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The Foods You Crave- Very Good Info Here
More form Mens Health.com
The Foods You Crave
The best nutrition and fat-loss tips ever presented for human consumption
Reviewed on 04/07/2005
Posted on 10/15/2003
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MOST REQUESTED RECIPES
Really Fresh Fish Sticks
Fish sticks are the seafood version of hot dogs. Here's a healthier do-it-yourself version: Pick up a salmon or tuna steak and cut it into finger-size
portions. Dip the sticks into an egg-white batter and roll them in a bowl of bread crumbs. Freeze, and then bake when hungry.
Fruit Sorbet from a Can
It's nutritious and low in calories, and it has zero fat. Here's how to make it. Step 1: Buy a can of fruit. Peaches or pineapple in light syrup works
well. Step 2: Freeze it overnight. Step 3: Place the can in hot water for 1 minute. Step 4: Remove the lid and pour any liquid into a blender. Step 5:
Remove the bottom of the can, slide out the fruit, and chop it into 1-inch pieces. Step 6: Throw the fruit into the blender and puree. Step 7: Eat
immediately.
Buffalo Breasts
How about some spicy low-fat buffalo wings? Instead of using chicken wings, use skinless chicken-breast tenders. Marinate them overnight in a mixture
of Louisiana hot sauce, olive oil, garlic powder, and red-wine vinegar. (Experiment with the amounts to suit your taste.) Then roast the "wings" at
400 degrees F for 15 minutes.
Low-Fat Pita Chips
Run the option on Super Bowl Sunday. Instead of serving a bowlful of fatty potato or tortilla chips, bake up your own tasty, low-fat chips using pita
bread. Step 1: Use low-fat pitas in your favorite flavor. (Whole-wheat pitas provide 5 extra grams of fiber per 8 chips.) Step 2: Cut pitas into 8
wedges. Step 3: Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet in a 350 degrees F oven for 7 to 10 minutes, or until the tips turn golden brown. Step 4: Serve warm
with guacamole and salsa, or let cool and then seal in a plastic bag for later use.
3 WAYS TO SHOP SMARTER
Visit the Grocer after Dinner
Always shop on a full stomach. Then your good sense won't have to fight bad advice from hungry tastebuds.
Spend Your Bread Wisely
Shopping in the bread aisle, you naturally grab a loaf of something brown--must be higher in fiber than Wonderbread, right? Well, no. That dark
complexion may be courtesy of molasses or food dyes. Likewise, a loaf with seeds or oatmeal flakes on top isn't necessarily high in fiber, either. To
be sure you're a bread winner, look for the phrase "100 percent whole-wheat" or "whole-grain."
Check Your Lobster
To make sure the lobster on your plate is the same one you fingered in the tank, look at the tail. Is it curled? If not, the lobster was dead before
it was boiled.
MOST BIZARRE WEIGHT-LOSS TIP
Teach Your Dog to Guard the Fridge
If you have a problem with midnight snacking, try teaching your dog this new trick: 1. Train Sparky to bark on command by holding a treat and saying,
"Speak!" 2. Go to the refrigerator after dark, tell the dog to speak, then open it and give him a treat. Eventually, he'll run to the fridge and bark
when he sees you heading there, which will serve as a reminder not to snack.
2 FOODS YOU NEED MORE OF
Steam the Dream
Broccoli is the king of vegetables. It's high in fiber and more densely packed with vitamins and minerals than almost any other food. In fact, a cup
of steamed broccoli delivers almost half the recommended dietary allowance of vitamin A, more than 150 percent of vitamin C, 7 percent of calcium, 13
percent of iron, 8 percent of thiamine, and 5 percent of niacin--a real bargain at only 44 calories. Ounce for ounce, steamed fresh broccoli contains
nearly 90 percent of the vitamin C of fresh orange juice and almost half as much calcium as milk.
Have Another Pint
Blueberries are one of the most healthful foods you can eat. They beat out 39 other fruits and vegetables in the antioxidant power ratings, making
them a great hedge against cellular damage that contributes to heart disease and cancer. One study also found that rats who gobbled blueberries were
more coordinated and smarter than rats who didn't. Make it your goal to eat a pint of blueberries every week.
3 FOODS YOU'LL NEVER MISS
Liten Up, Mac
When preparing macaroni and cheese, substitute skim milk for whole, and skip the butter. It tastes fine, and you'll save tons of fat.
