Stuffed mushrooms are one of those easy to prepare, tasty and nutritious meals that can please everybody. Generally speaking, stuffed food recipes are versatile, because most of the taste resides in the stuffing. One can choose the stuffing according to personal preferences or to the seasonality of various foods. Spices are another great way of creating unique, personalized healthy recipes with amazing taste and flavors.

Here’s one of my favorite stuffed mushrooms recipes, healthy, cheap and doable in no more than 25 minutes.

Ingredients:

• 8 big Portobello mushrooms
• 1/4 of a small celery root, finely grated (don’t use more than 1/4 root, because otherwise the stuffing will have a dry, crumbling texture which is not very nice)
• 1 egg (the egg plays the role of binding the stuffing mixture elements together, but you can skip it or use only the white if you want a low-fat dish)
• 1 cup coarsely grated cottage cheese
• 8 slices of Emmentaler cheese
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 15-20 minutes (depending on the mushrooms' size)

Serving: 2-3 people

Method:

Clean the mushrooms thoroughly, detaching their stems. Cut the stems into small pieces, then put them in a bowl and mix them with the egg, the grated cottage cheese, the minced garlic, the grated celery root, the thyme and a pinch of salt. Optionally, you can add other herbs or spices such as red hot chili peppers powder, coriander, cumin or dried basil. Oil a baking dish and put the mushrooms inside, making sure they fit well. If they don’t, take a bigger dish. It is important that the mushrooms stay flat on the bottom of the dish, otherwise the stuffing will drip into the dish. Spoon the egg mixture into each mushroom carefully until you finish it. Bake the mushrooms at medium heat for 10-15 minutes, without covering the dish.

After the 15 minutes, take the dish out of the oven, put on top of each mushroom a slice of Emmentaler cheese, then cook them for another five minutes or until the cheese starts melting. Serve hot, with freshly ground pepper sprinkled on top. I prefer a mix of red, white and black pepper. For a delicious variation, you can serve the stuffed mushrooms with a sour cream topping or with hot salsa.

For some of us, going vegetarian is not an option, despite the current trends which try to prove more and more that vegetables and fruits are the healthiest way to stay one’s hunger. If you long for healthy recipes that include some meat and are easy to prepare, your grill and some chicken breast are your best friends. The healthiest option when buying meat is to go for free range, cereal-fed chicken, because it contains less chemicals and less stress hormones than the meat coming from birds that were raised in batteries.

This is a simple recipe that goes well for either lunch or dinner, healthy, tasty and budget-friendly.

Ingredients:

• 1 chicken breast, skinless, boneless, sliced in 6 (slices don’t have to be even, just make sure each of them is thick enough to go through the procedure I’m going to describe below)
• 1 pound button mushrooms (preferably fresh, but canned are also OK)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon dried thyme
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled, cut in quarters
• 1 small carrot, grated
• 1 big onion, chopped small
• Salt, pepper to taste

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Serves 2

Method:

Beat the chicken breast slices carefully, then sprinkle them with salt and thyme on both sides. Oil and preheat a stove top grill. Grill the meat 4-5 minutes on each side, then put it in a covered dish. Heat a little olive oil in a large frying pan, then add the chopped onion and about two tablespoons of water. Cook the onion for 5-6 minutes, then add the button mushrooms. In case you use fresh mushrooms, make sure to wash them thoroughly, to remove all dirt, but don’t detach the stems. Although they need a longer cooking time, whole mushrooms are better than sliced ones, because they preserve their taste better. After you added the mushrooms, mix them well with the onions, add the garlic, add some salt and pepper, then cover the pan and continue cooking for about 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Arrange the grilled chicken pieces on the plate, add mushrooms and pour some mushroom sauce with onion bits, then sprinkle some raw grated carrot all over the food. There’s no need for side dish, but if you’re keen on having one, a beetroot salad could make a good companion for this grilled chicken breast with mushrooms recipe.

