Why Weight

Cooking for Health and Weight Loss

By Marie Watson


Whether for weight loss or general health, it can be difficult to learn to cook healthy meals after spending a lifetime of eating high-fat, high-calorie foods. The longer you continue eating foods that are high in calories and low in nutritional value, the more difficult it will be to change your eating habits. It's essential to make the decision now to not only eat healthier but to prepare meals that are healthier for your family as well.

Bake, Roast, Grill or Broil Meats

For many people it is difficult to break the habit of frying foods. It seems for many there seems to be a mental block when it comes to learning how to oven fry food such as chicken or broil pork chops or steak. In fact, I have a lady staying with me now who drives me up the wall with her talk about frying-it's like speaking to the choir when I consistently remind her that I do not fry any of my meats. In fact, I don't even like the taste of fried chicken or pork chops-they are too greasy for my taste. It's easy to learn how to season your meats with herbs and spices and eliminate frying. In fact, one of the best appliances I have come across is the George Forman Grill-it makes great hamburgers without grease and fat.

Steam Vegetables in Herbs and Spices Instead of Butter

Many of us get into the habit of seasoning vegetables with just salt, pepper, and butter without giving a thought to anything else. Though we certainly have flavouring with these seasonings, there are healthier ways to give flavour to vegetables by using herbs and spices. Butter adds fat and calories while salt can cause water retention if you consume too much, so you want to find a healthier way to cook and serve vegetables. Stir fry is a viable alternative as well provided you choose olive oil rather than vegetable oil for cooking them.

With so many different herbs and spices from which to choose you can easily turn boring vegetables into something that will make your family beg for more. The right combination of herbs and spices can give your food a different flavour. Adding some cut up chicken or turkey can turn it into a complete meal without adding unnecessary calories or fat. The flavour enhancements you will experience by adding fresh herbs and spices will make up for the loss of the butter and salt.

Reduce Simple Carbohydrates

One of the biggest problems many of us have is eating too many carbohydrates. Yes, we need carbohydrates but not those that turn to sugar whenever we put them in our mouths. We can replace many of the simple carbohydrates we consume with those that are more nutritious and have a lower glycemic index-wheat bread, wheat pasta, brown rice, whole grain cereal, unbleached or whole wheat flour, and much more. Switching to whole grain carbohydrates does nothing to change the flavour but does wonders for your health.

Making a few simple changes in the way you cook can help not only reduce calories but prevent an over abundance of sugar resulting from consumption of too many simple carbohydrates. By learning to eat more nutritious foods and cook those foods without adding excess fats, we improve our health and the ability of our bodies to eliminate any excess weight. Once you learn to cook healthier you will actually enjoy the flavour of the food you eat instead of tasting the fat.
Marie Watson writes weight loss, diet plan, health, beauty and general well-being articles for the Slim Eazy website at http://www.slimeazy.com/
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posted by Cheryl Levesque @ 2:05 PM