You don't have to sacrifice fun restaurant trips because you're on a diet or you're leading a healthier lifestyle by eliminating processed foods. Aside from fast food chains, restaurants often employ fresh and healthy ingredients in their cooking, and when you add a little compromise and moderation, there's no reason you can't enjoy eating out.
Here are some tips to help you maintain your healthy food lifestyle while also enjoying your restaurant experience:
* Before you leave home, make a rough plan about your choices of foods. This way you wouldn’t be confronted with the problem of deciding what to order when the waiter gives you the menu.
* Never skip your meals earlier simply because you are eating out in the evening. That way you would end up consuming more calories in the night, when your calorie requirement is actually low. All excess calories would end up being stored as body fat. They are not going to compensate for having skipped the afternoon meal or be used for your next day’s requirement.
* Have a proper lunch so that in the evening you won’t engulf whatever comes to the table. Order a small fresh salad and skip fatty appetizers or chips and salsa while you wait for your meal.
* Go for an ‘a la carte’ menu instead of eat-as-much-as-you-can buffets. Choose dishes with extra portions of vegetables and order small portions or split portions with friends. You can also order a healthy appetizer for yourself as your entree. Seriously, you'll most likely find this is all you need!
* Start your meal with a glass of plain water. Since you are on a diet plan, you must already be aware of the kinds of foods to shun completely, namely, the deep-fried foods, creamy, buttery and sugary stuff, regular colas and sodas, etc. Ask instead for lower-fat steamed, grilled, roasted, broiled or flame-cooked items. Or maybe you can even order another appetizer as the main course itself.
* For drinks stick to water or carbonated water -- no sodas. One often forgets to count alcohol calories as part the food. Alcohol is very high in calories and can prevent you from making healthy food choices.
* Try to sit away from the breadbasket and the chips bowl. It is really easy to keep on munching on these while chatting with your friends without even realizing that you are.
* Be careful about the dressings that come with salads. They can defeat the whole purpose of your diet control. One ladle of a creamy salad dressing can give you about 300 calories. Ask for the dressing on the side rather than on the salad.
Josh
Co-Editor, The Natural Health Circus
http://chetday.com
Monday, March 23, 2009
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Milk Bath
Everybody likes soft skin, except maybe for Godzilla and some of his amphibian kin, so I thought today I'd share with you a little home-made recipe for a milk bath concoction that sounded pretty cool.
I found this recipe in an old health magazine we had laying around here at CasaDay.
Enjoy...
Skin-Softening Milk Bath
Casey Kellar, author of Natural Beauty and Bath Book (Lark Books, 1997), says the milk in this recipe moisturizes rough skin.
1 cut full-fat powdered milk
2 tablespoons almond meal
2 tablespoons barley or oat flour
A few drops of rose (Rosa centifolia) essential oil
Mix all the ingredients in a bowl, then add two tablespoons to a tub of water. Soak for 15 minutes. Store the remaining bath mix in a glass jar at room temperature. It should keep for two months.
In closing, if you haven't had a milk bath lately, now's the time to give one a try.
I mean, seriously, you'll have something new to talk about at the office.
Chet "Milk Bath" Day
Editor, The Natural Health Circus
http://chetday.com/blog
I found this recipe in an old health magazine we had laying around here at CasaDay.
Enjoy...
Skin-Softening Milk Bath
Casey Kellar, author of Natural Beauty and Bath Book (Lark Books, 1997), says the milk in this recipe moisturizes rough skin.
1 cut full-fat powdered milk
2 tablespoons almond meal
2 tablespoons barley or oat flour
A few drops of rose (Rosa centifolia) essential oil
Mix all the ingredients in a bowl, then add two tablespoons to a tub of water. Soak for 15 minutes. Store the remaining bath mix in a glass jar at room temperature. It should keep for two months.
In closing, if you haven't had a milk bath lately, now's the time to give one a try.
I mean, seriously, you'll have something new to talk about at the office.
Chet "Milk Bath" Day
Editor, The Natural Health Circus
http://chetday.com/blog
Monday, March 16, 2009
"Fried" rice can actually be healthy
Yep, you read that title correctly; fried rice can be a healthy food choice.