SA95ECZZRCTQ

This is an easy chicken stew recipe which takes relatively little time to prepare. The secret to make it fast is to cut everything small and to choose vegetables that either can be eaten raw or don’t require long cooking time. The beauty of such foods is that you can discover healthy recipes each and every time by simply choosing a vegetables mix rich in those nutrients you’re most interested in. One of the vegetables that can contribute to preparing a healthy dish is celery root, also known as celeriac, turnip rooted celery or celery knob. When consumed raw, celery root belongs into the low glycemic index group of foods, however when cooked, it’s a high GI food. Despite this, celeriac is still beneficial for diabetes sufferers, because of its low sugar content. The following chicken stew recipe is suitable for people who love potatoes but have to stick with a low-carb diet. It’s an easy recipe for two people, but you can easily adjust quantities if you have more mouths to feed.

Ingredients:

• 1 chicken breast, skinless, boneless, cut in small, thin stripes (the smaller, the better, because the faster it will get cooked)
• 1 big onion, finely chopped
• 2-3 green onions, cut small
• 1 medium sized celery root, peeled, diced small
• 1 medium size potato, diced small
• 1/2 can diced tomatoes in tomato sauce
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• Red hot chili pepper powder (or freshly ground red chili flakes)
• Salt, pepper

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Serves 2

Cooking method:

Take a large pan or a wok, heat the oil, then stir fry the onion with a little bit of added water, so the oil doesn’t get too hot. Depending on your ability to chop onions, you’ll need to stir fry it for 4-8 minutes (even 10 minutes if you’re clumsy and you chopped it really big, but I’m sure that if you got to read this, then you can finely chop an onion, so 4-5 minutes of stir frying should be enough). When the onion gets soft and almost transparent add the potatoes and the celery root pieces and cook everything together for 5 minutes. Add the chicken breast chunks and continue cooking, stirring quite frequently in the first two minutes, then cover the pan and let the food simmer for about 10 minutes. Now add the tomatoes in sauce, the green onion, garlic, chili, salt and the pepper, stir well and continue cooking for another 10 minutes with the pan covered. Serve hot, with a sprinkle of freshly ground pepper on top.

If you ask yourself why is broccoli good for you, look no further. I’ll tell you why: broccoli is very rich in phytonutrients, vitamin C, vitamin A, vitamin E, calcium, magnesium, folate and fiber. Each of those nutrients is important for the good functioning of our digestive system and for our general well-being. Like all vegetables belonging to the crucifers group, broccoli has been proven to reduce the risk of cancer and of cardiovascular diseases. A study by Jed Fahey of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore showed that three-day-old broccoli sprouts help preventing stomach cancer and ulcers by suppressing Helicobacter Pylori, the bacteria which seems to play a major role in the appearance and evolution of the above mentioned conditions (http://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/news/20090406/broccoli-sprouts-good-for-the-gut). However, healthy eating is above all a personal matter, therefore one should always be careful and avoid those foods his body responds negatively to. This is the spirit of the following broccoli casserole recipe, in which most ingredients can be replaced with something else in case your idea of healthy recipes is not overlapping mine.

Ingredients:

• 1 broccoli head, fresh, cut into florets (you know the broccoli is fresh when the florets have a dark green color with a possible tint of brown; if it’s yellowish, it’s not so fresh and you shouldn’t buy it)
• 1 teaspoon olive oil (if you use a non-sticky baking dish, you can give up the oil)
• 3 potatoes, sliced 1/2 can peeled and chopped tomatoes in tomato sauce
• 1 cup sweet corn (frozen or canned)
• 1 cup shredded cheese (for a vegan recipe variation, use tofu cheese instead)
• 1 cup bell peppers, chopped (can be a mix of red, green and yellow peppers, for a nicer color mix)
• 3 eggs (vegans can replace eggs with egg substitute)
• 1/2 cup sour cream or low fat yogurt (vegans can use a tofu-based sour cream replacement either homemade or bought)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Cooking time: 45 minutes

Serves 4

Cooking method:

Put the potato slices in boiling water with salt and boil them for about 10 minutes. In another pan, boil the broccoli, the corn and the bell peppers for 2-3 minutes. Drain the vegetables after boiling and let them cool for about 5 minutes. Don’t relax yet, though, because you have other things to do while vegetables cool. In a bowl, mix two eggs with the chopped tomatoes and the tomato sauce, then add the shredded cheese to the mixture. If the cheese is salty, don’t add anymore salt. Add ground black pepper according to your taste. Take a casserole dish and sprinkle it with olive oil, then place a layer of potato slices inside. You don’t want perfection, just try to cover as much as you can of the dish bottom. Add the broccoli florets and the rest of the vegetables on top of the potatoes layer, trying to distribute them evenly across the surface. Pour the egg, cheese and tomatoes mix over the dish. Beat the last egg with 1/2 cup of sour cream or low-fat yogurt, add some water (if you prefer, you can use milk or tomato juice instead of water), salt and pepper to taste, then pour it over the vegetables. Cover the dish and put it in the oven. Bake it for 40-45 minutes at 350F. Serve the food hot with sour cream or salsa on top. Leftovers can be served either cold or reheated at the next day’s breakfast.

