Stir-frying Vegetables
You’ve decided to a prepare a healthy stir-fry from scratch, using ingredients you have on hand.
Not sure whether a certain vegetable is a good candidate for stir-frying?
It all comes down to the density and moisture level of the vegetable.
High moisture vegetables that are not too hard, like zucchini, sweet peppers, spinach and mung bean sprouts, can be quickly stir-fried at high heat without the addition of extra liquid.
Denser, low moisture vegetables like broccoli and carrots, on the other hand, require more cooking time. Most recipes call for the vegetables to be stir-fried briefly and then boiled in a liquid such as chicken broth.
Another option is to briefly blanch the vegetables prior to stir-frying.
Many vegetables fall somewhere between these two extremes. Snow peas (also called sugar peas and snap peas) have medium moisture levels and thickness – they can be stir-fried dry or finished in a sauce. Asparagus, on the other hand, is a high moisture vegetable but relatively hard and thick – liquid is usually added.
More Tips on Stir-frying Vegetables:
For all vegetables, cut them into uniform size before stir-frying. This ensures that they will cook evenly.
Be sure the vegetables are thoroughly drained before stir-frying. (A good tip is to wash the vegetables and leave them to drain earlier in the day). Wet vegetables can ruin a stir-fry.
On the other hand, if vegetables become too dry during stir-frying, they can burn. To prevent this, splash them with a bit of Chinese rice wine, dry sherry, or water while stir-frying.
Keep moving the vegetables during stir-frying. This also helps prevent them burning.
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Cooking Tilapia
It is given that baking is the most popular form of cooking tilapia; however, many people are not aware of the proper way of baking tilapia in order to get the most out of it.
In order to be well acquainted with the proper cooking of tilapia, it is good to start by introducing three types of methods to bake tilapia. The first is with the use of garlic and olive oil.
The ingredients are: four tilapia fillets, four cloves of crushed garlic, a chopped onion, three tablespoons of olive oil, and a quarter teaspoon of cayenne pepper.
Before cooking the fillets, make sure to pat them dry first.
Afterwards, rub the fish with garlic and then organize them in a bowl. Add olive oil and top with onion. Then place the tilapia inside the refrigerator for six to eight hours.
Preheat the oven to 175° Celsius or 350° Fahrenheit.
While you are preheating the oven, remove the tilapia from the refrigerator and arrange onto a baking dish.
At this point, pour the remaining marinade onto the fish and season with a quarter teaspoon of white pepper and a quarter teaspoon of cayenne black pepper. Once done, place the baking dish with the tilapia inside the oven and cook it for 30 minutes. After cooking, serve immediately while it is still hot.
The second baking method for tilapia is the “easy baked” tilapia.
Preheat the oven to 400° Fahrenheit. Prepare four tilapia fillets, one and a half teaspoons of garlic powder, a pinch of salt, three tablespoons of melted butter, three tablespoons of lemon juice, half a teaspoon of dried oregano, a pinch of paprika and two tablespoons of drained capers. After preparing all your ingredients, place the fish onto a baking dish followed by mixing lemon juice, garlic powder, salt and butter into a container. This time, you can pour the added mixture of oregano, paprika and capers. Bake the fish for 20 to 30 minutes. You can serve the baked tilapia with rice or as is, especially if you are on a low-carb diet.
The third method of baking tilapia is the Hudson’s baked tilapia with dill sauce.
For this baking method, you need four ounces of tilapia fillets, pepper, salt, one tablespoon of any seasoning powder, a quarter cup of mayonnaise, half a cup of sour cream, one lemon sliced thinly, half a quarter teaspoon on garlic powder, two tablespoons of chopped fresh dill and one teaspoon of fresh lemon juice.
First, preheat the oven to 350° Fahrenheit or 175° Celsius. After that, grease the baking dish lightly. Follow by seasoning the fillets with salt, pepper, and seasoning powder according to taste. Once you are done, arrange the fillets into a single layer on the baking dish. Now, place the sliced lemons over the fillets. It is recommended that you use only two slices for every piece of fillet to make sure that it covers most of the surface. At this time, you can start baking the fillets for 15 to 20 minutes uncovered. If the fish can be easily flaked with a fork, remove it from the oven. While the fillets are still inside the oven, prepare a mixture of sour cream, lemon juice, mayonnaise, garlic powder and dill in a bowl.
