Simple ways to turn
everyday meals into healthy feasts
Do you have a favorite recipe that you’d love to prepare in a more heart healthy way, retaining the flavors while reducing the fat, sugar, and sodium? Tina Bost, RD/LD, Clinical Dietitian – Outpatient Transplantation, Instructor, Mayo Clinic, has five key guidelines that can make even your most decadent favorites more heart healthy.
Reduce the amount of
fat, sugar and sodium.
· Fats: “For baked goods use half the butter, shortening or oil and replace with unsweetened applesauce, prune puree or mashed banana,” says Bost.
· Sugar: Reduce the amount of sugar by one-third to one-half and add spices such as cinnamon, cloves, allspice or nutmeg. Or add vanilla or almond flavoring. “These additions will enhance the natural sweetness of the food,” explains Bost.
· Sodium: For main dishes, eliminate salt completely. For baked goods, Bost suggests that you reduce salt by half in baked goods that don’t require yeast. “With yeast baked goods, salt is necessary for leavening,” says Bost.
Make healthy
substitutions.
· Use whole wheat pasta instead of white/enriched pasta. “That triples the amount of fiber too,” says Bost.
· Use fat-free milk instead of whole milk in desserts. “That saves you 63 calories and eight grams of fat per cup in recipes,” she says.
· Use whole wheat flour instead of white flour.
· Flax seed meal provides omega 3 fatty acids and fiber. “You can substitute ground flax seed for all or most oil,” explains Bost. “The ratio is three tablespoons of flax seed meal replaces one tablespoon of butter, margarine or oil. It also browns faster, so watch carefully,” she says.
Delete ingredients.
· Skip the frosting on cakes or cupcakes. “Sometimes we use items out of habit or for their appearance,” says Bost.
· Don’t add the coconut or nuts that are high in fat and calories.
· Leave butter off of the popcorn.
· Don’t salt boiling water.
· Avoid condiments such as pickles, olives, butter, mayonnaise, syrup, jellies, etc.
Change the method of
preparation.
· Try steaming, grilling, braising, broiling, or boiling. “You still get the flavor and nutrients without extra fat that frying brings,” she says.
· Use non-stick pans or spray with non-stick spray instead of using butter or oil.
Change the portion
size!
·
No more super sizing! “No matter how much you
reduce the fat, sugar and sodium, you can’t double the portion size,” says
Bost.
· Eat a wider variety of food and try to stick to whole foods instead of processed foods so you can get the maximum amount of nutrition.