It's all in the way it's prepared and what you add to the rice.
I've been trying to make quality fried rice for years. I always seem to fall short with my endeavors, sometimes close to the culinary bar I've set for myself in my head, sometimes far from it.
Yesterday evening I attempted my first batch of Thai basil and vegetable fried rice. All in all the dish turned out well, if you ignore my first disastrous attempt to cook rice utilizing a new technique I saw on youtube. The rice ended up charred and burned to the bottom of the pot; a couple more minutes and the pot would have been ruined.
I've never been satisfied with the rice I cook and I'm always after the perfect form of cooked rice -- where it's fluffy, soft, and just plain perfect. I'm close, with the style I learned from Dr. Ben Kim, but I'm not quite there yet. I need to invest in a rice cooker, but that's for another blog.
Like I said, the results were overall good, but I feel the recipe needs some tinkering.
Okay, now let's talk about fried rice and how this meal can be healthy, if you make it the right way.
Fried rice is nothing more than cooked rice, either white or brown, that's "fried" in a wok or pan with vegetables, soy sauce, and other ingredients. Unfortunately, most fried rice you order at Asian restaurants is not at all healthy -- it's full of processed, chemical laced ingredients and a lot of MSG. Even hibachi Japanese restaurants -- where the chef cooks everything on a hot table before your eyes -- often miss the mark when it comes to healthy fried rice as they use way too much soy sauce.
When you make fried rice at home you have the luxury of choosing healthy ingredients and sauces. Soy sauce, for instance, can either be really bad for your health or neutral -- please read another fun and informative interview with Dr. Kim about this very subject right here. About the good stuff, here's Dr. Kim, "My understanding is that quality brands of naturally fermented soy sauce don’t have added MSG or MSG-like compounds. Cheaper brands use hydrolyzed vegetable protein, which behaves like MSG in the body."
Kikkoman soy sauce is a good brand that both Dr. Kim and I use.
Fried rice is also traditionally prepared with meats, ranging from chicken to pork to shrimp. Personally I like my fried rice with only vegetables, and a lot of them.
The rice is so flavorful and has so many other delicious things in it, as you'll see below, that you're really not missing anything.
Thai Basil and Vegetable Fried Rice
1 cup cooked rice, white or brown, per person (for two people, I prepare one cup of uncooked rice per directions listed here)
2 Tbs Kikkoman soy sauce (Note: both soy sauce and fish sauce are calculated for a serving of two people. Add 2 tsp extra for each additional cup of rice if serving more.)
2 Tbs fish sauce (this is like ketchup in Thai cooking, and it's crucial for the Thai flavor)
1/2 cup yellow onion, minced
1/2 cup carrot, finely minced
2 green onion stalks, chopped in 1/2 inch lengths
1 cup mung bean sprouts
1 egg, scrambled
1 cup fresh basil leaves, torn roughly
1/2 cup cilantro leaves, whole
1 Tbs raw, natural sugar
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 Thai hot pepper, crushed to pieces or finely minced (or 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes -- only add either ingredient if you want your rice HOT)
2 Tbs oil (many recipes I found call for vegetable oil, which is not healthy at all. I used olive oil, which worked fine, despite a few recipes warning me not to use olive oil. Coconut oil would also be good if you can find it. Actually, I plan to try coconut oil next because that will add a lot to the flavor.)
Salt and pepper, optional
Heat your wok on medium heat and add oil. When oil is hot, add both garlic and hot pepper. Stir rigourously for 1-3 seconds -- things should really be sizzling -- then add yellow onion and carrots. It's important here to NOT burn or even slightly brown the garlic. Adding the onion and carrots will slow the cooking.
Add sugar. It will dissolve and mix into the ingredients almost instantly.
Continue to stir until onions shrink and turn translucent. Push everything to one side, or make an empty crater at the center of the wok.
Add additional oil if needed.
Crack egg over empty space and cook, stirring to scramble. When egg is fully cooked, mix garlic, hot pepper, onions, and carrots together.
Add rice. Pour in soy sauce and fish sauce. Stir until rice takes on the "fried" look. Add a little extra soy sauce if the rice is not brown enough.
