Better Health - Jillies Blog

How to Turn Your Delicious Recipes into Healthy Recipes

May 12, 2022

We all know cooking at home is a healthier choice over choosing the drive-thru or dining out. However, it’s important to remember that recipes are created simply for their texture and flavor, but don’t always take health into consideration. To make it easier for you to cook more healthfully, here are a few tips that you can use on a variety of recipes.

For many recipes it’s easy to simply reduce the amount of fat or oil used to make cooking easier. Non-stick cookware means you need little or no fat when cooking on the stovetop. Greasing baking dishes is often unnecessary as well, but you may have to experiment a little.

For fats and oils used for baking cakes and muffins, you can often substitute them with apple puree. For cookies, aim to replace about ½ the oil with puree. You can even aim for a more healthful impact by using highly nutritious sweet potato puree as a fat and oil substitute.

If a recipe calls for saturated fats like butter or even lard, replace it with vegetable or olive oil. Of course, this won’t always work in recipes that call for creaming of butter. In those cases, you might try margarine or simply reduce the amount of butter.

In baking, you can usually replace 1 egg with 2 egg yolks for the same desired result, but with less cholesterol.

Try replacing at least half the white flour in a recipe with whole wheat. Many recipes will work with a complete replacement, so experiment a little. Your health is at stake.

Many sweet recipes are sweeter than they need to be. Don’t be shy about reducing the sugars. Definitely do this where sweeteners are often added after cooking. For example, there is no reason pancake or waffle batter needs a lot of sugar when syrup, fruit and other sweet items are added afterwards.

To salt or not to salt? In savory foods, salt is usually not necessary. For baked goods, while many may say otherwise, it’s not always necessary either. One exception is baked goods using yeast. Salt slows down the rising process and produces better texture, so it is likely necessary, but you can try reducing the amount of salt used.

Try lower fat dairy products in your recipes. Instead of heavy cream, use half and half. Instead of whole or 2% milk, try skim. The same goes for sour cream, yogurt and cheeses. Just make sure to read the label for quality ingredients as lower quality products tend to add undesirable ingredients and chemicals to make their low fat varieties more palatable.

Healthy Food Swaps

Choosing healthier foods is easier than you may think. There are some simple everyday changes you can make to get you on your way to a healthier lifestyle without losing all the things you love.

It’s all about eating fewer foods that are high in calories, fat, salt and sugars and swapping them for something healthier, including more fruit and vegetables and wholegrains.

Healthy eating and getting active can help you lose centimetres from around your waist and reduce your risk of chronic diseases such as some cancers, type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

You don’t have to stop it, just swap it. For example, swap a big meal for a small meal. You can make these swaps as you go about your everyday life at work, at home or even while out shopping. It’s easy and these basic changes can add up to make a big overall difference to your diet.

Try these small changes when you have your next meal or drink, or when you open the cupboard or fridge for a snack.

Once you’ve got started, try thinking of your own healthier swaps, too. Food labels can help you to choose healthier options.

Breakfast

Swap from whole milk to light or skim milk.
Swap a sugar-coated breakfast cereal for a wholegrain breakfast cereal such as porridge or shredded wholegrain wheat cereal, with no added sugar.
Swap a sprinkle of sugar on your breakfast cereal for a topping of fresh or dried fruit.
Swap full-fat Greek yoghurt for fat-free Greek-style yoghurt or natural low-fat yoghurt.

Lunch

Swap white breads, bagels and muffins for wholegrain varieties.
Swap butter and cheese in your jacket potato for reduced fat spread and reduced salt and sugar baked beans.
Swap a tuna melt for a tuna salad sandwich on wholemeal bread, without mayo.
Swap a cheddar cheese filling in your sandwich for reduced-fat cheese.

Dinner

Swap creamy or cheesy sauces for tomato- or vegetable-based sauces on your pasta, meat or fish dishes.
Swap mashed potato made with butter and whole milk for mash with low-fat spread and a lower-fat milk such as light or skim milk.
Choose leaner cuts of meat, for example, steak rather than sausages.
Swap the frying pan for the grill when cooking meat.

