Healthy Eating - Converting Your Recipes

To convert your recipes to a healthy eating mode, you'll need to keep these principles in mind:

1. The recipe should contain as many fruits and vegetables as possible. Look for ingredients in the recipe where a fruit or vegetable can be substituted in to make it a more healthy recipe. Pureeing vegetables and hiding them in your food or deserts is totally encouraged here :)) Or add as many fruits and vegetables to your table as possible. These can be raw or cooked. Some examples include: tossed salad, cooked frozen vegetables, unsweetened applesauce, no-sugar added fruit cocktail, raw cucumbers, peppers, and carrots, etc.

2. Avoid MSG at all costs. You can find out all kinds of things about the dangers of MSG online. Basically it is a chemical you don't want in your body. Watch for hidden names for MSG like "autolyzed yeast extract". Some packages say "no MSG" and then still contain MSG, just with another name attached to it.

3. Use whole grains as much as possible. If a recipe calls for white rice, start substituting brown rice. If your family doesn't like brown rice or whole wheat pasta, start using 1/4 of it in your recipes and gradually increasing until they get accustomed to the taste.

4. Use tomato sauce, salsa, olive oil and coconut oil as much as you like. These are all great things to substitute in your recipes especially where you see cream of mushroom and cream of chicken soup. I know they taste good, but to convert to a healthy recipe, you should start to eliminate these from your recipes.

5. Avoid partially hydrogenated oils whenever possible. This is hard to avoid because they are in EVERYTHING (well almost). They are in crackers and packaged foods. Just start reading the labels of what you are buying and you will find it.

6. Make your own pizza crust and taco seasoning. You can mix up a bunch and put them in individual bags and just add water when you are ready to use them.

Eating better will help you in many ways. It will help you lose weight or maintain your weight, gain better mental clarity, feel more energetic and improve your health. Healthy eating is worth your time and energy. You will see the benefit in yourself and in your family.

Let me know if you need any help converting your recipes or moving to a more healthy lifestyle.

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