Sometimes I am amazed, when clients come to me for their first consultation and state that they have been only living on 2 bread slices, a glass of milk and lots of soups and salads for months; or some weird, very low calorie, montonous diets like that!
The only question I ask them is, if they were eating the right stuff (as they thought) then, what led them to come to me? Well, one can easily guess the answers : (
If you want to lose weight or just eat healthy to live better, you need to take care of your senses. They are the first organs to explore the food you are going to introduce in your body. To please them is like opening the gates of good health for long.
Have you ever thought, why are we so excited to eat out? Before our order is served, we are all for the dish and cannot wait any longer! We smell the pleasing aroma and our mouth starts watering already, isn't it?
Next, as soon as the dish is laid in front of us, merely the sight of it makes us eager to taste it and we get switched over to 'Can't wait any longer' mode. What makes us so impatient?
Well, the trick lies in 'Presentation'. The interesting way in which the food is presented to us. Imagine a pasta with white dressing and no vegetables. How sad it would look :( . Now imagine, a white dressing pasta with yellow, red bell peppers, brocolli and some basil leaves. Sounds interesting!
While preparing food at home, we should make sure that we add colour, texture, variety in our daily menus. And if the food is cooked well, it will automatically smell good. By doing so, we are making the food appealing to the eyes. The first of the sensory organs. Just a glance at the food you are going to consume; and the brain has already decided whether or not to consume it.
One can add colour and texture to their dishes by incoporating a lot of vegetables, fruits, nuts, oilseeds etc.
For instance, instead of eating plain wheat flakes in milk everyday for breakfast, one can add some banana slices, berries, nuts in the same cereal bowl and make it more interesting. Doing so, the eyes, the tongue are satisfied due to different mouth feel and one is able to reduce the cereal intake and thereby cut down on carbohydrates. Instead you are adding fibre, various vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids, proteins all incorporated into one bowl. Try it! It is fulfilling to eat something like that and start your day!
Next, the king of senses when it comes to food is, 'Thy Tongue'. I constantly drill this in to my client's heads, make healthy food that tastes good. How much ever the food may look appealing to the eyes, if it does not suit your tastebuds, the next bite will not enter your mouth. And if you are thinking that healthy food can never taste good, and shall always taste bland and sad, then I will like to ask you to ponder on it once more.
HEALTHY FOOD CAN TASTE AWESOME ! And I strongly believe this.
There are tons of recipes on the web. If you are not confident about them. Ask me. I shall help you. I shall help formulate a recipe for you with your choice of ingredients. If that helps you to believe it.
My only concern is, don't give up on the idea of healthy eating just because you are too bored of eating the same items.
Give it a break. Cook something new Today !
Cheers :)
Please feel free to write your comments. Your interaction will just help me to write better.
Also, feel free to ask anything about health you wanted to know, that shall give me an idea for my following blogs.