Baked salmon is simply delicious, no matter what ingredients you decide to accompany your fish with. If you’re already asking yourself how is salmon healthy and why does it get featured on a healthy eating recipes website, then it’s my pleasure to tell you that salmon is not only highly nutritious, but also rich in protein and good fats such as the Omega 3 oil that helps preventing coronary heart disease. Salmon is also an important source of vitamin D, which is an essential nutrient that contributes to our health and well-being. Latest alternative medicine trends favor discovering and treating causes of conditions rather than their symptoms, and this is how we got to the concept of functional medicine which is based on the theory that most chronic conditions occur as a follow of internal inflammation in our body, therefore healing that inflammation would automatically lead to the disappearance of the chronic ailment that gives us those symptoms. Specialists in functional medicine conduct research that proved vitamin D to play a major role in reducing the internal inflammation. As salmon provides a high vitamin D intake, it’s included on the healthy foods list of many medical doctors and nutritionists who follow this approach of functional medicine.

Back to our healthy salmon recipe, this is how I cook it:

Ingredients:

• 1 salmon fillet, approx. 1 1/2 inch thick, 1 pound weight, fresh, with skin
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 5-6 black olives, whole
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 5-6 allspice berries (or some fine herbs which you like most)
• Salt, pepper
• Lemon

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Serves: 3-4 people

Method:

Preheat the oven at 400 F. Put the olive oil in a baking dish, then add the fish fillet over it. Turn the fish on all sides, so it gets covered with a thin oil layer all over, then leave it with the skin up. Spread the minced garlic, the olives and the allspice berries in the baking dish, then add some salt and about one cup of water. Put the dish in the oven and bake the salmon at 400 F for about 10 minutes. You can cover it, but it’s OK even if you don’t. After the 10 minutes passed (you’ll know it even if you forget to check on the time, because your whole house it’s going to start smelling like baked garlic), take the dish out of the oven and turn the salmon fillet with the other side up. Let the fish bake for 10-15 minutes more at lower temperature.

Serve it sprinkled with freshly ground black pepper and with freshly squeezed lemon juice. Decorate the plates with 3-4 lemon slices. Wild rice, sauted vegetables or baked potatoes with parsley make excellent side dishes for baked salmon.

Cauliflower is not only the prettier cousin of cabbage, but also a healthy vegetable and a complete food. Cauliflower is a natural source of vitamin C (good for strengthening the immune system) and folate (important for pregnant women in the prevention of spina bifida and other neural tube malformations in newborns). Cauliflower is rich in dietary fiber, excellent for digestion and for the prevention of colon cancer. Recent research has shown that one of the compounds in cauliflower, the indole-3-carbinol, may have positive effects in preventing or slowing down the development of breast and prostate tumors. Apart from its healthy side, cauliflower also has a tasty side, as it makes delicious meals, be it raw, steamed, stir-fried or roasted.

This cauliflower curry recipe is one of my favorites. Easy to prepare, it’s one of the healthy eating recipes which can make a great idea for a light dinner meal, even at late hours.

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Serves 2-3 people

Ingredients:

• 1 medium sized cauliflower
• 6-8 medium sized mushrooms (champignons or any other sort of your choice)
• 4-5 garlic cloves, finely sliced
• 1 bell pepper (red, green or yellow, whatever you have available), chopped
• 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
• 1 cup diced tomatoes in sauce (canned)
• 1 small carrot, grated or Julienne cut
• 1 tablespoon curry powder (either bought or homemade, depending on how much time you’ve got and whether you’re in the cooking mood or just need to feed some hungry mouths)
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Break the cauliflower apart into medium to small florets, discarding the leaves and the core. Put the florets in a pot with salty boiling water and let them boil for 2-3 minutes, then let them drain. Wash and cut the mushrooms into 1/4 inch thick slices. Heat the olive oil in a wok. Stir fry the onions for 3-4 minutes, adding about 2 tablespoons of water, so the oil doesn’t get too hot. Add the mushrooms, the garlic the curry powder and some salt and cook everything for about 5-6 minutes. If you aren’t sure when the mushrooms are done, you can always taste one. Just remember to use a fork and not your fingers to grab the mushroom from the pan.