Put a Lid on It
You can dramatically reduce the amount of oil needed to pan-fry foods simply by keeping a lid on the pot. By catching and returning moisture that
would normally escape, the lid eliminates the need for more oil.
Grate Your Cheese
When it comes to cheese, it pays to get handy with a grater. Scrape some Parmesan or other hard cheese on your sandwich or chef's salad, and you'll
save boffo fat calories over standard sliced fare. You'll naturally use less.
2 VITAL THINGS ABOUT VITAMINS
Drink Leftover Milk
Your favorite breakfast cereal may be fortified with a veritable alphabet of vitamins, but that doesn't mean you're getting all of the nutrients
listed on the side of the box. Up to 40 percent of the vitamins in the cereal quickly dissolve into the milk. To make sure you get the most vitamins
from fortified breakfast cereals, drink the milk left in your bowl.
Soak 'em in Vinegar
If a vitamin doesn't break down within 20 to 30 minutes, it will bypass the first part of the small intestine, where most nutrients are absorbed. To
see how well your vitamin is being absorbed, drop it in a glass of vinegar. If it doesn't break down in 30 minutes, try another brand.
BEST STRATEGIES FOR EATING OUT
Consider Them Little Fried Triangles of Death
When you're at a Mexican restaurant, it's common to go through a couple of baskets of tortilla chips before your meal arrives. But just one basket of
these fried triangles typically contains 1,067 calories, of which 46 percent are from fat (55 grams). Order steamed tortillas and dip those in the
salsa instead.
Order Soup as an Appetizer
Eating vegetable and noodle soups before a meal can help you lose weight. The fiber causes food to go through your digestive system faster, and the
water helps dissolve the fat. Add a potato to the soup, and you'll consume about 20 percent fewer calories over the course of the meal. Tomato soup
has the same effect. You'll eat less and feel full longer.
Stop for the Egg McMuffin
Believe it or not, you can eat two Egg McMuffin sandwiches from McDonald's and get fewer calories and less fat than if you'd had a bagel with 4
tablespoons of cream cheese. The McMuffins yield 580 calories, 24 g fat, and 34 g protein. The bagel delivers 643 calories, 28 g fat, and 20 g
protein.
Watch the Cookie Crumble
A cookie's crumble indicates its fat content. Harder cookies like gingersnaps and vanilla wafers have about half the fat of their soft cousins. To be
doubly sure, rest your favorite on a napkin. If it leaves a grease stain, leave it alone.
Have a Mineral-Water Chaser
At a party, follow each drink with a glass of mineral water. You'll always have something in your hands to sip, but you'll be getting half the liquor
and calories you otherwise would. No-calorie, carbonated mineral water and lime looks just like a 170-calorie gin and tonic.
THE 5 IMMUTABLE RULES OF WEIGHT LOSS
Color Your Diet
Buy the brightest vegetables you see. Vibrant colors usually correspond with more vitamins. This means go easy on iceberg lettuce, celery, and
cucumbers and load up on carrots, tomatoes, red peppers, and sweet potatoes. They're higher in vitamins such as A and C. Or go for darker shades of
greens. Romaine lettuce, for example, has nearly seven times the vitamin C and twice the calcium of its paler iceberg cousin. The same holds true for
fruit. Pink grapefruit, for instance, has more than 40 times the vitamin A of white grapefruit.
Drop and Gimme Two!
For safe, lasting weight loss, don't lose more than 2 pounds per week. The biggest drawback of rapid weight loss is that you're far more likely to
regain the weight. People who shed pounds quickly typically rely on extreme exercise programs or very-low-calorie diets, which are tough to maintain
for more than a few weeks. Rapid weight loss also involves losing fluid, which can be dangerous if you're engaged in serious exercise. Often, those
who quickly lose a lot of weight rebound to a higher weight.
Weigh Yourself Daily
The biggest health risk for adults is weight gain, so monitor yours daily. When you step on the scale each morning, compare what you're seeing today
with yesterday, this week with last week, this month with last month, this year with last year. When you see an increase, immediately go to portion
control and increase physical activity. You usually cannot sense a 3- to 5-pound weight gain without a scale.
Never Let Yourself Get Hungry
Rather than three big meals per day, try to eat five or six smaller ones. The trick, however, is not to eat any more calories than usual but to spread
them more evenly throughout the day. This strategy prevents overeating, since you're never ravenously hungry. It also keeps your body from lowering
its metabolic rate and conserving fat. Plus, it eliminates those dips in mood and performance you feel around 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.
