Delicious meals are a uniting factor regardless of your origin, mood, or relationship. You need to prepare a hearty meal that will help you cement your family celebrations. You must ensure your meals are an accurate reflection of the day’s intent.
Many people like having barbecues, steak nights, or turkey-themed Thanksgiving dinners. The success of these celebrations depends on the preparations, presentation, and the actual cook.
However, a three-course meal is an excellent way to wow your guests and treat them to different textures and tastes during the meals. It offers health benefits like providing various nutrients in the different balanced meals. It also presents the perfect opportunity for people to bond during the lengthy mealtime. Additionally, you can incorporate different cooking techniques like baking, grilling, frying or boiling in savory, or sweet cuisines.
Planning
Before you decide on the menu, ensure that you pick the theme and type of cuisine you would like to showcase: Asian, Mexican, Spanish, or African. List down the main ingredients like meats and vegetables that are the star of the dishes. Purchase your ingredients beforehand and make sure you allocate enough prep time for your dishes.
The Menu
Appetizer: Grilled Mexican Corn Salad
To start a Mexican themed menu, you can do a grilled corn salad. The char on the corn in the salad blends well together with the cheese in the salad. Besides, you can easily find these ingredients. The freshness of the salad also plays a significant role in preparing the pallet for the subsequent courses.
Main Course: Pork Carnitas With Spicy Mexican Rice
What better way to treat a good cut of pork than making Pork Canitas? There are various ways to prepare this meal. You need to choose a method that you are confident will give you a delicious result. It only needs six ingredients making it affordable and easy to prep and cook.
The slow-cooked Mexican pork carnitas has a different preparation method that allows you to prepare them with no grill or oven. The dish’s simplicity should not fool you; it is a tempting browned dish that is juicy, tender, and full of flavor.
Since it is not a spicy piece of meat (due to the absence of marinade), you can introduce a side dish with some heat to complement it. You can do a Mexican salsa with some tomatillos and jalapeños to balance the meat’s different flavors.
Dessert: Ice Cream
Dessert is the best part for anyone with a sweet tooth – the perfect way to end a meal. What better way to end the day than with ice cream? You can incorporate different ice cream flavors like rosemary and lime for a unique ice-cream taste.
If you are worried about the cold winter weather, you can make a Mexican chocolate cookie. Pair the cookie with sweetened masala tea to provide comfort and warmth during the freezing nights. It will also be an excellent way to sign off.
Be sure to adhere to the unspoken rules of three-course meals of plating, drinks, and an appropriate environment. Observe the basics, and you will be sure to raise the standards of deliciousness!
When I was little, before my mom discovered how to cook with wine and make a great cheese sauce, we ate a lot of egg noodles, spaghetti, and potato salad. Her mother wasn’t that interested in cooking, and I remember the simple boiled onions that were served with plain unseasoned turkey, mashed potatoes with gravy and the requisite cranberry sauce every Thanksgiving when we went over to her house and ate at our respective tables for little people and adults. My dad frequently lamented the fact that he couldn’t ever get a meal that wasn’t boiled. What I wanted to know was: what does “boiled” mean?
Since then, my repertoire has broadened and I can now not only boil eggs with the best of them, but I learned that food can taste a whole lot better if you know the right way to cook each kind. I think maybe without being aware of it, that’s what my dad was alluding to. Since boiling was a foregone conclusion, I set my sites on other ways to try to get different foods to speak to me about what they could do. Once I learned a few things from them, a whole another world opened up. My kitchen became a portal to aromas, textures and the blending of flavors that could never be accessed by boiling.
Boiling will always have its place, especially in terms of its ability to get the most out of what’s being boiled. It’s a great way to get soups, casseroles and sauces that can be used in an additional dish or meal. And it will always have its place in my heart. Here are 5 other cooking techniques that I found the most useful overall for my own kitchen portfolio, which is generally pretty light on meats. I’ve found that they fit really well with the meal kit delivery service ingredients like Purple Carrot that I tend to like the most.