When mushrooms become soft, add the diced tomatoes, the tomato sauce and the bell pepper and cook everything at medium temperature for 5 more minutes, making sure to keep the wok covered and to stir from time to time. Add the carrot and the boiled cauliflower florets (remember not to overdo the boiling, you don’t want the cauliflower completely cooked, but just a bit softened, when you add it to the vegetable mix). Cook it for 4-5 minutes, stirring gently for a couple of times, in order to make sure that you cover all the florets with the nice, flavored yellow sauce that’s already formed on the wok bottom.

Serve hot with sour cream and freshly ground black pepper on top. If you want a vegetarian meal, you can replace the sour cream with salsa or with a few drops of Worcestershire sauce.

Most of the time it is true that one can perform better if he or she understands the logic behind how things work. This can apply to hobbies, sciences, indeed almost all areas of life, and cooking is no exception. A better understanding of how the basic nutrients effect our bodies can offer a healthier perspective on the way we cook.

Healthy cooking can be influenced heavily by the cooking method

Example: If you use deep frying oil multiple times you’ll get the same tasty food every time, but, it will be healthy the first time and somewhat unhealthy subsequent times. That’s because when the oil exposed to high temperatures changes occur to its chemical composition, and the newly-formed compounds are detrimental to health. Do you see how easy it is to get things wrong? This website contains a variety of healthy recipes that will hopefully help you eat better. We cover the basics of healthy cooking and you can browse through our healthy eating recipes and try a different one every day. Don’t forget to share your thoughts in the comments and feel free to send your healthy recipes, or recipe adaptions, to us.

Healthy Eating And The Food Pyramid

If you have the curiosity to ask people if they are concerned with living a healthy life, probably most of them would say they do. However, when entering in deeper detail, it becomes obvious that healthy living can have multiple definitions. Eventually, the medical community of professionals came to the conclusion that a healthy eating guide could be used by people who are concerned with their well-being, but have no idea about what’s good for them and what should be avoided. This is how, in 1992, the Food Guide Pyramid was made available to the public by the Center for Nutrition Policy & Promotion of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). As you can see, the idea was to educate people to keep the use of fats, oils and sweets in their diet at a minimum, while emphasizing more on other foods such as fruit and vegetables, meat, bread, cereal, rice or pasta. For a better understanding, foods were split in groups, and for each group, there was an indication about how many servings one needed to have in order to make sure she has a healthy diet. However, “servings” is a relative notion. People understood it in their own way, some of them serving bigger portions than others, therefore getting overweight despite their belief that they were eating healthily and cooked only healthy recipes. Moreover, the food pyramid didn’t teach people that they needed to combine a balanced nutrition with some physical activity, in order to stay fit.

In 2005, only 13 years after the first version of the Food Pyramid was developed, a new, improved version was released, called “My Pyramid – steps to a healthier you”, which retains all food groups and their weight in the daily diet as the previous pyramid, but includes additionally a silhouette climbing stairs, a graphic depiction of physical activity. While the guiding principles remained unchanged, My Pyramid brings in the idea that an overall healthy diet is not only balanced in essential nutrients, but also puts limits on other food components consumption, thus limiting the intake of fats, cholesterol and calories. Food guides developed before 1992 were offering only guidelines on the daily nutrients intake, so people were free to add as much sugar or fat on top of those, without any restriction. As modern science and research proved that bad cholesterol, fats and sugars increase the risk of developing such and such conditions, all these findings were incorporated into the new food guides. USDA has a long history in food guidance. Here are the main guides to a healthy nutrition they’ve developed since 1916, guides which were addressing the main health concerns of their time:

• 1916: Food for Young Children
• 1946: National Food Guide (also known as “The Basic Seven”)
• 1956: Food for Fitness - A Daily Food Guide (commonly called “The Basic Four”)
• 1979: Hassle-Free Guide to a Better Diet
• 1992: Food Guide Pyramid
• 2005: MyPyramid

The 1992 Food Guide Pyramid and MyPyramid are based on the Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) established by the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine. The latest Dietary Guidelines for Americans were published in January 2005, just a few months before MyPyramid.