Drinks

Swap your usual coffee made with whole milk to a ‘skinny’ coffee made with skim milk.
Swap a few of your sugary drinks for a glass of water.
Swap hot chocolate made with whole milk and served with whipped cream for a hot chocolate made with skimmed milk and no cream.

Snacks

Swap an iced coffee for a small fruit frappe.
Swap yoghurt-coated raisins for plain raisins.
Swap salted nuts for unsalted nuts.
Swap chips for rice cakes with lower fat cream cheese.

Healthy Reasons to Start Eating Clean

May 9, 2022

While the term itself has left dieticians and consumers alike confused about what it really means, “clean eating” generally refers to a diet that’s more on eating fresh fruits and vegetables, and less on processed foods and meats. Clean eating isn’t a diet but rather a style of eating that emphases the quality of the food you eat and not the quantity. https://jilliesblog.com/what-is-clean-eating-2/

Clean eating nourishes your body with healthy and nutrient-dense foods. Clean foods fill your body with plentiful vitamins and minerals, high-quality protein and healthy fats, which improve heart and brain health, assist with weight management, build a stronger immune system and increase energy levels, among other benefits. Foods in their natural state have more flavour.

It’s from this that different interpretations start to take off, such as Paleo, dairy-free, or even complete vegan, which allows for absolutely no animal products of any kind. But whatever your way of getting there, here’s why you should make the change and start eating clean:

Examples of food in a Clean Diet

Fresh fruit
Apples, bananas, blueberries, grapes, oranges, strawberries, 100% fruit juice
Vegetables
Avocados, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, corn, green beans, lettuce, mushrooms, onion, peppers, salsa, sweet potatoes, tomatoes
Lean meats/protein
Dried beans, eggs from grass-fed chickens, fresh fish, grass-fed chickens, plain nut butters (no sugar added), unflavored nuts
Grain (cereal) foods
Those made with whole grains, air-popped popcorn, oats, brown rice, whole-wheat pasta
Dairy products
Cheese, milk, plain yogurt, unsweetened nondairy milks

1. Fruits and vegetables are naturally cleansing
It should come off as no surprise that fruits and vegetables can be cleansing in how they help eliminate the stored fat and toxins in your body and provide the nutrients your body needs to perform its various everyday functions.

2. You get to lose the weight
Exercise is great, but it’s by no means the only way for you to lose that extra weight. In fact, even without the workout, you can still shed those pounds just by swaping sugar for a healthier option and switching to a high-fiber diet loaded with vitamins and minerals.

One of the joys of eating foods that are close as possible to being in the form that nature gave them to us, is that your body tends to thrive and stay slim almost effortlessly! While there is no guarantee, clean eating is a much healthier option.

3. You’ll enjoy your food more
You’ll end up learning a lot of things when switching to a diet of fruits and vegetables: cooking and food preparation, and actually enjoying every meal.

Aside from eating more fruits and vegetables, eating clean is also all about eating with purpose and savoring every bite. This lets you actually take the time to taste everything you put in your mouth, and lets you form a better relationship with your food.

4. It makes you feel more energetic
Your digestive system has to break down what you consume into nutrients and energy, but when you don’t get the right food, your body’s stores will deplete quickly and you end up feeling exhausted more often. This also results in poor hormonal health and brain fog.

But the good news is that you can avoid brain fog, regain that focus, and start feeling healthier by making the right dietary choices – and that means eating clean.

5. Faster Recovery

You will find on a healthy diet your workouts are easier and your recovery time is cut down too. This is in part because of the minimized inflammation in your body, but also because of all the great antioxidants you are getting from your food.

6. Stronger Immune System

Anytime you’re consuming processed foods and sugar, your immune system has to spend energy protecting against what you’re putting in your body, leaving very little energy left to protect against illness. A clean eating lifestyle leads to a bolstered immune system that is more efficient in combating diseases and viruses. If you do get sick, your body will have more resources to recover quickly.