Steaming
A mere step up from boiling, steaming is a great option if you want to preserve the color, flavor and nutrients in your food. Basically, you’re cooking the food in a bath of moist heat. The food sits in a pot with enough headroom to accommodate a steamer. These aren’t expensive and they’re easy to find in any department store. The trick to steaming is to make sure that the steam can circulate freely in and around the food so it cooks evenly. Steamed foods are great for special diets and are popular in Oriental cooking.
Stir Frying
Next comes stir-frying. Another cooking technique that’s frequently used in Oriental cuisine, stir frying can use oil or not. It’s best done in a wok (a large pan that resembles a metal salad bowl). A wok can do a lot of things at once. It can boil, steam, fry and keep foods warm on a rack that affixes to one side at the top. The heat concentrates in the metal at the bottom near the heat source and increasingly diminishes the farther up you go. Horizontal ridges inside the wok hold the food in place, letting you choose the intensity of heat at which the food cooks.
Sauteeing
Another cooking technique I use a lot is sauteeing. Sauteeing is the next logical step up from stir-fry in that the food gets turned frequently to keep it from spending too long in any one place — unlike frying, which generally only needs one flip to cook the other side. Sauteed ingredients are usually chopped, diced or sliced before going into the pan, and a small amount of oil helps to keep the cooking even and prevent sticking. You can get some really nice dark flavors from sauteeing, like when onions caramelize.
Roasting
Roasting vegetables, especially winter and root vegetables, is one of the best ways to bring out their inherent richer flavors. Cauliflower wasn’t one of my favorites unless it was thoroughly drowned in a cheese sauce — until a friend roasted one for me. It tasted incredibly sweet and nutty and needed nothing. So simple, just a little olive oil before going into a 450-degree oven for three-quarters of an hour.
Baking
Baking is a longer-term cooking technique, somewhat like steaming without the moisture. Baking will fill your entire home with aroma for hours. It’s probably closer to roasting, as it uses dry heat in the same way but just within a lower range. Baking is a really versatile way to cook things, as just about any kind of food does well with it. It’s especially nice because those delicious aromas that are so much a part of the food and cooking experience merge and develop over the time the food is baking. Makes me want to go bake a spice cake.
Whatever cooking methods you decide to use, one thing that absolutely makes the difference between a good meal and a great meal is the quality of the ingredients. That was the main reason that the cauliflower was so delicious — it had been picked out of a local garden and bought that morning at a farmer’s market. As with most other things, a lot is in the details, and the little things really do count. So the handier you get with a few different cooking techniques, the more you’ll be able to experiment and have fun learning what foods have to tell about themselves. Maybe people will even start to call you the “food whisperer…”
Greece is known for many different things, from the sunny weather to the fascinating Ancient history. However, one thing that most people love about Greece is their approach to food! Greek cuisine is delicious, and you do not need to catch a plane to Athens in order to enjoy it. There are a number of different ways you can bring some Greek influences into your everyday cooking. With that being said, in this blog post, we are going to take a look at some of the different ways that you can eat as Greek people do.
Start off by trying out some different Greek recipes – There is only one place to begin, and this is by taking a look at some of the traditional Greek recipes so that you can master these. You can start with these easy Greek food recipes, as they are simple and you should not find them too difficult to make. A simple Greek salad would be an obvious starting point. Or, why not try your hands at making a Moussaka if you’re feeling a bit more confident? Of course, there are Greek desserts as well, with baklava being one of the most popular, and delicious too!
Focus on natural ingredients and simple cooking – One thing that we love about the Greek approach to food is that they do not overcomplicate it. Greek people focus on high-quality ingredients and simple cooking methods. They do not add in loads of different ingredients, and they don’t use processed food either. Instead, it is all about healthy food, with the fish, meat, cheese, and so on being the star of the show. Of course, you can be liberal with your use of seasoning, and this is something we will get onto. However, make sure you begin by sourcing quality, fresh food.
Lemon, olive oil, and oregano are a must – When it comes to seasoning and making sure that your food has that delicious Greek flavor, there are three key ingredients that you are always going to need to have handy in your kitchen. Of course, you need olive oil! Whether it is for use in cooking, as a salad dressing, or to top your tzatziki dip, you need to have olive oil handy. Greeks are also liberal users of lemon, which accompanies most dishes, and you will find oregano used to flavour a wide range of foods, from feta cheese to fries.
