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There is an increasing awareness of the need to eat healthy foods in order to prevent not only obesity but also many health conditions.
Adopting a healthy diet often means changing eating habits but it is more than that. Food shopping and preparation also needs to be viewed with a critical eye to make both embrace the healthier options.
Meat eaters need to think about choosing leaner, low fat meat such as chicken. Fish is a good, low fat alternative to meat. When selecting a red meat look for one which has little fat such as a well trimmed steak. If you wnt to use minced or ground meat in a recipe it is better to but the meat and process it yourself as commercially prepared mince (ground meat) is notoriously high in fat content.
Father than using fats and oils during cooking use marinades to keep meat and fish moist and tender. Some of the acidic fruit juices make a wonderful job of tenderising meat. If you can plan ahead and leave food marinating over night so much the better.
Vegetables can be roasted, steamed or stir fried, using stock rather than oil, to produce a tasty meal which is full of flavour. Nothing is lost in the cooking water as is often the case with traditionally boiled vegetables.
Make use of herbs and spices to vary the flavour of seasonal vegetables. Avoid adding salt during the cooking process.
More good news is that desserts are an important part of a healthy diet. Wonderful, fresh seasonal fruit and low fat yoghurts can all be combined to produce appetising and tasty ‘puddings’.
If a healthy diet screams boredom to you simply choose one of the foregoing ideas and adapt your diet accordingly. Don’t try to change everything at once - that makes it hard work and you’ll feel resentful. By making one change at a time you’ll be better able to persist with the change your diet, you will notice that your tastes change and, more importantly, you’ll start to enjoy the health benefits that a healthy diet provides.
