Low Fat Food Tips & Recipes

[hunhee]

Okay, as you all know, I've joined a weight loss cult, and I would really like to discuss healthy food alternatives, and healthy ways of getting around those fatening food treats we all know and love. Maybe you may have some food finds or ideas that we can help eachother out with.

Two websites that come to mind are www.dwlz.com helps with if you're going to eat out, they have a lot of food chains and www.hungrygirl.com snacks and low fat or healthy alternatives.

I just tried a hummus recipe that is really yummy

Curried Hummus

Yeilds 12 servings (1/4 cup = 1 point)

1 TBSP Olive Oil

3 Cloves Garlic

1 TBSP Curry Powder

½ tsp Cummin Seeds

½ Cup Water

3 TBSP Fresh Lemon Juice

¾ tsp Salt

2 15 Oz Can Chick Peas (rinsed)

Heat Oil, add garlic, cook for 30 seconds. Add curry & cumin, cook for 30 seconds, stir constantly.

Puree all ingredients in food processor. ENJOY!!

[Burrich1]

Here is my favorite fish recipe. It’s super easy and super healthy. I learned it when I was doing the Medical Weight Loss thing a few years back. It kind of has a Costa Rican flavor. It's so awesome because it's so simple, uses all wholesome ingredients, and is super healthy. Also, the red white and green makes for some awesome presentation on the plate.

1 lb fresh tilapia

1 tomato

1 or 2 green chilis

Cilantro

Cooking spray

Tin foil

Preheat your oven to 350 or 375. Lightly pray two pieces of tin foil and lay a half pound of tilapia on each. Chop up some cilantro and cover each piece of fish pretty thoroughly. Dice the tomato and chili’s and evenly add them evenly to the fish. Fold up the tin foil and twist the ends so minimal air escapes. Drop the foil on a cookie sheet and throw in the oven. Takes around 15 to 20 minutes depending on how thick the fish was. When the fish is flakey, it's done. Serves 2.

[hunhee]

Woah that's like my Tilapia in a bag recipe. Cept I place it in parchment paper, and stuff. I got it when I went to Red Lobster, and thought, DAMN I can do this myself!!!.

YUM! I will try this later, for I love green chillies.

FOOD FIND: No Pudge Fudge Brownies YUM!!!! http://www.nopudge.com/ These are AWESOME!!! Better than having the real thing, because it's not so bad for you and they're really REALLY delicious.

[saechalyn]

I put hummus, raw spinach, and plain nonfat yogurt in a wheat tortilla and eat it as a rollup. It's very low fat, has all 4 food groups, is filling and I think it's yummy.

[Kit Kat P]

I put hummus, raw spinach, and plain nonfat yogurt in a wheat tortilla and eat it as a rollup. It's very low fat, has all 4 food groups, is filling and I think it's yummy.

what about meat? it's really it's own food group

[hunhee]

what about meat? it's really it's own food group

You don't need meat when there's hummus involved. Has proteins and stuff.

[saechalyn]

You don't need meat when there's hummus involved. Has proteins and stuff.

Yup, chickpeas are part of the proteins group along with meat.

[hunhee]

Healthy food tip: Eat foods higher in fiber.

I've found that foods that are low fat and high fiber are better than foods that are NO fat and NO fiber.

Try to eat more whole grains, if you haven't tried the whole wheat noodles, try them, if you haven't tried whole wheat noodles in a while, revisit, they've done a lot with whole wheat noodles lately.

I only say this because I used to hate them about a year ago, now I've retried them, and I honestly can't tell the difference.

ALWAYS be cognisant of portion size, if something says 2 servings per container, only eat HALF that container.

Some portion sizes say half cup, or 4 Oz, (these are the same)

If you want to know what 1 Oz is, it's 1/8 of a cup.

[Burrich1]

Healthy food tip: Eat foods higher in fiber.

I totally agree. Especially if you monitor carbs along with your fat intake. I always hated plain oatmeal growing up and now it is my best friend. I think it's because I ration carbs out, and they "psychologically make you feel so happy," that I finally managed to acquire a taste for it, and love it now. It's kinda like having a cigarette when you havn't had one for a while and you get a little of that buzzing feeling that hooked you on smoking in the first place. Yeah complex carbohydrates!!!

[saechalyn]

Many people mistake thirst for hunger. Drink lots of water, even if you're not thirsty, and you'll want to eat less.

You really can satisfy a sugar craving with a very small amount. I learned this one day while out to lunch with coworkers. We got 2 desserts for the whole table (about 10 people) and passed them around. I was feeling mad for sugar and could have easily eaten my own dessert but I didn't want to look like a pig so I went along. I got about 3 bites of dessert and my cravings were gone. Now I keep hershey kisses around and 2 or 3 does the trick.

