Ok, so I admit it… I love food!! Sweet food, salty food, savory food, I love it all! I find it fascinating how food has evolved from a hunk of raw meat seared over an open flame, to all sorts of spices, meats, and cooking styles combined to create our modern equivalent to a delicious meal. For me personally, I seek a balance between the two, choosing simple home grown foods, and using contemporary styles and fixtures for the preparation. While it seems that my relationship with food is nearly an infatuation, I’m also aware of the importance of exercise and a balanced diet, which is why I try to cook with the freshest ingredients and in the healthiest way I can. Sure, everyone likes to eat the occasional cookie or buttery bowl of white rice once in a while, but 99% of the time I believe should be reserved for healthy food only.
But who said healthy food can’t taste good? Like most people, I grew up hating vegetables and milk (of course, being lactose intolerant doesn’t help). However until just recently, in the past year or so when I’ve really gotten into cooking, I’ve stumbled upon a ton of new vegetables and other foods that have changed my view entirely! That, along with a few other alterations in my eating habits have changed my life for what I know is the better. Here are some basic things I always have in the house in place of their less healthy counterparts:
Fresh Fruit and Vegetables. The sugars in fruit are similar to those in candy; however it’s natural and doesn’t contribute to weight gain. (At least I’ve never heard of anyone getting fat from eating too much fruit!!) If an extra boost of sweetness is desperately needed, a couple packets of Splenda in a bowl of fruit should suffice. Fresh vegetables are always a nice thing to snack on and can really bring out the flavors in a dish. My personal favorite vegetable substitution is sweet potatoes for regular white potatoes. I haven’t had regular potatoes for almost a year and I don’t miss them a bit!
Sparkling Water or Water. Sparkling Water is getting more popular every day for those who crave soda and other carbonated drinks. Just squeeze in some lemon juice or other low sugar juice for flavor. For those of us who don’t like the sugariness of soda, the kitchen sink is just seconds away.
Natural nut butters. I’ll first read off the ingredients list from a common jar of Jif Peanut Butter: Roasted Peanuts and Sugar, molasses, fully hydrogenated vegetable oils, mono- and diglycerides, and salt. Now I’ll read from the jar of natural peanut butter I got from Wegmans last week: Dry-roasted organic unblanched peanuts, and salt. Natural nut butters can be found today at nearly any grocery store. (Try a little natural peanut butter on a few chocolate rice cakes or a banana, you’ll thank me for it, I promise.)
Frozen shrimp. Shrimp are so easy to cook and toss on top of salad, rice, or pasta as well as in tacos and burritos or on top of pizza. For less than 1 gram of fat per 4 ounce serving, these tiny crustaceans are a very good source of vitamin D and vitamin B12, and supply 50% of the average daily value for protein.
Ricotta Cheese and Low Fat Plain Yogurt. The health benefits of both of these are tremendous, and they’re both quite flexible in their uses! A bit of ricotta cheese in a bowl with a couple drops of almond (or really any) flavor extract makes a delicious dessert. Low fat plain yogurt can be substituted in for mayonnaise or sour cream and still come out having the same creamy taste.
Skim Milk. Skim milk is a great source of calcium with less fat than 1%, 2% or whole milk. Those types of milks are what BABY mammals drink to help with development and are not meant for bodies that are done developing. For those who are lactose intolerant or allergic to dairy, soy or almond milk is always an option, along with the taking of a daily calcium supplement.
Olive Oil. You don’t need to use anything other than olive oil. It has a great range of flavor intensities and benefits over polyunsaturated oils such as safflower, peanut and corn oils. It can be used in place of butter for searing, sautéing or frying.
Whole grains. After eating refined grain products for years, switching to whole grains might be difficult at first. Whole wheat bread is a good place to start because it’s fairly easy to get used to and tastes great toasted. Whole wheat pasta comes in all the same types as regular pasta and is equally as satisfying. Another nice alternative is brown rice or wild rice. While they take longer to boil, I find that they compliment many meat dishes better than other types of rice!
Low Fat Meats and Salmon. Fatty processed meats such as salami and bologna are not good for any persons’ health. Chicken is one of the lowest fat meats out there and instead of buying ground beef for taco night, go for the ground turkey instead. It cooks and very similar to beef and is also very similar in taste. Salmon is another great thing to always have in the house. Because of its rich consistency and multiple preparation options, salmon is getting more and more popular. (I like it because it doesn’t have the same fishy smell or taste like trout.) It can be found in many stores for a reasonable price; we get it from Aldi’s for $3.99!
*Remember to always check the ingredients before buying something packaged. That’s where you’ll really find the low-down on what you’re consuming. Like any major lifestyle change, restocking your kitchen should be a gradual process. Throw out the unhealthy foods in your kitchen and replace them with healthier choices slowly. Over time you will find that healthy foods are fresher and more intensely flavored then their unhealthy cousins.
But I think you get my point, I try to make the best foods possible with the best ingredients possible. I like to cook and bake just as much as I like to watch the looks on the people’s faces when they take the first bite of a dish I’ve created. Hope you’ll browse around and check out some of the great recipes I post, and maybe you’ll even be adventurous enough to try a few! Anyways, have fun eating, and even more fun cooking and baking!
“Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity.” ~Voltaire
