Create a Good-for-you Kitchen and Lifestyle
Be honest with yourself: aren’t you over all the excuses? What have they done for you, besides keep you from achieving your goals and creating a better life for yourself? By picking up this book, you’ve already taken the first step to end the excuses. Congratulations! You are now officially on the path towards your goals and a healthier life.
I can assure you that every single recipe in this book will help you on your road to a leaner lifestyle. How do I know this? I’ve tested and retested every recipe for accuracy in the Skinnytaste test kitchen, which has a staff of just two, my aunt and me. My aunt is a baker, so she’s accustomed to following a recipe precisely as written. She catches any blunders and she doesn’t overlook small details, so we make the perfect team. (Plus, she lives only minutes away from me.) As you can imagine, testing recipes for a book while also creating new recipes for my blog every day left me with A LOT of extra food at the end of the day. Each afternoon, my aunt and I had a Skinnytaste lunch together, and I would send her home with more food to eat for dinner each night. All this food, and yet there was not a single pound gained. In fact, as the months passed, my aunt dropped over 2 stone and went from a size 14 to a size 6. At first, she thought there might be something wrong, so she went to her doctor to get a full checkup. The good news: her doctor said she was in the best shape of her life, her cholesterol was great, and she had more energy than ever. Her doctor asked her secret, and she happily told him to visit skinnytaste.com. I can’t even tell you how great it makes me feel that she is another Skinnytaste success story!
The pages that follow will hopefully make you one, too. I will show you that cooking – even cooking healthy, nutritious food – is quick, easy, and even FUN. It’s time to get back into the kitchen, where you can start improving and refining your healthy cooking skills while you simultaneously make your way back into your skinny jeans. And guess what? It’s not as hard as you think. Here’s how to whittle your waist without skimping on taste, Skinnytaste style.
Plan Ahead and Eat Healthy All Week
Whipping up a week’s worth of light, filling and family-friendly meals is as easy as one, two, three:
1 Plan your menu for the week.
2 Make a shopping list.
3 Head to the supermarket or shops to get all the ingredients you need. You can choose one or two freezer-friendly recipes to make on your day off; these will serve as more than one meal so you can have leftovers for lunch or dinner later in the month.
Take Charge of Your Kitchen
The bottom line: when you’re in charge of the cooking, you can control what you eat and what you put into your food. The benefits of home cooking are too many to list, but one that’s worth repeating is the fact that making your own meals and snacks is the easiest way to control the types of ingredients and the amount of calories you consume.
Don’t be intimidated! You don’t have to put together elaborate four-course meals, you don’t have to spend hours in front of the stove, and you don’t have to use recipes that feature ingredients you can’t even pronounce. Just get in the kitchen and start cooking. No matter what your comfort level, these recipes will work for you. And if you make a mistake, it’s okay! That’s the best way to learn. Cut yourself some slack and enjoy the process (and the results)!
Dump the Junk
The road to Skinny isn’t paved with processed food. And yet, supermarket shelves are jam-packed with them. What’s the draw? They may help save a little time and effort, but try to read the label – there will be a long list of ingredients you’ve never even heard of or can’t pronounce. Even the so-called ‘healthy’ foods can be loaded with sodium, calories, sugar and fat. If that’s what’s in your fridge, freezer or pantry, the road to Skinny will be a bumpy one.
Having a properly stocked kitchen, on the other hand, can help set you up for weight loss success. (See A Skinny Kitchen Makeover.) Whenever a snack attack strikes, you’ll be fully prepared with healthy snacks.
Fall in Love with Real Food
My eating philosophy is built on utilizing in-season, whole foods – those that are in their unprocessed and natural state. Whole foods are healthier and there’s no doubt they taste better. Not only that, when you cook with whole foods, you know exactly what you’re putting into your body. Head to your local farmers’ market, check out the organic and produce sections of your neighbourhood supermarket or visit a health food shop to stock up on the freshest, tastiest, most nutritious ingredients. Another option is vegetable box schemes. When you join one, you’ll get a weekly box of fresh produce and other foods delivered. It’s a win-win: you’ll be supporting farmers and you’ll get the opportunity to experiment with new foods. It’s time to reconnect with real food.
Keep it Simple
If you’re intimidated by healthy eating, you’re not alone. But there’s no need to stress, because I like to keep things simple. I base my meals largely on nutrient-packed, energy-boosting vegetables, fruits, beans, whole grains and healthy fats. You’ll eat fish and only modest amounts (if you choose to) of lean meat and dairy products. You’ll also cut back on salt, refined sugars, white flour and partially hydrogenated oils. That’s it!
Forget the Fads
Here’s a Skinny secret: typical fast-fix diets don’t work. I’ve tried several diets that either required me to eat the same bland, tasteless food every day or that required me to cut out carbs completely. Sure, those diets may help you lose weight in the short-term, but they very rarely keep the pounds away for good. In fact, more often than not, they lead to dangerous yo-yo dieting, which could permanently damage your relationship with food. To really shrink your waistline – and keep it that way – you must alter your eating habits and lifestyle in a way that’s easy to stick with in the long run.
Serve Up Perfect Portions
If you stick to the recipes in this book, your portions will automatically be controlled. Of course, that’s not the case if you’re making a different recipe or you’re dining out.
A good guideline that always helps me at home: picture a plate divided in half. Fill one half with salad and veggies, one quarter with whole grains and the last quarter with lean protein. You can mix up your food options at each meal to maximize your nutrient intake and shake things up for your taste buds. Another trick to use at home is to