Healthy cooking

OK, so I've always been a meat-and-potatoes, cheesburger-and-fries guy. Too much fast food. Too much sugar and so forth. A lot of it is because I've always been a picky eater. So I'll yo-yo in weight because I starve myself, then start eating my normal food again. Obviously, I need to find a sustainable, balanced and satisfying diet to stick to.

Any suggestions for any good cookbooks or Web sites to this end?

It's time to beat the battle of the bulge once and for all, and I now realize that alternating months of Quarter PoundersTM with weeks of Lean Pockets and Slim-Fast meal replacement bars just isn't going to do the long-term trick.

 

Re: Cooking

Learn to like vegetables.

Seriously, if you read some basic cookbooks and force yourself to shop often, buy what's fresh and change with the seasons, you'll find that eating healthy is very, very easy.

Divest yourself of the ingrained idea -- whether you've ever conciously thought it or not -- that a "meal" is meat, starch and some overcooked vegetable on the side -- a side so overcooked you have to drown it in butter, salt and pepper for it to have any taste.

Americans in general -- and midwesterners in particular -- operate inside a paradox, whereby they have access to fantastically fresh vegetables and spend no time learning to prepare them because they think of them as "sides".

Saute your peppers and onions quickly and lightly. Cook your asparagus al dente and squeeze a lemon over it -- then serve. Roast broccoli in a hot oven and shave just a little parmesan over the top. Get fresh melon in the summer, rough chop it and some proscuttio and drizzle with balsamic vinegar.

After that, substitue fish for beef half the time you cook. And don't skimp on the food budget. Spend money for good food. Shop at farmer's market's all summer long and you'll make up the difference on the what you spent on the good olive oil or the better piece of steak or fish. Some cheaper cuts of beef are wonderful when prepared correctly. Marinate and sear a flank steak on a scorching hot kettle until just medium rare, then serve with some of those peppers and onions you've lovingly sliced and quickly sauteed with a little good oil.

You'll feel better, and your food will taste much, much better.

 

Boneless, skinless chicken breasts are always a good option in place of burgers and the like...tasty and oh so versatile.

 

Pan-cook chicken or fish in lemon juice and a few squirts of olive oil with assorted spices. Very low fat. Eat veggies (veegees?) raw. Lots of fruit. Lots of walnuts, but in small doses each time. Cut down on carbs. Junk the sodee pop. Drink lots of water. Go to the gym.

You'll cut down 40 pounds in 6-8 months.

 

You can make some of those fattening foods at home and it's much healthier. Roasted potatoes are much more healthy than fries, but not too much different. Hamburgers made on a George Foreman are pretty lean because it squeezes the fat and grease out. There are a couple of 30 minute meal/low carb cookbooks out there that are pretty good. Zeke is right, too. Learn to enjoy vegetables. They're pretty filling and if not doused in butter, pretty good for you.

 

There are some pretty good, sensible dishes in the Weight Watchers cookbook.

 

Love the idea of roasting brocolli. Might try that tonight with some G.Forman chicken.

 

This is a callback to the Livestrong thread, but that thing's getting too long.

Knowing this profession's eating habits .... Cut out the biggie size (better yet, cut out French fries) and walk 30 minutes a day. You will lose weight and your coronary arteries will thank you. Give the one-liter Mountain Dews a pass, too.

I'm hoping to get down to my high school weight (180 pounds) by this August. I've still got 25 pounds to go.

 

BBAM --

Leave the stalks on, cut the bundle lengthwise, then into quarters.

Place on a sheet pan, drizzle with good olive oil. Place in 425 degree oven until the broccoli browns around the edges.

Squeeze a lemon over it, shave some parm on top, and eat.

It's fantastic.

 

I'm a big fan of salmon, the better half is not. When I'm eating for one, is this the easiest/fastest way to cook up a salmon steak?

Any other suggestion for salmon steak, for that matter.

 

This is a fun one for grill season.

Get some wax paper. Cut off a piece big enough to make a pouch for the salmon.

Place salmon steak (or big filet) on the paper, sprinkle around come cous-cous, cherry toms, onion, red pepper, etc. Season everything and give a generous drizzle of oil and the juice of a lemon or two, along with a shot of water.

Fold the paper up, staple the edges, then wrap the pouch in tin foil.

Throw on a hot Weber. It's done when the salmon's done.

Place pouch on the table, cut with knife, inhale heavenly aroma and eat.

 

You said grill ....