Posts Tagged ‘healthy food’

Did you know that mashed potatoes are not just some popular everyday food, there are actually some healthy substances in the common potato? The main two ingredients in potatoes are starch and water. And some of that starch is resistant to enzymatic digestion that happens in your stomach and small intestine. That means that is comes almost intact to the large intestine. This has similar effects and benefits as eating food rich with fiber. I’m sure everyone knows how to make mashed potatoes, but there are a few tips and tricks to make it them better. They are all included into this mashed potatoes recipe.

For this mashed potatoes recipe we will need:
1 1/2 lbs potatoes (Yukon Gold are pretty good for mashed potatoes for instance)
4 Tbsp heavy cream or a half half mix of cream and milk
2 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
Salt and Pepper

First you need to peel the potatoes and cut them into big pieces. If you cut them into small pieces they will absorb more water and you don’t want that (tip no.1). Now cover them with cold water (not warm, tip no.2), add salt in bring them to boil. When they are boiling turn down the heat and let them simmer. Potatoes are cooked in 15 to 20 minutes. You can test them by sticking a knife or a fork in a potato and if it’s soft it’s done.

Drain the potatoes and put them back on low heat so all excess water evaporates (tip no.3).

Now add warm milk and butter (cold milk can turn your mashed potatoes gluey, tip no.4) and some more salt and pepper if you want. Take a wire masher and mash them. You are done. Here you can find more mashed potatoes recipes including garlic, cheddar cheese etc…

Whenever we get too busy or stressed, we all tend to make bad food choices that will actually make us feel more stress and cause other problems. To get the most of your healthy eating and avoid stress, follow these simple tips.

Always eat breakfast in the morning
Even though you don’t feel like you want eat, you need to eat something. Not having breakfast in the morning makes it hard to maintain the right blood and sugar levels during the day, so you should always eat something.

Carry some snacks with you
Keeping some protein heavy snacks in your car, office, or pocket will help you avoid blood sugar level dips, the accompanying mood swings, and the fatigue. Trail mix, granola bars, and energy bars all have the nutrients you need.

Healthy munchies
If you like to munch when you’re stressed out, you can replace chips, sweets or other non healthy foods with carrot sticks, celery sticks..etc

Pack your lunch
Most people prefer to eat fast food for lunch or even dinner, you can save some money and eat healthier if you take a few minutes and take your own lunch. If you do this a few
times a week you’ll see a much better improvement over eating out.

Stock good foods
Get the good food! The best way to do this is to plan a list of healthy meals at the beginning of the week, list the ingedients you need, then go shop for it. This way, you’ll know what you want when you need it and you won’t have to stress over what food to buy and eat.

Various salad dressings may be made to serve with salads. The kind of dressing to select depends both on the variety of salad served and on the personal preference of those to whom it is served. Some of these contain only a few ingredients and are comparatively simple to make, while others are complex and involve considerable work in their making. Whether simple or elaborate, however, the salad dressing should be carefully chosen, so that it will blend well with the ingredients of the salad with which it is used.

A number of recipes for salad dressings are here given. They are taken up before the recipes for salads so that the beginner will be familiar with the different varieties when they are mentioned in connection with the salads. As many of the recipes as possible should be tried, not only for the knowledge that will be gained, but also for the practical experience.

FRENCH DRESSING -1

Mix 1 tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/8 teaspoon pepper or few grains cayenne pepper in bowl; add 3 to 4 tablespoons olive oil, beating constantly. Place on ice until ready to serve.

FRENCH DRESSING -2

A dressing that is very simply made and that can probably be used with a greater variety of salads than any other is French dressing. For instance, it may be used with any vegetable salad, with salads containing almost any combination of fruit, and with meat, fish, and egg salads.

3/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. mustard
1/4 tsp. pepper
3 Tb. vinegar
1/4 tsp. paprika
1/2 c. oil

Measure the dry ingredients and place them in a bowl. Measure the vinegar and oil and add them to the dry ingredients. If possible, place a piece of ice the size of a walnut in the bowl. Beat with a fork until the ingredients are thoroughly mixed and the oil and vinegar form an emulsion that will remain for a short time. The ingredients will separate if the dressing is allowed to stand, but the colder they are, the more easily will the emulsion form and the longer will it remain. If ice cannot be used, have the ingredients as cold as possible before mixing them.

1. Fruits and Vegetables
   Make sure and get in five servings of fruits and vegetables a day. It’s easier than you think, and it’s probably the simplest way to lower your cholesterol.
2. Honey
   Get out that sticky stuff! Studies have shown that honey can lower your
   cholesterol. It slows the oxidation (dangerous plaque deposits in blood
   vessel walls that can lead to heart attack and stroke) of bad LDL
   cholesterol in human blood.
3. Switch to Tea
   According to an article on www.prevention.com, in late 2003, USDA
   scientists reported that 15 people cut their cholesterol by 7% and their bad
   LDL cholesterol by 11% after just three weeks of drinking five daily cups
   of black tea. “A cup or two a day for a longer period should also work,”
   says Joseph Judd, PhD.
4. Oatmeal
   According to Jennifer Moll of about.com, oatmeal lowers cholesterol. The
   oat fibers mix with cholesterol in the small intestine and carry the
   cholesterol out of the body instead of it being absorbed into the blood. The
   Food and Drug Administration is also convinced of this, as oatmeal was
   the first food to carry the distinction on its label to lower cholesterol
   levels.
5. Fish
   Eating fish two or three times per week instead of red meat can help lower your cholesterol. Fish has Omega-3 fatty-acids, which WebMD
   (www.webmd.com) says have been shown to lower triglycerides, a type of fat in the bloodstream. Omega-3 fatty acids may also slow down the growth of plaques in the arteries and reduce inflammation throughout the body.
6. Fiber
   Adding fiber to your diet can help get you cholesterol down. The soluble kind of fiber, like that found in oat bran, is the type of fiber that actually
   washes away the bad cholesterol that clings to the inner walls of the arteries. Consuming an adequate amount of water-soluble fiber each day may reduce cholesterol levels by up to 20%.
7. Poultry
   In general, chicken and turkey are low in saturated fat, especially when the skin is removed. This can really reduce your cholesterol, specifically when you’re substituting poultry for red meat.
8. The Lowdown On Eggs
   Through the history of health awareness, a lot of people have had much to say about eggs. Are they good? Are they bad? While eggs are good for you, they do have a lot of cholesterol. Holly McCord, RD (www.prevention.com) says, “Since one large egg has about 210 mg of cholesterol–almost three-quarters of the 300-mg daily limit set by the American Heart Association (AHA)–you need to pair eggs with low cholesterol foods the rest of the day.”
9. Dark Chocolate
   Surprised? Oh yes, chocolate can actually help reduce your cholesterol. People who eat lots of cocoa powder and dark chocolate have lower levels of bad LDL cholesterol and 4% higher levels of good HDL cholesterol!
10. Juices
    Up your juice intake to lower your cholesterol. Here are some of the best
    juices to drink – Cranberry, Orange, Tomato.