The Five Food Groups

Grain Group

This is represented by the largest stripe on the pyramid and it includes breakfast cereals, bread, rice, crackers, grits, tortillas, pasta and any other food made from cereals. Grains can be whole or refined. Whole grains are the ones that contain all parts of the grain kernel, while refined grains are those who were subject to the milling process which removes the germ and the bran, thus making the foods poorer in dietary fiber, B vitamins and iron. The Dietary Guidelines advise that half of the daily intake of grains is represented by whole grains. All you have to do it look for the word “whole” on the pack when you buy it. As a quick example, brown rice is whole grain, while white rice is refined grain.

Vegetable Group

Not all vegetables are alike. They may contain different amounts of nutrients. This fact led to splitting them into five subgroups: dark green vegetables (e.g. broccoli, romaine lettuce, spinach, turnip greens), orange vegetables (e.g. carrots, pumpkins, sweet potatoes), dry beans and peas (e.g. kidney beans, black beans, white beans, tofu, lentils, soy beans), starchy vegetables (e.g. corn, potatoes, green peas) and others (mushrooms, tomatoes, onions, cauliflower, cabbage, cucumbers, eggplants, asparagus, zucchini and many others that are not included in the first four subgroups).

Fruit Group

Like veggies, fruits are also very different in terms of nutrients content, so it’s a good idea to mix them. Berries, apples, avocado, oranges, pineapple, papaya, melons, plums or pears, all of them are great for health and they should be part of the daily diet, be them fresh or canned, dried or frozen. Fruit juices are also included here, but you should be aware that we are talking about freshly squeezed juice with no added sugar content. Carbonated fruit juices which are available on the market aren't that healthy, therefore their consumption should be limited. Such drinks are also high in calories, so they'd represent too much out of the total calorie intake needed for a healthy living.

Meat & Beans Group

This group includes all meats (like beef, lamb, veal or pork), game meats (rabbit, or venison), organ meats (liver, tongues, hearts, gizzards, kidneys), poultry (chicken, turkey, duck, goose), fish, shellfish (mussels, calamari, octopus, shrimps, oysters, crayfish and other sea food), eggs, dry beans and peas (including soy products such as tofu or veggie burgers), nuts and seeds (sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, pistachio, pecans, almonds, peanuts, peanut butter, walnuts). What is interesting here is that vegetarians need to make sure they eat enough foods from this group, in order to preserve their good health and enjoy the benefits of a balanced nutrition.

Milk Group

Milk is just the generic term for this food group. It includes all liquid milk (whole, fat-free, low fat), cheese (be it hard, soft or processed cheese), yogurt and milk-based desserts such as ice cream or milk puddings. As a basic rule, all milk-based products that are rich in calcium belong in here. Cream and butter, for instance, have barely any calcium content, so they don’t belong in here.

Oils

Oils are also represented on the pyramid as a narrow yellow stripe, but they are not considered a group of foods in itself. Oils can be used for cooking (sunflower oil, corn oil, olive oil), for flavorings (sesame oil), or they can be found in mayonnaise and salad dressings. Solid fats like butter, margarine, lard or chicken fat are also included in this group. The idea of the stripes getting narrower to the top of the pyramid is this: the higher the fats and added sugars content of a food is, the higher it sits on the pyramid, which means the less you must eat of it. However, the more active you get, the more you are allowed to increase your consumption of such foods.

Food Nutrients And Health Benefits Of Various Foods

There are five types of food nutrients: proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and minerals. We are going to take a look at each of them, emphasizing their impact on the human body and indicating the foods which contain them, so you can create your very own healthy recipes for you and your family.

