Innovate Your Cooking For Healthier Living
Your kitchen is stocked and you are ready to go. Now it is time to think about how you can add more vegetables, fruits, and whole grains to your day while watching your refined carbohydrates, sugar, and fat intake.
Fruits and Vegetables
- Add fresh or dried fruits like chopped apples, raisins, prunes, kiwi, or orange sections to green leafy salads.
- Add chopped carrots, broccoli, or a mix of your favorite vegetables to soups, salads, meat loaf, and casseroles.
- Make stir-fries or casseroles with lots of vegetables mixed in.
Meats, Poultry and Fish
- Let vegetables, beans, rice and pasta be the stars of your main dish – use meats as the side dish.
- Choose lean meats – look for the words "loin" or "round" in the name. Trim meat of all visible fat before cooking. Cook poultry with the skin on to keep it moist, but remove skin before eating to reduce the fat.
- Choose canned fish packed in water instead of oil. Drain thoroughly before mixing with your favorite dressing or condiment.
- Use low-fat cooking methods like roasting, baking, broiling, steaming or poaching. Limit deep fat frying and sauteing in a lot of oil or margarine.
Whole Grains vs. Refined Grains
A whole grain is made up of three parts: the bran, endosperm and germ. Refined grains are made from the endosperm. Because the bran and germ contain much of the vitamins, minerals and all of the fibre found in grains, whole grains have more fibre and nutrients than refined (or processed) grains. Aim for at least three servings of whole grain foods each day.
Source: American Cancer Society (www.cancer.org) |