Make Fiber Your Friend
Fiber is incredibly important when it comes to weight management. There are three reasons for this: (1) Fiber-rich foods generally take longer to
chew, meaning you'll eat more slowly and probably eat less. (2) They take longer to digest, which means more time will pass before you feel hungry
again. (3) Putting fiber in your stomach is like eating a sponge; it soaks up surrounding water, making you feel fuller. Strive for 25 to 35 g fiber
every day.
WAYS TO CUT FAT WITHOUT REALIZING IT
Slice Fat from Pizza
Always order your pizza with double tomato sauce and light cheese. Men who eat a lot of tomato products tend to have less prostate cancer--probably
because tomatoes are a rich source of lycopene. Reducing the mozzarella by just one-third (you won't miss it) will save you 20 grams (g) of fat per
pie. That's as much as in a McDonald's Quarter Pounder.
Order the Steak Fries
If you love french fries, always order the steak fries. Large-cut fries don't absorb as much oil as shoestring or curly fries, which lowers the fat
count.
Juice a Stir-Fry
With a can of frozen orange-juice concentrate, you have a great way to add flavor to stir-fried chicken (or beef) and vegetables without adding fat.
Just a few spoonfuls will do. (It's even better if you add some garlic.)
Soften Your Spread
Soften butter or margarine at room temperature or in a microwave. Chances are you'll spread your bread with one-quarter of the fat and calories you do
when you put it on cold.
Cool Your Cans
Refrigerate canned meats, soups, gravies, and other canned foods containing fat. The fat will rise to the top and collect, so you can scrape it off.
Dilute Your Fruit Juice
Fruit juice is sneaky fattening--a 16-ounce bottle of cranberry-grape blend, for instance, contains about 275 calories. Dump half and store it, then
refill the bottle with water. You'll barely notice the difference, and you'll be cutting half the calories.
Oil Your Potato
To save calories and fat, put a splash of olive oil on your baked potato instead of the usual butter or sour cream.
Say Goodbye to Rubbery Cheese
To prevent low-fat cheese from turning to rubber in the microwave, spritz your nachos with a quick blast of cooking spray, such as Pam, before nuking
them. A similar trick involves spraying the inside of a grilled-cheese sandwich before you toss it in the frying pan. This adds just enough fat to
make the cheese stay gooey and creamy as it slowly melts.
WEIRD DIET TRICKS THAT WORK
Dip Your Fork First
Whenever you order a salad, ask for the dressing on the side. Here's the drill: Dip your fork in the dressing first, spear a piece of lettuce, then
eat it. Sound dumb? In fact, it's one of the smartest habits you can have. Four tablespoons of, say, honey-mustard dressing can contain close to 60 g
fat.
Wet Your Appetite
Drink two glasses of water before every meal. This will do two things: keep you hydrated and make you eat less.
Pinch an Ear to Stop a Craving
In Oriental medicine, the little bud of cartilage directly above each ear canal (called the tragus) is the acupuncture spot that controls hunger.
Lightly pinching this area for 1 minute should cause food cravings to subside.
Put the Tub Down, Tubby
Never eat foods out of their original containers. How many times have you dipped into a pint of ice cream with the intention of having "just a tad,"
only to find yourself staring at the bottom of the container 15 minutes later? You're much less likely to do that if you dish out the food in a
measured portion. Or, better yet, purchase single servings of packaged snack foods.
5 FOODS YOU NEED NONE OF
Pop Go Your Arteries
One of the worst foods you can eat is movie-theater popcorn. It can pack up to 126 g fat, much of it saturated. You wouldn't do any worse if you
smuggled in four Big Macs.
Pass on the Prime Rib
The reason prime rib seems to melt in your mouth is because it's full of tenderizing fat that, unfortunately, can't be trimmed away. Although it's
unmarbled and looks lean, prime rib is the fattiest type of steak--typically 982 calories and 78 g fat for a broiled 1-pound, king-cut portion. That's
equivalent to slightly more than two Big Macs.
Don't Hail Caesar
Because its dressing contains so much oil, Caesar salad can be 70 to 80 percent fat. (One tablespoon of oil is 120 calories of pure fat.) And since
it's tossed before it's served, you can't control the amount of dressing that's applied. Order the house salad with dressing on the side instead.
Forgo Muffins for Breakfast
The word "muffin" was invented so people wouldn't feel guilty about eating cake for breakfast. The regular ones, which often seem like they're the
size of a cauliflower, can contain 500 calories, of which nearly half are fat. It's basically the same recipe as cake.