Get enough sleep! I know that's easier said than done and should be common sense, but when you're tired you're more likely to reach for quick energy foods that aren't as healthy.

Pay attention to your body and how different foods make you feel. I've learned that a carb-heavy breakfast makes me ready for a nap by 10am and I have much more energy with a protein-rich breakfast. Not everyone is the same, listen to your body and make changes that work for you.

[hunhee]

Thank you Saechalyn and Burrich1 for your great input on this topic. I really like your suggestions

Here's another good tip. Do not try to just quit a bad habit, you need to replace that habit by forming a healthy habit.

Another suggestion to ease into moving your body a tad more, would be to park a tad further back from where-ever it is you want to go, every extra step is one more step to a healthier you.

Never be afraid to grill your server as to the preparation of your food. You're usually paying good money for a service, it's the least they can do to be acquainted with their product.

[hunhee]

Here's a Superbowl healther munchie alternative.

Spicy Chicken Nuggets

Makes 2 Servings

8 Oz Bonless Chicken

¼ Cup Fiber 1 (ground into crumbs)

1 Oz Fat Free BBQ Pringles (crushed)

3 TBSP Frank’s Red Hot

Dash Each Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Cayenne Pepper, Black Pepper & Salt

1. Mix cereal & chips, add all the spices, mix well. Dip nuggets into Hot Sauce, coat with cereal mix.

2. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes, turning once.

[Destroit]

I stir fry shit up, as simple as that sounds. I go to the fruit market like once a week (five bags of groceries for 12 dollars, I don't get how for that cheap Americans are still so unhealthy) and pick out random shit that I wanna try to stir fry. Also, just random shit that I want to just try in general. I tried a parsnip for the first time last week however...uhmmm let's just say that was a no-go, but everything else has been good so far.

In weight loss ALWAYS try to make a point to eat whole unprocessed foods. As a matter of fact processed foods are so horrible for your system I would recommend that NOBODY ever eats them again, but especially people who are trying to lose weight. The reason being:

The food companies want you to eat more of their food (and don't care about your weight or health, especially since they're in cahoots with most big pharmecutical companies who get your business when you get sick/unhealthy) so what do they do? In almost EVERY processed food you eat they put actual chemicals in it that actually make you want to eat more. That's not even taking into consideration the actual TOXINS (yes...poisons) that they put in the food. If you can't read the label and understand what it says (things like "partially hydrogenated oil" or "monosodium glutimate", do EITHER of those occur naturally and grow out of the ground like that? I think not.) then you shouldn't be eating it.

People are always under the assumption that the government won't let companies put things on the market that harm us, but look at tobacco, liquor, McDonalds, and Vioxx and you'll notice this definately isn't true. Food companies make money putting appetite enhancers in your food because you eat more, big medicine makes money because they have to fix you after years of filling your face with poison on top of complications due to weight gain...makes sense now?

So...if you want to lose weight AND get healthy, eat food like God (or nature, if you don't believe in that sort of thing) intended us to: fresh, untampered with, and right out of the ground (or hunted fresh too, whichever). If you want to take it a step further with health and weight loss, then go organic. If I told you what kind of hormones, chemicals and harmful antibiotics are pumped into livestock for NO reason you'd hurl. Yet...as a country we eat it and wonder why overweight/obese people count for over 66% of the US population.

Hmmm...as for actual recipes I'm not good with the stove as most of you know, but if you go the stir fry route you can't go wrong. I do it like Mongolian Barbeque does, I have tons of veggies, sometimes pasta, and lean meat. Occasionally I splurge and use steak but shhh don't tell no one : .

A list of common ingredients I use:

Bean Sprouts

Mushrooms

Egg (has "good" cholesterol, and is actually good for you. Don't eat like five, but one a day is actually healthy)

Noodles/Pasta (very tricky not to burn, always add it last)

Baby Corn

Bamboo Shoots

Pea Pods (easily becomes overcooked, add it last also)

Peppers (red, yellow, green. Red and yellow have awesome phytochemicals, so I'd go with those. They're also prettier)

Onions

Chicken

Shrimp

Calimari

Hot Sauce

Soy Sauce

All cooked in...olive oil! Smack yourself if you've been using butter or especially highly toxic trans fat loaded margarine. Olive oil is a little more expensive...but since it's not butter it won't cause cardiac arrest and since it isn't margarine you won't get Alzheimer's when you're old, so it's worth every penny.

You get the point...just like Mongolian Barbeque without being separated from 13 of your hard earned dollars! All it requires is odds and ends, takes 10 minutes to make, and as far as clean-up you need a pan + spatula. Doesn't get more tasty or simple than that, IMO.

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

That's not even taking into consideration the actual TOXINS (yes...poisons) that they put in the food. If you can't read the label and understand what it says (things like "partially hydrogenated oil" or "monosodium glutimate", do EITHER of those occur naturally and grow out of the ground like that? I think not.) then you shouldn't be eating it.

