Healthy Eating - Healthy Food Substitutions

	Healthy Eating

			Healthy Eating: You Don't Have to Starve Here are a few simple guidelines for acheiving and maintaining a healthy diet. Make healthier meals Smart recipe substitutions that will transform any meal into a healthy meal. Nutrient-Dense Foods Fruits, vegetables, grains, and legumes—foods high in complex carbohydrates, fiber, vitamins, and minerals, low in fat, and free of cholesterol. Detoxification and Obesity Detoxification is an important component in treating weight loss. Obesity is almost always associated with toxicity.

Healthy Eating
Doesn't mean you have to starve!

Great health, detoxification and weight loss dieting don't have to be a painful experience of restriction, self-denial or starvation. In terms of weight managment, for example, it is not the amount of food we eat that matters, it is the amount of calories we consume and the nutritional quality of the foods we choose that matters.

There are two simple reasons why so many people are fat and getting fatter

their calorie intake far outweighs the calories they burn
the quality of their food is poor: high in fat, low in nutrition, full of additives, preservatives, artificial flavorings and colorings, and loads of chemicals that are utterly unrecognizable

Basic logic will follow that there are two simple ways we can lose weight and keep it off

decrease our calorie intake and increase our calorie burn
eat higher quality food: food that is nutritious, low in calories, low in fat, full of nutrients, enzymes, vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidants and the phytonutrients that help prevent the development of serious disease

You don't have to eat less food, you have to eat less processed, junky food. If you eat high quality food, you can actually eat more of it. If you are into quantity (you like to eat a lot), go for quality too. What are quality foods? First let's look at what quality foods are not.

Related information:

Low Quality Foods

Most fast food (Panda Express and Subway offer pretty healthy meals)
Fried food
Deli meats
Meals that are half cheese
Most breakfast cereals
Pastries
White bread made with bleached, refined flour
Anything you buy in a package in a convenience store
Anything you buy with artificial ingredients

Frozen dinners
Candies, cookies, and other sugary foods
Nuts roasted in oil or covered with sugar or chocolate

High Quality Foods

Fresh fruit
Fresh vegetables
Brown Rice
Jasmine Rice
Basmati Rice
Quinoa
Whole wheat bread
Oatmeal
Some breakfast cereals (sugar must be listed 5th or later on the label)
Eggs
Fish
Chicken (not fried)
Lean meat
Tofu
Beans
Modest amount of cheese
Nuts and seeds (not roasted, preferably soaked in water till soft)

Nutrient-Dense Foods:

Artichokes
Contains plant compounds known as caffeoylquinic acids, which increase the flow of bile and help to digest fats.

Beets
Beets contain betaine, which promotes the regeneration of liver cells and the flow of bile. It also has a beneficial effect on fat metabolism.

Broccoli
Broccoli and other members of the brassica family (cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, kale, kholrabi) support the liver's detoxification enzymes.

Fresh Fruits and Vegetables
Food sources of vitamin C and glutathione, which are essential for detox.

Protein
Protein is required by the liver for detox. Beans, nuts, seeds, quinoa, protein powder. Some people may choose to eat fish in moderation.

Onions and Garlic
Rich in sulfur-containing compounds. Involved in sulfation, the main detox pathway for environmental chemicals and certain drugs and food additives. Helps with the elimination of harmful heavy metals from the body.

Dandelion Root
Increases the flow of bile. Can be taken as a tea.

Tips On How To Make Healthier Meals

Courtesy of the National Heart and Lung Institute

Begin by choosing foods low in saturated fat, low in sodium and low in calories:

Try fat free (skim) milk or lowfat (1%) milk
Only buy cheeses marked "lowfat" or "fat free" on the package
Choose to eat fruits and vegetables without butter or sauce
Serve rice, beans, cereals, pasta, whole grains (e.g., couscous, barley, bulgar, etc.)
Choose lean cuts of meat, fish, and skinless turkey and chicken
When available, buy low– or reduced–sodium or no–salt–added versions of foods

Use these recipe substitutions:

Use two egg whites for each whole egg and margarine or oil instead of butter
Use light mayonnaise instead of the regular variety
Use nonfat yogurt instead of sour cream
Use lowfat cheese instead of regular cheese
Use 1 percent or skim milk instead of whole milk
Use fresh poultry, fish and lean meat rather than canned or processed types

Try these meal tips:

Make a meatloaf with lean ground turkey
Make tacos with skinless chicken breast
Cool soups and gravies and skim off fat before reheating them
Try adding salsa on a baked potato instead of butter
Make a spicy baked fish — season with green pepper, onion, garlic, oregano, lemon, or cilantro
Eat fruit for dessert, instead of pie or cake

Healthy Dietary Substitutions

We suggest that you analyze your eating habits. Figure out the ones you're the LEAST attached to and start working on those first. The idea is to make as many improvements that aren't TOO hard, so that the dreaded feeling of deprivation doesn't set in before you start to actually feel and look better. Substitute wherever you can.

Here are some ways to begin substituting.

Instead of frying (unless it's stir-frying), eat foods that are baked, broiled or steamed.

Eat an apple instead of a candy bar or pastry in the late morning or afternoon.

Instead of ice cream, try frozen yogurt or sherbet.

Instead of half and half or non-dairy creamer, use low-fat milk or creamy soy milk in coffee and tea.

Instead of dessert, try a piece of hard candy.

Instead of gravy, salsa! This is shorthand for suggesting you increase spice to make up the loss of flavor from fat content in food. If spicy food doesn't agree with you, go at it slowly.

Try food-combining and take digestive enzymes. Your digestion will improve and become able to accomodate more spice and fiber.

Eat at ethnic restaurants and ask for the mild foods.

Instead of a hamburger, the salad bar. Use lemon wedges along with a bit of salad dressing. Instead of pouring the dressing all over the salad (no savings in fat content here!), keep it in a little container on the side and dip the veggies into it, just enough to give the bite flavor.

While cooking: Halve the amount of oil suggested. (This won't work in baking, but it will in most everything else.)

Instead of whole eggs, use an egg white with a tablespoon of fresh vegetable oil.

Buy liquid lecithin as a pan coating when frying or sautéing.

Try sliced, crumbled or cubed, well-drained tofu in recipes that call for cheese.

It's very important to add flaxseed oil to your diet. The reason is that it can satisfy your nutritional need for essential fatty acids which are critical to your health. Some people have found that it satisfied their cravings so effectively that they lost weight without dieting. You need a tablespoon a day. Buy flaxseed oil refrigerated at the health food store or as flax seed oil capsules. Yes, a bit pricey, but the cost-to-benefit ratio is very high. Among it's many benefits, flax seed oil has been shown to help reduce high blood pressure and other cardio-vascular problems. It's also being researched as an anti-cancer agent.