| Many years ago, I went on a vacation trip to Mexico and I started each day with an omelet. This vacation trip happened to be during the month of June when I would usually schedule my annual physical. So, when I returned to Houston, I had blood work done and went in for the medical exam as usual. My physician informed me that my cholesterol was 286 which was way too high and I was first introduced to low fat diets. I followed the plan and 3 weeks later, my cholesterol had dropped to 186. It has stayed close to that level for over 25 years. One of the reasons that it has done so is that I usually eat a turkey sandwich for lunch most days in addition to fish and chicken for most meals. My staff is surprised to hear that I have not bought any food from their favorite fried chicken place in so many years that I don't remember when. No more Haagen Dazs, but no fat frozen yogurt still makes the taste buds happy! So, today I want to provide information on "How to Eat Healthy" as part of your wellness program and maybe it can get to be part of your daily routine. |
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| How to Eat Healthy, But Still Enjoy Your Meals Does learning how to eat healthy mean you have to eat flavourless food? Lowering the saturated fat content from your diet and reducing added salt or refined sugars should be your goal. If you have been in the habit of eating packaged foods, your pallet has been trained to crave the very things you are aiming to cut out of your diet. Unless you find a way to make healthy foods taste great, you may be tempted to stray from your good intentions, but thankfully there are ways to make food delicious without those harmful additives. 5 Tips for Reducing Fat in Your Diet Without Compromising Taste: - Use water, wine or low fat, sodium free stock in place of oil or butter when sautéing. You will not miss the flavour since the oil or butter is usually only used to keep whatever you are cooking from sticking to the pan. If the liquid evaporates just keep adding a little more until the food is cooked.
- Instead of putting butter or margarine on your potatoes, top them with a dollop of fat free sour cream instead. Sprinkle with a little chives or your favourite herbs or spice blend and you will never miss the butter.
- Skip the butter when making sandwiches and go with fat free condiments like your favourite mustard or fat free mayo instead. Most of the time we reach for the butter by habit rather than necessity and you will never miss it.
- Replace cream or whole milk with skim milk in all of your favourite recipes. If the recipe calls for butter, substitute it with a healthier alternative such as olive oil.
- Buy only the leanest cuts of meat and trim away any fat and skin from chicken. Marinade the meat to tenderize it and replace the flavour of the fat. Whenever possible, bake instead of frying and if you do have to pan fry something, use non-stick cooking spray or brush the meat with lightly with olive oil rather than adding oil to the pan. Making sure you pre-heat the pan will keep the food from sticking.
 5 Tips for Reducing Sodium in Your Diet Without Losing Flavour: - Replace the salt shaker on your table with a sodium free spice blend. Most of the time we reach for the salt shaker out of habit rather than because our food needs it. A spice shaker on the table will satisfy that "shake" habit and add flavour to the food. There are tons of ready-made spice blends available or you can create your own custom blend using your favourites.
- Trick your pallet. Sour and salt are recognized by the same group of taste buds. Instead of adding salt to your foods while they are cooking, try adding a splash of lemon or lime juice or flavoured vinegars instead. Balsamic vinegar is particularly good to cook with as it adds a ton of flavour.
- Read the labels. If you must purchase any packaged or canned goods, get in the habit of comparing labels for sodium levels. Chances are pretty good that a different brand may be a healthier alternative to the brand you are used to buying.
- Add aromatics such as finely diced raw onion, scallions or shallots, roasted or raw garlic, fresh ginger or fresh herbs to foods as a hit of flavour instead of salt. Not only do these add flavour, they also bump up the nutritional value of your foods.
- Make your own salad dressings. These are super easy to make and they taste much better than store-bought dressings. Balsamic vinegar, olive oil, Italian spices and minced garlic is a sodium free dressing that is packed with flavour. Experiment and find combinations you and your family will love.
As you can see there are simple ways for you to learn how to eat healthy without sacrificing the taste of your food. You just need to make a few minor changes in your food preparation habits to make a big impact on your diet. As you can see, we have just focused on fat and sodium, not calories. We know that too much fat can lead to deposits of plaque in arteries in the heart, carotids that provide blood flow to the brain, as well as the vessels of the legs. So, by eating less fat your body will thank you. While debatable from some medical perspectives, sodium is still thought to play a key role in the development, progression, and worsening of high blood pressure. So, keeping your blood pressure in check will cause your body to thank you as well. So, take the information above and prepare a healthy low fat and low sodium meal and see if you can adjust to it so that it becomes your regular routine. 
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