Mai Healthy Tidbits II
I have received a few requests for more healthy tidbits. So here I am again. I hope that I have helped you out. I will try to give you as much information as you need. I am going to concentrate on the facts about fats.
I would like to start out by wishing everyone a Happy New Year!!
I wonder how many people and how many times we have all made the new years resolution to lose the weight or live a healthier life style for yourself?
Maybe this time will be the right time! Remember its all up to you. You have the final say as to what you eat and how you choose to exercise. I will just try to give you some good points and help you get started.
Once upon a time, fast food restaurants indeed, most restaurants fried up their foods in butter, which is loaded with saturated fat and cholesterol that gum up your arteries and increase your risk of heart disease. Then, prodded by the Food Police, restaurants switched to vegetable fats, which are low in saturated fat and have no cholesterol. Hooray? Well, not exactly. Instead of using heart-healthy vegetable oils, fast food restaurants use solid vegetable shortenings. a crucial difference. The shortenings are solid because they contain "hydrogenated" vegetable oils. These oils are high in trans fatty acids, a form of fat that may clog your arteries as efficiently as saturated fats and cholesterol. An order of fries may have as much artery-hostile fat as a 4-ounce burger. SO BEWARE!!!!
The links below will take you to your favorite fast food restaurant, if that is where you would like to go!!
They will give you all the nutritional facts!!
{ Burger King }{ McDonalds }{ Wendy's }
Maintaining A Healthy Appetite
The best way to deal with hunger and appetite is to learn to recognize and follow your body's natural cues.
If you are hungry, eat-in reasonable amounts that make maintaining a realistic weight possible for you.
Perhaps the greatest secret about controlling appetite is to remember that nobody's perfect. Make one day's indulgence guilt-free by reducing your calorie intake proportionately over the next few days. A little give here, a little take there, and you will stay on target overall.
Some Facts About Fats
A diet high in saturated fats increases the amount of cholesterol circulating in your blood, which is believed to raise your risk of heart disease and stroke. A diet high in unsaturated fats reduces the amount of cholesterol circulating in your blood, which is believed to lower your risk of heart disease and stroke.
A saturated fat, such as butter, has mostly saturated fatty acids. Saturated fats are solid at room temperature and get harder when chilled.
An monounsaturated fats are liquid at room temperature; they get thicker when chilled.
A polyunsaturated fat, such as corn oil, has mostly polyunsaturated fatty acids. Polyunsaturated fats are liquid at room temperature; they stay liquid when chilled.
Some Helpful Hints To Cut Back On Your Fat
Don't oil salads. True, salad can be lowfat, low-calorie meal. Even if you throw in some breast of chicken and a couple of no-fat croutons. But the dressing can do you in. Fat free dressing is the way to go.
Eliminate The High-Fat Ingredient
Make spaghetti sauce without olive oil (100 calories a tablespoon).
Make split pea soup without ham (55-90 calories an ounce).
Make cream sauces with skim milk instead of cream (470 calories per cup for the cream; 85-90 calories for the skim milk).
Don't butter the veggies. Season your veggies with herbs instead of greasing them, and you save 100 calories for every unused tablespoon of butter, margarine, or oil.
Wash the chopped meat. Heat a teapot of water. Put the chopped meat in a pan and cook it until it browns. Pour off the fat, turn the meat into a strainer, and pour a cup of hot water over it. Repeat two times. Every tablespoon of fat that melts or drains from the meat save you 100 calories, plus cholesterol and saturated fat. Use the defatted meat in spaghetti sauce.
Milk and milk products are the best source for the calcium that keeps bones strong. But these same products may also be high in cholesterol, saturated fat, and calories. You can reduce all three by choosing a low or no-fat milk product.
For example, a cup of whole milk has 150 calories; a cup of skim milk, only 85. Once slice of Kraft American chees has 60 calories; one slice of Kraft Free American cheese only 30. A sandwich made with three slices of cheese is 90 calories lighter if the cheese is "free". So if you like cheese, there ya go!!
Coffee has no calories, but there are 15 big ones in every teaspoon of sugar. Multiply that by four (one teaspoon in four cups of coffee) and your naturally no-cal beverage can add 60 calories a day to your diet. Sixty calories a day times seven days a week. Wow! 420 calories. That's about as much as you would get from four or five pieces of unbuttered toast or 5 medium apples. So is this a good time to mention that there are absolutely zero calories in a packet of sugar substitute. I thought so.
Choose lowfat desserts. Who says you have to suffer to cut calores? Not me. One half cup of Haagen-Dazs chocolate ice cream has 270 calories. One half cup of Haagen-Dazs no-fat chocolate sorbet has 140 calories. Believe me: Switching from the first to the second is no problem. If you're a true chocoholic, you'll send me valentines for this suggestion!! There are a lot of good products out there.
No matter how you slice it, red meat is red meat, cholesterol, saturated fats and all. But if you stew your beef or lamb or pork, rather than broiling or roasting it, you can skim off a lot of high-calorie fat. Just make the stew, and then stick it in the fridge for a couple of hours until a layer of fat hardens on top. Spoon it off: Every tablespoon of pure fat subreacts 100 calories from dinner. "Bon Apetite"
Most of the fat in poultry is in the skin. a fried chicken breast with skin has 217 calories; without the skin, 160. Half a roasted duck (with skin) has a whopping 1,287 calories; without skin, it's 444. Even if you have a fried chicken breast every night for a week, you can save 399 calories by taking the skin off before you cook the bird. Share seven half ducks with a friend and you each save 2,950 calories a week. Wow!! That's practically a pound right there. I Love Duck!!!!
Which Foods Are High in Fat?
Fruits and vegetables have only traces of fat, primarily unsaturated fatty acids.
Grains have very small amounts, up to 3 percent of their total weight.
Dairy products vary. Cream is high-fat food. "regular" milks and cheeses are moderately high in fat. Skim milk and skim milk products are lowfat foods. Most of the fat in any dairy product is saturated fatty acids.
Meat is moderately high in fat, and most of its fats are saturated fatty acids.
Poultry (chicken and turkey) is relatively low in fat.
Fish may be high or low in fat. Its fats are composed primarily of unsaturated fatty acids that stay liquid in cold water.
Vegetable oils, butter, and lard are high-fat foods. Most of the fatty acids in vegetable oils are unsaturated; most of the fatty acids in lard and butter are saturated.
Processed foods, such as cakes, breads, and canned or frozen meat and vegetable dishes, are generally higher in fat than plain grains, meats, fruits and vegetables.
Here's a simple guide to which foods are high (or low) in fat. Oils are clearly high. In fact, you just can't get any highter than 100%. Butter and lard are close behind. After that, the fat level drops, from 70 percent for some nuts down to 2 percent for most bread. Here's the rule to take away from the numbers; A diet high in grains and plants is always lower in fat than a diet higher in meat and oils.
If you want a great calorie counter just click on below.
Would love your input, please don't hesitate to drop me a line.
Mai Healthy Tidbits Page Has Lots Of Helpful Links. Just In Case You Missed It, Link Below.
{ A Toast To MaiTai }
{ My Dedication to Maggie }
{ MaiTai's Tidbits } { Animal Tidbits }
{ My Adopted POW/MIA }
{ Mai Awards Page }
Nutrition for Dummies