Food Resolutions 2012

Every year we make New Year's Resolutions..right? And do we keep them? Not so much. Guilty as charged. Here are a list of New Year's resolutions that might be easier to keep in small changes that create big changes later.

1. Cut out as much processed food as possible.
If it comes in a box that has to be frozen it might not be so good for you.

2. Drink water and cut out pop and juices and fancy coffees. I am guilty of the fancy coffee one. Water does not add calories and will hydrate you and make your internal organs function properly. Yeah I like those flavoured drinks too but skip the liquid calories and save them for some tasty food.

3. Eat a variety of fruits and vegetables. Try buying new vegetables you have never made before and find a great recipe and try adding it to your cooking repetoire. The more variety of vegetables the better the health benefits. And the added bonus will be that you won't get bored from eating the same vegetables every week.

4. White stuff. Cut down or cut out white foods such as Sugar, White Flour, Salt. Yeah they all make food taste good but we have increased our consumption of these things so much that they are killing us. Use Stevia or Agave in place of Sugar when you need to. Use other types of flours if you can substitute, like quinoa or rice flours or even whole wheat is a bit better. Salt.. use fresh herbs to bump up the flavour or use small amounts of things like parmesan cheese to get that salty taste.

5. Fried Food... BAD, BAD, BAD... but tastes GOOD, GOOD, GOOD. yes I love me some fried food. They say everything tastes better when it's fried and put it on a stick and then you have a fried party on a stick. But frying things changes their molecular structure and also adds a ton of extra fat calories. So I will try and limit or eliminate fried foods.

6. Red Meat... limit or eliminate this if you can. I know it's hard to give up your steaks and hamburgers but it's better for you and the environment. I am going to try and limit my consumption of red meat for health reasons and I am sure it couldn't hurt financially.

7. Salmon is your friend. If you like fish then Wild Salmon or Sardines will be your best friend when making food resolutions. Salmon and Sardines are high in Omega 3 Fatty Acids which are great for things like depression, healthy hair, nails and even bones. Your body will thank you and people will notice how much better you look. Make sure you look for WILD Salmon instead of farmed salmon for the healthiest option.

8. Alcohol. While I don't drink much I am not going to tell you to give up your social drinking forever. Just think about what you are drinking and slow it down. A glass of red wine with dinner is a good thing. Cooking with Wine is a good thing. Drinking a whole bottle of wine without dinner and home alone is not such a good thing. Maybe limit your drinking to once a week and one or 2 drinks to celebrate occasions with friends. The average drink is roughly 100 calories. Think of a 6 pack of beer ...if you pass on the 6 pack of beer maybe you can get the 6 pack abs instead.

9. Cooking utensils. Go through your inventory of pots and pans and toss out all your old Teflon frying pans and invest in a cast iron skillet or grill pan. It will last forever if you take care of it and will add iron instead of toxic substances into your food when you cook with it.

10. Cooking methods. Try poaching, steaming, baking and broiling your foods. These are the best methods for keeping your food healthy. People say RAW is better. Buy a juicer if you prefer to drink your fruits and vegetables. Puree your soups and take them with you in a thermos if you need to. Think outside the cooking box.

I know it's hard to make these changes. I have struggled and been successful at some of these things. I recently had a party and made almost an equal assortment of healthy and not as healthy options. Unfortunately the healthy options were the less popular choice and the higher fat options were the things that were eaten the most. It's a work in progress. I am trying to find recipes that taste like high fat foods but aren't. I did make a healthier chocolate chip cookie that people liked so there is hope.
Don't give up. Try to do as many of these things as you can and even if you only take on 1 of these and carry it through 2012 you will have made a huge change in your health by the end of the Year.
I will try and take my own advice this year and hopefully make as many healthy changes as I can in 2012.

I have done it before and I know I can do it again. This is the year to make a change and stick to it.

Have a HAPPY NEW YEAR and a Healthier New Year too.

CHEERS!

