It’s that time of year, when everyone vows to fit back into their ‘skinny clothes’ after overindulging on rich holiday treats. It’s so inevitable that gym owners count on a spike in January membership signups to boost their numbers all year.
And then by February, it’s a distant memory…
If you ask me, I think the New Year’s resolution concept is a stupid gimmick. While there’s nothing wrong with self-improvement goals, who says you have to set them all in January and stick to them rigidly for 12 months? Seems like a recipe for failure and disappointment.
I’m probably the last person on Earth who should be doling out diet advice (actually, that honor might be reserved for the editors of This Is Why You’re Fat) but I’ve rounded up some links to healthy recipes on popular cooking websites. And if you find a dish as tasty as it is nutritious, please feel free to share with us!
- Whole Foods: Resolve To Eat Right
- Bon Appetit: Healthy Recipes Search
- Food Network: Healthy Cooking Month
- Epicurious: Healthy Recipes
- Cooking Light: http://www.cookinglight.com/
- Hungry Girl: Recipes (editor’s note: if you can get past the annoying cutesy recipe names…)
- Self Magazine: Food and Diet
- The Delicious Life Of Holly Pinafore: Healthy, tasty gluten-free recipes and how-to videos
Some of Fun With Carbs’ favorite healthy recipes: baked turkey meatballs blended with a red bell pepper/onion/garlic ‘puree,’ chicken stir-fry with vegetables and brown rice, grilled salmon with orange glaze, egg white omelets with spinach and feta, crockpot chicken soup with orzo, spinach salad with almonds and goat cheese crumbles. Mmm…maybe this ‘diet’ thing won’t be too terrible.
Leeanne Griffin is a freelance writer and food enthusiast.
I’m not really a resolutionist to the point where I’m writing down on paper things I’d like to change come January 1, but since it always feels like I get to start with a blank slate I try to alter a few things for the better. Definitely going to eat way less processed foods whenever I can control it. Picked up a juicer this weekend and can’t believe how good the results have been – will never buy store bought ‘juice’ again. Looking forward to trying some farmers markets in the spring time and getting the freshest available produce. And as much as I enjoy trying new restaurants, I’d like to cut back somewhat so I can experiment more in the kitchen.
Thanks for the links, Leeanne. They’re just what I need right now. I just got back from three days at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Stockbridge, Mass., which meant three days of healthy, organic and mostly vegetarian food. No refined sugar, no red meat, no junk. It was a reminder that healthy food can be truly delicious, because most of it was. The lentil shepherd’s pie was to die for, I kid you not. It just seems to take so much more effort, in our food culture, to find the ingredients, the recipes and the encouragement to eat this way. I’m going to try harder, though.
My advice for the new year: drink a delicious green smoothie every day. You will be healthier. You will feel better. You will lose weight.
Basically, pick your favorite fruits (frozen or not), add some greens and filtered water, blend.
Here’s a variety of Green Smoothie recipes found on the web. Always blend the fruit first…
2-3 cups any greens of your choice, 2 cups papaya, 2 oranges, 3 dates
1 handful lettuce leaves, 1 handful mint, 4 bananas, 1/2 cup water
Winter Smoothie – 1 cup organic frozen berries (any kind), 2 cups fresh spinach, 1/4 inch fresh ginger, water
Spring Smoothie – fresh orange juice, ripe bananas, frozen mangoes, and several large leaves of kale
1/2 bunch romaine lettuce, 1 cup strawberries, 2 bananas, water
4-5 kale leaves, 4 apples, 1/2 lemon juiced, water
2 big handfuls mixed baby greens, 2 pears, 2 mangoes, 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
Choc-mint – 2 cups spinach, 10-12 mint leaves, 3 bananas, 2 Tbs. carob powder, 1 cup water
1 handful of spinach, 2 stalks of celery, 2 bananas, 2 pears, 1 apple, 1 cup water
1 small handful of spinach, 2 cups arugula, 2-3 mangoes, 1 cup water
1/2 head romaine lettuce, 1 small pineapple, 1 large mango, 1-inch fresh ginger
1 handful wild greens (e.g. dandelion), 1 small handful mint leaves, 3 cups honeydew melon
3-4 stalks celery, 2 ripe persimmons, 1 banana
1 handful chard leaves, 5-6 kale leaves, 3 large bananas, 1 cup water
1 handful parsley, 3 cups of peeled papaya
1 frozen banana, 1 pear, 1/2 cup of pineapple, big handful of baby spinach, 1-2 kale leaves, and a mint leaf.