Now add your salt and pepper, if using.
Stir constantly, paying close attention to the bottom of the wok. You don't want the rice to stick.
Add chopped mung bean sprouts and green onion and cook for 3-5 minutes.
Turn off heat but leave wok on burner. Add remaining ingredients, the basil and cilantro. Stir well until both are fully integrated into the rice. Then remove from heat and you're ready to serve!
I like to garnish with a little extra cilantro on top. You can also add a lime wedge and some raw, cool cucumber slices. Both additions are great if you like your Thai fried rice extra spicy.
- - -
This is exactly how I made my first batch. Ordinarily I'd wait to share the recipe until I've made it two or three times and honed it down, but I was so satisfied with this that I'm comfortable in sharing it.
Here is what I plan to add next time:
One red bell pepper, sliced into thin, long strips
1 medium tomato, cut into 2-inch pieces
I intend to add the bell pepper with the initial onion and carrot, and the tomato with the green onion near the end.
Josh
Co-Editor, The Natural Health Circus
http://chetday.com
It's all in the way it's prepared and what you add to the rice.
I've been trying to make quality fried rice for years. I always seem to fall short with my endeavors, sometimes close to the culinary bar I've set for myself in my head, sometimes far from it.
Yesterday evening I attempted my first batch of Thai basil and vegetable fried rice. All in all the dish turned out well, if you ignore my first disastrous attempt to cook rice utilizing a new technique I saw on youtube. The rice ended up charred and burned to the bottom of the pot; a couple more minutes and the pot would have been ruined.
I've never been satisfied with the rice I cook and I'm always after the perfect form of cooked rice -- where it's fluffy, soft, and just plain perfect. I'm close, with the style I learned from Dr. Ben Kim, but I'm not quite there yet. I need to invest in a rice cooker, but that's for another blog.
Like I said, the results were overall good, but I feel the recipe needs some tinkering.
Okay, now let's talk about fried rice and how this meal can be healthy, if you make it the right way.
Fried rice is nothing more than cooked rice, either white or brown, that's "fried" in a wok or pan with vegetables, soy sauce, and other ingredients. Unfortunately, most fried rice you order at Asian restaurants is not at all healthy -- it's full of processed, chemical laced ingredients and a lot of MSG. Even hibachi Japanese restaurants -- where the chef cooks everything on a hot table before your eyes -- often miss the mark when it comes to healthy fried rice as they use way too much soy sauce.
When you make fried rice at home you have the luxury of choosing healthy ingredients and sauces. Soy sauce, for instance, can either be really bad for your health or neutral -- please read another fun and informative interview with Dr. Kim about this very subject right here. About the good stuff, here's Dr. Kim, "My understanding is that quality brands of naturally fermented soy sauce don’t have added MSG or MSG-like compounds. Cheaper brands use hydrolyzed vegetable protein, which behaves like MSG in the body."
Kikkoman soy sauce is a good brand that both Dr. Kim and I use.
Fried rice is also traditionally prepared with meats, ranging from chicken to pork to shrimp. Personally I like my fried rice with only vegetables, and a lot of them.
The rice is so flavorful and has so many other delicious things in it, as you'll see below, that you're really not missing anything.
Thai Basil and Vegetable Fried Rice
1 cup cooked rice, white or brown, per person (for two people, I prepare one cup of uncooked rice per directions listed here)
2 Tbs Kikkoman soy sauce (Note: both soy sauce and fish sauce are calculated for a serving of two people. Add 2 tsp extra for each additional cup of rice if serving more.)
2 Tbs fish sauce (this is like ketchup in Thai cooking, and it's crucial for the Thai flavor)
1/2 cup yellow onion, minced
1/2 cup carrot, finely minced
2 green onion stalks, chopped in 1/2 inch lengths
1 cup mung bean sprouts
1 egg, scrambled
1 cup fresh basil leaves, torn roughly
1/2 cup cilantro leaves, whole
1 Tbs raw, natural sugar
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 Thai hot pepper, crushed to pieces or finely minced (or 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes -- only add either ingredient if you want your rice HOT)
2 Tbs oil (many recipes I found call for vegetable oil, which is not healthy at all. I used olive oil, which worked fine, despite a few recipes warning me not to use olive oil. Coconut oil would also be good if you can find it. Actually, I plan to try coconut oil next because that will add a lot to the flavor.)