So there you have it: an insight into some of the different ways that you can eat as Greek people do! If you follow the advice and ideas that have been provided above, you can add some Greek influences to your everyday cooking life. It makes sense to start off by familiarizing yourself with some of the simple and traditional Greek recipes that you can cook in your home. Once you have done this, you can then adopt some of the typical Greek cooking habits to enhance your culinary experience.
So you’re planning on making chicken wraps of some kind, but you don’t know what kind of side dish to accompany it with? Well, there are plenty of choices but the best for your dish will depend on the type of wrap you have. Not every wrap goes well with a particular side dish, for example, a hoisin duck wrap won’t really go well with coleslaw, but will go well with a Korean salad of tofu, mixed greens, soya sauce and sesame seeds. But coleslaw will go well with a spicy wrap like Mexican jalapeño chicken wraps. As you can see, there is a rhythm and reason to side dishes and chicken wraps.
Southern chicken wrap
If you have made a southern chicken wrap, these are some simple side dishes that would go well with it. Southern chicken wraps are a good alternative to real fried chicken when you’re on diet.
Mac n’ cheese. The classic, Monterey Jack cheese, with English cheddar and provolone would go well with the smoky spiciness of the southern fried chicken.
Buttery mash. Southern comfort living, has mash potatoes in it’s repertoire of things you need in your life. Extra butter and mash go well together for this wrap.
Paprika corn. Not corn on the cob, but with a sprinkle of smoked paprika, your corn can come alive for this southern style wrap.
Peri-Peri wrap
It’s very popular in Europe right now, the peri-peri wrap. The peri-peri wrap has spinach, red onion, red bell pepper and sometimes, tomatoes and sometimes, olives. So you need something that will be fresh and crisp, to balance out the spice and crunch.
This is a beet salad recipe you’ll love to go with this spicy wrap. The beet calms down the palate and because of it’s slight sweet bitterness, brings out the best in the salad that’s already in the wrap. Beet salads are easy to make too, as they don’t require as many ingredients and a garden salad might.
And of course, the classic coleslaw would go well with the chili. The coleslaw tastes great with every other bite of your wrap. Make sure that it’s cold, i.e. has been in the fridge for a couple of hours before serving.
Bean wrap
Mexican bean wraps are complex because they usually have three different beans and lots of spicy mixed in. So selecting a good side for this wrap is a little difficult.
A corn salad would be brilliant for this type of wrap. It’s authentic and makes use of some great ingredients that you normally don’t see mesh together. Corn, mixed with black beans, red peppers, coriander, onions and jalapenos! This is a traditional side dish that doesn’t cost a lot to make but gives you that chili mix you crave.
Guacamole with a Mexican bean wrap just makes perfect sense. Why not? The thing is though, you should decide between a plain guac with a hint of lemon, or go with the red chili and feta cheese combination.
What’s your favorite side dish to go with these wraps? Do you want a balance, or do you want to take a bit of something that veers in the same direction as the wrap?
Cheese has a bad reputation. We are constantly told how unhealthy it is and how it will make us put on weight. Not that it stops me from eating a metric ton of it every day week.
However, cheese shouldn’t be avoided altogether, because it has many wonderful health benefits (and also because it’s GD delicious). If you’ve been wanting to add more cheese to your diet, but have been wondering about the benefits, here is a look at what cheese can do for you.
Help Aging Bones
When you were a child you may remember your parents telling you that you should eat cheese and drink milk to strengthen your bones. A few decades back this is one of the major advertising angles that was used to get people to buy more dairy products.
As it turns out these claims were not untrue. Your bone mass grows throughout your adolescence but when you are about 30 years old your bones will reach their peak density.
From then on aging begins to reduce density in your bones. This will make your bones weak as you age.
If you don’t have adequate bone mass you may develop osteoporosis as you get older. This disease is problematic because it can make your bones easy to break as you age. Eating more cheese is one of the ways to actively prevent that.
