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To see how many servings a package has, check the "servings per container" listed on its Nutrition Facts. You may be surprised to find that small containers often have more than one serving inside.
Learning to recognize standard serving sizes can help you judge how much you are eating. When cooking for yourself, use measuring cups and spoons to measure your usual food portions and compare them to standard serving sizes from Nutrition Facts of packaged food products for a week or so. Put the suggested serving size that appears on the label on your plate before you start eating. This will help you see what one standard serving of a food looks like compared to how much you normally eat.
It may also help to compare serving sizes to everyday objects. For example, 1/4 cup of raisins is about the size of a large egg. Three ounces of meat or poultry is about the size of a deck of cards. See other serving size comparisons below. (Keep in mind that these size comparisons are approximations.)
Serving Sizes |
Everyday Objects |
| 1 cup of cereal = a fist |
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| 1/2 cup of cooked rice, pasta, or potato = 1/2 baseball |
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| 1 baked potato = a fist |
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| 1 medium fruit = a baseball |
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| 1/2 cup of fresh fruit = 1/2 baseball |
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| 1 1/2 ounces of low-fat or fat-free cheese = 4 stacked dice |
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| 1/2 cup of ice cream = 1/2 baseball |
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| 2 tablespoons of peanut butter = a ping-pong ball |
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| Source : National Institutes of Health |
Looking for an easy healthy recipe? If youre watching your weight and are having difficulty finding recipes that are low in calories and fat, check out these healthy dishes. These recipes result in tasty meals that are easy and inexpensive to make.
To make this Southwest Chicken easy healthy recipe, brown boneless, skinless chicken breast halves in a skillet with vegetable oil over medium high heat. Add a can of diced tomatoes with green chili peppers, a can of black beans, and a can of whole kernel corn to the skillet. Reduce the heat and let the chicken simmer for 25 to 30 minutes, until it is cooked. Add a dash of ground cumin and serve.
This easy healthy recipe for winter veggie pasta features whole grain spaghetti tossed with tomato sauce, cannellini beans, and winter vegetables. In a Dutch oven, cook the whole grain spaghetti. Omit salt and add broccoli florets for the last three minutes. Drain the pasta and broccoli and return it to the Dutch oven. Stir in a can of diced tomatoes with no salt added, tomato paste, cannellini beans, garlic, salt, and pepper. Stir in fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley at the end. Sprinkle the pasta with grated Parmesan cheese.
This easy healthy recipe for white chili takes a twist on traditional chili. It contains ground chicken, white beans, and green chilies. In a saucepan, cook ground chicken, chopped onion, and finely chopped garlic for five to seven minutes while stirring constantly. Cook the chicken till its no longer pink. Stir in dried oregano leaves, ground cumin, cayenne, chopped zucchini, cannellini beans, and green chilies. Bring the chili to a boil and then reduce the heat and cover the sauce pan. Let the chili simmer for ten minutes, until the zucchini is tender. Remove the chili from the heat and then stir in shredded, reduced fat Monterey Jack cheese till it melts.
This easy, healthy recipe for Mexican soup is flavorful and simple. In a saucepan, mix cooked, cubed chicken, reduced-sodium chicken broth, vegetable juice cocktail, a can of whole kernel corn, a jar of organic salsa, and chopped green chilies. Bring the soup to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce the heat and let the soup simmer for ten minutes before stirring in fresh, chopped cilantro.
This easy healthy recipe for Thai noodle salad is quick to make and packed with delicious veggies. Break a package of vermicelli in half. Cook the vermicelli as directed on the package. Drain the vermicelli in a strainer and rinse it with cold water. In a large bowl, toss the vermicelli with shredded carrot, quartered cucumber, chopped red bell pepper, sliced green onions, chopped cilantro, and Thai peanut stir-fry sauce. Make sure that the ingredients are coated evenly with the sauce. If you want to make the salad a day ahead, cover and refrigerate the vermicelli and vegetables in separate bowls. Combine all of the ingredients and toss right before serving.
Whether you need to lose weight or you have to change your diet because youre at risk of developing an illness, learning to prepare healthy food & recipes are an essential part of leading a healthier lifestyle. Many people think home cooking and eating healthy is tedious and results in tasteless food, but eating well doesnt have to be hard or unpleasant.
Once you grow accustomed to preparing your own food and trying new recipes, youll most likely come to enjoy it because it will allow you to experiment with new flavors, textures, and aromas. Cooking healthy food & recipes at home can also help you save money, lose weight, and prevent serious medical conditions, like heart disease and diabetes.