7. Less Cravings for Junk Food

Your body is naturally cleansing and detoxing, your organs are more efficient in cleansing your body. You will find that you have less cravings for junk food than you did prior to starting your clean eating diet. In a sense, you’re totally reprogramming your relationship with food in a positive way.

8. Cooking is Easier
The easiest way to eat clean? Cook your own food. That way you have total control over your ingredients and can be certain that your meals are indeed clean. Cooking also helps you avoid items that are advertised as healthy but are not. For example, many healthy juices found at grocery stores come loaded with sugar and cheap ingredients. It’s far better to buy your own ingredients to blend delicious juices.

9. Healthy Food Swaps(examples)

Instead of coffee creamer use a homemade, low sugar creamer. …
Drink sparkling water, green tea, or kombucha instead of soda. …
Try oatmeal, chia pudding, or a yogurt parfait instead of sugary cereal. …
Choose a healthy or homemade granola bar.

If at anytime you are concerned about your general health or diet contact your family doctor to discuss your general health and dietary goals.

Clean Eating – Getting Started

March 16, 2022

This article about clean eating is not a diet plan. It is suggestions for you to think about when you want to make changes to your lifestyle when it comes to the food you are eating. You will notice you become more energised, healthier and interested in taking care of yourself. A benefit of clean eating can be weight loss.

What does clean eating mean for you? For me it means a healthy way of eating, namely eating lots of fruit, vegetables, dairy products, fish. No unprocessed food, no junk food or fast food and cooking in very little fat/oil. If I do cook in oil it is olive oil or coconut oil. It is interesting to note that foods like steak, chicken and even some fish have their own natural juices and you don’t need to add oil to the cooking process. Other things I do is to drink alcohol in moderation and drink plenty of water.

How to get started

The first thing to decide is what exactly clean eating means for you and your family and being aware of your budget the foods available.

Our attitude to food also has an influence on what we eat.

The foundation of clean eating is choosing whole foods and foods in their less processed states—choosing from vegetables, fruits, whole grains, pulses (beans, lentils, and peas), dairy, nuts, seeds, and high-quality animal and plant proteins. When possible, food choices are organic and based on what’s in season, readily available and within your budget.

Clean eating to you may mean choosing to eat healthy during the week and having fast food on the weekend. You can modify this to suit your lifestyle, however your overall goal is to eat healthier.

Whatever you choose the changes you make will make a difference then you can build on these changes when you can notice the difference to the way you feel.

Write a Shopping List

Plan your meals and write a grocery list. Modify the list to suit your personal preferences or your families preferences, also your budget.

If there are items on the list you wish to purchase and your budget doesn’t allow buy the items over weeks or months.

Thankyou to HealthyandHealthyMama for this sample shopping list. The list is a sample only, modify this list to suit your family and yourself and your budget. Again it may be a gradual process because you have to add several of these foods to your pantry.

Read the Labels

When you are shopping read the lables. There are several foods on the market that have reduced salt, even vegemite, buy the 40% reduced salt. Tomato sauce is available in reduced salt.

Check cereal and even soups for sugar content. It is surprising the amount of sugar you will find in these foods.

Don’t underestimate drinks

Choose suitable drinks for you and your family. Read the labels for sugar content and salt content. You will be surprised how much sugar is in these drinks. Find a low sugar and low salt drink that is suitable for you.

Encourage your family and yourself to drink water this is the best thing for your body. When you are going to the gym or participating in sports drink water. There are so many “health” drinks and gels that are full of sugar.

Cook your own Meals

The way foods are cooked has an effect on the nutritional value. Using the barbecue, fat free cooking, air frying and steaming vegetables are ways to keep your food healthy.

If you choose to eat out or have takeaway choose healthy options. Some fast food places offer healthy food and most restaurants have healthy choices on the menu. Choose steak and salad or grilled fish and salad or steamed vegetables. Stay away from sauces, deep fried foods and those that are cooked in batter.

What is the 80/20 Rule?

Another option is the 80/20 rule. It allows flexibility and breathing space and gives you time to think about how these changes are going to positively affect your health and wellbeing.

