SIMPLE COOKING TIPS TO CUT FAT & CALORIES

If you want to cut fat and cut calories from your diet, your best bet is to cook at home. By preparing your own foods, you control the type of ingredients in your food and the portion sizes of each meal. But even home-cooked meals can be fattening if you're not careful. Use these healthy cooking tips to prepare meals that will help you keep your weight loss plan on track.

Three Cooking Tips to Cut Fat and Calories

Stock your kitchen with good cooking tools.

 Non-stick pans.  One of the best weight-loss tips is to prepare recipes with non-stick pans. Much of the fat used in the preparation of meals serves to prevent sticking during the cooking process. By using non-stick pans, you can add a small amount of olive oil or other healthy fat to complement the taste of your food, but you will cut out unnecessary fat.

Non-stick saute pans, grilling pans and saucepans also make the cleanup process faster and easier. If you can save time in the kitchen, you're going to be more likely to continue the habit of healthy cooking at home.

Kitchen scale. A digital kitchen scale is a great way to measure portion sizes and ingredients. During the cooking process, you can cut calories and fat by using exact portions of each ingredient. Measuring with cups and spoons leaves room for error. A digital scale, however, will help you to measure your items with precision.
 
An inexpensive kitchen scale will also help you determine portion sizes after the meal is prepared. Food-tracking systems provide the exact amount of food you've eaten. With a kitchen scale, getting the right measurement is simple and easy. 

Cut calories with basic substitutions.

Applesauce. Baking your own cookies and treats is generally healthier than purchasing pre-packaged varieties in the store. Many store-bought baked goods contain trans fats that add calories and contribute to high cholesterol and heart disease. But even the home-baked varieties can be full of fat. For healthier cooking, try substituting applesauce for oil or butter. 

Swapping applesauce for oil will cut fat and cut calories, but it can also change the texture of your finished product. The substitution generally works best in muffins, bars or cake recipes. Some cookie recipes may also work, but they may require some experimentation. To begin, swap equal amount of applesauce for oil. Make adjustments as needed. Look for low-sugar varieties of applesauce for best results. 
 
Chicken stock. In savory recipes, chicken stock is a great substitute for oil, cream or butter. Stock helps keep foods moist and prevents food from sticking. For example, when preparing sauteed vegetables, a restaurant chef might add olive oil or butter to the pan to add flavor and aid in the cooking process. But by using chicken stock instead, you cut fat and cut calories.

You'll also find that chicken stock will help give your starches a creamy texture. For instance, hold the cream and butter when preparing mashed potatoes and add low-salt chicken broth instead. Whip the potatoes and add salt to taste. Making hummus? A healthy cooking tip is to skip the tahini, which is loaded with calories. Instead, add a small amount of olive oil and chicken stock to get a creamy spreadable consistency.

White beans. One of my favorite weight-loss tips is to use white beans. Creamy soup recipes often call for cream or whole milk to achieve the thick texture that diners enjoy. But pureed white beans can do the same thing without adding significant calories or fat.

The next time you prepare your favorite cream soup, such as squash, carrot or potato, prepare the recipe as indicated in the original recipe. At the end of the cooking process, when the cream is added, take one can of white beans and puree the beans using a food processor or blender. Add small amounts of the puree to your soup until it meets the consistency you desire. This healthy-cooking tip will help cut fat and calories while adding healthy protein to your soup.

Cook in bulk but control portion sizes.

·         Cooking in bulk saves time. You can complete a week's worth of cooking in the same time it takes to prepare a day's worth of meals. But often, storing the food in large containers can lead to overeating. If you're starving at mealtime and need to scoop a serving of soup out of a large pot, it's easy to take too much.

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Avoid that scenario altogether by dividing the large recipe into single servings when you finish cooking it. Then, assemble the items into complete, low-calorie meals. For example, cook a pot of healthy, creamy soup, along with a batch of sautéed vegetables and a low-fat baked treat. Divide each recipe so that a single serving of each is neatly packaged and stored together in your refrigerator. At mealtime, take only the packages you need. It's easy, convenient and quick.

It may seem like a lot of work to practice healthy cooking at home. But these weight loss tips will help you cut fat and calories from each of your meals. As you get used to these tips for cooking, you'll learn to save time, you'll feel better about the food you eat and you'll find greater success cutting calories and maintaining your weight loss.

STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE MOOD WITHOUT FOOD

It’s another crazy day at work. The phone is ringing off the hook, yet another co-worker needs your attention, and your boss is anxious for the report that was due yesterday. So you do what anyone would do in this situation—you grab some chocolate or a bag of chips to help you deal with the stress. But then, instead of feeling better, you just feel guilty on top of it all.

If people only ate when they were genuinely hungry, most of us would never have weight problems. Unfortunately, emotions drive us to eat more often than actual hunger pangs. Whether we feel stress, boredom, loneliness, anger or sadness, we often turn to food to feel better. And while that may work in the short term, soothing yourself with high-calorie, high-fat goodies usually makes you feel worse in the long run—the emotions will still be there, along with ten or twenty extra pounds.

