Eat healthy and tasty

A Healthy Lifestyle
In this age of 'instant everything' cultivating a healthy lifestyle would lead to a long life. A healthy life is not just keeping your body healthy. It also comes from keeping your mind healthy and worry free. I plan to blog what I have learnt in over 40 years of my life in various cultures, east and west. Since the basic need of man is food, I will start from here.

Eating Healthy
The population has never been so health conscious than in recent years. At the same time there is so much of conflicting material about what to eat and what not to eat. Further, eating healthy is also tied in to diet and exercise. Having gone through several diet programs and eating healthy fads, here is what I have finally discovered.

You are what you eat
The human body has all natural elements and minerals known to man. So natural foods are automatically suitable for easy absorption. Moreover they provide much of the essential nutrients and vitamins in the natural form that are necessary for normal function of the human body. Salads, fruits and nuts, field greens, and most vegetables can be consumed raw. There are advocates of these kinds of foods classified as the raw diet. I do like it and it helps you to eat more without worrying about adding weight. However, you cannot keep this up for long as you will start feeling that you are a cow or some other farm animal. On the other hand, we do have to eat grains and legumes to provide other vital components for our health and these need to be cooked. If you are like me, and you like to cook, every meal that you prepare has to be unique. Variety is the spice of life.

In my quest to eat healthy I did not want to compromise on taste. So I started thinking about how I can use my knowledge about cooking and spices and herbs to make an ordinary healthy meal into a savory meal. I started experimenting and collecting recipes and making them healthier. I made healthy recipes tastier using herbs and spices. Let me start by sharing a simple recipe for breakfast which I enjoy each morning. There is a very important weight loss tip in this recipe.

Who says oatmeal can be boring?
Or it has to be sweet and with milk and sugar only?

Here is an oatmeal preparation that does not use any of the above and it tastes better than the above. To 1/3rd cup of steel cut quick cooking oats, add a handful of diced onions, a 1/4 teaspoon of ginger paste, a 1/4 teaspoon of garlic paste (or a whole garlic clove), two dashes of sea salt and cook these over medium heat for as long as the directions call for. When it comes to a thick consistency, add an egg and another dash of salt, 3 dashes of ground pepper and a teaspoon of chopped cilantro. Stir gently for a minute allowing time for the egg to cook. Turn off the heat and let it cool. Add a teaspoon of wheat bran or flax seed just before serving and serve warm.
Oatmeal for fiber, garlic for cholesterol control, ginger for digestive health, an egg for protein and other nutrition, and the herb cilantro for good health.

The weight loss tip is that we are reducing the sugar intake by using this recipe instead of the pre-packaged oatmeal recipes that have a lot of added sugar. Sugar is a primary cause of weight gain. If you reduce your intake of sugar and sugar rich foods, you will see remarkable results in weight management and an increased activity level. I will write more about it in a later blog.