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Archive for category Making Food Choices

Quiche Recipe – Videos and Recipes for Making a Healthy Yummy Quiche

Mar 3

Posted by Gina in Links I Love, Making Food Choices, Nutrition, Recipes, Recipes via Video | No Comments

Quiches come in a variety of delciousness.  You can make so many variations to the classic quiche but not all quiches are created healthy.  But lucky for us there are some amazingly talented cooks that have assembled some great videos and/or recipes for healthy quiches that are anything but blah. Enjoy!

1. Quizza Pie (Quiche + Pizza)

[Video courtesy of Sophi's Decor]

2. Easy, Cheesy Veggie Torte

[Video courtesy of Healthy Helpings TV]

3. Asparagus Goat Cheese Quiche

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

[Videos courtesy of Expert Village]

4. Mini Quiche Cups

[Video courtesy of Monkey See]

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Ways to Save Money on Healthy Food Options!

Jul 22

Posted by Jason in Eating Naturally, Healthy Lifestyle, Making Food Choices, Nutrition | 2 Comments

Thinking of eating healthier, but the thought of potentially paying more for food holding you back? Healthy food doesn’t have to be more expensive than processed! Check out the following discussion about how to more efficiently use the food you buy, therefore resulting in less waste, and also check out the tips that follow about how to spend less on healthier food.

Calculate the percentage of food, if any, that you currently may end up wasting due to spoilage or other factors within your control. You may be wasting more food than you think! And don’t beat yourself up over it if you do! We all have wasted food. The goal is to realize this, and make every effort possible to minimize it.

But don’t think that you should go ahead and eat more than you should just because you don’t want to waste. That would defeat the purpose of trying to lose weight! Instead, it all comes down to planning out what is the right amount of food for you…

Plan out your meals carefully, and only prepare what you will reasonably eat in one sitting. If you’re cooking for two, then this means cooking for two! Don’t fall into the trap of having leftovers, because there is likely a certain percentage of time that the leftovers will go uneaten. All it takes is the proper planning.

Reduce the size of your recipes! Keep in mind that many recipes are designed to feed 4 – 8 people. Now if you’re cooking for 4 or 8 people, then that’s great! But what if you have found the most awesome recipe that you would like to try, but you will only be cooking for two (or a lesser number of people than what the recipe calls for)? All you have to do is proportionately reduce the amount of ingredients that are called for. For example, if you have a recipe that makes 4 servings, but you are only cooking for 2, then you can use half as much of each item that the recipe calls for. For another example, if you have a recipe that makes 6 servings, but are cooking for 2, then you can use only 1/3 of what the recipe requires.

Keep a close eye on your pantry and refrigerator, and be aware of what food is the freshest, and what may spoil soon. Rotate your meals accordingly. Try to first use up what will spoil soon, and then move on to the fresher items.

Plan ahead when grocery shopping, and buy a good variety of foods that will keep things interesting, healthy, and flavorful. This may entail attempting to plan out your meals ahead of time, and buying only the ingredients you need. Mix it up, so that the variety keeps things exciting, and you don’t get bored with what you buy, letting it sit in the fridge or pantry until it spoils.

Rotate your stock of food! When you buy new items, and when you may have a couple of the same item in the pantry, don’t put the new in front of the old. Instead, place the new in back of it, so you don’t end up eating the newest first, and then inadvertently letting the older food go bad.

These were just some ideas to help lessen the amount of food that gets wasted or goes uneaten and then spoils. If you are looking to purchase healthier food, like mentioned previously in the article, then the above ideas can help save some money on food in general, which can then be applied toward healthier options! Read on for some tips to make healthy food less expensive overall for you…

Buy fresh produce in season, and watch for sales! Typically, produce that is in season is cheaper, and many stores offer sales on these options during this time!

save money on groceries

Keep an open mind! With so many different kinds of fresh produce, there are some that are consistently less expensive than others. Consider trying as many different kinds as you can! Eventually, you will see that you and your palate may begin to like things you previously wouldn’t have even considered before! Rotate those kinds of items in from time to time. You will see that you can plan out your meal selections using the wide variety of produce available, and be able to save money on all these healthy options.

