Red Lentil Dahl

Ingredients:

1 cup orange-red lentils
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion
1 tomato
1-2 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
2-3 cups water
1 vegetable bouillon cube

Directions:

Take a skillet and add oil to it, before sautéing the onions until they are soft. Once the onions are soft, you can add all of the other ingredients and then cook until the whole mixture becomes thick. Serve the dish over brown rice for the best results.

Low Fat options for Traveling

Traveling is something that can be done for business or for pleasure and often times in either sense grabbing something out of a vending machine for a snack or eating out is something that is commonly done. However, these options are usually packed full of fat and calories that are not needed and often stored since traveling involves little actual exercise and movement.

Luckily there are a number of low fat alternatives that can provide everything a person needs while traveling with none of the high fat consequences. The first thing to do whether you are traveling for business or pleasure is to invest in a cooler. This is going to give you a place to store all the snacks and meals that you will be brining along. Technology has advanced that there are even coolers that can plug into your cigarette lighter as a power supply. These are usually expensive so the most cost effective option is to purchase ice or ice packs.

Fill the cooler with sandwiches made from low fat meat and cheese or other need to be refrigerated low fat snacks like pudding, celery sticks and carrots. It is also a good idea to fill up on water, there are a variety of flavorings that can be used that provide better alternatives to soda and juice and that will not mess up a low fat diet plan.

For food and snacks that do not need to be kept cold consider options like low fat snack bars or cereals. There are a variety of options available on the market that can provide a quick pick me up without dumping a huge amount of things you do not need into your body. Fruits are also good low fat traveling foods, apples provide a sweet treat and bananas help provide a number of vitamins that can help with the tired cramped feeling that comes from long hours of driving both are low fat and healthy.

If you are a coffee drinker especially when traveling consider bringing along your own creamer, the powdered stuff will not do anything to cool your coffee down, if you are using creamer for part of this consider asking for ice in your cup, but often times has less fat than can be found in the creamers provided by fast food restaurants. If possible make coffee at home or in a hotel and store in a thermos. This will also prevent the get a donut or a hamburger while grabbing coffee situation.

When traveling maintaining a low fat diet is somewhat difficult if you do not plan ahead, the urge to eat out and eat conveniently is greater when traveling. However by packing a few low fat snacks and meals and providing yourself with health alternatives you can eliminate the needs for high fat foods from restaurants.

Red Beans and Rice

Ingredients:

1 pound red beans, dry
8 cups water
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery
4 bay leaves
3 Tablespoons chopped garlic
3 Tablespoons chopped parsley
2 teaspoons crushed, dried thyme
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup chopped green pepper

Directions:

Rinse and sort beans before mixing them in a five quart capacity pot with the bay leaves, celery, onion and water, bringing everything to boil before reducing the heat, covering the pot and then cooking for around 90 minutes until the beans are tender.  Once they are tender, you can stir and mash them in the pan before adding the remaining ingredients and then uncovering the pot.  Cook everything in this manner until the mixture is creamy, before removing the leaves from the mixture and then serving everything over rice.

Low Fat Ideas for the Busy Person

Consider some facts. The average person works more than a 40 hour week. If they are parents they are also engaged in school activities adding another 10-20 hours a week. If you count in house hold responsibilities you are looking at just enough time to eat and sleep. This makes for a hectic and busy schedule and most people do not want to add to it by having to spend time in the kitchen.

The result of this is a large number of prepackaged processed foods that are high in a number of things like salt, sugar and fat. All of these things lead to an unhealthy lifestyle. This makes for tired bodies and minds that are less able to process information and deal with stress. There are a few things however that people can do that can help provide low fat meals for their families as well as for themselves.

The first step is to avoid fast foods. While they are convenient and driving by on the way home from work and picking up dinner is a great way to eliminate cook time it is also adding a great deal of unnecessary fat to your diet. Frozen dinners may provide a low in fat alternative but you end up adding salt and other preservatives which can be equally as bad. Maintaining a low fat lifestyle is not just about cutting out fat it is about eating healthy.

How often have you been busy at work and just grabbed something from a fast food place or a donut or snack from a vending machine for a meal while rushing to complete this project or on your way to that meeting. You are doing yourself and your work a disservice. Taking the time to eat properly produces better results than the quick pick me up options.

Here are some alternatives, when making meals make double or triple the recipes. Then using freezer storage containers, they make some now that are the size of plates and can freeze an entire meal like a tv dinner, freeze individual meals in the freezer. Then all you have to do is pull it out and reheat. It saves time and produces low fat meals easily.

Buy low fat snacks to keep with you at the office or in your car. If you have a full busy schedule and meal times seem to be from vending machines, fast food restaurants or you drink your meals consider low fat breakfast bars, snack bars or things that store well or can be eaten either warm or cold. These will give you quick on the go healthy alternatives eliminating the vending machine and the fast food joint from your diet without causing inconveniences.

Rainbow Pizza

Ingredients:

3 English muffins (preferably whole wheat), split (6 halves)
1/2 cup pizza or pasta sauce
Your choice of 3 from any one of grated carrots, sliced mushrooms, chopped broccoli, pineapple chunks, chopped pepper of any colour and sliced zucchini
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, grated

Directions:

Spread sauce on each half muffin, before arranging your selected toppings on top of the sauce layer in another layer.  Sprinkle cheese on top of the toppings layer before baking each pizza in the oven for approximately 10 minutes on 350 F.

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