Eat clean 80% of the time
Eat dirty the other 20%

It’s a “rule” that is designed for moderation and maintenance. It not only allows you to enjoy the foods you love but encourages you to do so. It’s a plan that allows you to enjoy eating healthy most of the time and also enjoy special treats guilt-free.

With the 80/20 rule, there are no hard-and-fast rules to follow. It’s simply a guideline to lead you to better eating habits, which can ultimately help you reach and maintain your healthy lifestyle.

If you have been slowly developing poor eating habits over a period of time changing these habits gradually is more likely to be effective.

Don’t beat yourself up if you make gradual changes or slip up here and there, particularly in the beginning. The important thing is that you are doing something to eat foods that are better for your health and your body.

Check the post https://jilliesblog.com/what-is-clean-eating-2/ for more details on clean eating.

What is Clean Eating

March 10, 2022

Clean eating is a way of eating that focuses on natural, mostly unprocessed foods with no sugar and reduced fats. In this case, we’re talking about a way of living that lends itself to improving one’s health and wellbeing. The focus with clean eating is on unprocessed natural foods like fruits, vegetables, meats, fish, chicken and gains.

The food is cooked in natural juices or with small amounts of coconut oil for cooking or virgin olive oil for salads. There are several articles and contradictions about what oils to use. I would invite you to research this and find an oil that suits you.

Instead of eating pizza, pasta, bread and fried chicken, a clean diet consists of meals like steamed broccoli, grilled chicken, omelet’s, homemade chili, steak, baked potato and a side salad. In essence, it’s going back to how we used to eat. This is before we had fast food restaurants at every corner, bakeries and grocery stores packed with processed foods and meals ready to heat and serve.

The idea behind clean eating is to get back to consuming fresh, mainly unprocessed foods that contain their full nutritional value. As an added bonus they aren’t stuffed full of preservatives, additives and flavor enhancers. The main reason for choosing to stick to a clean diet is to eat healthier.

How “clean” you make your diet is up to you. Some proponents of this way of eating insist that you should only consume completely unprocessed foods. Others are comfortable enjoying things like butter, cheese, cured meats and cultivated vegetables like Sauerkraut. How far you take it is up to you. Even cleaning up your diet just a little by cutting out fast food burgers and creating freezer meals will help.

Fill up your plate with plenty of raw or cooked vegetables. Cook up some rice or bake a potato and round it all up with a little fruit and cheese for dessert. Find a couple of go-to meals you like and build your weekly meals around those dishes.

It’s hard to find healthy snacks that fit your clean diet while you’re out and about. Keep some fresh and dried fruit along with some seeds and nuts handy for emergency snacking.

When it comes to drinks, water and herbal teas are your best friend. Black coffee is another good choice. Just be careful about adding sweeteners and creamers.

It may take you a little while to get used to the “real” taste of food after eating foods that are laden with sugar, salt and flavour enhancers. Once your taste buds adjust, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how delicious real food is. And your body will thank you for the change to clean eating as well.

Clean Eating Guidelines

Eat five smaller meals throughout the day. …
Drink approximately 2 liters of water a day …
Reduce or eliminate “diet food.” This means anything light, low-fat, or fat-free. …
Eat whole grains and stay away from the foods containing white flour. …
Eat legumes, nuts, and seeds. …
Use healthy fats. …
Eat lots of fruits and vegetables

Eating clean is a lifestyle choice, if you are finding it difficult to manage think about starting off by eating clean for 2 days a week. Once you feel the benefits they will inspire you to make more permanent changes.

The Wheel of Life Exercise

February 24, 2022

Have you ever felt that your life is not balanced?

This exercise with the Wheel of Life will increase your awareness on the particular areas you need to work on to give your life balance. It can also give you direction on where to focus your self care strategies.

While some areas receive all your attention, others get none. Perhaps your career is on track, but you no longer have time for your family and friends, or your work is unfulfilling, and you are not growing or learning. This often happens if we are focused on career or finances because of debts, or avoiding areas of our life because we feel we have lost control.