When the tilapia is cooked, serve it together with the sauce.
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About Kale
Kale freezes well and actually tastes sweeter and more flavourful after being exposed to a frost.
Tender kale greens can provide an intense addition to salads, particularly when combined with other such strongly flavoured ingredients as dry-roasted peanuts, tamari-roasted almonds, red pepper flakes, or an Asian-style dressing.
In the Netherlands it is very frequently used in a winter dish (a stamppot), as a traditional Dutch dish called boerenkool.
In Ireland kale is mixed with mashed potatoes to make the traditional dish colcannon.
It is popular on Halloween when it is sometimes served with sausages. Small coins are sometimes hidden inside as prizes.
Kale is a very popular vegetable in China, Taiwan, and Vietnam, where it is commonly stir-fried with beef.[citation needed]
A traditional Portuguese soup, caldo verde, combines pureed potatoes, diced kale, olive oil, broth, and, generally, sliced cooked spicy sausage.
Under the name of couve, kale is also popular in Brazil, in caldo verde, or as a vegetable dish, often cooked with carne seca (shredded dried beef). When chopped and stir-fried, couve accompanies Brazil’s national dish, feijoada.
In East Africa, it is an essential ingredient in making a stew for ugali, which is almost always eaten with kale. Kale is also eaten throughout southeastern Africa, where it is typically boiled with coconut milk and ground peanuts and is served with rice or boiled cornmeal.
A bundle of organic kale
A whole culture around kale has developed in north-western Germany around the towns of Bremen, Oldenburg and Hannover.
There, most social clubs of any kind will have a Grünkohlfahrt (“kale tour”) sometime between October and February, visiting a country inn to consume large quantities of boiled kale, Kassler, Mettwurst and schnapps. These tours are often combined with a game of Boßeln. Most communities in the area have a yearly kale festival which includes naming a “kale king” (or queen).
Curly kale is used in Denmark and Holland, Sweden, to make (grøn-)langkål, an obligatory dish on the julbord in the region, and is commonly served together with the Christmas ham (Sweden, Holland).
The kale is used to make a stew of minced boiled kale, stock, cream, pepper and salt that is simmered together slowly for a few hours. In Scotland, kale provided such a base for a traditional diet that the word in dialect Scots is synonymous with food. To be “off one’s kail” is to feel too ill to eat.
In Montenegro collards, locally known as rashtan is a favorite vegetable. It is particularly popular in winter, cooked with smoked mutton (kastradina) and potatoes.
In the Southern United States, Kale is often served braised, either alone or mixed with other greens, such as Collard, Mustard, or Turnip.
Kale is a very good source of iron, calcium, vitamin C, vitamin K and Carotenoids (which provide vitamin A). In Japan, kale juice (known as aojiru) is a popular dietary supplement.
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Easy Tofu
Basil Tofu
- 5 green onions, minced
- 6 or 8 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 package firm low-fat tofu, well-drained, sliced and marinated in soy sauce
- 1 cup fresh basil, chopped
- 1 teaspoon crushed chili pepper sauce (sambal oelek)
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
cooked brown rice
Cook onions and garlic in water or stock or vinegar until tender. Add marinated tofu and cook another 5-10 minutes. Stir in basil, chili pepper sauce and soy sauce and heat through. Serve over brown rice.
Braised Tofu
- 1 pound tofu, firm, cubed
- assorted veggies, broccoli, carrot, mushroom…
- flowerets, zucchini
Tofu Sauce Mixture
- Tamari
- Rice Vinegar
- ginger
- garlic powder 3/4 teas.
- garlic salt 1 teas.
- Marinate tofu in sauce mixture for one hour or more (preferably longer).
Braise tofu by adding some sauce mixture in frying pan and lay pieces flat in pan and then cook.
turn over half way through.
Cook tofu until liquid is pretty much gone.
Put it all together and eat.
Yummy!
