Category: Healthy Diet

Cooking Shortcuts To Help You Maintain Healthy Eating Habits

Eating at home is one of the key ingredients to maintaining a healthy diet. When you know what’s in your food, you have more control over the amount of calories and the quality of the food you consume.  However, with today’s fast paced lifestyles it can be difficult to carve out the time to cook.

Here are eight quick and easy cooking shortcuts for healthy eating.

These tips come straight to you from my personal kitchen! 

As a wife, homemaker, fitness coach, and doggie mom I have a limited amount of time I can spend in the kitchen.  Here are some shortcuts I use when following my favorite recipes:

1)  Use cookers that need no supervision! I use my rice cooker all week long. I make rice, quinoa and steamed vegetables in it. Slow cookers and crock pots serve the same purpose. While one part of the meal is cooking, you can prepare the rest. You can cook stew while you are at work, or run errands while the food is cooking.

2) Use pre-made sauces. I often substitute healthy pre-made sauces in recipes instead of making them from scratch. Organic pasta sauces, dips, and dressings are pretty easy to find in almost every grocery store.

For example, I make lamb burgers that call for a “raita” sauce. The recipe isn’t hard. However, Trader Joe’s sells a yoghurt cilantro sauce that works well in place of it. If you add up the time and cost of buying the ingredients and making the sauce, it is worth the $2.99 I paid for Joe’s version. Just be sure to check labels when buying pre-made sauces. Avoid partially hydrogenated oils and high fructose corn syrup. And be sure you recognize the ingredients!

3)  Speed up the veggies! Pre-washed and pre-cut organic vegetables are a great way to save time. Check the frozen section for a great variety as well. Frozen veggies are better than canned because they preserve more of the nutrients without preservatives.

4)  Prep well. Do all of your cutting, chopping, and mixing before you start cooking, including a side salad. This will save you time, and your meals will come together seamlessly.

5)  Recruit in-house! My husband and I have a lot of fun cooking together. We open a nice bottle of wine, turn on some music and enjoy quality time. The families I work with turn cooking into family time. The kids look forward to working in the kitchen, and mom and dad get to teach their children while getting a little help.

6)  Create a meal plan. Plan your meals one week in advance with the groceries in the house. If you have to stop at the store multiple times per week, you will lose a lot of time shopping. And this can tempt you to eat out. If you are not sure how to meal plan, check out Meal Planning Helps You Lose Weight for detailed steps.

7)  Have a back up! I always keep a few easy meals in our freezer and pantry just in case the day does not go as planned. Frozen organic pizzas and a fresh salad make a great last minute dinner. By making your own pizza, you have more control over the calories than if you went to the local pizzeria. Dry pasta and minced canned clams make an amazing linguini and clams dish. Add a salad on the side and your family will think it’s gourmet all the way!

8)  Buy freeze dried herbs!  Did you know freeze dried herbs become “like fresh” when they are moistened? Use these to avoid all of the chopping without sacrificing flavor. They are great in the winter when your herb garden isn’t producing, and it saves having to buy an entire bunch of herbs just for a couple tablespoons!

Please let me know which strategies are the most helpful, or share your own time saving tip below!

Blessings!

Jennifer

 

 

Can Eating Late Make You Gain Weight?

For years we have been teaching a calorie is a calorie no matter what time it is consumed. I mean it makes sense. It’s dark in your stomach. How does your body know what time it is? But, there is growing research now telling us that the body burns those calories differently at night than it does during the day.

Your body has a secret fat burning process at night!

The new thinking based on the research by Satchin Panda at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, is that the body burns some of the calories you eat for fuel during the day and the rest is stored in the liver in the form of glycogen. At night, your body converts the glycogen into glucose and releases it into your bloodstream to keep your blood-sugar levels steady during this fasting period called sleep.

Once the glycogen is gone, your liver starts burning fat cells for energy.

Lose weight in your sleep!

The concept that we burn fat while we sleep is not new at all. But, this new research gives some merit to the theory that a midnight snack could interfere with your body’s ability to burn fat between the time you go to bed and the time you sit down to breakfast.

So what time should you stop eating? Late night snackers tend to eat an average of 248 calories more per day than those who go to bed earlier. Most of those calories are consumed after 8pm.

Depending on what you have had for dinner that night, you may actually be hungry right before bed time. Make sure you are eating a balanced meal with lost of veggies, whole grains, healthy oils, and protein in order to feel satisfied.

Don’t go to bed hungry!