Instead of reaching for food the next time high emotions hit, try these coping ideas. In the end, your mind will feel better by resolving your feelings, and your body will thank you for not filling it with more food than it needs.

All Stressed Out

While it’s tempting to deal with stress by eating, there are many healthier ways to relieve the pressure. Exercise may be the best way to reduce stress levels. Instead of reaching for a snack when you feel ready to explode, take a quick walk outside or better yet, hit the gym for a vigorous workout. Any moderate to intense physical activity will lower your stress levels and help you deal with your problems more effectively. Try running, shadow boxing or even gardening, as many people find working with the earth to be soothing.

By exercising regularly, you can also help prevent stress from building up to unmanageable levels in the first place. Meditation, yoga and visualization will also help you feel calmer and more relaxed.

Bored Out of Your Mind

If your weeknights are filled with TV watching, and every Saturday night brings the same old video and a pizza routine, it’s time to break out of your rut. Many times we eat out of habit without even thinking about what we’re doing, especially when we're mindlessly munching while watching the tube.

If you're eating to prevent boredom, then get off the sofa and try a new activity. Go dancing, bowling or skating for an inexpensive night out that doesn’t revolve around food. Mix up your routine as much as possible—if you usually talk to your friends on the phone, drop by for a face-to-face visit. You can’t eat if your hands are busy, so try painting, knitting or playing an instrument to keep your hands occupied. If you have free time, find an organization that needs volunteers and help out. Many people associate home with food and don’t eat if they’re not in their regular surroundings, so spending time out of the house keeps them from munching.

Lonely Hearts

Loneliness can also prompt eating to symbolically fill the void you feel inside. Instead of filling up on empty calories, work on building stronger social networks. Volunteering is a good way to meet new people, as is enrolling in an evening class to learn a new skill. Making friends as an adult can be difficult since it requires a concerted effort to make a real change. If people aren’t coming to you, you will have to go to them. Don’t sit around waiting for the phone to ring—people are busy and might not realize that you need their attention unless you approach them first. You might learn that they are just as lonely as you are but were afraid to reach out to anyone.

So Angry You Could Eat a Whole Cake

Were you taught that it’s not nice to express anger? Many people are conditioned to bury negative emotions like anger instead of dealing with issues openly. So instead of working through their anger constructively, they eat their way out of their emotions.

What works for relieving stress—exercise, deep breathing, meditation—can also help relieve anger. While this gets rid of some angry energy and can help you calm down, it’s important that you deal with the initial cause of your anger. Talk to the person who may have upset you, or write about the issue in a private journal to clarify your feelings without hurting others—you can keep the words to yourself or show them to the other person.

A Good Cry

Many people are uncomfortable with sadness and some automatically think it’s a sign of weakness. It’s okay to feel blue some days and it’s natural to have emotional ups and downs. It helps to be able to pinpoint what prompted the emotion in the first place. If a bad argument with a friend leaves you feeling blue, for example, you can work on patching things up instead of eating to console yourself. But don’t forget the power of a good cry! Crying can help reduce stress and really help you feel better. Plus it’s much healthier than eating a bag of cookies!

If you feel sad or weepy but don’t know why, try journaling for a week to see if the reason is revealed to you. Persistent sad, hopeless feelings that last for two weeks or more can be signs of depression that you should discuss with your health care provider.

Did you know that the simple act of smiling can make you feel happier? As cheesy as it sounds, smiling when you’re feeling down seems like one way to fake it until you make it.

Because your mind can only think one thought at a time, you can change your mood by changing your thought. If you’re angry or sad, stop thinking about the person or event that caused your emotion and switch to a thought that makes you feel happy or calm. Get your mind off your problems and onto something positive. Try it next time you’re tempted to improve your mood with food…and you might not need that cookie after all!

REACHI YOUR GOALS STARTING WITH YOURSELF

You’re a parent, school volunteer, Little League coach, and trusted assistant to your boss. You’ve been up since 6 a.m., made breakfast, packed lunches, cleaned the house, chauffeured the neighborhood kids, helped with homework, read bedtime stories, and finished extra work from the office. It’s 11:30.You’re exhausted. And, in about six-and-a-half hours you’ll begin the whole 24-hour cycle…again.

 

If you find yourself saying ‘Stop the merry-go-round, I want to get off!’ you’re not alone. Most of us—especially women, but men too (hey, there are reasons that men die younger than women)—have at some time found ourselves at the bottom of the heap when it comes to taking care of our needs.

 

The problem with that is that if we don’t take care of ourselves, sooner or later we won’t be of much use to anyone else—or to ourselves. Just as the airline attendant tells you to put on your own oxygen mask in an emergency before helping a child with theirs, you must take care of your own basic needs before you can attend to the needs of others. What’s more, being busy is not necessarily the same as being productive with meaningful activity. (Do the workaholics you know really accomplish that much more in proportion to the time they invest?)