Check to see if there are farmers’ markets or actual farms that you can purchase from in your local area. A great place to start looking is localharvest.org. You can search by zip code to find options near you. Many farmers’ markets feature local growers who sell their products at a fair price, sometimes less than your local supermarket! Since many of them sell direct from their farms, there is no need for a distributor and retailer, both of which mark up the price to get their share of the profit. Without these two involved, you may be able to keep those extra dollars in your pocket!

Be willing to try new brands of healthy options. Now, of course, many of us won’t be eating only just fruits and vegetables. Some things may have to come out of a box or package, but luckily, there are many quality products out there with natural ingredients, and without a whole bunch of artificial ones. A lot of these brands you may have never heard of before! To take advantage of these great options, you may have to try a brand you are unfamiliar with. For some reason, advertising and conditioning make some of us think that only familiar brands are of good quality. That is totally not the case. There are so many high-quality items out there that are not widely known, and many times, they are much better than the name brands.

The same goes for multiple brands of the same kind of item. Say that you want to buy a box of green tea. The brand you usually get is not on sale, but another brand is. The tea inside is likely quite similar and tastes almost identical, so don’t be afraid to buy the brand that is on sale this time! You can save a lot of money by being willing to buy different brands of a very similar item.

If you have the time, try to cook from scratch as much as possible. You will save a good deal of money this way, instead of purchasing pre-packaged or ready-made meals, and most of the time, meals made this way can be much healthier, and without all the processing and artificial ingredients. Their components are usually much less expensive as well!

Consider kicking the soda habit, and make tea at home instead. With a 12-pack of soda running nearly $5 nowadays, this can add up if you drink a lot of it! In some instances, you can get a box of 100 tea bags for the same price! 12 servings for $5, or 100? I would opt for the latter option! You can even brew it up in an iced tea maker, and put it in the refrigerator for a nice cold beverage anytime!

Shop around. You may have been going to the same supermarket for years, even though there are several others close to you. Consider checking the others out to see if they have lower prices.

Try a natural foods store, if there is one nearby. There are large natural foods supermarkets in most urban areas. Although some items may be a bit pricier, many others may be drastically less! And there are usually healthy items galore at these places – many of which you may have never seen before. Remember, keep an open mind, because there are some tasty, tasty options out there!

Consider purchasing certain items in bulk. Now when I refer to “bulk,” I am not referring to the type of bulk that you may find at your local warehouse store. If you do have a large family, then you may consider purchasing fresh items from there, but the “bulk” that I am referring to is natural food options that are in the bulk bins. Many major chain stores offer these now, and you may find these at many natural food supermarkets as well. These are the open bins of everything from cashews to granola; flour to raisins; and then some! You know, the ones where you scoop it out, put it in a plastic bag, weigh it, and mark it! The prices on some of these items are remarkable, and you can buy them in as little or as much of a quantity as you want.

Consider starting a garden in your own backyard! You can’t get much more cost-effective than this, and it certainly can be rewarding to literally see the fruits of your labor. You get to see exactly where your food comes from, and get a side benefit of some extra exercise! Just do your research thoroughly first to make sure this will be right for you, as it can be quite an undertaking.

Well, hopefully these tips can help you get started with saving money on healthy food options! What tips do you have that I haven’t mentioned? What experiences do you have with shopping for healthy and natural food options?

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Why is processed food sometimes less expensive than healthier options?

Jul 21

Posted by Jason in Eating Naturally, Healthy Lifestyle, Making Food Choices, Nutrition | No Comments

It is possible to eat healthy and to not break the bank at the same time! Yes, at times, it seems that high quality or fresh food is a lot more expensive than its counterparts, but it doesn’t have to be that way! Just by planning ahead and being a savvy shopper, you can eat very well on a budget.

So when I say “counterparts” to high quality or fresh food, what do I mean? Well, this is the stuff that comes in a box and is loaded with a bunch of ingredients that may not be that healthy for you. For some reason though, this can be the food that is the cheapest!