If you really are hungry and not just craving or bored, then have a piece of fruit, a 1/2 serving of yoghurt, or 1 piece of whole wheat bread to tie you over until morning.

If you are a late night snacker, you may not be getting enough sleep. This can cause weight gain. If you work the night shift, your body will adjust. However, the new research tells us that trying to “fit in” to a day schedule on your off days could be throwing your body out of whack. If you are used to having your larger meals during a swing shift, experiment with keeping the portions small when you normally would have been sleeping. Regular meals and sleep patterns seems to be the key.

Start the day of with breakfast!

Research has proven that regular breakfast eaters weigh less. When you eat within an hour of waking up, you help jump start your metabolism! Read  How Eating Breakfast Helps You Lose Weight for more details about breakfast and weight loss.

What do you do if you ate late the night before? Based on Panda’s research you want to wait 12 hours between the evening meal and breakfast. If you ate a big dinner at 11pm, then eating closer to lunch may help you burn off that late meal.

Overall the “new thinking” is telling us something we already know. While I wouldn’t get too freaked out about the occasional late night meal, regular meals and regular sleep help you lose weight and maintain it permanently!

Has this helped you with this subject? Have a late night habit you want to discuss? Please leave a comment below.  I love hearing from you!

Blessings to you and yours!

Jennifer

 

 

The Truth About Trans Fats

Last week I talked about why low fat diets don’t work. Check it out if you didn’t get a chance to read it. In that article I mention avoiding trans fats entirely. It got me thinking that I should follow up with more information on why. So here you go!

According to the Mayo Clinic, trans fat is considered to be the worst type of fat by some doctors. Unlike other fats, trans fat (also called trans-fatty acids) raises your “bad” (LDL) cholesterol and lowers your “good” (HDL) cholesterol.

Trans fats harm you in many ways:

  • It raises triglycerides, which in turn increases the risk of stroke, diabetes, heart attack, and heart disease.
  • It increases lipoprotein which promotes a buildup of plaque in your arteries.
  • It causes more inflammation which is how your body responds to injury. Trans fat appears to damage the cells lining blood vessels, leading to inflammation. This can cause a heart attack or stroTo simplify, they not only hurt your body’s ability to fight “bad” cholesterol; they create more of it! And, trans fats leave you at a higher risk for heart attack, heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.

What the heck is trans fat anyway?

Trans fat is made by adding hydrogen to vegetable oil. This process is called hydrogenation. Doing this to the oil helps the food stay fresh longer, giving it a longer shelf life. Sound scary yet?

Foods that typically have trans fats are:

  • commercially baked goods like crackers, cookies, and cakes;
  • many fried foods such as doughnuts and french fries;
  • frozen foods and prepackaged box foods.

Small amounts of trans fat occur naturally in some meat and dairy products. However, it’s the trans fats in processed foods that are the most harmful and that you want to avoid.

Don’t be fooled by the ingredient label — know where trans fats are hiding!

Read the labels. This is where it gets tricky! In the United States, if a food has less than .5 grams of trans fat per serving, the food label is allowed to read 0 grams trans fat. It may seem small, but eat two servings and you have already exceeded your recommended daily limit!

To be safe, make sure you read the ingredients! Since zero doesn’t always mean zero — if the label says “partially hydrogenated” vegetable oil — do not buy it. That’s code for trans fat!

This sounds a little weird, but “fully” or “completely” hydrogenated oil doesn’t have trans fat. If the label simply says “hydrogenated” then it may contain trans fat. My thought here is why take the chance? If it says “partially hydrogenated” or “hydrogenated,” don’t buy it!

I know what you’re thinking — what about restaurants?

Good news! Many cities around the country are banning the use of trans fats in restaurants. In California the ban is statewide!

Many restaurants are responding to this health risk and switching the oil they use. Examples are Mc Donald’s, Burger King, The Cheesecake Factory, and Carl’s Jr. Use Google to find out if your city has banned trans fats. If not, check into the restaurants you frequent to make sure they have made the switch. A large serving of french fries in some restaurants can contain 5 grams or more of trans fats!

Don’t deprive yourself — but preserve your health!

I do not believe in deprivation when it comes to food. And, I believe in a balanced approach to a healthy diet, so I don’t normally call any food “bad.” However, when it comes to trans fats I can confidently say never eat them! You don’t have to eliminate the food! You just might need to find another brand or try making it yourself.

Please let me know if this has helped you understand the topic better; and ask away if you have any questions.  I love to hear from you!

Blessings to you and yours!

Jennifer