| This is a discussion of how to eat for health. The prior article, Some Dietary Considerations,
has addressed the way you can pick goals for your diet. This
article will offer of tips on how do that in a healthy, tasty
manner. For starters, let's consider what you're going to want to avoid. Fried food, especially deep fried item, red meat, breaded items, whole milk, butter, cheese, as much saturated fat as possible, and trans fatty acids. This put many snack foods, like chips, on the no or occasional list. Yes, you can have them on occasion, but not as a regular diet item. Avoid most "prepared" foods that come in a box, most, not all. Things that you can make staples include: Brown rice, pasta, and low or no fat sauce, fish, chicken, turkey, most vegetables, nuts in moderation, margarine spreads that are oil based and low or no fat, olive and canola oil, skim milk and skim milk products. There are low fat cheeses and the would be the exception to those cheeses that are on the avoid list. Moderate amounts of Mayonnaise can be surprisingly low fat. Get into the habit of reading labels and making decisions based on label information. Condiments can add a lot of flavor to otherwise bland items. Consider using: Vinegar, lemon, cayenne pepper, chili power, crushed red pepper, jalepenos, and garlic. Fresh items such as onions and green, red or yellow peppers can add a lot. When you are cooking, bake, broil, or steam your food. Avoid frying when possible. Combine foods to get the maximum available protein. Beans and rice are an excellent combination. When the Japanese diet staple was brown rice and fish, they were healthy and vital. You can steam chicken and turkey. Get a steamer or a steam rack that fits inside of a pot and use them. Steamed broccoli, brussel sprouts or string beans are sweet and delicious. To steam chicken is easy and trouble free. It comes out tender, juicy and delicious. Current research is showing that the majority of calories should come from fat, and avoiding saturated fat is not wise. It can and should be a part of a healthy diet. Over reliance on carbohydrates has be found to be causing problems with the body's insulin and related systems. Metabolic disorder is solely related to sugar consumption. While it is not desirable to totally eliminate carbohydrates, their use should be moderated and curtailed. A hundred grams a day is an amount that the body can comfortably process and allows the valuable nutrients contained within. Moderation, as in all things, is key. Many people are comfortable on a mono diet for a short period of time, so it is not unreasonable to eat the eat the same thing for a day and a half to two days and then switch to something else. I usually have a primary item for a day or two with ancillary items. Primary items can include, pasta w/tomato sauce, fish and rice, pasta w/clam sauce, beans and rice, chicken steamed and made into a salad. You can make a great vegie dish by slicing onions and green peppers into a microwave safe bowl, pouring a little olive oil over them, sprinkling with vinegar, covering and microwaving on high until tender. CAREFUL removing the top!!! The steam will GET YOU. More as I think of it.........
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