If you’re like me, the cravings hit as soon as I get home from work and am ready to crash in front of the television. Instead of having to choose between satisfying your craving or sticking to your healthy ways now you can do both!
Best Health offers some yummy and also diet-friendly snacks:
If you’re craving a Chocolate Triple Shake from McDonald’s go for a Grande Starbucks Banana Chocolate Vivanno smoothie. To make this an even healthier choice, ask them to use only half of the banana and to use skim or soy milk. I promise it tastes just as good!
If you’re craving a homemade peanut butter cookie go for one tablespoonful of peanut butter spread on banana slices.
If you’re about o buy a bag of regular M&Ms buy a bag of Hershey kisses and have 4 and save the rest for your next craving.
If you’re out and want a Tim Horton’s Old-Fashioned Glazed doughnut order a Maple- or Chocolate-Dip doughnut instead…just not everyday.
If you want Ruffles Regular potato chips while watching TV go for Triscuit Thin Crisps instead.
If you need your carbs like a white-bread bagel with butter and jam in the morning go for an English muffin with only jam. You won’t even notice there’s no butter.
Who doesn’t enjoy a grilled cheese or a plate of mac’n'cheese? The problem is that most foods we enjoy the most are creamy, cheesy and oh so very fattening.
Here are some healthy twists to my favorite comfort foods.
Grilled Cheese
Try a cheese toast instead. Take a piece of whole-grain bread with a piece of cheese on top inside the toaster oven. Leave it in there until the cheese bubbles and then add some spices or veggies.
Macaroni and Cheese
Forget the store version, the best makeover to this dish is by making it at home.
Use whole grain pasta, non-processed cheese and dice up some vegetables.
Apple Pie
One slice of apple pie can have as many as 750 calories-and that’s not counting the meal that you had before dessert!
Use whole-wheat pastry flour to add fiber and lower the saturated fat by replacing some of the butter with canola oil to make the worst part, the crust, a little healthier.
Check out the newest way to eat your pizza…in a cone!
The finished burger weighs four pounds and clocks in at 4,800 calories. Here’s what you can look forward to in Whitecaps’ Fifth Third Burger:
Start with an 8-inch sesame seed bun that requires 1 pound of dough and is made specially for the Whitecaps by Nantucket Baking Co. of Grand Rapids.
Spoon on nearly a cup of chili and place five one-third pound hamburger patties on top of that. (Get it, 5/3 pounds of beef for the Fifth Third Burger?)
Add five slices of American cheese and liberal doses of salsa, nacho cheese and Fritos. Top it off with lettuce, tomato and sour cream, and you have a burger that can be sliced with a pizza cutter and feed four people for $20. Jalapenos are optional.
| Fifth Third Ballpark Burger |
In an attempt to stand out from the standard pizzeria, Pizza Snobz has done something different. Their deep-fried pizza is high-calorie and high-fat, and is selling even better than the expected. Read more…
Have you ever felt like your arteries were too clear? Like you could feel the blood flowing smoothly through your body? Yeah, that’s gotta suck. Luckily there’s the Heart Attack Grill in Arizona, which will make your arteries clog just watching this video:
Eating healthy is tough enough, without certain junk foods disguising themselves as healthy choices. Here is a list of some of the worst culprits, and some better alternatives:
Baked potato chips: May be low in fat, but they’re still high in calories and aren’t nutritionally beneficial.
Alternative: Popcorn - Still salty and crunchy, but high in fiber and lower in calories.
Gummy fruit snacks: They’re basically candy with vitamins. They also contain high-fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils.
Alternative: Fresh or dried fruits - Antioxidants.
Light ice cream: Not all light ice creams are low in calories (they’re just low-ER than their full-fat counterparts). Plus, since they don’t have the rich taste you’re looking for, you’re more likely to eat more than one serving.
Alternative: Dairy-free ice cream - It still has a great taste and texture, with fewer calories.
Diet soda: Research shows a possible link between diet soda and heart disease.
Alternative: Flavored seltzer water - No calories, no artificial colors or sweeteners, but it’s fizzy and flavorful.
