Healthy Cooking and Eating Clean

Welcome back to Fitness Fanatic! Helping you achieve your goals and motivating you to eat healthy, workout and enjoy life. This is one of my greatest passions. However, another passion of mine is cooking. Cooking is something I have always enjoyed since I was a young boy helping my mom and grandma in the kitchen.  As I get older and I’ve learned more about healthy eating and the importance of nutritional supplements, I decided to make healthy changes in recipes of my own.  Today on the blog we are going to discuss healthy eating and some of my favorite healthy recipes.

Eating healthy is important for many reasons. For starters, a healthy diet aids in digestion, overall health and disease prevention.  Healthy eating includes consuming quality protein, energy inducing carbohydrates, heart-healthy fats, vitamins and lots of water. When eating healthy we should look at the food pyramid to learn how many fruits, vegetables, dairy, carbohydrates and protein we should consume in a day to maintain a healthy 2,000 calorie diet. The food we eat is what fuels our bodies for daily activity, we need to build strong healthy bodies to live longer and avoid illness and disease. In a previous post, I talked about the importance of a food journal, a food journal will help you keep track of what you are eating and make sure you are following a healthy diet of protein, vegetables, wheat and dairy. Protein whether animal based or planet based fuels our bodies with energy, improves our immune systems and helps us stay strong. It is important to incorporate protein into your daily diet. We should limit our amount of sugar and fats as it is more difficult for our bodies to digest.  Carbohydrates also provide our bodies with energy but an excess can lead to slower digestion causing slowed metabolism or weight gain.  It is important to take note of what you are consuming throughout the day and a great way to keep track of what you eat is to cook your meals and avoid added calories.

This is an image of a food pyramid which is a great guide to follow.

When cooking it is important to incorporate healthy fats, carbs, protein and vegetables. I for one love a home cooked meal and found the importance of making that meal healthy and nutritious for my body.  Cooking a meal at home insures natural ingredients, less sodium, low dairy and fewer calories than going to a restaurant or fast-food joint. You can also save a lot of time and money by choosing to cook a meal at home, even if you live alone and don’t want to make a ton of food for one person there are a lot of quick and easy recipes that make less or provide leftovers for the week.

One of my favorite home cooked meals is grilled barbecue chicken breast with a salad. Chicken breast is a great source of protein because it is very lean white meat. White meat compared to red meat like steak is much healthier for you. You should only eat red meat once or twice a week. Red meat has tons of protein, vitamins, and minerals but it also has a lot of fats. White meat such as poultry and fish has less saturated fats than red meat and reduce risk of cardiovascular disease. I lightly season the chicken breast with Mrs. Dash Seasoning which is low in calories and sodium but tastes great. I grill the chicken for 30-40 minutes and lightly coat with Sweet Baby Rays Barbeque Sauce.  As I am not a super fancy eater I like a simple salad with lettuce, cucumber, tomato and balsamic vinaigrette lightly drizzled.  You can enjoy with the chicken tossed into the salad or on the side! This meal is easy to make and can be made for one person or multiple people.

Here is a picture of one of my favorite home cooked meals, grilled chicken breast and a salad.

Dessert is one of my favorite meals, however many desserts are high in calories, fats and sugars.  Brownies are my all-time favorite dessert and knowing I can never give them up I searched high and low for an alternative healthy recipe. A great one I found substitutes almond flour for white flour, Greek yogurt for thickness, less sugar and unsweetened cocoa powder for sweetness.  These brownies are easy to make, healthy and delicious.

Here is an image of some chocolate greek yogurt brownies.

It is important to eat healthy for our minds and bodies. We need to fuel our bodies with nutrients that keep us filled with energy to live longer and prevent disease.  Cooking is a great way to make sure we follow the food pyramid and keep track of what we consume on a daily basis.  I love learning new recipes so feel free to leave your favorite recipe in the comment box below!