Pretty (Healthy) Food

Here are five simple rules to follow to make a “cleaner” diet actually palatable and sufficient:

1. Combine foods that look and taste good together. Eating a more nutrient-dense diet is actually fun if the tastes and textures complement each other well. The dinner combination pictured here is pistachio encrusted chicken, mashed cauliflower, asparagus and roasted mixed veggies. The dessert is plain frozen yogurt topped with blackberries, mango and tapioca. The dinner is from Melissa’s kitchen (contact her at Tri Valley Trainer for the recipe). The yogurt is from Yola Tea on Division near Main St.
2. Keep “indulgences” early in the day and emphasize veggies and lean protein after mid-afternoon.
3. Change your salad composition frequently. A mixed green salad with carrots, beets and hard boiled eggs could be followed by an Asian cabbage chicken salad, and then a spinach salad with strawberries and grapes or pears and feta cheese.
4. Grill meat with colorful, textured seasonings like Mrs. Dash rather than salt or salty/sugary marinades.
5. Try a variety of high-fiber grains like quinoa (also high in protein), barley and oats, and add nuts or seeds to increase both the protein and the blood-sugar stabilizing qualities that help curb impulse eating and over-eating. Cooking dinner grains in vegetable broth and making oatmeal with milk also improves both the nutrient value and the taste.

Putting some thought into dinners can go a long way toward chiseling a leaner body, since the impact on your daily caloric equation increases significantly the closer you get to bedtime. Additionally, going to bed satisfied (but not feeling the heaviness of a big meal) helps create a morning appetite, which, in turn, makes it easier to provide adequate calories early in the day and help avoid hunger and overconsumption later the next day.

And so it continues…

Want more useful information on how to eat well and get in shape? Contact Dan at Tri Valley Trainer