Do you eat pretty much the same thing from day to day? A lot of people do. Sometimes it is just easier. It’s easier to shop, it’s easier to prepare, and repetition is comforting. But the fact is, it is just not good for you. Don’t be in a rut. It’s time to upset your applecart!
A great way to choose your foods is to think of your food choices as a palette of color. You want to eat a rainbow of food. When you go to the grocery store and when you fill your plate, look for color, contrast, and vibrancy. Keep a bowl of fresh, colorful fruit in your kitchen so that you will always have a healthy snack on hand. Don’t just go for apples and oranges; although they are great. Try something with a little pizzazz. Go for papaya, mango, fresh tomatoes with a shake of cumin, pineapple, red and green bell pepper strips, carrots and celery dipped in balsamic vinegar or lemon juice. By giving yourself interesting, colorful variety, you are far more likely to address your nutritional needs through the foods you eat.
Be sure to get a variety of vegetables in a variety of colors, textures, and flavors. Fresh spinach and broccoli are excellent sources of iron and calcium. Be sure to add orange vegetables like carrots, squash, and even unusual choices like pumpkin! Eat vegetables in season to be sure of getting the freshest choices. By choosing in season, you also find ways of celebrating the seasons. This adds another dimension of enjoyment to eating.
Remember that beans and legumes are a colorful part of your veggie palette. Black, red and green beans make a lovely cold salad mixed together. They bring color to any plate alone too. Unusual vegetables like beets and turnips get the short shrift these days. Try adding them to your diet. You will be surprised to find how good they are raw or cooked. Remember to add cabbage, kale and other rich flavorful leaf veggies to your plate.
Don’t let your color palette stop with fruits and vegetables. Be sure to eat dark rich whole grain breads. Spread them with all fruit toppings, Neufchatel cheese, peanut butter, real garlic butter. Enjoy your food. Make it whole, natural, and nutritious, but above all make it beautiful and delicious. Make it something you will truly savor.
Be sure your foods feed you well. Don’t deprive yourself. Choose foods packed with nutrients from each food group each day -those with lots of vitamins, minerals, fiber, and other nutrients but lower in calories. Use the fill your plate guide to choose how much to have of each healthy, nutritious choice.
Fruit is a wonderful addition to any food plan. There are so many ways to prepare fruits or just enjoy them raw. Give yourself a variety of fresh fruits, frozen, dried and even some canned fruits. When you choose canned fruits be sure to look for fruits packed in their own juice or in pear juice. Avoid fruits packed in syrup. Some fruits just can better than others, and you will have to pick and choose what you prefer among canned fruits. Personally, I think canned pineapple is better than fresh and certainly a lot easier to deal with.
Frozen peaches and berries are often quite a bit better than their fresh counterparts. They are so often not ripe when you buy them fresh, but the frozen ones seem to be just right and are very easy to keep around for shakes and desserts. If your grocery store occasionally offers bananas in a big bag for a dollar, be sure to take advantage of the buy. These bananas are usually just fine for eating right away. What you don’t eat, you can freeze whole. Just put them in a plastic bag in your freezer. When you are ready to make a smoothie or some banana bread, just take out the number of bananas you need, thaw them a bit, cut one end off the banana and squeeze it out like squeezing toothpaste out of a tube. Nothing could be easier or more convenient.
Don’t neglect calcium. Milk, yogurt, delicious cheeses, soy products, green leafy vegetables, all provide you with calcium to build up your bones and teeth and keep you strong. For far too long, adults and especially adult women have been told to starve themselves and deny themselves nutrient rich milk products, but the fact is, we need calcium, and we need the nourishment. So enjoy your milk products in moderation just like everything else. Have milk or yogurt on your cereal. Enjoy your healthy hot chocolate. Eat delicious interesting cheeses with your fruit and whole grain crackers and bread. Remember there are no bad foods, only bad habits. And you are in complete control of those.
Of course, there are so many ways to prepare delicious lean meats and fish from baking to broiling to roasting to pan frying in small amounts of beneficial oils. Unless you choose to be a vegetarian, you will want to enjoy healthy meat dishes a couple of times a week at least. Be sure to vary your protein sources with beans and lentils prepared with fresh, delicious vegetables and plenty of garlic and other health giving spices and herbs. Use beneficial oils like olive, peanut, or walnut oil to add flavor to your beans and lentils or add a bit of meat.
Gain health by enjoying your food and enjoying your life. Take care of your self, and savor each treasured day!
Tasty, colorful recipes to add to your Rainbow Palette!
Bodacious Banana Nut Bread
http://hubpages.com/hub/Bodacious-Banana-Nut-Bread
Healthy Hot Chocolate
http://hubpages.com/hub/Healthy-Hot-Chocolate
The Fill Your Plate Eating Plan
http://hubpages.com/hub/The-Fill-Your-Plate-Eating-Plan
World’s Best & Quickest Sweet Potato Recipe
http://hubpages.com/hub/Worlds-Best–Quickest-Sweet-Potato-Recipe
Absolutely Yummy Turkey Bean Soup
http://hubpages.com/hub/Absolutely-Yummy-Turkey-Bean-Soup
Creamy Homemade Hummus
http://hubpages.com/hub/Creamy-Homemade-Hummus