I’ve had trouble figuring out the logic to this… I mean, there is a lot of packaging associated with these items which costs money to produce, as well as a lot of advertising involved to get people to buy the product, and “think” that it is great! So couple these extra expenses, and one would think that this kind of extensively processed and packaged food would be more expensive than the fresh produce that doesn’t even have any packaging or advertising at all!

Well, some of the equation that may explain this may be behind the scenes. Subsidies given to these corporations may be involved, bringing the cost down. These subsidies may be for ingredients that are mass produced and can have a wide variety of derivatives coming from them. Take the infamous and heavily used substance, high fructose corn syrup. You can find this as one of the top and most used ingredients in many cheap, packaged, processed foods.

We’ll do a whole discussion about this in the future, but for now, you can probably see where this is heading. These packaged and processed foods may be so much less expensive than their counterparts because they have incredibly cheap ingredients. Many of them are quite high in their calorie content and may be low in nutrients. They may also be some form of sugar or another, which in excess, is not good for the body. Furthermore, they may actually be synthetic chemical additives to enhance flavor and appearance, many of which we don’t know the long-term effects of, because they have never really been extensively studied.

And that’s not-to-mention that they may be devoid of any real sustaining nutritional value, so our bodies process them so rapidly, that we end up feeling hungry shortly after eating them! Think of bleached, enriched white flour, which is a major ingredient found in many commercial brands of bread. You almost might as well eat nothing, because in the process of producing the flour, the processing strips away almost all the nutritional benefits and aspects of a wheat kernel – most notably the germ of it. And I’m not referring to bacteria! The “germ” of a wheat kernel is where a large portion of the nutritional value resides. When you see the term “enriched” in an ingredient such as flour, this means that it has been artificially “enriched” with vitamins, essentially to replace the nutrients that were taken away through the bleaching process. More on this in a later post…

Anyways, yes, this kind of food may be less expensive, may be tasty, and may seem like a good value, but, as the old saying goes, you get what you pay for.

Unfortunately, these kinds of foods have been so mass produced, available, and widely advertised for so many years, that they may have shifted much of the public’s perceptions on food. We may perceive that these packaged and processed foods are normal and what constitute an average diet. And our palates may have been trained in that direction as well! It may now be time for some retraining! (More on this in a future post.)

The unfortunate thing about cheap, processed food is that it can be a large contributor to weight gain, since a good deal of it contains a large amount of empty calories. It can work against you in the battle to lose weight, and achieve an overall healthy balance.

Unfortunately too, many people may still end up eating these overly packaged and processed foods, because many times, they are less expensive than healthier options. But did you know that this doesn’t always have to be the case…

Come back tomorrow for some tips on how you can save money and eat healthier at the same time!

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On managing portion sizes…

Jul 19

Posted by Jason in Avoiding Traps, Dining Out, Eating Naturally, Making Food Choices | No Comments

As we believe there is a huge psychological component to the overall action of eating, we wanted to briefly discuss how portion sizes, especially those served at many restaurants, can, over time, influence the average portion sizes you tend to consume on a regular basis.

It kind of goes along with the old saying “you have eyes bigger than your stomach.”

At many restaurants, you order an entrée, and the plate comes out completely packed full of food.  As this is the norm at a large majority of restaurants, you may feel that these must be portions that are normal for a person to eat.  Furthermore, couple that with something you may have heard as a kid:  “Don’t leave anything on your plate!  Remember, there’s starving people in China!”

Now we’re certainly not advocating the waste of food.  But what we are saying is that it helps to be conscious of when you physically feel full, and of how much food is the right amount for you to eat in a sitting.  When you are conscious of these things, portion sizes that fit a healthy intake for you can naturally result out of habit.  This can positively affect your decision as to how much you serve yourself at home, and what you may end up ordering at a restaurant.

So keep in mind that what is put on your plate at a restaurant is likely the result of a formula that was devised to make the restaurant more money.  Even though the portion may be huge for an $11 plate, making it seem like a good value, the larger portion at the slightly higher price may be proportionately making the restaurant more profit.