Cheese is an Excellent Source of Protein
Protein is responsible for the repair, regulation, and overall protection of your body. This makes it one of the main sources of nutrients for your immune system.
A protein-filled diet will give you a proper balance of fluid in your body, as well as healthy hair, and skin. Since your body does not store protein, your diet is one of the major sources of this nutrient.
Cheese is one of the best sources of protein available. There are so many of them to choose from, you are sure to find something to suit your tastes.
Cheese Dishes to Try
One of the most popular and quickest ways to get cheese into your diet is by eating macaroni and cheese. However, if you prefer something a bit more fancy you can try eating fried chicken with waffles and grilled cheese.
This is a delicious sandwich and is easy to prepare. You can even use chicken nuggets to make this snack even easier to prepare.
If you prefer a more exotic option you should trymaking kadai paneer. This is an Indian cheese dish that is as tasty as it is exotic. You may also want to cook shrimp melted in parmesan cheese if you prefer a little seafood.
These are just a few ideas, there are many more exciting ways to incorporate cheese into your diet. If you do a little research you will find them.
Healthy Eating with Cheese
While it is true, that eating too much cheese is bad for your health, this is true of almost every food we eat. To enjoy the benefits that can be derived from eating cheese, you must ensure that you eat it in moderation.
Eating your favorite cheesy dish once or twice a week can only benefit your health.
The holidays are approaching fast now, which means that it’s time to start thinking about Christmas shopping. With Black Friday sales already happening and Cyber Monday right around the corner, too, this is the perfect time to get into holiday shopping mode and pick up a bargain or two along the way. Buying gifts for the people you care about is so much fun, but finding the perfect present can be challenging. If your friends and family members share your passion for food, then your present buying just got a whole lot easier. If you need some inspiration on what to buy the foodies in your life, you have come to the right place! Check out these awesome present ideas for foodies:
Treat Wannabe Chefs to a Cook Book
If your loved one loves to whip up a storm in the kitchen and show off their culinary genius, then how about buying them a recipe book for Christmas? The holidays are the perfect time to try out new recipes and add a whole new set of meals to their repertoire. If they have a restaurant that they love to eat at, how about seeing if there is a cook book available that features some of the recipes? They can then make their favorite meals at home.
This is the time of year when many chefs and food writers release their latest cook books, so it is worth keeping an eye on the shelves at your local bookstore to see if an appealing new book is released in the run-up to Christmas.
The Gift of Great Coffee
If your loved one enjoys a cup of coffee or two, then why not treat them to a gift that will help them to improve their coffee drinking experience? There are lots of great coffee-related gifts that you can choose from. This includes all the coffee-related gadgets available on the market right now that anyone passionate about coffee will enjoy using. Take a look at this list to find the best coffee grinders to help your loved one enjoy the freshest ground coffee every day without needing to visit a coffee shop.
Treat Them to a Meal Out (Or In!)
If your loved one loves to visit restaurants, then you have an ideal opportunity to treat them to a thoughtful gift. You could buy them a gift card to redeem at their favorite restaurant so that they can enjoy a meal out whenever they feel like it without worrying about the cost. If they have kids, and you are feeling particularly generous, you could even offer to babysit the kids so that they can go out and enjoy a date night meal without worrying about childcare.
Create a Holiday Gift Basket
Everyone loves to receive a gift basket as a gift, so choosing to buy one as a holiday gift is sure to be appreciated. You could decide to make it yourself by purchasing a wicker basket and then shopping for lots of tasty treats and surprises to go inside.
You can buy a wide range of ready-made filled gift baskets, but if you want to make the gift extra special, then creating it yourself is a great option. You could go out shopping for all their favorite foods and then place them in the basket for the ultimate treat. Another great gift idea is to theme your gift basket to one particular type of food. Perhaps you could make it the ultimate gift basket for people that love cheese and include crackers for cheese and chutneys in your gift. You could make an indulgent gift basket filled with everything that your loved one needs to create the perfect hot chocolate. This gift could include things such as a new mug, hot chocolate spoons, marshmallows, chocolate for melting, and more.