Ginger Tofu
- 1 lb of firm tofu
- 1 1/2 ts of fresh, grated ginger
- 1 t of roasted sesame oil
- 1 minced garlic clove
- 2 tb of tamari
- 1 1/4 c of water
- 1 1/2 tb of arrowroot
Slice the tofu into small rectangles of 1/4–1/2-inch thickness and place them in a shallow dish or baking pan.
Mix together the ginger, sesame oil, garlic, tamari and water.
Pour this mixture over the tofu and let it marinate for at least 30 minutes.
(If desired, the tofu may be placed in the refrigerator to marinate for several hours or overnight).
Remove the marinated tofu from the liquid, reserving the liquid to make the sauce.
Place the tofu on a well-oiled cookie sheet and bake at 375 deg for 35-40 minutes, or until the desired crispness is reached (the longer the tofu bakes the firmer and crisper it becomes).
To make the sauce, mix the arrowroot with the marinade.
Place the mixture in a small saucepan and bring to a boil.
Cook, stirring constantly, until thickened.
Ginger Tofu may be served with or without the sauce.
With the sauce, serve it over a bed of rice, millet, buckwheat, or pasta.
Add your favorite stir-fried veggies and you have a colorful or nutritious meal.
Ginger Tofu may also be added to a vegetable stew.
Grilled Tofu
Serving Size : 8
- 1 lb of firm tofu
- 1/4 c of orange juice
- 2 ts of low-sodium soy sauce
- Cold and Spicy Noodles, see recipe
Tofu, once pressed, grills beautifully.
Slice the block of tofu in half, then slice each half into four thick slabs. Place a double layer of paper towels on a cutting board set over the sink. Arrange tofu in one layer on the cutting board, then top with a clean dishtowel. Place a second board on top, then a 4 to 5 pound weight, such as a thick phone book or heavy pot. Let press 20 minutes.
Uncover tofu and place in one layer in a shallow baking dish. Drizzle with orange juice and soy sauce. Marinate at room temperature 20 minutes.
Broil or grill over hot coals until lightly browned, turning once. Serve with Cold and Spicy Noodles.
Herbed Tofu In White Wine Sauce / Pasta Recipe
Serving Size: 1
- 2 T of soy margarine
- 1/2 T of flour
- 1/2 c of soy milk
- 1/2 c of white wine
- 1 Wedge of onion left in one Piece (I can’t tolerate much Onion, so I Used about a 4cm x 2cm Wedge)
- 1 d of ground cloves
- 1 d of salt
- Some water
- 1/2 lb Or so herbed tofu, cubed (about 1.5 cm cubes)
- Your favorite pasta, enough
For two servings
Melt margarine in pan and wisk in flour. Cool a bit and then wisk in wine and (soy)milk. Add onion, cloves, and salt to sauce and stir over low heat until sauce is slightly thickened. If it gets too thick, add some water. Add tofu and simmer while you cook the pasta. Serve tofu and sauce over pasta, giving the onion to the person who likes them more.
