Who says healthy can’t be quick and easy too? As with other skills, it’s often just a matter of re-training our selves and developing new healthy habits. A simpler way to think about it is to look at what’s in your cupboards right now? What do you eat now and is there a healthier option? For every ‘unhealthy food, there is at least one healthy, native food to replace it with. Let’s take a trip through the cupboards and see what we have on hand.
Quick, Easy & Healthy Meals Tip #1: Replace Yellow with Blue
Current studies estimate that American diets contain 60% in corn products. That includes corn syrup (sweeteners), corn chips and all other types of yellow corn. Yellow corn is a genetically modified (GM) food, which contains mostly carbs and sugar. Not much substance there.
Blue corn provides a simple replacement for yellow corn products but contains more proteins, less carbs and lower glycemic value, which is good news for diabetics. You can find blue corn tortillas, blue corn chips (one of my absolute favs!) and blue corn meal to make into breads, muffins and pancakes.
Quick, Easy & Healthy Meals Tip #2: Substitute Beef for Bison
Even at $2+ a pound for cheap hamburger, it is still one the cheapest filler proteins for families. But when you consider that hamburger still contains at least 15% fat that will be drained away once it’s cooked, you gotta think hard about how much real value are you really getting?
Buffalo or Bison, in a simple, straight over exchange. But with buffalo you get more, ounce for ounce. Because buffalo is a low 3% fat, you’re not paying for that extra 12% that is wasted. And actually the 3% fat is necessary to maintain the moisture in cooking buffalo, there is typically less than a teaspoon of fat dripping remaining from cooked buffalo, which is just enough to make a decent gravy. You’ll also find that buffalo does not contain hormones or antibiotics that can raise havoc with our bodies and is higher in protein.
Quick, Easy, Healthy Replacement #2: Go for the Golds
Our fast food fry favorites! Russets have dominated the fast food industry and the GM potato market. Deep fat fried in corn oil, it’s product that is a super vote to genetically modified industry that says “keep up fat and happy”.
Yukon Golds are a favorite among gardeners and chefs and are available in most supermarkets. They are best baked or boiled, whether as baked home fries or served up mashed with gravy. Simple replacements that add up to huge benefits.