Gift Them a Foodie Experience
If you need a little more gift-buying inspiration for the holidays, then how about treating your loved one to an exciting foodie experience? The foodie experience could be anything from a wine-tasting experience through to a week-long cookery course. Whatever your loved one is into, you are sure to find a foodie experience that matches.
Final Thoughts
Food brings so much joy to our lives, so choosing a gift that celebrates food and the pleasure of preparing meals to enjoy together is an excellent choice of gift for anyone that you care about. With so many great holiday gifts available, the most challenging part will be narrowing down your options to just one present!
If you’ve been bored like me during quarantine, you’ve tried regrowing scallions, leeks, and even celery to varying degrees of success. But I never even thought to try growing my own fruit at home! If you have always wanted to grow your own fruit, then you have come to the right place we’ve got three fruits you can easily grow from home.
Apples
If you have space for a tree in your garden, then we think an apple tree would be a great addition if you are a newbie, as apple trees don’t demand much attention making them one of the easiest fruit trees to grow, and we have got some tips to get you started.
When planting your tree in your garden, find a sunny spot away from frost pockets and dig a hole roughly three times the diameter of the root and no deeper than the root length. We recommend buying a young tree that’s ready for planting rather than trying to sow the pip from scratch. Once you have planted your tree, water it through dry spells and when the fruit starts to swell.
If there are a few apples on the ground around the tree, that is a good sign that the apples are ready to harvest. To pick an apple from the tree cup it and lift softly with a gentle twist, the apple should break away easily with the stalk, if that doesn’t happen the apples are not ready for picking.
Strawberries
You should plant your strawberry bush in early spring, by first digging in garden compost and applying general fertilizer. Don’t plant the roots too deep as this will cause rotting. Once planted give them liquid potash feed every 7 – 14 days. When the strawberries are bright red, you can start to pick them. A top tip is to pick them at the warmest part of the day as this is when they are at their most tasty. Now you’ve grown your strawberries why not make some strawberry jam.
Jalapenos
You might be thinking we’ve made a mistake by adding jalapenos to the list, but we can assure you we haven’t. Jalapenos are a forgotten fruit, so we thought we’d give them the recognition they deserve. Out of all the peppers jalapenos are the modest favoured. You can start by growing your jalapenos indoors by sowing the seeds in small containers with holes in the bottom. Mix some organic compost into the soil and keep damp. Place in front of a window that allows plenty of sunlight. Once the reach is roughly 2 inches tall, replant your jalapenos into a bigger pot. Once the plants are strong enough, you can transfer them to an outside space. From now it should take approximately three months for the jalapenos to make an entrance. Ideally, you should keep the plants in temperatures between 75 – 85 degrees Fahrenheit. You can choose to harvest your jalapenos when they are green ot red. There are many ways to eat your jalapenos and we think the pickled jalapenos recipe from Boulder Locavore is excellent.
Just like in any other specialty, cooking has specific rules to help you get things done in the right way. Cooking can be fun, but again can be absolute hell. To come up with a successful meal, you need to understand the basic rules you have to abide by in the kitchen. If you’re new in the world of pots, pans, spatulas, peelers, strainers, and paring knives, you only need to master some amateur cooking skills, and then you can expand your culinary prowess by trying out recipes and dishes that excite you.
Here are a few things you need to know to upgrade your culinary skills at home.
Meal Planning
Planning a meal is a critical part of cooking that every chef should take note of. It would be best if you distinguished which foods compliment each other at the planning stage, which food combinations are good for your health and why, and finally, how you will prepare each dish to perfection. You need to consider the dishes’ color, texture, and flavors to come up with a lovely, cohesive, and visually appealing meal.
Understanding a Recipe
Reading is easy, and almost everyone can read well, but what matters to a cook is how you understand and interpret the recipe. Before you begin cooking, you must understand the recipe right from the ingredients to the main process. You need to carefully interpret how you can manipulate ingredients to suit your meal.
