Food goof ups

Be careful with the dressings, sauces and the methods of cooking that can turn a good food into a bad food. For example the other day I went to a salad bar with a friend of mine. We ordered vegetable sticks. But along with the vegetable sticks came the sinfully irresistible cheesy dip. Forgetting that cheesy dips are loaded with concentrated calories and unhealthy saturated fat we went on plunging the sticks into the dip. Nutritionist, Dr. Samreedhi Sharma is of the opinion, “Cheesy dips are harmful for the health in the sense you can pack 145 calories and 15 g of fat.” A wise way to choose the right dip is to go for French dressings because it is full of olive oil or any dip that is lentil based. These dressings are not completely calorie free options, but they are definitely healthier.

We all know that olive oil is good for the health, but when we start sautéing our fish with loads of olive oil we forget that we are piling up calories. So we should always measure the amount oil that we are using for our cooking. Olive oil is definitely healthy, but it is very important to maintain a balance in the sense it should not exceed five to six tea spoon a day and as you age the amount should decrease. So be wise while using oil.

We all love salads that are nicely laden with cheese or mixed up with mayonnaise or mustard cream sauce. Cheese has got bad saturated fat. One needs to be extra careful while eating out. Restaurants have dressings which are high on salt, cream, cheese, butter and sugar.  One tablespoon of dressing contains around hundred calories. Better options for dressing are mustard sauce without cream, low fat yoghurt, lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, herbs, and paprika.

Drinking coffee or tea is not bad. In fact several researches have proved that it is good for health. But how you make you tea or coffee makes a lot of difference. It lowers the risk of heart diseases and cancer. But when we add sugar, whole milk and cream in it then we commit a mistake. Then it becomes like a regular meal, but our brain does not think it to be so and so our brain does not get the feel-full signal and we start eating our regular meals and we do not decrease the portion of that. Again white sugar increases our appetite and hence we over eat. The healthy option is to have black tea without sugar. It is all about getting used to it. And trust me once you develop a taste for black tea or coffee you will never feel like having the one with milk.

Be it the evening snack or the morning breakfast I love my sandwiches. Sandwiches are harmless provided you know how to make it and then eat it. Use multigrain bread and please don’t pile it up with cheese singles or mayonnaise. Instead use mustard sauce or else make a spread out of hung curd, a dash of garlic and chopped spring onions. It will give you the creamy texture and you will enjoy your sandwich without any guilt.