Proteins

Proteins are large molecules, polymers of amino acids, which compose living cells that form our muscles, bones, blood and organs. They play an active role in preserving the health and proper functioning of the immune system, they contribute to the formation of antibodies that help the body fight against intruders, they supply the energy needed for our vital functions, they regulate the processes that take place in the body and they contribute to the growth and repair of body tissues. Proteins are also responsible for keeping the pH balance in the body and for helping blood clot. We aren’t going to enter into chemistry-related details here. All you need to know is that there are 20 such amino acids, 11 non-essential (which means that they can be produced by the body itself, so they don’t need to be taken from the diet) and 9 essential ones (essential means that they can’t be produced by the body, therefore they need to be supplied via the food intake). Meat, poultry, fish, eggs, cheese and milk are sources of complete proteins. They are called like this because they include all nine essential amino acids. Proteins can be also found in plants, but they are low-quality proteins because they are usually missing at least one of the essential amino acids. This is why vegetarian people need to be careful how to combine their foods in order to make sure they get the needed intake of all nine essential amino acids, so they can benefit from a complete diet just like meat eaters. Plants that contain proteins include nuts, seeds, fruits, vegetables, beans and grains.

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are another class of bio-molecules that play a major role in the storage and transport of the energy in the human body, as well as in the seamless functioning of the immune system. Also, other vital functions are supported by carbohydrates, or carbs, as many people prefer to call them. Carbohydrates can be simple and complex. The simple ones are sugars, which can be monosaccharides (glucose, fructose and galactose) or disaccharides (sucrose, lactose and maltose). Complex carbohydrates are polysaccharides, which can be totally digestible, partially digestible or indigestible (dietary fibers). Basically, after a series of transformations suffered in the digestion process, digestible carbohydrates end up as glucose, which is the basic unit that gets assimilated into our cells, thus providing the body with energy for functioning. While it’s true that the body can also take this energy from proteins and fats, the body and especially the brain would rather base their functioning on glucose instead of trying to manufacture it from proteins. So, you see that carbohydrates aren’t bad for the body and that they can be found in more foods than bread, pasta, potatoes or rice, as many people think. They are also found in vegetables, beans, grains fruits and milk. From a consumer’s point of view, the main criterion in choosing carbohydrate-rich foods is the glycemic index. The glycemic index indicates how quickly the glucose in foods is absorbed into the body. For a healthy nutrition, it’s best to choose more whole grains, vegetables and fruits to get your carbs from, rather than sweets or refined cereals.

Fats

Fats are the third major nutrient class that contributes to a balanced, healthy diet. Fats are important because they provide the body with the essential unsaturated fatty acids which have so many benefits for health. Nonetheless, not all fats are alike, some of them being good, while others being harmful. According to their saturation degree, fats can be monounsaturated, polyunsaturated and saturated. Saturation defines the degree in which the molecules are covered with hydrogen atoms. However, these are details. What’s important to know is that saturated fats are bad, because they increase the risk of developing medical conditions such as heart diseases. This happens because the ingestion of saturated fats leads to increasing the amount of bad cholesterol in the blood.

Saturated fats are usually those that are solid at the room temperature. Red meat, hard cheese, dairy products, palm oils, all these contain saturated fats, so their consumption should be limited.

Polyunsaturated fats are the good ones and they can be found in some fish such as salmon, mackerel, sardines or halibut (omega-3 fatty acids), in grain products and in sunflower oil or safflower oil (omega-6 fatty acids).

Monounsaturated fats can be found in olive oil, avocado and nuts, and it’s not very clear to the scientific community if they are good for health or just neutral. Regardless their saturation status, fats are basically triglycerides and cholesterol. Triglycerides are fatty acid molecules bound to a glycerol molecule. They supply the body with energy and the excess is stored in what we know as the adipose tissue or body fat. Cholesterol is a non-essential compound, being also produced by the liver. This explains why some people who are careful to stay on a low-cholesterol diet still have elevated cholesterol levels in their blood.

There’s another category of unsaturated fats which is not so good for health: the so-called trans fats. They are obtained through a process called hydrogenation, which results in raising the melting point of these fats, therefore making them a good ingredient for chocolate, pastry, cookies, crackers, potato chips, doughnuts or other processed foods. Margarine is also a trans fat, so you should never use it instead of butter, like many people are tempted to do. It’s true that margarine just spreads much better than butter, but you’re having this small convenience at the price of your health. So, we could say that margarine impersonates another shattered myth in nutrition: if it’s vegetal, then it must be healthy. Not necessarily. Poisonous mushrooms are also vegetal, but you wouldn’t wish you ate one, would you?