Starting with easy-to-follow recipes and practicing them regularly is an excellent way to build up a repertoire of go-to tasty meals that you can put together quickly. Mastering a simple recipe such as an easy chili is a great way to build your confidence in the kitchen and develop the skills and techniques needed to create a whole range of meals. Once you understand the recipe thoroughly, you will be able to make adjustments to suit your tastes and start to have fun with the balance of flavors.
Understand Terms
Baking and cooking have unique vocabularies that are only associated with the skill. As a cook, you need to master the language and terms associated with cooking to get you started. You can use a cooking glossary to learn terms like basting, folding, and cutting in, among many other terms.
Correct Measurements
Did you know that measuring is the key to cooking well, especially in baking? Your ingredients’ measurements have to be precise to produce a chemical reaction that you need to for that perfect and consistent result. You will need to measure both wet and dry ingredients using separate measuring cups or spoons.
Basic Knife Rules
Knives are one of the best tools in the kitchen, and you can never avoid using them. Learning how to use a knife, maintain it, and different cuts are critical to taking your culinary skills to the next level. It would be best if you start by learning the different types of knives and the various cutting styles (dice, chop, paysanne, julienne, and, among others.). Extensive knowledge of how to use a knife can significantly reduce your meals’ prep time in the kitchen.
Food Safety
When working in the kitchen and explicitly dealing with food, you need to understand the right way to keep food safe. Just slight improper handling of food can lead to severe food- borne illnesses, which could be lifelong in some cases. Knowing how long food can stay out, the right internal temperatures for certain foods, and avoiding cross-contamination is the right step to keeping your foods safe from contamination.
Understand When Food is Ready
In most cases, you can tell that food is sufficiently cooked by how it appears on the inside. But it can be hard to tell if some foods are well cooked or not, and that’s why you need to learn how to perform a doneness test. Different foods like cakes and pies have different doneness tests that will help your cooking be a success.
Kitchen Safety
Apart from proper knowledge of handling food safely, you also need to know how to handle kitchen equipment, yourself, and any emergencies that may occur while cooking. For instance, you should know how to put off the fire and use safe clothing like oven gloves to avoid accidents such as burns. A safe kitchen means that you can comfortably cook and produce a well-made meal.
Recipe Substitution
What makes cooking fun is the fact that you can substitute some ingredients to create something unique that interests you. But you have to be careful while at this because different ingredients react differently and need different measurements. You need to learn how to make suitable substitutes for different things readily available in the kitchen for a perfect meal.
Understand Food Science
Cooking is much more of a science than it is of an art. Different ingredients play different roles in a recipe, and that’s why different techniques are used when adding ingredients. You need to understand salt’s function in recipes, how various fats react in baking, and why alternating dry and wet ingredients in some batters are essential. Proper understanding of some of these things will help you confidently improvise substitutions.
Healthy Cooking Methods You Should Stick to
Many people don’t know that different cooking methods can alter the nutritional makeup of an entire meal. There are numerous simple ways to prepare juicy food while maintaining its nutritional value. Heat can typically destroy up to 20% of vitamins, folate, and potassium in some vegetables. Some nutritionists even suggest that you eat raw or uncooked food to benefit from all its nutrients. But in essence, some foods like spinach, carrots, and tomatoes need to be cooked since heat helps eliminate antioxidants giving way to nutritional components into the body.
Steaming
Steaming foods like fresh veggies allows them to cook in their juices, thus retaining all the natural goodness. The food also retains most of its moisture without the addition of fat-laden. While steaming, it’s advisable that you add seasoning, whether it’s salt or lemon juice, to improve the meal’s taste.
Broiling
Broiling involves cooking meals, especially tender chunks of meat, under direct and high heat for a short time. It might not be suitable for cooking veggies and other foods since they will quickly dry out.
Boiling
Boiling is one of the easiest and quickest ways to cook food. You only need to add water and salt to taste, then place your meal on heat. Be careful about high temperatures and water volume since they can dissolve some vitamins and minerals in certain foods. It is the safest way to retain nutrients in zucchini, broccoli, and carrots, among other foods.
Poaching
Almost similar to steaming, poaching involves cooking your food in a little amount of hot water. Although this method takes longer, it’s an excellent way to retain nutrients in delicate foods such as eggs, fish, and fruits.