Salt and pepper, optional
Heat your wok on medium heat and add oil. When oil is hot, add both garlic and hot pepper. Stir rigourously for 1-3 seconds -- things should really be sizzling -- then add yellow onion and carrots. It's important here to NOT burn or even slightly brown the garlic. Adding the onion and carrots will slow the cooking.
Add sugar. It will dissolve and mix into the ingredients almost instantly.
Continue to stir until onions shrink and turn translucent. Push everything to one side, or make an empty crater at the center of the wok.
Add additional oil if needed.
Crack egg over empty space and cook, stirring to scramble. When egg is fully cooked, mix garlic, hot pepper, onions, and carrots together.
Add rice. Pour in soy sauce and fish sauce. Stir until rice takes on the "fried" look. Add a little extra soy sauce if the rice is not brown enough.
Now add your salt and pepper, if using.
Stir constantly, paying close attention to the bottom of the wok. You don't want the rice to stick.
Add chopped mung bean sprouts and green onion and cook for 3-5 minutes.
Turn off heat but leave wok on burner. Add remaining ingredients, the basil and cilantro. Stir well until both are fully integrated into the rice. Then remove from heat and you're ready to serve!
I like to garnish with a little extra cilantro on top. You can also add a lime wedge and some raw, cool cucumber slices. Both additions are great if you like your Thai fried rice extra spicy.
- - -
This is exactly how I made my first batch. Ordinarily I'd wait to share the recipe until I've made it two or three times and honed it down, but I was so satisfied with this that I'm comfortable in sharing it.
Here is what I plan to add next time:
One red bell pepper, sliced into thin, long strips
1 medium tomato, cut into 2-inch pieces
I intend to add the bell pepper with the initial onion and carrot, and the tomato with the green onion near the end.
Josh
Co-Editor, The Natural Health Circus
http://chetday.com
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Apple Nut Bars
It's a rainy Sunday afternoon here in rural North Carolina as I write these words, and I thought I'd take a few minutes before knocking off for the day to share one of my favorite snack recipes.
If you like apples and/or oatmeal cookies, you're going to jump on this recipe like white on rice!
Awesome Apple-Nut Bars
1 1/2 cup quick rolled oats
3/4 cup dates, chopped
1 tsp grated orange peel
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup walnuts, chopped
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 cup apples, raw and shredded
Combine all ingredients. Press together into a flat casserole dish. Let stand 10 minutes. Bake at 375F for 20-25 minutes. Slice into little squares and enjoy.
Note: Almonds or other favorite nuts will work well in place of the walnuts. And if you need a high quality coconut oil, I recommend Dr. Ben Kim's Premium Virgin Coconut Oil, which is the only coconut oil we use at our home.
In closing, this recipe for apple nut bars is really easy to make, in addition to being very healthy and delicious.
Give it a try this week and then come back here and post a comment! :)
Chet "Nut Bar" Day
Editor, The Natural Health Circus
http://chetday.com/blog
If you like apples and/or oatmeal cookies, you're going to jump on this recipe like white on rice!
Awesome Apple-Nut Bars
1 1/2 cup quick rolled oats
3/4 cup dates, chopped
1 tsp grated orange peel
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup walnuts, chopped
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 cup apples, raw and shredded
Combine all ingredients. Press together into a flat casserole dish. Let stand 10 minutes. Bake at 375F for 20-25 minutes. Slice into little squares and enjoy.
Note: Almonds or other favorite nuts will work well in place of the walnuts. And if you need a high quality coconut oil, I recommend Dr. Ben Kim's Premium Virgin Coconut Oil, which is the only coconut oil we use at our home.
In closing, this recipe for apple nut bars is really easy to make, in addition to being very healthy and delicious.
Give it a try this week and then come back here and post a comment! :)
Chet "Nut Bar" Day
Editor, The Natural Health Circus
http://chetday.com/blog
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