Steer Clear of Trans Fats
According to a Harvard University study, you could cut your heart-attack risk in half by cutting out just 4 g trans fats each day. You'll find them in
stick margarine, crackers, cookies, cakes, and many deep-fried foods, especially french fries. Look for the phrase "partially hydrogenated vegetable
oil" on the label. The closer to the top of the ingredient list you find it listed, the more trans fats the food contains.
MOST BIZARRE COOKING TIP
Roast on a Car Engine
The only thing better than eating while you're driving is cooking while you're driving, then driving while you're eating what you've cooked. Get
revved up. Hot dogs. Take a stout piece of aluminum foil and lay in however many low-fat hot dogs you want. Add 2 cups of ketchup, about 1/2 cup
water, a handful of onions, and 1/4 cup brown sugar, just to cut the taste of any exhaust fumes. Seal tightly. Secure on the engine block away from
moving parts. Drive. Hot dogs will take about 20 minutes at 60 mph. Corn on the cob. The perfect accompaniment for engine-block dogs is, of course,
engine-block corn on the cob. Season each ear with a few dashes of hot-pepper sauce. Wrap the corn in foil and secure it to the engine block.
Long-haul gourmets know that you can also poach a fish this way. But forget roasts, chicken tandoori, venison stew, and all that. Too many miles, not
enough heat. Incidentally, the valve covers make an excellent warming tray.
STRATEGIES FOR MEAT LOVERS
Enjoy More Loins
Meat cuts with "loin" in their names tend to be lower in fat. Three ounces of pork tenderloin, for example, has a measly 5 g fat.
Talk Turkey
When buying ground turkey, make sure it's ground turkey breast. Regular ground turkey can include fattier dark meat and even skin, which gives it
almost as much fat as lean ground beef.
Drink Milk after Eating Steak
Here's a way to feel better about indulging in that occasional juicy steak: Wash it down with a tall glass of skim milk. According to research,
calcium may reduce the amount of saturated fat your body absorbs. Like fiber, calcium binds with fat molecules and helps flush them out of the
intestines.
Be a Portobello Fellow
For a meaty dinner entree, substitute portobello mushrooms for a T-bone. One portobell0 (roughly the size of a saucer) has less than 1 g fat, and when
grilled, it tastes like a tender steak. Slice a few portobellos to 1/2-inch thickness and brush with a mixture of nonfat Italian dressing, thyme, and
Worcestershire sauce. Grill for 3 to 4 minutes on each side over a medium-hot flame. Garnish with grilled onions and peppers.
Buffalo Your Burgers
Game meats, including buffalo, ostrich, antelope, and elk, are dramatically lower in fat and calories than beef, pork, and even chicken. They taste
good, too. Roasted buffalo, for instance, has 1.8 g fat, 61 milligrams (mg) of cholesterol, and 130 calories per 3.5-ounce portion. Broiled top loin
beef, by comparison, contains 15 g fat, 89 mg cholesterol, and 256 calories.
Refrigerator makeover Freeze, Mister
One of the easiest ways to improve your diet is by stocking your freezer with bags of frozen vegetables. Not only do they provide a variety of
nutrients, but they're also convenient. Throw a handful in soups, stews, stir-frys, and instant rice dishes. Frozen vegetables are usually frozen
within a few hours of harvest, so their nutritional quality can actually be better than fresh. The same goes for frozen fruit. It's especially good
for sprinkling on low-fat yogurt or mixing into smoothies.
Don't Touch the Jugs
If you buy skim or low-fat milk, choose a paper carton over a plastic jug and you may get more nutrients for your money. A Cornell University study
showed that in 24 hours under fluorescent lights, skim milk in semiclear plastic jugs can lose up to 90 percent of its vitamin A, which is sensitive
to light. Because cardboard blocks light, vitamin A losses are minimal. Fortunately, no matter which container your milk comes in, you'll still get a
full complement of calcium and vitamin D.
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XHonusWagnerX
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This thread is full of great info!
| Quote: | Originally posted by REV.PAULIE
HONUS-as much as i can't stand a great deal of what you really like (for my own reasons that i would never hold,nor impose,against you),YOU FUCKING
RULE!
YOU,HONUS,IS WHAT MAKES THE "EDGE" COOL.
YOUR FRIEND,
PAULIE |
check out my post contributions at www.VinylNoize.com
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