To have a nutritionally sound eating plan you need to have the right tools. One of these important tools is knowledge in how to prepare food, basics to have in the pantry and yummy ideas to keep you focused and motivated to eat well.

Let’s talk about the basics:

Items to always have in pantry:
1. Wholegrain crackers such as Vitaweat or Vitalife
2. Vegemite/ marmite
3. Balsamic vinegar
4. Olive oil
5. Soy sauce
6. Ginger & garlic
7. Cans of diced tomato
8. Can of Salad bean mix/ baked beans/ chickpeas or red kidney beans
9. Canned vegetables such as beetroot/asparagus/corn and canned fruit in juice not syrup.
10. Bag of raw mixed nuts or seed mix (non salted)
11. Salt and pepper
12. Tinned tuna or salmon

Fridge:
1. low fat soy or dairy products
2. Frozen vegetables
3. Eggs

Healthy Tips to make your meals healthier!

You can always add your own spin to these, always be creative but always be thinking how you can make your meals as healthy as possible…

• Always try to add vegetable where possible, aim for 3 servings (about 1 cup) per day. Add frozen veges to casseroles or mince meat. Always have a side of salad or steamed veges with every meal. For example if you have a homemade burger with lettuce in it, also have a side of salad too.
• Avoid roasting vegetables with roasting meat in same dish, you don’t want the vegetables absorbing the saturated fat
• Use cooking spray for pan cooking or roasting, this limits the amount of oil you use
• Always choose lean cuts of meat and take the fat off and skin of chicken off after cooking.
• Use a tomato base sauce for pastas instead of cream or cheese based
• Use natural ingredients to flavour dishes such as garlic, ginger, herbs, spices etc rather than packet bought sauces.
• Avoid over-cooking vegetables when boiling or steaming, this destroys many of the vital nutrients.
• Always try choose the low fat versions of dairy products such as milk, cheese or yoghurt.
• Use good oils such as olive oil, peanut oil, sunflower oil, rice bran, avocado in cooking instead of butter.

To have a nutritionally sound eating plan you need to have the right tools. One of the most important tools is knowledge in how to prepare food. For example steaming, frying, grilling, boiling and microwaving. By trying different foods and ways to cook them can help make foods new and interesting, especially with vegetables, keeping one motivated.

Healthier ways to cooking and eating meat

1. Choose meat products with minimum fat on it or cut fat off prior to cooking
2. Grill meat instead of frying where possible so that fat can drip away from rest of meat
3. Take skin of chicken prior to eating
4. Choose good quality meats instead of processed meats such as salami or luncheon

Different ways to cook vegetables

By trying new vegetables or changing the way you cook them can help keep eating vegetables fun and exciting. Here a few ways to cook your vegetables:

1. Steam either in a pot with a steamer attachment or in a microwave safe dish (steam for limited time to prevent nutrient loss)
2. Stirfry in pan or wok on high heat for short time so that vegetables are just soft but still crunchy.
3. Grill/roast in the oven. Vegetable such as zucchini, peppers, tomatoes, carrots are a nice combination
4. Get adventurous with starchy vegetables. Try pumpkin, kumara, butternut, buttercup, parsnip, squash as well as potato.  These can all be roasted/grilled, steamed or mashed. All very high in nutrients and fibre. These will help curb those sugar cravings after dinner.

Grains

Don’t forget to try some new and interesting grains such as quinoa, amaranth, brown rice, millet. These can be cooked similar to rice. These are a good source of protein, vitamins and minerals – iron, magnesium, Vit E, potassium, amino acids, and fiber, magnesium. Great for speeding up the metabolism and preventing sugar cravings. When your body is getting the right nutrients especially magnesium and chromium this prevents these cravings thus can help weight loss not only for providing some of the body’s essential nutrients but reducing the sugar and fat intake that comes with giving in to sugar cravings.