Sauteed Firm Tofu
Serving Size : 4
- 24 oz Firm tofu
- 2 tb Oil
- 1/2 ts Salt
- 1 sm Onions — sliced thin
- 6 md Mushrooms — sliced
- 1 sm Carrot — cut into matchsticks
- 2 md Peppers, bell, green -sliced thin
- 1 tb Sake
- 1 1/2 tb Soy sauce
- 1 t Ginger — grated
- 1 tb Sugar, granulated
- 1 tb water
- 1 t Cornstarch — dissolved in 3 T water
Cut tofu crosswise into pieces the shape of French-fried potatoes. Heat a wok, coat with oil & sprinkle on the salt. Add onion, then the mushrooms, stir frying each over high heat for about 30 seconds. Reduce heat to medium-low. Add carrot, green pepper & tofu in that order, sauteeing each for about 1 minute. Reduce heat to low & add sake, soy sauce, ginger, sugar & water. Simmer for 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in dissolved cornstarch & simmer 30 seconds for another 30 seconds. Shurtleff & Aoyagi, “The Book of Tofu”
Stir-Fried Asian Tofu
Serving Size : 4
- 8 oz firm tofu, — drained and weighted for 30 minutes
- 1/2 ts grated tangerine or lemon zest
- 2 TB orange juice
- Salt and pepper
- 2 TB hoisin sauce
- 1 TB rice wine vinegar
- 1 TB low sodium soy sauce 1/2 ts sugar
- 1 ts cornstarch
- 1 TB each vegetable and sesame oil
- 1 lg clove garlic, — minced Quarter-size piece fresh ginger, — minced
- 4 oz mushrooms, — stemmed and thinly sliced mushrooms
- 3 c 3/4-inch broccoli florets
- Salt and crushed red pepper
Cut the tofu into 3/4-inch squares and marinate in citrus zest and juice; season with salt and pepper. Combine hoisin, rice vinegar, soy sauce, sugar and cornstarch; reserve for later. In a 12-inch skillet heat vegetable and sesame oils until very hot. Add garlic and ginger and stir fry for 10 seconds. Add mushrooms and broccoli, some water, cover and steam for 2 minutes or until mushrooms and broccoli begin to get tender. Add tofu. Stir hoisin sauce to recombine cornstarch and add to skillet. Cover and simmer 30 seconds to a minute to thicken. Season with salt and crushed red pepper.
So many easy ways to fix tofu, so little time!
Yield: 2 servings
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Tips For Healthy Eating during Holidays
When the holidays arrive, many people forget all
about their diets and healthy eating.
Weight
gains of 7 – 10 pounds are common between
Halloween and Christmas.
To make the holidays
easier, these tips will help you with healthy
eating through the season and not gaining weight.
Most traditional foods can be made low fat.
Turkey is very lean without the skin, and gravy
can be made without any fat. Potatoes that are
served without butter can be very healthy. The
beloved pumpkin pie is nutritious, although it
can be made into a fatty dessert with the adding
of whipped cream.
Even though the holidays are in, don’t forget
about the exercise. Keeping weight off during
the holiday season is burning off the extra
calories. You should plan a walk after meals,
park farther from stores when you shop, and
take a few walks around the mall before you
begin shopping.
During holiday parties and at family dinners,
feel free to sample foods although you shouldn’t
splurge. Decide on what you plan to eat in
advance, then stick to your plan. Eat plenty
of vegetables, fruit, low fat dressings, and
slices of lean meats. Before you go to a party,
eat a small snack to help curb your appetite.
If at all possible, avoid alcohol.
Having too
many drinks can cripple your will power, and
also add excess calories to your diet;not good for healthy eating!
In the
place of alcohol, drink water with lemon. Water
can help to limit your appetite and keep you
from binging. Also make sure to avoid eggnog,
as each glass can have up to 300 calories.
Be flexible with your healthy eating, as one bad
meal won’t ruin your diet.
Try to balance your
calories over a few days and don’t just look at
one meal or day.
Healthy eating doesn’t have to be too hard to do.
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SALMON RECIPES.
Boiled salmon.
————–
Ingredients:- 6 oz. of salt to each gallon of water, sufficient water to cover the fish.
Mode:- Scale and clean the fish, and be particular that no blood is left inside; lay it in the fish-kettle with sufficient cold water to cover it, adding salt in the above proportion. Bring it quickly to a boil, take off all the scum, and let it simmer gently till the fish is done, which will be when the meat separates easily from the bone. Experience alone can teach the cook to fix the time for boiling fish; but it is especially to be remembered, that it should never be underdressed, as then nothing is more unwholesome. Neither let it remain in the kettle after it is sufficiently cooked, as that would render it insipid, watery, and colourless. Drain it, and if not wanted for a few minutes, keep it warm by means of warm cloths laid over it. Serve on a hot napkin, garnish with cut lemon and parsley, and send lobster or shrimp sauce, and plain melted butter to table with it. A dish of dressed cucumber usually accompanies this fish.
Time. 8 minutes to each lb. for large thick salmon; 6 minutes for thin fish.
Note. Cut lemon should be put on the table with this fish; and a little of the juice squeezed over it is considered by many persons a most agreeable addition. Boiled peas are also, by some connoisseurs, considered especially adapted to be served with salmon.