23 and 1/2 hours: What is the single best thing we can do for our health?

Here's an animated video of a prescription for better health.

This is what we know we should do but aren't doing it enough... myself included. Something to put into practice in the New Year.

Holiday EntertainingI

Everyone seems to be going to a Holiday Party or having a Holiday Party as in my case this busy month of December.

I don't have family to celebrate the holidays with so last year I decided to have a Holiday Open House Party with some of my friends in between Christmas and New years when some people are still off work but over the Christmas Holidays but still looking for something to do.

So Last year I started this when I was living in a house and had room for a couple of extra drop ins..but what they didn't know was that I planned to have a little gift exchange. Last year I knew I was probably going to have to be moving at some point soon so I decided to give away things that I wasn't using or never used. It was a whole assortment of things like candle sticks, makeup products and decorative items. Everyone loved it and were not expecting anything so it was a conversation starter and a fun thing to do. This year was a bit more of a challenge. Since I moved from a house to an apartment in July I had to get rid of a huge amount of stuff when I moved that I probably would have had things I could have given to my friends this year but I didn't have the space to keep it all so it went. I still wanted to do the gift exchange so this year I concentrated on little gifts that were things like food gifts like chocolates, mugs with hot chocolate, and a bunch of other things. It cost me more this year but it made everyone happy. Next year I think I will try something different. I will try and expend less energy and money and have everyone participate more in the party by bringing an unwanted gift and do a re gift exchange and maybe a food exchange too. That way it's fun and people can possibly give something they don't want to someone that might want it. One person's junk..... and when it comes to the food part... here's what I did and here's what I will do next year....

This year I made the above little brownie Santa hats... an idea I got from watching the show The Chew. It went over really great ... Next year I will do it again but next time use frosting instead of whip cream so I can do it all in advance and not worry about it keeping all day.

What i also did this year is make 2 big salads... next time I will only do 1... I made a super healthy one and nobody knew what to do with that so it stayed.

One new thing I made was a hot crab dip... that went over big and may do that again but I think next time I will find a way to keep it hot like putting it into a fondue pot or something so it stays bubbling longer.

I also had assorted cheeses..seems like everyone likes cheddar... will keep the cheddar and skip other cheeses... less mess... I had all sorts of crackers... good but will have 1 or 2 next time.. too many things equals too many plates, choices and things to clean up later.

I also had cut up veggies...next time I will just pick up a store bought veggie platter.. back to less prep work and less mess to clean up.

So I learned a few things...

1. Try and know what your friends like or don't like.
2. Don't do too many things.. it just takes a lot more time and things get overlooked.
3. Keep it simple and as fresh as you can get it.
4. Think about the cleanup afterward because that's part of the party too. I ran out of kitchen space from all the clean up of dishes and containers.

5. Make sure you have everything set up as much in advance so that you aren't spending your time setting up, serving and cleaning up during the party.

Next year... I am going to think Big Dishes...

1. A Casserole
2. A Big Salad
3. One platter veggies and dip
4. One hot dip and chips/crackers
5. A desert that doesn't require utensils

These are the things I have learned over the past couple of parties. Have good food and have more fun.

This is what it looked like before the food was everywhere... Too many things ...not enough room.

My Holiday Party Advice.. Although my friends loved the food... I know I could have made it easier on myself and had more room to move around if I kept things simpler..

I tend to get carried away and always like to have choices for people but then it ends up being just too much and goes to waste. I know I am not the only one that does this. I have a friend that could have 2 parties by the amount of food he has at one party. But you never know if someone will drop in or not. In my case a couple of people couldn't make it... so I know most of the food would have been gone if they came.

While I am no party expert I have learned a few things over the years and every year I try and do better. I get inspired from all the food and party planning segments on daytime television so if you don't know what to do take some cues from the experts that are on those shows..or there is always Martha Stewart.

Unleash your inner Martha Stewart and have a Fun Holiday Party.

Bigger and Better Next Year