You want to lose some weight and be healthier, but you know you cannot follow any diet, no matter how easy it is.
Fortunately, it is possible to do it and eat healthier foods by changing some dietary and cooking habits in your daily meals.
Using the ingredients in your pantry
Eating less processed foods, using less oil, cooking with healthier methods, and including nutritious ingredients are some activities you can vary in your life.
You can start a healthy lifestyle using the common ingredients you have in your pantry, but cooking them differently.
This means cooking with better methods like baking, roasting, steaming, broiling, and poaching. In addition, you have to reduce the number of oils and butter in the preparations.
As for the ingredients, if you take a closer look at your usual food purchases, you will realize that you already have enough components to start a new eating plan.
Rice
For example, rice. This humble grain will be your best ally when trying to cook healthy meals. The idea is to combine it with other nutritious ingredients to create delicious and balanced dishes. Pair with some vegetables and lean meat in one pot dishes and you will have a healthy meal.
Go to https://carolinarice.com/products/white-rice/ to learn more about this grain and how to use it in various recipes. In addition, you will see the nutritional value of this enriched white rice.
Whole wheat pasta, quinoa, and couscous
Whole wheat pasta, quinoa, and couscous are also great ingredients for making a balanced diet. These three ingredients are full of fiber that helps to maintain a good digestive process and makes you fill fuller for a longer time. They are versatile and combined with sauces or vegetables turn out to be a super beneficial food.
Oats
Oats are another component you should use more in your dishes. They help to reduce cholesterol levels and are also a filling ingredient. Oats can be included in salads, porridge, granola bars, and muffins.
Vegetables
The obvious ingredients in your kitchen are vegetables. They have to be your number-one choice when preparing nutritious meals. To make the most of them, you must cook vegetables with healthy methods. They are perfect as side dishes or paired with rice, couscous, pasta, and other preparations.
Eggs
Eggs are one of those essential ingredients in your kitchen. They have a high content of proteins, minerals, vitamins, and good fats. They are super versatile and can be added poached, boiled, scrambled, baked, and omelet to thousands of dishes. Eggs go perfect in salads (boiled), scrambled in rice, steamed at the top of meats, and much more preparations.
Oils
Remember to cook with healthy oils like canola oil, olive oil, sunflower oil, flax-seed oil, avocado oil, walnut oil, and sesame oil.
Begin your new plan with this easy recipe
Cooking healthy dishes can be very fun and easy. Once you learn and get used to combining you will always make nutritious dishes.
One-pan rice
Ingredients:
- 1 tablespoon of sunflower oil.
- 2 crushed garlic cloves.
- 2 tablespoons of curry paste.
- 1 cup of basmati rice.
- 1 cup of spinach.
- 2 cups of vegetable stock.
- 1 can of chickpeas.
- ½ cup of raisins.
- Salt and black pepper to taste.
- ½ cup of cashew nuts.
- Natural yogurt to serve.
Preparation:
- In a saucepan, pour sunflower oil and heat at medium temperature.
- Add garlic and curry paste, and cook for 5 minutes.
- Incorporate rice, spinach, vegetable stock, chickpeas, raisins, salt, and black pepper. Stir very well.
- Cook until the mixture boils.
- Reduce temperature and cook for 25 minutes.
- When it is ready, turn off the heat and add cashews. Mix.
- Serve with natural yogurt.