Salmon and caper sauce.
———————–
Ingredients:- 2 slices of salmon, 1/4 lb. batter, 1/2 teaspoonful of chopped parsley, 1 shalot; salt, pepper, and grated nutmeg to taste.
Mode:- Lay the salmon in a baking-dish, place pieces of butter over it, and add the other ingredients, rubbing a little of the seasoning into the fish; baste it frequently; when done, take it out and drain for a minute or two; lay it in a dish, pour caper sauce over it, and serve. Salmon dressed in this way, with tomato sauce, is very delicious.
Time. About 3/4 hour.
Collared salmon.
—————-
Ingredients:- A piece of salmon, say 3 lbs., a high seasoning of salt, pounded mace, and pepper; water and vinegar, 3 bay-leaves.
Mode:- Split the fish; scale, bone, and wash it thoroughly clean; wipe it, and rub in the seasoning inside and out; roll it up, and bind firmly; lay it in a kettle, cover it with vinegar and water (1/3 vinegar, in proportion to the water); add the bay-leaves and a good seasoning of salt and whole pepper, and simmer till done. Do not remove the lid. Serve with melted butter or anchovy sauce. For preserving the collared fish, boil up the liquor in which it was cooked, and add a little more vinegar. Pour over when cold.
Time. 3/4 hour, or rather more.
Curried salmon.
—————
Ingredients:- Any remains of boiled salmon, 3/4 pint of strong or medium stock, 1 onion, 1 tablespoonful of curry-powder, 1 teaspoonful of Harvey’s sauce, 1 teaspoonful of anchovy sauce, 1 oz. of butter, the juice of 1/2 lemon, cayenne and salt to taste.
Mode:- Cut up the onions into small pieces, and fry them of a pale brown in the butter; add all the ingredients but the salmon, and simmer gently till the onion is tender, occasionally stirring the contents; cut the salmon into small square pieces, carefully take away all skin and bone, lay it in the stewpan, and let it gradually heat through; but do not allow it to boil long.
Time. 3/4 hour.
Salmon cutlets.
—————
Cut the slices 1 inch thick, and season them with pepper and salt; butter a sheet of white paper, lay each slice on a separate piece, with their ends twisted; broil gently over a clear fire, and serve with anchovy or caper sauce. When higher seasoning is required, add a few chopped herbs and a little spice.
Time. 5 to 10 minutes.
Salmon a la genevese.
——————–
Ingredients:- 2 slices of salmon, 2 chopped shalots, a little parsley, a small bunch of herbs, 2 bay-leaves, 2 carrots, pounded mace, pepper and salt to taste, 4 tablespoonfuls of Madeira, 1/2 pint of white stock, thickening of butter and flour, 1 teaspoonful of essence of anchovies, the juice of 1 lemon, cayenne and salt to taste.
Mode:- Rub the bottom of a stewpan over with butter, and put in the shalots, herbs, bay-leaves, carrots, mace, and seasoning; stir them for 10 minutes over a clear fire, and add the Madeira or sherry; simmer gently for 1/2 hour, and strain through a sieve over the fish, which stew in this gravy. As soon as the fish is sufficiently cooked, take away all the liquor, except a little to keep the salmon moist, and put it into another stewpan; add the stock, thicken with butter and flour, and put in the anchovies, lemon-juice, cayenne, and salt; lay the salmon on a hot dish, pour over it part of the sauce, and serve the remainder in a tureen.
Time. 1-1/4 hour.
And there you have it, a few salmon recipies for the ordinary cook.
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Low Carb Cooking
Around the world people are paying more attention to their bodies and their health than perhaps at any other time in history.
One method that has shown great success in helping people quickly drop those unwanted pounds is through low carb cooking and dieting.
This method of weight loss seems to have taken the world by storm promising quick results for the simple (or not so simple) lifestyle change of eliminating as many carbohydrates as possible from our diets.
The notion sounds simple on one hand and is appealing to not only women hoping to drop those vanity pounds but also men who welcome the idea of eating all the steaks they can handle throughout the year.
Low carb cooking is becoming a way of life for many families as a result though the idea of this particular lifestyle change and the reality of it do on occasion seriously collide with one another.