OK, buy that logic... WTF would you eat any form of bean, tuber and grain? Straight out of the ground they are all poisen.

[Destroit]

I totally agree. Especially if you monitor carbs along with your fat intake. I always hated plain oatmeal growing up and now it is my best friend. I think it's because I ration carbs out, and they "psychologically make you feel so happy," that I finally managed to acquire a taste for it, and love it now. It's kinda like having a cigarette when you havn't had one for a while and you get a little of that buzzing feeling that hooked you on smoking in the first place. Yeah complex carbohydrates!!!

This is hilarious to me because let's just say oatmeal isn't a venture down Taste-Bud-Amusement-Park-Lane...but in order to be healthier and stick to my unprocessed foods plan, I forced myself to like it for breakfast.

One day Raven comes downstairs and I look at him while eating a bowl and say "Ugggh...noo....more....oatmeal"

He says, "You...you do know we have the good (i.e. processed) kind, right? We have peaches and cream and apple cinnamon."

I looked at him and said "yeah...whatever. You go ahead and be fat, knock yourself out"

I think he's baffled by that to this day.

[Destroit]

OK, buy that logic... WTF would you eat any form of bean, tuber and grain? Straight out of the ground they are all poisen.

...yes...I know. EARTH made poison. Poison that we've evolved for thousands of years just to be able to eat. As in, poison that isn't man made like trans fat and MSG are.

You can't fully eliminate toxins from your diet, but you sure as hell can avoid a whole lot of them. That's like trying to fully avoid radiation contamination...when at this very moment we have bits of particles and DNA being torn out of our bodies by naturally occuring gamma rays. It's impossible.

There's over 15,000 substances that food companies can put into your food that they don't even have to put on the label, and sorry, I'm just uncomfortable with that sort of thing. That's not even counting all of the crazy and unpronouncable shit that they have on the label already.

[Destroit]

Oh and here's another thing for you peoples:

Protein kills your kidneys and is horrble for you except in small amounts (it should take up no more than 12% of your daily intake, any more than that and it's killing the nephrons in your kidneys).

So...for the record, that Atkins guy was full of SHIT.

[Destroit]

OK, buy that logic... WTF would you eat any form of bean, tuber and grain? Straight out of the ground they are all poisen.

...oh I just re-read it and get what you're getting at. Uncooked they're poison...soooo what to do what to doo....

COOK...them? Maybe? It's simple, easy, and works.

When I talk of processed foods, I'm not talking about YOU cooking food in your own home, I'm talking about how bad it is when a company processes food FOR you because let's just say you're getting a bit more than just food. That's what I meant by "processed" for the record. By unprocessed I don't mean eat it raw.

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

...yes...I know. EARTH made poison. Poison that we've evolved for thousands of years just to be able to eat. As in, poison that isn't man made like trans fat and MSG are.

You can't fully eliminate toxins from your diet, but you sure as hell can avoid a whole lot of them. That's like trying to fully avoid radiation contamination...when at this very moment we have bits of particles and DNA being torn out of our bodies by naturally occuring gamma rays. It's impossible.

There's over 15,000 substances that food companies can put into your food that they don't even have to put on the label, and sorry, I'm just uncomfortable with that sort of thing. That's not even counting all of the crazy and unpronouncable shit that they have on the label already.

Unless processed, Beans are poison. Try it. Go find a soy bean field. Eat a hand full of raw soy beans. See you at the hospital.

Potatos.. again... eat a full serving raw. You are going to get sick.

Grains.. again... eat them raw... try it. Eat half a loaf of breads worth of wheat.. raw.

You wanna be healthy. Eat the naturally. Fruit and nuts (not peanuts and cashews as they are not nuts), some roots and meat.

If you cant eat it raw, fresh out of the ground you are not sopposed to eat it.

Man did not eat beans for the first 3+million years we were evolving. When we learned to cook... we learned to eat thing that would normally kill us... then we started farming and built up a tolerance for dairy.

Lactose intollerant is how we are sopposed to be.

[Destroit]

Unless processed, Beans are poison. Try it. Go find a soy bean field. Eat a hand full of raw soy beans. See you at the hospital.

Potatos.. again... eat a full serving raw. You are going to get sick.

Grains.. again... eat them raw... try it. Eat half a loaf of breads worth of wheat.. raw.

You wanna be healthy. Eat the naturally. Fruit and nuts (not peanuts and cashews as they are not nuts), some roots and meat.

If you cant eat it raw, fresh out of the ground you are not sopposed to eat it.

Man did not eat beans for the first 3+million years we were evolving. When we learned to cook... we learned to eat thing that would normally kill us... then we started farming and built up a tolerance for dairy.