Vitamins

Vitamins are organic compounds that the human body needs in tiny amounts for its normal metabolism and for other vital functions support. Generally, these nutrients are essential, meaning that they can’t be produced by the body itself, so they need to be taken either from foods or from nutritional supplements. There are two types of vitamins: water soluble (8 B vitamins and vitamin C) and oil soluble (vitamins A, D, E and K). Vitamins are not stored by the body, therefore regular consumption is needed in order to avoid deficiencies. Water soluble vitamins are the first ones to be eliminated. Fat soluble ones may accumulate in the body, therefore sometimes hypervitaminosis may occur. Here’s a list of vitamins with their roles in the body and with the foods where they can be found:

Vitamin A (retinol)

• Good for: vision, immune system, skin, bones
• Found in: broccoli, beef liver, egg yolk, carrots, mango, pumpkin, tomatoes, spinach, apricots, sweet potatoes

Vitamin B1 (thiamin)

• Good for: blood sugar metabolism into energy, muscular function, nervous and cardiovascular systems
• Found in: pork meat, kidney beans, navy beans, whole wheat flour, whole cereals

Vitamin B2 (riboflavin)

• Good for: red cells production, skin, vision
• Found in: red meat, green vegetables, dairy products

Vitamin B3 (niacin)

• Good for: converting calories into energy, digestive function, skin, nerves
• Found in: meat, fish, poultry, yeast, peanuts

Vitamin B5 (panthothenic acid)

• Good for: immune system, nervous system, red blood cells, metabolism of foods into energy, lowering high cholesterol
• Found in: eggs, liver, meat, poultry, yeast, whole cereals, milk.

Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine)

• Good for: hemoglobin forming, energy storage
• Found in: meat, poultry, whole cereals, potatoes, milk, soya, eggs, peanuts, beans

Vitamin B9 (folic acid, folate)

• Good for: in incipient pregnancy, it prevents baby’s neural tube defects such as spina bifida and anencephaly. Women who intend to get pregnant should take care to have 180 micrograms of folate per day.
• Found in: broccoli, spinach, mushrooms, dry beans

Vitamin B12 (cobalamin)

• Good for: converting calories into energy, skin, hair, genetic material production, blood cells, nerves
• Found in: meat, poultry, eggs, fish, milk

Biotin

• Good for: glucose formation
• Found in: cereals, bananas, carrots, cauliflower, liver, salmon, eggs, dried fruits

Vitamin C (ascorbic acid)

• Good for: gums, teeth, immune system strengthening, free radicals destruction
• Found in: citrus fruits, berries, broccoli, spinach, tomatoes

Vitamin D

• Good for: helping calcium absorption in the body, bone formation, osteoporosis prevention
• Found in: eggs, tuna fish, fish liver oils

Vitamin E

• Good for: free radicals neutralization, circulatory system, alleviation of premenstrual syndrome symptoms
• Found in: whole cereals, egg yolk, liver, nuts, avocado, vegetable oils, peanut butter

Vitamin K

• Good for: blood clotting, bone growth
• Found in: green tea, cheese, beef liver, spinach

Minerals

Minerals are inorganic elements that can be found pretty much everywhere in nature, which have a definite chemical composition. Some of them are essential for the proper functioning of the living organisms. They can’t be produced by the body, so they need to be taken from nutrition. Here are the main minerals we need to stay healthy, with their benefits and with the list of foods where you can find them:

Calcium

• Good for: bone and teeth building during childhood, osteoporosis prevention
• Found in: milk, dairy products, broccoli, soy, oranges

Iron

• Good for: red blood cells production and functioning. Lack of iron generates anemia, which is a condition that generates life impairing symptoms such as weakness, fatigue, immune function troubles.
• Found in: red meat, poultry, fish, eggs, beans, soy, green leaves vegetables like spinach

Phosphorus

• Good for: bones and teeth
• Found in: fish, meat, milk, dairy products

Potassium

• Good for: muscles, nerves
• Found in: broccoli, bananas, dried fruits, citrus fruits

Iodine

• Good for: body hormones. Iodine deficiency may lead to goitre. In areas where natural resources are scarce in iodine, it’s usually included in the salt, so all population can get their needed daily dose.
• Found in: seafood

Magnesium

• Good for: immune system, muscles, heart
• Found in: spinach, potatoes, broccoli, bananas, avocado, beans, whole cereals

Zinc

• Good for: immune system, sexual development, DNA synthesis
• Found in: red meat, poultry, seafood, milk, dairy products, whole cereals, soy.