If you are interested in dropping those unwanted pounds and keeping them off, this is a doubt that without a doubt gets results. The problem is that you must stick to the diet in order for the results to remain consistent even after you’ve met your weight loss goals. This means that you are not really embarking on a diet so much as a complete overhaul in the way you eat.
The excellent thing about low carb cooking is that it is so widely popular.
This means that you will have no trouble finding resources, tips, tricks, advice, and even amazing substitutes for those things you often miss most when engaging in the low carb lifestyle. Popular stores such as Whole Foods and Trader Joes are great places to go for specific foods that are low carb in nature and designed to meet the chocolate or breading needs of those who feel more than slightly deprived by the rigorous restrictions of a low carb lifestyle.
Many mainstream grocery stores are also beginning to see the value of catering to this ‘high end’ market of consumers and offering a wider variety of low carb friendly foods to consumers.
You can find recipes that are low in carbs by the mouthful at your local libraries and bookstores around the world. You can also find many resources on the Internet to help assist and encourage you in your low carb lifestyle incorporation. In addition to the cookbooks, recipes, and encouragement you also need to weed out the fact from the fiction when it comes to low carb cooking. The best way to do this is to go straight to the source. If you are going to incorporate this lifestyle altering diet into your way of life, you want to make sure that you are following it to the letter and not some knock off version that may not be as effective.
When it comes to low carb cooking you have the perfect excuse to use your grill well and use your grill often.
In fact, I highly recommend a George Foreman grill (or some similar knock off) for your home for those days when grilling outside simply isn’t an option. Around our house, those are the days when the snow reaches the bottom of the grill but we are the exception rather than the rule.
Most importantly about low carb cooking you should keep your goal in mind.
If you aren’t making progress, check what you are doing and adjust your cooking and eating accordingly.
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EATING LIKE THE SPANISH
Try Spanish style
Bored of cooking every day the same meals, the same recipes, and want to try something different and exotic?
You can choose any culture, any country you want and you will find specific traditional food for each and every one of them.
But there is something different about the way the Spanish cook, they just make food enjoying it and this is what matters and offers such tasty results.
First of all you have to know Spanish people like to eat a lot of eggs. But they never, or almost never, eat boiled eggs like we do. The traditional egg preparation method is to scramble them and fry them, obtaining a delicious omlette with potatoes and lots of onions added in the frying pan.
The Spanish tortilla, as it is called is an exceptional and nutritional way to feed your family for lunch.
Another wonderful dish is the paella. The paella means that you will pretty much throw in the frying pan everything you have in your fridge. Everything that goes with each other, of course. The base for the paella is usually obtained out of boiled chicken wings of legs and to it we will add vegetables assorted to our taste. It is important that we fry everything together in olive oil for a better taste. We can even add fruits in the pan and after everything is done, just a minute before turning off the fire, we pour in the pan an assorted natural juice or liqueur or wine, whatever we want as long as we think we will like it.
And the result will be an absolutely extraordinary Spanish dish made to fit our every taste and desire.
Spanish deserts are often a dream, but they can be rather difficult to prepare and they usually contain lots of calories.
Spanish cooking in generally is for people that really have time to spend in the kitchen and enjoy doing it.
Most Spanish dishes take a log time to complete and a regular Spanish meal can require up to 3 or even 4 dishes to serve.
If you are willing to try but don’t really have that much time on your hand them you can just go to a Spanish restaurant near you an d see for a change how Spanish people eat.
But if you experience weight problems you must be careful on how much you eat, Spanish food can be addictive and it contains many calories to give you lots of beneficial energy.
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CEREALS A PERFECT START FOR ANY DAY
Why do cereals make the perfect breakfast?
Because usually in the morning you are in a rush, maybe breakfast is the last on the list of your priorities. Or maybe it isn’t there at all. Breakfast is a very important meal that your body needs. In order to make breakfast give you power and strengths it has to be rich in sugar and low on fats. A proper diet must be firstly equilibrated. This is why you need a tasty and nutritional breakfast but mostly a healthy one.
