Better Living
Stuff you might want to know about staying healthy and living better!
Sections
Better Chinese Food
Cutting The Cheese
Choosing Better Chips
Bowl O' Goodness
Here’s some healthy Chinese lingo you might want to use next time you order some take-out. Anything steamed is obviously good, so is Jum (poached), Chu (broiled), Kow (roasted), Shu (barbecued), or braised. Anything breaded, fried or coated in flour is not.
Use The Chopsticks! You’ll eat less oil than you normally would using a fork or spoon.
Stay away from the sauce. Especially thick gravy or sauces made from sugar, flour, or cornstarch like general Tso or sweet and sour pork. Instead, go for the hot mustard sauce, hoisin sauce, or oyster sauce. Also, ask for you order to be prepared “half sauce”. Half the sauce means half the calories.
Order you meal cooked in vegetable oil if possible. It’s an old Chinese style of cooking called “stock velveted”. It reduces the calories by 150-300, and the fat by 15-30 grams.
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When it comes to shaving calories with cheese, most times you have to reduce flavor in order to reduce flab. There’s a lot of competition in the fat-free, skim milk, 2%, “cheddar product”, low-fat cheese food category. Some of these products are pretty good and come close to the real thing. On the other hand, some of the items are just plain crap. Let me save you some time and money (not to mention taste buds) with this guide to the world of cheese whizzes:
Bad:
Weight Watchers Reduced Fat Cheddar Cheese Snacks
Smart Beat Fat-Free Non-Dairy American Flavor
Smart Balance Part-Skim Cheddar-Style Product
Good:
Alpine Lace 25% Reduced Far Provolone
Cabot 75% Reduced Fat Sharp Natural Cheddar Cheese
Sargento Light Mozzarella String Cheese
The Laughing Cow Light Gourmet Cheese Bites
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Ok, we all know that any potato chip worth its weight in oil is going to be bad for you. I mean, it’s a thinly-sliced, carb-filled, deep fried, sodium coated, artificially flavored piece of heaven on Earth. That’s the way of the world, anything that tastes as good as your favorite sack full of sin is going to make you fat. Here are a few brands that will forgive you for munching while making sure you don’t bust the button off your favorite britches.
The top four brands are Ruffles Light, Kettle Bakes, Herr’s Reduced Fat, and Terra Potpourri. The Ruffles have a slight chemical aftertaste, but are crunchy and salty. Kettle Bakes are delicious, natural and tasty but a little heavy on the carbs. Herr’s are oily, crunchy, and taste like potato chips but contain a little more saturated fat and sodium. Terra has the advantage with white, blue and sweet potatoes all mixed together, but they’re packing 140 calories per serving.
Despite having far less calories, fat, carbohydrates, sodium and artificial ingredients there has to be a “Best of the Best” among these awesome spuddy duddy’s. The answer, Kettle Bakes. Tastes, looks, and feels like real potato chips, (because they are) and still pack in full flavor and nutritional sustenance. Kettle Bakes are “boring baseball game snack chip” approved!
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For many people, breakfast is the easiest meal to forget. Most of you are too tired to cook, or you're in a hurry because you hit the snooze button 4 times before rushing into the shower and off to work. What ever the reason, we all know this is the best meal of the day and an easy way to kick start your metabolism. What's the first thing most folks think about when they hear the word breakfast? Cereal. But cereal that's good for you tastes like crap, and the good tasting stuff is terrible for your physique. So, here's a list of cereals to help close the gap, and hopefully bring you back to breakfast basics.
First up, Special K Plus Protein. It's the best all-around as far as taste and health factor. I know they're sort of lame looking, but they taste pretty good. These flakes are only packing 100 calories and 3 grams of fat, but contain a whopping 10 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber. And don't forget about all the B, E and C vitamins!
Coming in first as the "Best Tasting" cereal, it's Honey Bunches of Oats with Real Strawberries. I mean, come on, it's got real strawberries! Big ol' chunks of granola and tasty flakes make this the easy winner in the taste category. It's packing some extra baggage in the calorie, sugar, and carb departments but hey, so are we. At least it's better for you than Frosted Flakes, and you won't feel guilty because it's a "healthy" cereal.
Now for the "healthiest" of the bunch. Ezekiel 4:9 Sprouted Whole Grain Cereal. Let's face it, you've never even heard of this stuff. If you have, you probably didn't like it very much. Unless you like wheat germ and other organic-type goodies, don't buy this stuff. Yes, it's good for you and packs tons of vitamins. Yes, it's pretty descent even though it's completely sugar-free. Worth it? Not really.
Now, here's the "rest of the best" of your healthy breakfast options:
Post Grape-Nuts Flakes
Health Valley Granola Raisin Cinnamon
Kashi 7 Whole Grain Honey Puffs
Multi Grain Cheerios
and of course...
Wheaties!