Nutrition & Diet Cont’d

Nutrition & Diet Cont’d

Here are some additional tips to help you benefit from healthier choices

• Choose Organic, Fresh Farmed Raised Products.
• Improve snacks – Instead of snacking on cheese, chips or crackers, enjoy a handful of nuts or seeds. Consider a variety such as sunflower, pumpkin seeds, almonds, cashews, pecans, and walnuts.
• Change cooking oil – Instead of cooking with butter or vegetable oil, use olive oil.
• Lighten the load – Trim any visible fat off meat before cooking and remove the skin before cooking chicken or turkey.
• Limit frying – Instead of regular frying, choose to grill, broil, bake, or stir-fry cooking.
• Bake better -When baking, use grapeseed oil or apple sauce instead of shortening or butter.
• Swap meat – Serve ocean fresh fish instead of red meat.
• Swap cheese – Add avocado to your sandwiches instead of cheese. This will keep the creamy texture, but improve the  health factor.

Make Your Kitchen Your Friend

What you keep in your kitchen and where you keep it can either help you or hurt you.

Here is a three step plan to get you started:

1. Out of sight, out of mind – Get rid of all the unhealthy, nutrient-scarce foods in your pantry, refrigerator, and cupboards. This includes cookies, pastries, candies, sugary cereals,  high-fat lunch and deli meats, fried foods, chips, cream-based foods,  full-fat dairy products, juices, and sodas. If they aren’t readily  available, you will eat a lot less of them.
2. Organize your food storage space – Stock your  kitchen so you can see what you have available to eat and cook with. Keep everything visible and easy to access, so you can better plan your meals      and grab healthy snacks when you need them.
3. Stock up on healthy, appetizing foods – Put the  following on your next shopping list:
   • Fruit – Keep a large fruit bowl filled and in sight on a table or counter. Fruits are high in fiber and vitamins, plus they are colorful and pretty to look at. In the freezer keep frozen berries for smoothies or to add to yogurt.
   • Vegetables – Cut up vegetables, such as bell peppers, tomatoes, jicama, celery, and carrots, and keep them in plastic bags or containers for easy snacking. They taste great with hummus, a dip that has protein and good fats in it. Stock your freezer with your favorite veggies so they will last longer and can be easily added when cooking meals.
   • Nuts and seeds– Keep a variety of nuts and seeds on hand. They stay nice and fresh when kept in the freezer or refrigerator. Add them to your morning cereal or have a little handful as a filling snack between meals. Nut butters are also good to consider as they are very satisfying and full of healthy fats.
   • Grains – Keep only slow release carbohydrate foods around. This includes grains such as brown rice, quinoa, millet, and pearled barley. When it comes time to cook, you’ll benefit from lining your shelves with glass jars filled with different varieties of grains. For the counters, stock up on whole grain, high-fiber cereals, breads, and pastas.

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