The breakfast aliment that is key for mornings and has all these qualities are cereals.
Breakfast cereals are made from corn and rice most times and they are the optimal solution for every morning.
Cereals have a rich content of vitamins like vitamin A, C, the whole complex of B vitamins, minerals like iron, magnesium, copper ,phosphor and zinc and anti-oxidants as well.
Also cereals are an important source of calcium.
They provide an adequate quantity of calcium for any age, and vitamin D that has a very important role in helping the calcium be absorbed by the organism. Cereals have a low quantity of saturated fats, but a high quantity or unsaturated fats, substances good for the organism.
The fibers in cereals have a huge role in everyone’s health.
Heath in a bowl
Because they are an aliment so rich in fibers, minerals and nutritive substances, cereals for breakfast are ideal mornings.
You will start your day in a tasty way and they will provide you with the necessary energy and power to get through the day. Their benefit effect is immediate, but there is also one that is seen on a long term. Getting used to eating cereals for breakfast helps you watch over your weigh and helps you maintain your health.
Some dangerous diseases that cereals protect you from are: heart diseases, diabetes, obesity, intestinal affections, even cancer.
So, if you make a habit out of eating cereals is as if you were making a long term investment for your health.
For those of you that want to start the day with a smile on their face, cereals are definitely the best option.
Dieting Without Sacrifice
So many people view dieting as some sort of cosmic punishment for not having the perfect body.
They believe that enjoying food is somehow bad for them, which couldn’t be further from the truth. If you want to be completely honest with yourself, when it comes to dieting, it isn’t about giving up food or flavor; it’s about discovering new foods and flavors. At least that is what it is for those who truly love food as well as adventure.
There are many spices out there that can make even the blandest of foods a little more exciting when you’re dieting.
Fish and chicken are popular diet foods because they are lean meats. However, adding a little blackening seasoning is a great way to put a little punch in your meal that will make it taste great without packing on the calories of dressing marinades or soaking in butter before broiling. You do not have to stop there. Italian seasoning can also add a little flavor to your kitchen without adding the extra calories that you are working so hard to avoid.
There are all kinds of seasonings that will work well in this instance.
Many great seasonings for chicken also make great additions to chicken that will be included in salads for healthier dieting lunches or salad wraps.
Grains are good for you when you concentrate on whole grains. They are quite often the primary source of fiber in a diet and you need fiber almost as much as you need water. At any rate, simple things that spice up the same old lunch can have a huge impact on your enjoyment of food.
You can even enjoy the occasional treat when dieting as long as you do so sparingly.
The key when dieting is to learn about proper portions and moderate indulgence. You can find all kinds of low sugar or low carb desserts on the market that you can enjoy sparingly. You can even find sugar free or low calorie candy in some cases though you should keep in mind that calories, particularly when it comes to candy you eat unconsciously add up quickly and you must pay close attention to those things you put into your mouth.
My point in all this though is that you do not have to sacrifice flavor in order to be dieting.
You can live without butter; there are many substitutions on the market that are quite remarkable. But seasonings are a great way to add a lot of flavor for a tiny bit of effort on your part. Desserts are also great and you can find many dips and sauces that can be made with fat free or low fat mayonnaise or sour cream in order to cut a few more calories during your dieting process.
These dips and sauces can often make a great substitution, when paired with vegetables, for those chips and dips we love so much and often miss when dieting.
Cucumbers, green, red, and yellow peppers, broccoli, and carrot sticks all have a nice little crunch to them that when combined with a good low fat dip can help cure the crave beast for greasy chips that often rears its head when dieting.
If you watch your calories carefully during meals you should be delighted to know that there are many little snack treats that are prepackaged in 100 calorie packs for your enjoyment. This means that you can indulge on occasion in those treats that you love most without sacrificing all your dieting efforts in the process. These snack packs have become one of the best marketing ploys since the invention of diet colas. We all want the benefits of losing weight and will readily admit that if it were a simple process we’d all be thin. However, having something like these hundred calorie snack packs to carry you through the worst of your cravings can mean the difference between dieting success and failure.
They are definitely the difference in the old way of dieting and the new way of dieting without sacrificing flavor.
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