Trends in Recipes and Cooking: Local with a Global Twist Our society's growing consciousness about the impact of our actions on the planet's health and wellbeing is being felt in the kitchen. Increasingly, the trend in recipes and cooking revolves around finding ingredients that are produced locally. Home cooks are recognizing that fruit and vegetables grown in other states and other countries gobble up energy to package and transport them to market. This leaves a big carbon footprint - a consequence that a growing number of families wish to avoid. As a result, shoppers are seeking out fresh food and produce that is locally grown. For some, this means regularly visiting farmers markets; for others, it means inquiring about the source of fresh food at the grocery store. Many others have the desire to take steps toward finding recipes and cooking with fresh produce and other ingredients, but aren't sure where to begin. Thank goodness for the Internet! For those ready to take the first steps, there is an abundance of information available on the Web. Armed with this information, shoppers can learn how to buy fresh produce, discover the types of produce that are in season, read articles about fresh food, and find recipes to prepare everything from delectable fresh fish, seafood, and meat dishes to delicious vegetable courses and dessert treats. Moreover, home cooks are discovering that cooking with locally grown fresh foods opens the door to a world of cuisines - literally. Today's recipes and cooking trends put a global twist on fresh ingredients. If you're in the mood for Asian food, for example, you don't have to dine out. Instead, you can use the Web to research Asian food culture and find recipes that are easy to make at home. Likewise, resources for French food, German food, Italian food, and Mexican food are only a few mouse clicks away. Vegetarians and those who are health-conscious are truly embracing these recipes and cooking trends. In the past several years, natural and organic foods have been finding their way onto grocery store shelves, and stores that specialize in fresh and natural foods are now a staple in virtually every city. Whether you adhere to a raw food diet or are simply trying to cut back on butter or sugar, you can more easily find the foods that you need. At its best, cooking is an adventure. It's fun to experiment with different herbs and spices, and to prepare your favorite foods in a new way. Combining local, fresh foods with global recipes and cooking techniques is a great way to keep your cuisine interesting and tasty. No one would argue that eating only locally grown foods can be a challenge. After all, it would be difficult to find fresh fish and seafood if you live in the desert, or unearth a source for locally churned butter if you live in a fishing village. Just keep in mind that perfection needn't be the goal; even incremental changes in the way we think and shop will help the planet. And, with the plethora of information about recipes and cooking that is available on the Web, putting a global twist on local ingredients can put the adventure back in dining!
Things to Consider When Preparing Low Cholesterol Recipes Having high blood cholesterol levels seriously endangers one’s health. People with high blood cholesterol levels are exposed to many illnesses, including cardio-vascular disease, gastro-intestinal disorders, kidney failure and even cancer. There are many factors that contribute to the accumulation of cholesterol inside the body: age, gender, genetic heritage, obesity, sedentary lifestyle, inappropriate diet, smoking, and alcohol. Around 20 percent of people in the United States have high blood cholesterol levels and therefore they are at risk of developing heart diseases and other circulatory conditions. Although you can’t change some factors that enable the accumulation of cholesterol inside the body, by quitting smoking, by avoiding the consumption of alcohol, by following a healthy diet and by exercising regularly, you will be able to reduce blood cholesterol deposits and hence, minimize the risk of heart disease. There are two main types of cholesterol: low-density lipoprotein, also referred to as “bad cholesterol” and high-density lipoprotein, also called “good cholesterol”. Excessive body accumulation of bad cholesterol is very harmful. Bad cholesterol sticks to the inner walls of arteries, forming plaque and blocking the normal blood flow. If this type of cholesterol clogs the coronary arteries, there is a high risk of heart disease. Good cholesterol collects low-density lipoprotein in the bloodstream and brings it to the liver, where it is broken down into other substances. It is desirable to have high levels of good cholesterol and low levels of bad cholesterol inside the organism, in order to maintain good health. You can raise the levels of good cholesterol and reduce bad cholesterol values by following a good diet. Low cholesterol recipes should be preferred over fast food or processed supermarket foods. Low cholesterol recipes should contain small amounts of saturated fat rich foods (meats, dairy products, eggs), as they are very harmful to the body. Low cholesterol recipes should include plenty of vegetables and fruits, as they are rich in fibers, vitamins and minerals. Fresh fruits also contain natural antioxidants, which decongest the arteries clogged with cholesterol. Use low-fat meat in your low cholesterol recipes (lean cuts of poultry and beef) and include more fish and seafood in your diet (mackerel, sardines, salmon, tuna, herring). Fish is rich in omega-3 oils, which can reduce blood cholesterol. Refrigerate meat for a few days before cooking it, in order to remove excess cholesterol and fat. A good low cholesterol recipe should replace regular cooking oil with olive oil. Also, you should replace butter with vegetal margarine when preparing your low cholesterol recipes. It is best to avoid frying your food and therefore consider boiling, broiling, baking, roasting or steaming it instead. This way you will be able to reduce the intake of cholesterol and fat with your meals. Try to reduce the amount of simple carbohydrates (sweets) in your low cholesterol recipes and include more complex carbohydraterich foods in your diet: pasta, whole wheat products, rice, beans, dried peas and sweet potatoes.
You need to consume plenty of fluids in order to help your body eliminate surplus cholesterol and therefore include plenty of vegetable soups in your low cholesterol recipes. Use healthy foods in your low cholesterol recipes and you will be able to maintain your blood cholesterol levels in check.
Easy Low Fat Recipes And Your Health For the person who’s constantly going back and forth between one diet or another, there never seems to be much fun in their lives. I should know as I’ve been yo-yo dieting for most of my adult life now. I would go from one diet plan to another and stick with it only long enough for it to work a little. At which point I’d get tired of it and go back to my rounds of binge-eating. Naturally this wasn’t healthy, and only by a great effort on my part have I now decided to turn my whole life around. Instead of alternately bingeing and dieting I’ve now decided to go the healthy route and am now going in for sensible eating ideas and regular exercise. I’ve also resorted to using a few really tasty low fat recipes to help me in my new get-fit regime. I decided to try out some easy low fat recipes because when I first started on my sensible eating plan, I found there weren’t really too many things that I could eat that were also good for me and tasty. I had always scorned any low fat foods and meals since they didn’t seem to taste very good, but since then I’ve learned a lot, and have found great ways to make easy low fat recipes that tickle my taste buds. A few years ago sadly enough this wasn’t the case and it was really difficult to get any really good tasting low fat recipes that could satisfy your hunger at the same time as well. Or at least that was my perception at the time. Luckily I found out that I was wrong and that if you prepare your meals with care using some easy low fat recipes you could turn out a dish to rival any of the ones swimming in fats. Eating low fat meals is just another sensible way to contain your excess food and fat intake. Having easy low fat recipes on hand however, just makes it all the more easier for you to stick your new plan. Think about it, if you have to slave over the stove for a long time only to produce something that’s only slightly edible, and has no compensation of fats in it either would you really do it? I didn’t think so. Everyone needs motivation to do something and using easy low fat recipes is one the best ways that I’ve found to stay on my sensible eating regime. These recipes need not be hard to remember, and they don’t need to utilize a lot of ingredients either. So you can either have them handy on a few card sheets, or you could just stick them up on the refrigerator for them to be in plain sight always. Whatever you decide though, I’ve found that easy low fat recipes are my ticket to getting my life back into order, and my weight back into a good balance.
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