 

If “putting yourself first” (a common admonition) sounds too selfish or too hard, try something simpler: put yourself on an equal footing with those you love and tend to. Do you insist that they get enough sleep? Start making that a priority for yourself too. Do you give them time for fun and socializing with friends? Then you do the same! Remember Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: human beings must meet their basic needs before they can move on to higher-level goals. Since most of us already know that we should take care of ourselves—but often have trouble figuring out how to do it, here are some guidelines for getting there:

• Preserve your physical health with adequate sleep, exercise, and nutrition.

• Value your emotional health as much as the physical, with a support system of friends and a willingness to laugh—especially at yourself.

• Schedule fun activities on a regular basis—it’s just as important to plan pleasure as it is to plan work.

• Identify “busy behaviors” (or people) that drain your time and energy but aren’t really important, then dump ‘em, or at least minimize their hold on you.

• Kill two birds with one stone, combining family time with exercise, for example, which benefits everyone involved.

• Try to look at the problems in your life with new eyes to find solutions. If you’re a new mom, for instance, see if you can trade childcare with another new mom to get some time for yourself.

• Learn to say “No!” Your “yes” is valuable and should not be automatic. Instead, reserve it for the things that are most important to you.

• Don’t try to change every problem area in your life all at once. Start with one or two items, then expand as you get things under control.

Your life should be like a checking account, balancing out on a regular basis so that you always have assets to draw upon. By making even small deposits—taking care of yourself with a 10-minute walk or a nutritious meal—you’ll be amazed at the interest you’ll reap.

Courtesy of sparkpeople.

FOODS THAT RAISE YOUR HDL (GOOD) CHOLESTEROL

So you got the results of your recent cholesterol test, and your HDL cholesterol came back low. Since low HDL is a risk factor for heart disease, you know that you need to elevate it...but how? When all the stories you read are talking about lowering your total cholesterol, why would you want to increase this form of cholesterol?

HDL (high density lipoprotein) is the "good" cholesterol. It acts like a cholesterol dump truck, gathering "bad" cholesterol from the arteries and carrying it back to the liver for clearance. This heart protective effect may even slow the buildup of plaque in the arterial walls of the heart. HDL may also have some anti-inflammatory effects that are beneficial to your heart. That's why you want your HDL to be high, so it can better carry out these responsibilities and protect your ticker.

What should my HDL be?

According to the American Heart Association, men should aim for HDL levels of 40 mg/dL or greater, and women should aim higher than 50 mg/dL. Levels of 60 mg/dL or more for both genders have been linked to lower disease risks and protection against heart disease. Genetics can affect your HDL level, but lifestyle choices still also play a role. If you want to fight your genes and improve your HDL levels, the following foods can help.

Nuts

Walnuts, almonds, peanuts, pistachios, pecans, peanuts, and hazelnuts are all good sources of heart-healthy fats and are great to add to your diet to increase your intake. Add nuts to cereal, yogurt, salad, stir fries, pasta dishes or rice. You can eat them raw, baked or lightly toasted, too.

Seafood

Fatty fish like salmon, mackerel, albacore tuna, and halibut are highest in omega-3 fatty acids, a specific type of unsaturated fat shown to be most beneficial for heart health and reduce the risk of death by heart attack. It is recommended to eat at least 2 servings of fish per week. If you don't eat seafood, you could try fish oil supplements; flaxseed and walnuts contain omega 3’s as well, but fish contains the most usable form of omega-3s.

Olive Oil

Olive oil is high in unsaturated fats and can help you elevate your HDL. Replace butter and fried foods with foods cooked lightly in a heart-healthy olive oil, and switch to an oil-based vinaigrette for your salads. Oil is healthy, but it's high in fat and calories, so remember to practice moderation and keep your portions in check!

Avocado

Although many dieters shy away from this fruit because of its high fat content, it's perfectly good for you thanks to its heart-healthy fats. Mash avocado to use as a spread on your sandwich or wrap, dice it into your salad, add it to omelets or whip up some homemade guacamole to enjoy with veggies or whole grain crackers.

Oatmeal

Fiber, especially soluble fiber, can help bump up your HDL while reducing LDL. Oatmeal is an excellent source of soluble fiber, as is rice, bran, barley, dried peas and beans, and certain fruits like prunes and apples. A couple servings a day of these heart-healthy foods can have a positive effect on your HDL.

Don't Forget Exercise!

Along with these HDL-boosting foods, don’t forget the daily exercise! Regular exercise signals your body to produce more HDL, making physical activity one of the most important factors to raising your HDL. Start with just 5-10 minutes a few days a week, but gradually increase until you're active for at least 30 minutes 5 days per week. Your heart will thank you!