Read more...Theres no need to ban your favorite food & recipes in order to improve your diet. You can continue to eat the same dishes and follow the same recipes as long as you make an effort to make them healthier.
Replace white rice and pasta with whole grain sides like kasha, bulgur, or quinoa. Use low-fat dairy products in food & recipes that contain cheese, milk, or cream. In recipes that contain unhealthy fats, like butter, margarine, or oil, cut the fats by 1/3 to 1/2. With food & recipes that contain garlic salt or onion salt, use garlic powder or onion powder instead. When you are baking, you can easily replace fats with applesauce, prune puree, and other substitutes.
When you learn to prepare healthy food & recipes, its important that you take small, manageable steps rather than make one drastic change. Making small changes might seem insignificant at first, but eventually youll be eating a healthy diet if you stick to it. Trying to change your diet overnight isnt smart because usually, youll end up giving up on your new eating plan or cheating and then feeling guilty about it as a result. Small steps you can take include adding a colorful salad to your daily diet or eating fruits instead of sweets for dessert.
Its also important to keep things simple when you start eating healthy food & recipes. Dont get obsessed with calorie counting or measuring portion sizes. Simply focus on eating a variety of fresh and colorful ingredients.
Moderation is the key to a healthy diet. The idea is not to ban certain types of food & recipes. When you ban foods, it makes you want them even more. So, when you are trying to reduce the amount of sweet, salty, fatty, or otherwise unhealthy foods you eat, dont go cold turkey; start by reducing portion sizes. You will eventually crave the foods less or learn to treat them as occasional indulgences.
Eating healthy food & recipes isnt just about what you eat; its also about how you eat. In our fast-paced culture, we dont take the time to think about food as nourishment and appreciate every bite. We scarf down food while we work, watch TV, or in between meetings or classes. To improve the way you eat, take the time to chew your food slowly and savor every bite.
Looking to add more vegetables to your diet? Many people dont like vegetables, but thats because they dont know how to prepare them properly. Bland, overcooked vegetables are the norm for most people, but theres a better way. With these food recipes that contain vegetables, youll learn to prepare vegetables in delicious new ways.
This is one of those delicious food recipes with veggies that go well with steak, fish, or pork chops. Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat and add sliced white button mushrooms. Cook the mushrooms till theyre soft, or about five minutes. Stir in minced garlic and continue cooking for another minute. Pour a couple of teaspoons of soy sauce in the skillet and cook the mushrooms till the soy sauce evaporates, which should take about four minutes. Serve the mushrooms along with your favorite meat dish.
These Asian-style green beans burst with flavor and go great with a variety of entrees. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Cook fresh, trimmed green beans in the water for five minutes. Drain the beans and rinse them with cold water. In a large saucepan, melt butter over high heat. Add the green beans, minced garlic, and chopped onion to the saucepan. Stir in some soy sauce and add bouillon and water to the mixture. Reduce the heat to low and simmer the green beans for 20 minutes while stirring occasionally. You should cook the green beans till the liquid evaporates. Season the green beans with salt and pepper and sprinkle sesame seeds on top before serving.
Read more...Having a hard time finding food recipes with carrots that your family will eat? This recipe for nutty carrots is always a crowd pleaser, so your family is bound to love it!
Julienne carrots until you have two cups full. Bring the carrots to a boil in a saucepan with 1/2 cup of water and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Reduce the heat and let the carrots simmer for 10 minutes, or until theyre tender and crisp. Drain the carrots and toss them in a mixture of chopped salted peanuts, sugar, butter, and pepper.
This is one of those food recipes with a Mexican flair that tastes great with tortilla chips or pita wedges. Its ideal for serving at parties.
Peel, pit, and chop two avocadoes. In a large bowl, stir the avocadoes with chopped plum tomatoes, chopped green onions, a can of drained black beans, and a can of drained whole kernel corn. Stir in canola oil and red wine vinegar. Add some hot pepper sauce to taste. Cover the bowl and let the mixture chill for an hour in the fridge before serving.
This is another of our food recipes with vegetables thats appropriate for serving at a party. These tomatoes with mozzarella are perfect in the fall, when tomatoes are plentiful.
Place a single layer of sliced tomatoes in a greased baking dish and set it aside. In a large bowl, combine soft bread cubes, cooked and crumbled bacon strips, shredded mozzarella cheese, melted butter, chopped onion, chopped celery, two beaten eggs, garlic salt, and dried oregano. Mix the ingredients well and spoon the mixture on the tomatoes in the dish. Top the mixture with another layer of tomatoes and sprinkle with more mozzarella cheese. Bake the tomatoes uncovered at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes.