Nutritious and delicious really do go together. March is National Nutrition Month® (NNM), and this year’s theme focuses on marrying taste with healthfulness. Here are 10 of my top ways to Enjoy the Taste of Eating Right. Try some of them to celebrate NNM, and then keep it up all year. After all, shouldn’t delicious, nutritious food be a reality everyday, all year?
Season plain steamed vegetables with a garlicky heart-healthy oil instead of butter or margarine.
I just learned this fabulous technique from Food Network host Ellie Krieger, MS, RDN. Check out Ellie’s newest book Weeknight Wonders.
Sauté thinly sliced garlic in oil over low heat, being careful not to burn it. When the garlic turns just golden, remove the pan from the heat. Toss the garlic and oil with steamed vegetables.
Skip the croutons.
Sprinkle toasted nuts over your salad for a healthy crunch.
Replace less healthy meats with fish at least twice weekly.
For a super speedy, delicious topping to salmon or other fish, whisk together the following. Simply pour it on the cooked fish immediately before serving.
- 2 – 3 crushed garlic cloves
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 tablespoons lemon juice
- Handful of fresh basil leaves, chopped
Make salads interesting with less common ingredients.
Over a mound of greens and your favorite salad vegetables, add marinated artichoke hearts, canned garbanzo beans (drained and rinsed), dried cherries, frozen peas (defrosted, of course), ready-to-eat steamed and peeled beets, and any other favorite fruit, vegetable or nut you have available.
Use barley in place of pasta in your favorite pasta salad recipe.
Serve barley pilaf as a side dish. Barley has a fiber called beta-glucan that can help control both cholesterol and blood glucose levels.
Add fresh herbs liberally.
These tiny leaves are packed with flavor, texture and loads of health boosters. I grow herbs outside in the summer and on my kitchen counter in my Aerogarden during the colder months.
- Toss chopped cilantro, basil and dill with your salad greens.
- Mix dill with other seasonings for fish.
- Slip basil leaves into sandwiches, especially with tomatoes.
- Try mint with cucumbers, peas or melon.
- Chop parsley over beef stew.
- Check out basic and ethnic books to learn more about seasonings.
Buy a rice cooker.
I promise that you’ll love this simple way to prepare brown rice as well as other whole grains, including barley, faro, wheat berries, oats and more. The beauty is that it cooks while you do other things. Just measure the grain and the water or broth. Turn it on and go about your business. The rice cooker turns itself off when it’s done.
Add extra vegetables to the foods you already eat regularly.
Vegetables, vegetables and more vegetables is a key to good health. Try some of these:
- Add shredded carrots or zucchini to ground meat when making meatloaf or meatballs.
- Stuff sandwiches with more veggies than meat. Think beyond lettuce, tomato and onion. Go for spinach, red and yellow peppers, mushrooms, avocado, and more.
- Add diced cauliflower or broccoli to casseroles like lasagna and macaroni and cheese.
- Dip raw veggies into hummus or salsa.
- Add green beans, eggplant, mushrooms or summer squash to any favorite jarred spaghetti sauce.
Flavor your water.
Instead of drinking sugary, calorie-laden beverages, flavor water or tea with fruit and herbs instead. If you’d like to use an infusion pitcher, you can pick one up for about $25, but really you can do this with any pitcher you have on hand. Try some of these.
- Pineapple cubes and orange slices
- Blackberries and lime slices with mint
- Cucumber slices with mint
- Lemon or oranges slices or both
Eat mindfully.
It’s time to stop racing through your meals, which results in both excess calories and less pleasure. Often when we eat fast, we don’t get the signals that we’ve had enough until we’ve overeaten. Next time you sit down to a meal, really look at your food. Smell it. Think about it. Taste it. Chew it slowly and feel it over your tongue and on the top of your mouth. Swallow only when your food is fully chewed, and don’t take another bite until the first one is gone. By slowing down and savoring every bite, you will be physically and psychologically satisfied with less food. You’ll feel less harried, and you may even suffer less heartburn and other GI upset.
