

Limiting salt is a tricky thing. 

I talked a bit about some of my changes in sodium for cooking and eating here.   For at the table, I like to use acids mostly. So a mild hot sauce to add flavor, but not much heat. Squeeze of lemon. Flavored vinegars. I use black pepper more heavily than many people too.  

Many people use Mrs. Dash. I've not used it in some years. I think it's a good product, particularly the garlic and herb, but my taste and cooking are well matched to each other now so I find less need for it, particularly at the table. There are a lot of salt-free seasoning recipes out there and are worth spending some time with. I shared my thoughts on rub building here which also apply largely to a salt-free seasoning.

Most factory low fat food pumps up the salt so avoid their low fat things or at least carefully read the label

The only way I eat like a child is the way I choose which cheeses I eat! At least, that's what my French friends tell me. You may have heard of the little poem about what a bride should wear or carry on her wedding day? "Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue..." Well, for me when it comes to cheese, it's NEVER something old or blue! I just can't get them past my nose. 

To get back to the subject, that helps limit the amount of cheese I eat. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Koukouvagia 

 

• For sandwiches I use Pepperidge Farm "very thin" whole wheat bread.  It saves a ton of calories and you don't even notice.

 

That is a great idea I will have to try that. 

One thing we use is the low fat cooking spray instead of butter. You don't get the flavor but at least your food doesn't stick.

Also eating seafood over meats is a big one.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nicko 

Also eating seafood over meats is a big one.

A steak topped with lobster, Nicko?

You know I tried that Misto some years back and it kept getting so clogged up.

I tried and tried to clean out the pump , but it just got worse over time.

Was I doing something wrong?

Granted that was some time back, have they improved? 

I'd love to use that again, but it kind of got me away from using any spay oils any longer.

Ii've only been using a small amount of oil/fat when needed.

Even those salad dressing that are in a spray bottle... has anyone tried those yet?  That sounds like a great idea, but is it?

Quote:

Originally Posted by siduri 

A steak topped with lobster, Nicko?

ha ha. Surf and turf. It would be lobster over a blue cheese cursted tenderloin Siduri.

What I meant was eating seafood instead of meat.

............

Figured, Nicko, but i just can't resist the opportunity of a joke