Microwaving
Microwaving involves heating of food by the use of radio waves within a short time, thus very low nutrient destruction. To avoid food drying out while heating using this method, you can sprinkle a little water on the food before you begin heating. The best thing is that you can cook any meal using this method, right from rice and meat to veggies and eggs. Be sure to use a safe container for the microwave.
Stir-frying
In this cooking method, you only need a moderate amount of oil in your cooking pan to give your vegetables and meat a nice sear. This cooking method is best for small pieces of meat, quinoa, rice grains, and veggies like snow peas, carrots, and bell pepper.
Grilling
Grilling is one of the best options to help you achieve a tantalizing meal of maximum nutrition while retaining its flavor. It adds a smoky flavor to your meats and vegetables and keeps them tender with just a little added fat. Excessive grilling is not good since the reaction between protein and fat in high heat can create toxins, leading to inflammation in the body and other related illnesses. This method of cooking should, therefore, be done on specific meals and rare occasions. For BBQs, use lean meat, which can cook within a short time.
No Cooking
Yes! You read it right. Raw food diets have become popular recently, thanks to their numerous benefits. Some studies suggest that the rainbow diet dramatically reduces the risk of getting diseases like cancer. Since most foods that can be eaten raw are plant-based, you will get more minerals, vitamins, and fiber in their natural form with no extra additives from cooking.
Nutritionists highly recommend a healthy diet since what you consume will always show from the outside of your body. One interesting fact about food is that anything that you eat has a unique effect on your body. Different foods can be used to boost various functions of the body.
For instance, if you want to improve your eyesight and keep your eyes healthy, you are advised to eat lots of carrots, green leafy vegetables, eggs, fish, nuts, and milk. You may need a nutritionist to guide you on what to add to your daily diet. The right pair of glasses will also protect your eyes from harmful UV rays. When making the big selection, go for one that blocks at least 99% of UVA and UVB rays.
Good health begins with what is on your plate, so take control of what you consume to live a happy life.
Whether we want to fit back into some old clothes, are looking to get ready for a vacation, or you just want to feel a bit more confident, losing weight is something that’s often on many of our minds. Because of that, it’s hardly a shock that the internet is filled with various diets and different ways to lose weight. The question then becomes: how effective are these things really? Well, the truth is that a lot of these diets end up being fads that really don’t have much of an impact in the long run. They often set dangerously unrealistic expectations that you will likely never be able to meet in the first place. Not only that but they can actually be pretty unpleasant, and even dangerous at times! If you really want to make a positive change to your eating habits, you can’t rely on fads. With that in mind, here are just a few things that you can do to change up your eating habits to focus on feeling better and taking control of your health.
Figure out what’s missing
Far too often people assume that the only way to improve their eating habits is to have a total overhaul of their entire kitchen. I’ve tried this a few times, and trust me, it doesn’t last. This is a big mistake for a number of reasons. For one thing, it often doesn’t actually address what might be the real issues with your diet. For another, it can lead to further deficiencies. The truth is that if you really want to improve your eating habits, make sure that you’re actually getting the things you need in the first place. Many people find that their diets are deficient in things like water, protein, and essential fatty acids. A good diet is about giving your body what it actually needs. So instead of taking things away, consider adding what you might be lacking.
Make sure you have your facts straight
There is a whole lot of dietary advice floating around on the internet but the reality is that a lot of it is totally made up nonsense. It’s often not backed up by any real science or evidence and a lot of food advice blogs are rife with misinformation. If you’re finding yourself asking all kinds of questions like: is oatmeal healthy? Do blueberries really cure all diseases? Does cutting out fat actually help at all? Then the best thing you can do is to go and do as much research on these things as possible. And yes, I know you’re reading this on a blog and I just said don’t take advice from blogs, so if your first instinct is to say that I’m also full of shit, congrats! Now do that to everyone who isn’t a scientist.
