Top tips for preparing food!

In choosing how to prepare your meals, keep in mind that it’s not just what you eat, but how you prepare these things that counts as well. Simon Lovell from www.thelunchboxdiet.com has some hand hints...

Raw versus Cooked

When veggies come in their natural form, they contain all the goodness Mother Nature intended. When we start manipulating them in the kitchen, little by little they lose nutritional value. Have you ever looked at the water in a pan that you’ve boiled broccoli in?

It’s green, right?

Carrot water is orange too. Magic trick? No. What you’re looking at is the phytochemicals that you’ve just boiled out of the vegetable. Phytochemicals give the veggies their bright beautiful colors, but they also provide you with powerful antioxidant value and rid your body of toxins. This protects your body by fighting off cancer causing agents as well as cellular and tissue damage. Also, as veggies cook, fiber is broken down and becomes less effective. Fiber helps us lose weight, prevents cancers, and boosts cardiovascular health. It’s best to eat veggies raw, but if you need to, you can steam them or cook them in the microwave to preserve those important nutrients. And be careful what you add to vegetables. Butter, cheese, dressings and other types of sauce are popular ways of preparing vegetables. Try vinegars and pepper sauces to avoid adding fat and calories to what is normally a wonderful thing to eat!

Grilled

Chicken is great for you unless you plan on adding a bunch of fat by frying it. You can grill just about anything these days. Grilling is an effective and delicious way to prepare meat that doesn’t pack on a bunch of fat. Grilling has other benefits too. No fuss no muss. You don’t have to dirty as many dishes and clean up becomes a snap. Hey, now you have time to go to the gym! And grilling can be a very relaxing way to cook. Turn on some tunes and make your backyard or balcony a fun kitchen!

Poached

Eggs had a nasty reputation for awhile due to their high cholesterol content, but over the years, we’ve lightened up on the good old egg. It is a great source of protein and an inexpensive, quick way to get that protein. The problem lies with what usually goes with eggs (bacon, sausage, ham, pancakes etc.) and how they are cooked. Instead of frying your eggs, try poaching, basting or simply cooking them in a non-stick pan with no oil. One or two per day seems to be quite safe.

Pass the salt

Or don’t! Many foods have an abundant amount of sodium. We don’t need to strive to get our sodium intake. It’s readily available in plenty of what we eat. I’m not telling you to memorize the sodium content of everything, just don’t add a lot of salt. Find other means of flavoring your food and retrain your taste buds. Most importantly, just don’t bring the salt to the table. This can cut down on your sodium intake immensely.

Can I have extra dressing with that?

Would you be surprised to know that the creamy honey mustard dressing you just dumped on your salad made it just as high in calories (or close) to the hamburger and fries on the menu? Worse yet, we tend to not find one little container enough to sufficiently drench the lettuce leaves at the bottom and we usually ask for more. Again, this is a matter of retraining your taste buds. Try vinaigrettes or lemon juice for awhile. Also, toss the water-filled, flavorless iceberg lettuce and replace it with flavorful dark leafy greens.

Learning what to eat is a great step towards healthy weight loss. Learning how to properly prepare things is the next step. Soon, you’ll be eating more healthfully than you ever though possible with little or no trouble at all!