An easy rule to remember, which may be a reversal from what was ingrained in you as a child, is that just because it is on your plate, doesn’t mean that you have to eat it!

Here are some easy tips that may help you better recognize when you are full:

Eat slowly. When you savor the flavor and pause a bit between bites, you can, as stated in as simplistic terms as possible, let your brain catch up with your stomach.  If you scarf down your dinner really fast, without pausing or taking a small break in between bites, then you may consume food quicker than the brain can produce a natural feeling of satiety.

Find a sense of being “full” that feels healthy for you. At some point, many of us may have defined “full” as being completely stuffed, which may mean not being able to physically consume any more food without feeling a bit of nausea or indigestion.  That may not be the type of full that is healthy for you!  A healthier sense of being full may instead be a feeling of being satisfied, content, and no longer hungry, but not so much so that you feel like taking a nap!  Like I mentioned before, it may help to try to be very conscious of how you feel while you are eating, and establish a reference point that you can readily recognize where you feel satisfied, and not hungry again in just a few hours.

Once you have established these reference points, or “cues”, try to size your portions accordingly. With practice, you should be able to recognize what portion sizes it will take with just about any kind of food to get to this point.  Prepare your meal or order your selection accordingly.

Bottom line – you know what the right portion is for yourself.  Don’t let someone else condition you into thinking what it is.  Restaurants usually put the same amount of food on their plates for everyone, but do you think everyone has the same appetite?  Don’t be afraid to take home some leftovers, or to leave a little bit on your plate.

Check back soon for some related topics!

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“Food” may not really be what you think it is…

Jul 11

Posted by Jason in Dining Out, Eating Naturally, Healthy Lifestyle, Making Food Choices, Nutrition, Science | 1 Comment

Enticing displays of juicy, tasty cheeseburgers flash across your TV screen.  Fit people in a serene setting are chomping them down voraciously.  Then, the next commercial comes on.  It starts with a person doing his afternoon jog.  He jogs right home, then the next frame shows him at the bar with buddies slugging down the newest light beer.  Next, the baseball game comes back on.  The camera pans across the crowd.  You see dozens of people munching on hot dogs, peanuts, and candy, all-the-while sloshing it down with large sodas.  The ads displayed on the outfield fence include more beer advertisements, fast food icons, soda companies, candy logos, car manufacturers, and well…you get the picture!

What does all this remind you of?

Now, think about shopping at the supermarket, especially in the inner aisles of the store.  You may be envisioning shelves lined with colorful and attractive boxes.  Picture yourself strolling through the cereal aisle where this is overwhelmingly evident.  Fun-faced characters are almost literally leaping out of the boxes, grabbing your attention.  Then, upon a closer look, you see something like “15 vitamins and minerals” or “no cholesterol.”

In many of the aisles, you see highly-branded and vivid displays that vie for your attention even more.  Every other one of them seems to be filled with some form of alcohol, soda, or snack.

Now, think of what your cart may look like when it is time to roll through the check-out lane.

Do you see these things in your cart?

But the most important question of all is:  Does all of this seem like just your regular perception of what food is?  Does it just seem to be the way it is?  Is it all you have ever known?  In other words, are these boxes, plastic bags, bottles, cartons, and cans filled with concoctions what has come to be your daily sustenance?

If you answered yes to most or all of these questions, you certainly are not the seeming minority!

In my opinion, here in North America, this is what most of us have grown up with.  As a result, it just seems to be the way it is.  Long lists of ingredients.  Lots of sugary substances in almost everything.  Salt literally overflowing.  Saturated fat very prevalent.  Loads of calories in every tasty treat.

Most of all though, lots of “flavor.”  It’s what keeps us coming back for more.

It is possible that many of our palates have become conditioned into thinking that this is what food is – lots of “taste” filled with different kinds of fats, many kinds of sugars, and lots of salt.  With endless combinations, it seems to make everything good.  But really, it may not be good for us, and it certainly doesn’t work well to help us along toward the goal of a healthy equilibrium of mind, body, and spirit.

