February is thought of as the month of LOVE. What better way to say “I love you” than to do all you can, be all you can be…and help those you love to do the same. Good nutrition is essential for that feel-good feeling. What we eat affects many aspects of our lives. Overeating drains our energy, and the additional pounds that build up over the years decrease our ability to enjoy life to the fullest. Snack and convenience foods have become basic meals while traditional meals of meat, vegetable, salad, starch and dessert are often saved for holidays. Show your loved ones that you love them every day with a healthy, home-cooked meal. No time will be better spent!
Here is a simple way to cut junk food out of snacks:
Shop the outside walls of your supermarket, with an eye to color and variety. If you don’t buy it, it won’t be there to eat. When you get home, enlist some help in preparing a bowl for the day’s snacks. It can be a variety of items, or just one special item. If family members have tasks assigned each day, put this on the list. Once the Snack Bowl is created and everyone is told about it, keep it in the same location every day. One day it might have carrot sticks, another day fresh strawberries. Keep small 5 oz. paper cups near the bowl. These can be filled with the snack for one serving (so one person does not take it all).
Small 4 oz servings of yogurt are a good choice in place of bedtime bowl of ice cream. Chip lovers might enjoy carrot, pepper or zucchini slices with a fat-free salad dressing dip. Your general munchers could really dig into a mixture of nuts, dried cranberries and a plain whole grain cereal such as Cheerios®, Wheat Chex® or Special K®.
Having purchased fresh vegetables for snacking, go ahead and use some of them in your cooking. Carrots, for instance, can go from dull to dynamite with just a little sprucing up. Carrots provide many health benefits from the beta-carotene they contain. However, you will benefit only if you eat them. Our featured recipe takes the carrot and gives you some simple variations that can make it seem as if you have created new and exciting varieties from an everyday vegetable.