Everyone feels challenged at some stage in their life. Balance and Harmony in relationships, careers, health spirituality, finances and others are difficult to establish, achieve and even maintain.

Achieving a balanced existence is essential for our wellbeing.

The Wheel of Life is a tool that continues to prove popular in life coaching and self-help. It offers enormous insight into aspects of your being that are flourishing or struggling and helps guide you to the changes needed to remove barriers and move forward.

What Is the Wheel of Life?

The wheel of life is divided into 10 sections, each with a rating of 1-10. The headings can be changes to suit your particular lifestyle.

Download a PDF copy to complete the exercise.

The Wheel of Life is powerful because it gives you a vivid visual representation of the way your life is currently, compared with the way you’d ideally like it to be. It is called the “Wheel of Life” because each area of your life is mapped on a circle, like the spoke of a wheel.

The original idea behind the Wheel of Life came from industry pioneer Paul J. Meyer in the 1960s to help people realize their goals.

The Wheel of Life exercise is widely used and can be used effectively by the individual. It offers a practical and flexible tool to assess your needs and set goals aligned with your core values.

How to use The Wheel of Life

When you have your downloaded copy mark whatever you think your scores are for each of the areas. Join the dots.

For example you may mark:

Personal growth and learning 4

Spirality 4

Money and finances 2

Career and work 4

Health and Fitness 4

Fun and recreation 5

Environment 7

Community 8

Friends and Family 4

Partners and Love 2

The wheel you have marked will provide a snapshot of where your life is today, and where you are focusing your time and energy.

Your wheel will look something like the one above, except it will have your own scores. It will provide a snapshot of where your life is today and where you are focusing your time and energy.

Some of the scores may surprise you however don’t be discouraged, it is a starting point.

When you can see that your partner and love is on the scale of 2, and your community and environment scales are 7 and 8 it gives you an indication as to where you need to start. If you are in a relationship encourage your spouse to complete the exercise too.

The Wheel of Life is used widely with Health Professionals and Lifestyle Coaches. If you feel you need assistance to get started to set goals don’t hesitate to contact a professional.

Completing the Wheel of Life is not necessarily a one off exercise. After you have assessed your current situation and takes steps to move forward complete the exercise again. this will identify if you are on track and the strategies you have implemented are working for you.

I wish you well

Self Care is Vital for Mental Health

February 21, 2022

You hear the terms “mental health, mental illness” used all the time. But what does it actually mean? To explain this, it’s helpful to think about mental health on a spectrum.

At one end of the spectrum a person is mentally healthy. In this area you feel able to work and study, feel connected to others, be involved in activities in your community and ‘bounce back’ when life’s changes and challenges come along.

At the other end of the spectrum is mental illness. Mental illness is a general term that refers to a group of conditions, such as anxiety, depression or eating disorders. These conditions can significantly affect how a person feels, thinks, behaves and interacts with others. Almost half of the population will experience a mental illness at some point in their lives. Common Mental Illnesses are anxiety, depression, eating disorders and post traumatic stress.

Self-care is any activity that we engage in to take care of our personal needs and well-being. It is vital to our mental and overall health and, ironically, it’s something we frequently neglect to practice.

The recent and ongoing stress related to COVID-19 has increased the need for us to self care. This will enable us to build resilience and continue to cope in the current stressful environment and prevent mental illness.

Practising self-care has remarkable effects on our self-esteem. When we take care of ourselves, it affirms our self-worth. By taking care of ourselves and our needs, we’re telling ourselves, ‘I deserve this’.

With regular self-care, our self-awareness is greatly enhanced. Our go-to activities will usually be something that we already enjoy, but it also gives us the opportunity to branch out and try new things. This enables us to decide what we do and don’t like and, if we discover new interests, it can potentially lead to new passions and goals.

Self-care encourages self-improvement. It promotes rest and relaxation, which benefits our overall health and wellness, and it also promotes healthy relationships. When our self-esteem and self-awareness improves, it has a positive effect on our overall mindset. This, in turn, enables us to care for our friends and loved ones in a way that we might not have been able to do before.

