Category: Healthy Eating

Looking to lose weight? Think a happy thought before you eat. A Cornell study has found that mood and food do more than just rhyme. Your mood impacts what kind and how much food you eat.

“People use food to either maintain a good mood or regain a good mood, and if you’re already in a good mood, you tend to eat more healthfully than if you’re in a bad mood,” said Professor Brian Wansink, whose study was published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology.

“The take away of this study is you can change your mood and eat better. Before a snack or meal, think of something that makes you happy or grateful, and you’ll eat less and better,” said Wansink.

Ingredients for chicken:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (3 oz each)

1 egg white (or substitute liquid egg white)

1 cup fat-free evaporated milk

1 cup breadcrumbs

1/4 cup rolled oats, crushed; pulse a few times in the food processor

1 cup whole-wheat flour

2 Tbsp olive oil or vegetable oil

Ingredients for salad:

2 Tbsp lemon juice

1/2 Tbsp olive oil

4 cups red leaf lettuce, rinsed and dried

1 cup cherry tomatoes, rinsed and halved

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Place chicken in a freezer bag with the air squeezed out and pound each breast down to one-half-inch thickness. Combine the egg white and evaporated milk in a bowl and mix well. In a separate bowl, combine the breadcrumbs and crushed oats and mix well. Coat the chicken breasts in flour and shake off the excess. Dip the chicken breasts in the egg and milk mixture and drain off excess. Then dip the chicken breasts in the breadcrumb mixture to coat. Discard leftover breading mixtures.

Heat oil in a large sauté pan. Stir fry the chicken over medium-high heat on one side until golden brown (about 2-3 minutes). Turn carefully. Pan fry the second side for another 2-3 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the pan and place on paper towels to soak up excess oil. Place on baking sheet and finish cooking in the oven for about 5-8 minutes (to an internal temp of 165ºF).

For the salad, combine lemon juice and olive oil, and mix well to make a dressing. Toss the lettuce leaves and cherry tomatoes with the dressing, salt, and pepper.

Makes 4 servings (1 chicken breast, 1 cup salad): 264 calories, 11 g total fat (2 g saturated fat), 49 mg cholesterol, 263 mg sodium, 3 g fiber, 18 g carbohydrates.

From the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s cookbook Keep the Beat Recipes: Deliciously Healthy Dinners.

Eating healthy can be confusing. The Internet is full of healthy eating advice – and some of it is conflicting. For starters, ignore these food myths, which could be standing in the way of your healthy eating goals.

Myth #1: Health food is expensive and exotic.

While some exotic foods are good for you, you don’t have to eat them as part of a healthy diet. Instead, you can eat everyday foods that promote good health.

Focus on getting a variety of foods in your diet that are mostly whole foods and not processed. This includes fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, lean meats, fish, whole grains and dairy. A balanced diet that includes all food groups will contain the nutrients your body needs. No fancy foods or major expense is required.

Myth #2: Fat is bad for you.

Plenty of extremely healthy foods are high in fat – the healthy kind of fat.

Avocadoes, nuts, olive oil, eggs and fatty fish are a few foods that contain heart-healthy fats such as monounsaturated and omega-3 fats. These healthy fats can lower the risk of heart disease and stroke.

Don’t try to avoid all fats. Instead, look for healthy, whole foods that contain the unsaturated types listed above and eat small amounts of them.

But, do keep an eye on saturated fat. The American Heart Association says you should limit saturated fat to 13 grams per day on a 2,000-calorie diet. Try to limit red meat, sausage, and high-fat dairy foods. Finally, try to avoid trans fats completely. These are found in many processed foods. They are listed on the nutrition label and will say “partially hydrogenated” oil in the ingredients.

Myth #3: All sugar is bad.

It’s true that many people eat far too much sugar. But, many nutritious foods, such as fruit, contain some sugar with other important nutrients like vitamins and fiber.

If you’re trying to eat healthier, skip “added sugars.” These are sugars that are added to a product to make it sweeter. Thanks to food label changes, it’s easy to see how much added sugar is in packaged foods.

Eat fresh fruit for dessert and skip foods with added sugar, such as regular soda and sweets, and you’ll cut down on sugar intake without following any extreme diet.

Sources: American Heart Association, United States Department of Agriculture

The potato (sadly in the form of French fries) is number one. But when you look at non-starchy veggies, the tomato comes out on top.

Eating canned tomatoes provides the greatest source of antioxidants to Americans’ diets-more than any other non-starchy vegetable. People who eat diets rich in fruits and vegetables tend to have a decreased risk of cancer and heart disease, report researchers from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

Experts have not identified exactly what it is about fruits and vegetables that confer the health benefits, but it is known that fruits and vegetables contribute antioxidants to the diet. Tomatoes are a good option for those who want to increase their intake of antioxidants.

Canned tomatoes (used in spaghetti sauce and chili, for example) are available year round providing a convenient and cost-effective way to increase antioxidant intake during any season.