Foods Fortification: Are There Only Benefits?

Foods fortification is a public health policy of adding vitamins and minerals to staple foods (foods that are consumed on regular basis and are available all year round) such as bread, condiments or flours, with the purpose of making sure the majority of the population gets the minimum required dose of that element, or for preventing some endemic conditions. While statistics often show a decrease in the incidence of diseases caused by lack of essential nutrients, this practice is controversial, because micronutrients in excess can also lead to health problems. What’s interesting is that the practice of food fortification has its origins far away back in history. There’s evidence that in the year 400 B.C. that authorities in Persia where considering adding iron to wine with the purpose of making soldiers more potent and able to fight better. Although there are also other evidences of attempting to fortify foods throughout the history, it was between the two world wars when food fortification became an established public health practice in many countries.

Healthy Recipes For A Balanced Nutrition

Although food supplements are available and can be bought without medical prescription, it’s not advisable that people stuff themselves with vitamins and other nutrients without asking a health specialist, because excess can be as harmful as deficit in some cases. What you can do is to make sure you include all types of foods in your diet, in the proportions that are indicated in MyPyramid, for example. Eat vegetables and fruits every day, try to cut down on saturated fats, control the amount of carbohydrates and most of all, learn how to cook healthy meals. In all recipes we selected for you, we tried to emphasize on their health benefits, by indicating the main nutrients that are included in the main ingredients. Beware though, by healthy recipes we don’t mean diets that address particular diseases, but only general health and well-being. If you suffer from anything like food allergies, cardiovascular problems or other chronic ailments, be sure to get nutritional advice from your healthcare professionals, because your doctors know best what’s good for you and what could harm you. Also, if you’re pregnant or breastfeeding, medical advice should be the source to trust. Treat all other sources, this website included, as general purpose information and don’t try to apply what you’re reading to your particular case.

Tuna fish is an excellent source of many nutrients such as protein, selenium, Vitamin B1 (thiamin), Vitamin B3 (niacin), Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine), phosphorus, potassium, magnesium and Omega-3 essential fatty acids. These last ones are very important, because the human body does not produce them, so we have to take them from external sources. Omega-3 fatty acids are beneficial for the health of the cardiovascular system, by preventing a series of conditions such as high blood pressure, arrhythmias, atrial fibrillation, stroke, heart attacks or embolisms. Beware though when cooking for children, as tuna fish contains mercury, which is a toxin that can have a negative influence of children’s health. This is an article that gives more details and shows how to calculate how much mercury is ingested when eating tuna-based meals. This concerns only children, adults not being affected by the mercury levels found in tuna fish.

Greek salad can be served as a main dish or as a side dish for a meat-based meal and it’s very popular in the Greek cuisine. Based mainly on fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, diced feta cheese, and olives, the Greek salad can also contain other ingredients such as bell peppers, pickles, capers or even beets in some areas of the world. The typical dressing is olive oil, but also vinegar, herbs and other seasonings are used in many Greek salad recipes.

In any of its variants, Greek salad is a healthy food, mainly because of the tomatoes. Tomatoes have a high Vitamin C content, as well as Vitamin A, Potassium and Iron, which are necessary elements in a well-balanced diet. Yet, the best part in tomatoes is the pigment that gives them the red color, which is called lycopene and which is an extremely powerful antioxidant. Another main ingredient in this healthy salad are the olives. Olives are extremely rich in Iron, Vitamin E and dietary fiber. They also have a high content of monounsaturated fats, which act as a protective shield for the human body cells, thus lowering the inflammation risk. When the monounsaturated fats combine themselves with Vitamin E, as in olives, the effect is an enhanced protection and a better action against free radicals, which are amongst our biggest enemies because they cause oxidation processes which are harmful for the body.

Vegetable lasagna is the meatless variant of the well-known Italian dish based on sheets-shaped pasta. Curiously enough, the word “lasagna” doesn’t come from Latin or Italian, but from Greek language. Its initial meaning was “chamber pot”. Later on, the word was imported in the Latin language, with the meaning of “cooking pot”. Today, lasagna refers to the food itself rather than the dish used for cooking it. The plural, lasagne, is also used by many Italian people.

Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 50-60 minutes
Serving: 4 very hungry people or 6 normal ones