Cooking healthy and the diets …

For a healthy life a nutrition plan is needed from the start. A plan does not necessarily mean a strict diet but it is almost impossible to start without a plan.

As you already know there are many types of diets. Some diets restrict food groups according to their sources (like vegan or vegetarian diets with all their variations), some diets restrict foods according to their carbohydrates content (like ketogenic diets) or some diets restrict the periods of the day you are allowed to eat (like intermittent fasting). And the list is just at the beginning…

  I don't want to focus here on what you don’t eat or when you don’t eat (it is up to you), but more on what you eat and how you combine and prepare your food in order to complete your nutrition plan and have all essential nutrients that our body needs for a healthy life. Doesn’t matter if you go vegan, paleo, mediterranean or balanced, the manner you prepare your food is very important.

Cooking healthy is about ingredients and cooking techniques. Combining “best you can get” products with healthy cooking techniques will get you to amazing results with your health and energy levels. If you are a beginner in the cooking field just try to keep things simple at start. Then, after you master the main cooking techniques and the base recipes you can go to more challenging options. In this way you won’t be disappointed…

About some healthy cooking techniques…

Which healthy cooking techniques should you choose ?!… Well there are many discussions here but if you take the safe way :) … It is simple

Steamed, simmered, baked, grilled, salads, and of course raw (as many times you have the occasion). You can’t go wrong with any of these techniques.

Which healthy cooking techniques should you choose ?!… Well there are many discussions here but if you take the safe way :) … It is simple

Steamed, simmered, baked, grilled, salads, and of course raw (as many times you have the occasion). You can’t go wrong with any of these techniques.

Steamed vegetables keep more of their nutrients during the cooking process. (Even they can loose some colour)

Gently simmered meat and vegetables soups will keep more nutrients than the heavy boiled ones prepared at maximum or high heat setting.

By baking you obtain a lot of flavour and compared to frying, the cooking temperature is lower and more uniform, also by baking you have more control of the fat quantity in the final dish. Consider oven a place for everything :). Almost every recipe has a oven alternative…

Grilled vegetables, fish, meat… a lot of flavour and a healthy option. No extra fat so easy to keep calories low. Just take care to cook properly the food and avoid eating charred  grilled meats very often… (just a safe warning you can google about it to find out more)

And of course … we have infinite combinations of salads made with fresh quality ingredients and light dressings. You have the chance to use high quality cold pressed oils and seeds… (healthy fats always is good news)

As much as you can go for raw. When you can, try fruits and vegetables over juices and smoothies. (Just when you can). I know I have a lot of smoothie recipes on this blog :) but sometimes maybe it is a good ideea to let the blender rest…

You can modify classic or old tasty recipes in order to make them healthier. If you like very much some foods that maybe aren’t very healthy or they have too many calories, you can slightly modify the recipes in order to match our needs. You can obtain a similar taste and appearance but with other techniques and ingredients.

Sometimes is better to reduce the sugar quantity or replace the unhealthy fats with healthier options. For example you can replace cream and mayonnaise with yogurt, butter with olive oil, white sugar with raw brown sugar or honey or maple syrup…

These are just general examples but for every recipe you can find a healthier alternative. H

And remember healthier your first step to healthy.