Do we practise self-care enough?

The first thing about practicing self care is to be aware that it is something we need to do. Work and supporting family and friends is totally exhausting and if we don’t start to look after ourselves and revitalise and replenish then we are at risk of developing mental illness ourselves.

Why don’t we Practice Self Care?

The lack of energy or time are two of the most common reasons why we don’t practise self-care as much as we need to, but our financial situation or feelings of selfishness or guilt are also contributing factors. Many of us are of the opinion that practising self-care makes us appear selfish when, in reality, that is far from the truth.

Self Care Ideas

Self-care doesn’t have to be time consuming, physically draining, or costly. In fact, sometimes it’s the quick, simple things that are happening on a regular basis that keep us rejuvenated. Establishing a self-care routine is ideal, and the easiest way to do this is to block time your diary, daily if possible. It doesn’t have to be for a long period, even 10-20 minutes to start would be good. Refer to a previous post on Self Care.

If you are a morning person set your alarm 20 minutes early, even if you treat yourself to a cup of coffee in bed before your hectic day starts. If you are an evening person schedule in 20 minutes to have some quiet time or use the time however you want to. It’s not what you do but having the time set aside. If you are consistent you will gradually find that the time you have set aside is really valuable.

Download the Self Care First Aid PDF . This will give you strategies to include in your routine. Choose the strategies that suit you.

Not all Strategies Help

Some individuals have negative coping strategies. These could include turning to addictive behaviours like increasing alcohol or drug use, gambling or overeating — behaviours that can vary from person to person. These strategies tend to be a short term solution and aren’t considered to be self caring because they aren’t behaviours that are nurturing and that would increase self esteem.

Breathing Relaxation

Here is a breathing relaxation exercise you can try:

sit (or lie) down and close your eyes, or let your eyes rest on an object in the room
inhale deeply and slowly, while counting to four
exhale slowly, counting to four
inhale deeply and slowly again as you count to four, then hold your breath for two seconds
exhale slowly, counting to four
repeat inhale and exhale cycle for several minutes, and relax consciously
as you inhale, imagine yourself in a safe, comfortable, beautiful place, continue to breathe as you hold the image in your mind, feel how relaxed you are, and
when you are ready, become aware of yourself in the room once again, wriggle your fingers and toes, and slowly open your eyes.

Muscle relaxation

When you feel stressed, your muscles might feel tense making it hard to relax. Try this progressive muscle relaxation technique to get your body to relax:

This exercise can be completed laying. down or sitting in a comfortable chair.

rest your arms by your side, and close your eyes
inhale as you count to four, and exhale as you count to four, until your mind is quiet and you feel calm
as you continue to breathe slowly, tense each muscle group for ten seconds (don’t tense so much that you feel cramp or pain), then relax for ten seconds, starting with your:
- feet: curl your toes, then relax
- calves: tighten your calf muscles, then relax
- thighs: tighten your thigh muscles, then relax
- buttocks: tighten your buttocks, then relax
- stomach: pull your tummy in, then relax
- chest: breathe in deeply, then breathe out and relax
- hands: clench your hands into fists, then relax
- lower arms: bend your hands up at the wrists, then relax
- upper arms: bend your arms up at the elbow, then relax
- shoulders: lift your shoulders up, then relax
- neck: roll your neck gently to the left, then the right, then forward, and relax
- jaw: clench your teeth, then relax
- forehead and scalp: close your eyes tightly, then relax, and
- eyes: raise your eyebrows, then relax
continue slow, controlled breathing for five more minutes, and enjoy the feeling of relaxation, and
when you’re ready, have a good stretch and bring your awareness back into the room.

Practicing self care is vital to your mental health. If you have a mental illness then self care will be one strategy used to improve your mental health. Self Care does not have to be elaborate, expensive, or take a long time. Self care needs to be integrated into your daily routine and become what you do to revitalise and replenish yourself to enable you to continue to support friends, family and communities that need your attention.

There are numerous self care strategies and the challenge is to choose those strategies that will compliment, nurture and fit into your lifestyle and routine and make you feel great.