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| home : how we can help : prevention, screening, & diagnostics : answers to cancer : diet & nutrition
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How many times have you heard someone say, "I'll start my diet
after the vacation or after the weekend?" Most of us would do better
in our quest for healthier eating and a healthier body weight if we did
not let ourselves fall into this dieting mentality. Let's not be on or
off a diet.
Let's just try to make small changes each day that lead to
healthier eating and living. These small changes, if consistently
practiced, will add up to a big difference over time. Even a small
positive change you make today towards health counts! A couple of bad
choices are not worth taking you off track in your journey toward
better eating and better health.
Try not to react to slip-ups as "blowing it," which can lead to
giving up totally on healthier eating for that day, week, or longer.
One meal or snack excessive in calories, fat or sugar is not
significant in the larger picture of all the food you have eaten or
will eat in your lifetime. Think about it. What is important is not to
let a setback totally ruin the day, the week or the month.
A diet does not start tomorrow. The food you eat counts from
this moment on. The previous moment is gone, so forget it. Small,
fairly consistent, positive dietary changes over a period of time will
get you closer and closer to your goal. This can be done without the
restrictive, oppressive nature of a diet. Eat tasty food, try to follow
the recommendations for a healthy diet, eat enough to satisfy your
true physical hunger and see if maybe you can get off the dieting roller
coaster. You will be happier and healthier, and that's a guarantee!
Enjoy the abundance of good food and remember your power to make reasonable choices!
Food and celebrations have gone hand in hand since the beginning
of time. Enjoying the fun and festivity of food, family and friends are
a part of most family celebrations. Truly, food is one of
the pleasures of life that cannot and should not be denied. Can health
also be a part of this equation? Certainly it can. It depends on the
choices you make. There are several things that can make your holiday
eating healthier:
1. Try to modify old family favorite recipes to lower fat and
calories.
2. Recipes and foods that are high in fat and calories can be
eaten in smaller portions.
3. The menu can include vegetables, fruit and grains,
preferably without much added fat.
4. Consider eating until you are comfortably satisfied, not uncomfortably full. For some us, that may be a new concept. Let's give it a try this year.
Appetizers & Desserts
What is distinctive about the menus for special occasions? Many
things may come to mind, from expensive gourmet entrees to homemade
dinner rolls. Two courses that are usually included in a party menu,
and often not in an everyday menu, are appetizers and dessert. As
delicious as these items usually are, they are often high in fat.
There are a few ways to reduce the amount of fat and therefore calories
in appetizer and dessert recipes.
Appetizers
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Sour cream based dips can be modified by using plain lowfat or nonfat
yogurt, or a combination of yogurt and cottage cheese blended until
smooth, as a substitute for the sour cream.
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Cream cheese based spreads and dips can be modified by using a
mixture of part-skim ricotta, pot cheese or lowfat cottage cheese and
Neufchatel (light cream cheese) instead of the cream cheese.
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Instead of chips for dips, use vegetables, fruits and lowfat
crackers, breadsticks or bagel chips you crisp yourself.
Desserts
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Angel food cake can be served in place of cakes with a higher fat
content.
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Cocoa powder which is low in fat can often be used for the chocolate
flavor
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Two egg whites can be substituted for one whole egg in many baked
recipes.
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Instead of using high fat frosting, top a cake with confectioner's
sugar, fresh fruit, fruit sauce, or try drizzling a nonfat icing made
of confectioner's sugar, water and vanilla or other flavoring.
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Decrease the amount of fat called for in a recipe by 1/4 to 1/2.
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Fruits or vegetables such as applesauce, apples, bananas, crushed
pineapple, canned pumpkin, shredded carrots and zucchini can often
be used when decreasing the fat in breads and cakes. This gives a
moist, nutritious baked product.
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Substitute whole wheat flour in cookies, cakes and other sweet
treats. One cup of finely milled whole wheat flour or seven-eighths
of a cup of coarsely ground whole wheat flour can substitute for one
cup of all-purpose flour.
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