Stop looking for shortcuts
It’s only natural that many of us would be very excited by the idea of diets that promise easy solutions but the reality is that there really are no shortcuts when it comes to your diet. If you see a diet that promises incredible results that seem too good to be true, there’s a very high chance that that’s because it is too good to be true. Those skinny teas you see a lot of influencers touting on Instagram? Total garbage. Quick fixes don’t lead to long term changes. If you want a healthier diet and lifestyle, that’s something you’re going to have to work at and commit to. And it’s not easy, trust me.
Be kind to yourself
Being kind to myself is something I really struggle with. Far too often people treat their diets as something that they need to be doing because they are otherwise doing something wrong. As though they need to be punished for eating and enjoying life with a horrible and restrictive diet. Not only is this simply not effective but can be incredibly damaging both physically and mentally. If you’re trying to be more healthy, that’s great, just don’t spend your time beating yourself up for not being able to live a perfectly healthy life all the time. You’re human and you’re not going to be able to be 100% perfect. Congratulate yourself when you do well, and learn to forgive yourself when you struggle.
Savor every moment
The reality is that a lot of the diets that are being sold both on and offline are designed to play on your worst fears and insecurities. They treat food as though it’s something you should be afraid of. As though the idea of being even the slightest bit above or below what is “correct” in terms of size and weight is the worst thing that could ever happen. The truth is that this is, obviously, total nonsense. Food is a joyous thing! It’s something that should bring you a lot of happiness, help you feel closer to the people around you, and be something you look forward to. If a diet feels like a punishment for the sin of enjoying food, it’s not only going to be unpleasant but there’s a good chance that it’s not even going to work in the way it says it will. And also life is short, you should be enjoying and experiencing as much of life as you can. Reminder: be mindful, not militant.
A hearty, healthy breakfast is the best way to get your day off to a flying start. If you usually skip breakfast, or you tend to have the same foods every day, here are some incredible ideas to up your nutrient intake and tantalize your taste buds.
Eggs
Eggs are one of the most versatile breakfast options, and they are packed with nutrients. You can poach, boil, fry or bake eggs and add a host of extra ingredients to create all kinds of dishes. Keep things simple with poached or boiled eggs with whole-grain toast, add smoked salmon, avocado or spinach to poached or scrambled eggs, or whip up an omelet, adding peppers, mushrooms, onions, cheese or bacon. You could also try out a recipe for Hollandaise sauce to make eggs Benedict or serve eggs sunny side up with tomatoes, toast, mushrooms and hash browns for a tasty brunch. Eggs are an excellent source of protein, iron and vitamin D, and they also contain key nutrients, including lutein, which is beneficial for eye health.
Smoothies and Juices
If you’re in a rush, or you’re keen to kickstart the day with a serious vitamin and mineral hit, homemade smoothies and juices are an ideal addition to your breakfast menu. You can use a variety of fruits and vegetables to rustle up healthy, fresh juices and smoothies, which are likely to be better for you than shop-bought alternatives. Often, when you buy bottles of smoothies from cafes or stores, they contain a lot of added sugar, so it’s best to use a blender or juicer at home and look online for recipes like a cabbage juice recipe or a zesty citrus smoothie. Adding a cup of juice or a freshly made smoothie to your daily diet is a simple, quick way to increase your intake of fruit and vegetables.
Oatmeal
As summer draws to a close, and temperatures start to drop, it’s a great idea to consider starting the day with a comforting, warming bowl of oatmeal. Oats are a good source of fiber, they are rich in antioxidants, and they release energy slowly, which means that you won’t find yourself reaching for snacks before lunchtime. You can serve oatmeal as it comes, or add honey, fresh fruit, currants, almonds, seeds or coconut to add flavor and depth.
Granola and Fruit Bowls
If you’re a fan of sweet foods, but you don’t want to start the day with sugary treats, granola and fruit bowls are an ideal option for you. Opt for low-sugar granola and combine with natural yoghurt and a spoonful of honey before adding a selection of nuts, seeds or fruits. Popular options include strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, pineapple, peaches and bananas.
A nutritious breakfast is the best way to increase your energy levels ready for the day ahead. If you’re bored of your usual breakfast options, or you’ve decided that it’s time to try and improve your diet and add more vitamins and minerals, hopefully, these ideas have given you inspiration.