Lactose intollerant is how we are sopposed to be.

...I know. All of that. Lactose intolerant is how we're supposed to be...but aren't anymore. So that's null and void.

Also...apparantly you missed the post about how if you cook things like potatoes and grains then they're rendered unpoisonous. Go read my other post first.

That's my two cents on it, I'm not here to debate, just to give advice based on what I know from having an extensive background in biology, nutrition, and A&P. Eating everything raw is a good way to go about it, but most people don't have enough time on their hands and that is a very bland diet, so you should do the best you can. Cooking takes away some of the nutrition...but it's still healthier and a toxic tv dinner.

Personally I don't eat soybeans or things derived from soybeans because we're starting to figure out that they aren't as healthy as we thought. I'm not to big on beans either...I generally get my protein from nuts.

It's brazil nut season btw...and I are a happy little panda :. I've probably eaten like 4 lbs of them since December . Brazil nuts, almonds, and peanuts are the only nuts I can stomach, and for whatever reason I LOVE BRAZIL NUTS W00T! (Almonds and peanuts...meh...I gotta be in the mood. I used to HATTTTE ALLLL shelled nuts, so I've come pretty far). I hate how you can only buy them like four months out of the year!

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

I didn't miss anything. You posted while I was composing my post.

and I'm not trying to debate either. I just find a great deal of misinformation and ignorance on this subject.

Soy and "Organic" are my biggest pet peeves. Soy is only good in small doses. "Organic" is misleading as all hell.

Too much soy in your diet has huge side affects. Asian cultures that eat soy do not, contrary to western beliefs, eat large amounts of it at every meal. For one, it makes your thyroid cease to function and you get goiters. The only way to to get around that is to supplement your diet with Iodine. The other bad affects of a high soy diet can be controlled by eating less soy.

"Organic" does not by default equal "Good". "Organic Locally Grown" on the other hand... it comes down to nutrition. Organic tomatoes that were grown in Cali had to be picked green to have them nice and red when they get to markets in Michigan. That means they never produced most of their vitamins. So that nice red "organic" tomato is filler and thats it.

[hunhee]

Unless processed, Beans are poison. Try it. Go find a soy bean field. Eat a hand full of raw soy beans. See you at the hospital.

Potatos.. again... eat a full serving raw. You are going to get sick.

Grains.. again... eat them raw... try it. Eat half a loaf of breads worth of wheat.. raw.

You wanna be healthy. Eat the naturally. Fruit and nuts (not peanuts and cashews as they are not nuts), some roots and meat.

If you cant eat it raw, fresh out of the ground you are not sopposed to eat it.

Man did not eat beans for the first 3+million years we were evolving. When we learned to cook... we learned to eat thing that would normally kill us... then we started farming and built up a tolerance for dairy.

Lactose intollerant is how we are sopposed to be.

Hey! this is a Healthy Food Tips and Recipes topic, if you want to debate out what shit's in the ground, make your own post! You're not helping anyone, cause you're not sharing your healthy tips. If you want to tell us what healthy recipe or health tip you want the rest of us to know about, you can post it here!!! Otherwise get your own topic!!!!

Continue ladies and gentlemen

You're not going to get away with that shit on my Health Watch forum!

[boshy]

OK, buy that logic... WTF would you eat any form of bean, tuber and grain? Straight out of the ground they are all poisen.

Humm... As an organic gardener I eat every thing from my garden raw occasionally including beans, corn and potatoes. Green potaotes (due to exposure of the tuber to sunlight) are toxic raw or cooked. They are and accident during farming and should be discarded. Many ornamental beans are toxic but garden green beans you grow for food (except kidney and fava) are perfectly fine. Rhubarb leaves toxic, but stems fine raw or cooked. There are many etible plants that grow by the side of the road. I guess it's like the study of mycology you have to know what you are eating. Actually raw foods are healther for you but supermarket pesticide laden foods may not be unless you peel them first.

[boshy]

Hey! this is a Healthy Food Tips and Recipes topic, if you want to debate out what shit's in the ground, make your own post! You're not helping anyone, cause you're not sharing your healthy tips. If you want to tell us what healthy recipe or health tip you want the rest of us to know about, you can post it here!!! Otherwise get your own topic!!!!

Continue ladies and gentlemen

You're not going to get away with that shit on my Health Watch forum!

oops youre right gotta go I have a pile of papers to check and tests to write. I shouldn't be debating health food here :blush: I don't usually cook with recipes or I'd post one.

[SuZQZ]

This is a website I use, both at home and at work, when trying to determine healthy choices. They even have info on various fast food places. I don't have an account on the site. I just use it to see the nutrition info of various fruits, veggies, 4 oz of chick, etc., etc. Helps me keep in check my attempts to eat healthier. Hope it's helpful:

CalorieKing