“Calorie-free” spray margarine: Being labeled, “Calorie-free” means there could actually be as many as 5 calories in a serving.
Alternative: Spray-it-yourself olive oil - This real fat can be more healthy and flavorful than the “fake” stuff.
Nonfat salad dressing: They’re often high in calories cause they’re packed with sugar.
Alternative: Oil-based salad dressing - You’ll get the taste and good-for-you fats.
Low-fat cookies: You think you can indulge, but they’re still filled with sugar and may have tons of calories.
Alternative: Oatmeal cookies - You’re getting cookies AND whole grains. But be careful you’re not also getting high fructose corn syrup, white flour, and butter.100-Calorie Snack Packs: These small packages fool you into believing you’re not eating much, and therefore you end up eating more.
Alternative: A small-serving of almonds - You get fiber and protein, plus good fat.
It’s important to try to keep your immunity at its best during the cold and flu season. Here are some foods that could help you stay healthy:
1300+ - If you’re not eating enough calories, you’re not giving your health a fighting chance. Women should get at least 1300 calories daily.
Get your cruciferous veggies: Broccoli, cabbage and brussel sprouts.
Snack on nuts - Almonds and sunflower seeds are high in vitamin E, and this vitamin may help reduce the length of colds. Brazil nuts contain selenium, which helps the body fight off disease.
Eat yogurt - Helps the immune system, through the digestive track.
Sip green tea - Stimulates T-cells that stimulate the immune system.
Open a can of tomato soup - Lycopene in tomatoes acts as an antioxidant, which, again, boosts the immune system.
Spice it up! - Capsaicin, found in chili peppers, also boosts immunity.
Get your fats - While low-fat is healthy, make sure you’re getting Omega3 and Omega6 from foods such as salmon, sardines, flaxseed, safflower oil, and eggs.
There is no better way to celebrate the year of the potato than a reintroduction to correct at any misconceptions that may have developed over the years.
The potato is one of the most interesting vegetables that you can serve at dinner.
Potatoes were originally found in South America where they were cultivated in the Andes mountains many thousands of years ago. In the 16th Century they were brought to Europe where they quickly became popular. Today China, Russia and India are the world’s top producers of the potato. The potato is the second most consumed food in the United State, finding itself behind only milk products.
Although the potato has developed a bad reputation with dieters for being nothing but starch, the potato is actually is a nutrient-dense food. It provides good nutritional return for the calories. Nutrient-dense foods are very important since our need for calories has decreased as we live more sedentary lives.
Potatos are often associated with high calorie topping like sour cream and melted butter. Just one tablespoon of butter will double the number of calories in a baked potato. There are many low calorie ways to prepare potatoes deliciously. Here are just a few tasty low/no calories ideas:
# Chopped onion with coarsely grated black pepper
# Chive-spiked yogurt
# Salsa
Here are some fun facts about the potato:
* The potato contains around 80% water and 20% solids.
* Thomas Jefferson gets the credit for introducing “french fries” to America when he served them at a White House dinner in 1802.
* According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the largest potato grown was 7 pounds, 1 ounce.
* Potatoes are now grown in all 50 states in the United States and in about 125 countries around the world.
* Did you know that a medium baked potato, with the skin contains more vitamin C than 3 peaches and more fiber than a bowl of oatmeal and 2 times
more potassium than a banana?
Now you don’t only have menu ideas, but table topics for your next get together! Read more.
In her new book, The Beauty Diet, Beauty nutritionist Lisa Drayer puts some truth to the saying that “you are what you eat!”
Her top ten picks include yummy foods like sweet potatoes, blueberries and even dark chocolate. She boasts that by updating your shopping list you’ll not only start feeling and looking better, but you’re sure to slim down as well.
“The Top 10 Beauty Foods are packed with the powerful nutrients and micronutrients your body needs to keep your cells refreshed and in good repair.
“These foods give your body the materials it needs to keep you healthy, radiant, vibrant and young — so you have delicate, soft skin, thick, shiny hair, long, smooth fingernails, clear, bright eyes, and a brilliant, gleaming smile” Drayer tells Diet.com
Continue reading for the top 10 beauty foods.
PLAY