If you do find that your diet mainly consists of items similar to what I mentioned above, and you don’t really consider yourself to be one who ventures too far out of that realm, for fear of the unknown or a remembrance of one incidence many years ago when you tried a different kind of food and found that you “didn’t like it,” just remember that there is a whole other world of food out there that awaits you.

And if that makes you feel a bit uneasy because you feel that it may not be as good as what you are used to, think again!  Now I’m not saying that you should totally abandon every type of food that you currently eat, but I am suggesting two things:

1.    Consider really looking into what is in the food you currently eat, especially if it typically comes out of a box, bag, or carton.  Pay close attention to the ingredients.  Understand the nutrition facts.  Analyze the amount of calories and fat.  And very important, see if it contributes to an overall balanced diet.  But there are many definitions about what a balanced diet really is.  More on that in another post.

2.    Learn about and try new foods, especially from other cultures and ethnicities.  Many varieties of Asian, Indian, Middle Eastern, South American, and others are extraordinarily flavorful, and usually quite healthy.  They tend to be filled with vegetables, grains, lean meats, spices, and lots of flavor.  Some are lower in fat and calories too, and have quite natural ingredients.

So in summary, don’t let your current views about what food is stand in the way of breaking free from a diet centered around the box or the fast food joint.  Reconsidering your perceptions about food in general can be an important step toward the way of eating which may suit you best!

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So, what is the right way to eat?

Jul 9

Posted by Jason in Eating Naturally, Finding Your Way, Making Food Choices, Nutrition | No Comments

So with all this talk about the emotional and psychological aspects of eating (and overeating), we can’t overlook the question many of us may be asking:  What exactly is the right way to eat?

Now, to start, let’s do an examination of what’s behind this question…

We all generally may be under the impression that there is a right way and a wrong way to eat.  Of course, there may be some truth behind this notion.  But instead of looking at it purely from a black and white perspective, one that aligns with an idea that there is a totally “right” and/or “wrong” way to eat, let’s view it this way:

There are indeed “better” ways to eat that may be more beneficial or less detrimental than others.  For example, it is pretty easy to assume that eating apples for snacks is a better thing to eat than a bag of potato chips.

And to further examine the question presented earlier, other aspects about eating must be considered.  How important is taste?  Should it outweigh nutrition?  Do I need to think about portion sizes and calories?  What about fat, cholesterol, sugar, carbs, and the myriad of other components of food?  Is it good to spend more on quality, or eat lower-quality foods and save money?  Does it really matter?  Is red meat less healthy than leaner meats?  Is soda really not a good thing to drink regularly?

So when looking at the inquiry “what exactly is the right way to eat,” it is evident that just this one question can generate a nearly endless list of others.

As a result, we tend to view this question as one that doesn’t have a definitive answer; rather, it is one that takes some education and understanding of food in general to come to a conclusion.  With this understanding, it can then be easy for the individual to make a sound decision as to what is the right way for him or her to eat, based on individual needs.

This especially rings true for those who are looking to achieve a healthy equilibrium of mind and body.  Like we have mentioned before, we believe one of the keys to achieving weight loss is to focus on achieving a balanced life – then, the weight can just come off naturally, almost like a by-product of getting to this healthy balance.  What a person in this scenario may benefit from is a way of eating that not only addresses the foods that present problems, but one that also centers primarily on those that nourish the body.  All-the-while though, tasty varieties of this sort may be important to this person, as previously, taste and gratification were the most important factors when it came to selecting food.  So this person may benefit from trying and learning about certain ethnic foods that are quite healthy, but also very satisfying in flavor.

As you can see, the “right” way to eat for this individual may be different than the “right” way for others.

To us, we feel that this is an area where many people cannot be left to just fly blindly and try to navigate through the North American food world unprepared, uneducated, or misinformed.  There are so many options out there with regards to purchasing food, and almost equally as much information to know about it out there.  When a person learns about and understands the benefits and potential pitfalls of these options, he or she can then have the arsenal of tools on hand that can help answer the question of:

What exactly is the right way for me to eat?

We feel that is the better question to ask.  We want to help provide you with some tools to be able to better answer that question for yourself.  That will be a regular component of Diet Renegade over time.  Check back regularly!

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