April-June, 2003

Eat light to feel right

 The temperature outside is warming up, which means those heavy, wintertime comfort foods no longer sound appetizing. Eating light – planning meals around complex carbohydrates instead of meat, eating more fruits and vegetables and consuming less fat and calories – will not only reduce your risk for heart attack and certain cancers, but can also put an extra spring in your step, according to Connie Rizzo, a medical nutrition therapist for St. John’s. Mid-America Cancer Center. “A diet high in fat can affect your brain chemistry in such a way that you feel slow and sluggish a lot of the time,” Rizzo says. “When you reduce fat intake and make an effort to eat more fruits and vegetables and complex carbs such as legumes and couscous, which you can find at any grocery store, you can really feel the difference.”
St. John’s Heart Rock Deli, which recently opened at St. John’s Hammons Heart Institute on the main St. John’s campus in Springfield, offers a variety of heart-healthy breakfast and lunch choices.
The deli is open 7 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Tips for eating light at home

• Plan meals around complex carbohydrates such as pasta, baked potatoes and whole-grain foods instead of meat.
• Add more vegetables to store-bought sauces or soups and recipes for soups, stews, casseroles or pasta.
• Use grilled, roasted or raw vegetables on sandwiches. Add fruit to breakfast cereals. Keep dried, frozen and canned fruits on hand for busy days.
• Puree cooked vegetables and use them as sauces.
• Practice batch cooking – cook meals ahead of time and freeze so all you have to do is heat up a healthy meal on a busy day.
• Select healthier soups for entrees or to use in recipes, such as Healthy Choice or Campbell’s Healthy Request.
• Use reduced fat, low fat or nonfat condiments and salad dressings.
• Avoid deep-frying. Try grilling/barbequing, baking, steaming or boiling foods.
• Use oils sparingly in cooking or when flavoring foods. Choose vegetable stock or broth, nonstick cooking sprays and olive and canola oils which are high in monounsaturated fats. If you use butter and margarine, use them sparingly. Even better, switch to reduced-fat margarine or use a little jam/jelly on your bread, bagels, and other baked goods.
• Watch those fast foods. Many of them are high in fat.
• Use low-fat dairy products such as skim milk, reduced fat/low-fat/light cheese, yogurt, sour cream, ice cream and cream cheese. Substitute egg whites or egg substitutes for whole eggs. Substitute nonfat plain yogurt for cream. You’ll still get the nutrients and taste but half the fat.
• If you like to eat meat, you can help reduce fat by choosing the leanest cuts. If you are preparing it at home, trim all visible fat and drain the grease that cooks out of the meat. Also take the skin off chicken and substitute meat with bean curd or lentils a couple of times each week.
 

Tips for eating light at restaurants

• Order salad dressings and other sauces on the side. This way, you have control over how much or how little you add.
• When ordering grilled fish or vegetables, ask that the food be grilled with either little or no butter or oil.
• When ordering pasta dishes, look for tomato-based sauces rather than cream-based sauces. Tomato-based sauces are much lower in fat and calories. In addition, the tomato sauce (or marinara sauce) can count as a vegetable.
• Share desserts and appetizers.
• When choosing a soup, keep in mind that cream-based soups are higher in fat and calories than most other soups. Soup can serve as a great appetizer to a meal, or as an entree. Most soups are low in calories and will fill you up, so you eat less.
• Order steamed vegetables as a side dish instead of potatoes, rice or pasta.
• Ask for salsa with a baked potato instead of sour cream, butter, cheese, or bacon. Salsa is very low in calories and a healthy alternative with a lot of spice.
• Stop eating when you are full — listen to the cues your body gives you.
• Order sandwiches with mustard rather than mayonnaise or "special sauce." Mustard adds flavor with virtually no calories.
• Take half of your meal home. The second half can serve as a second meal!
• If you want to eat less, order two appetizers, or an appetizer and a salad, as your meal.
• If you have a choice of side dishes, opt for a baked potato or steamed vegetables rather than french fries. Even if choices are not listed, ask your server to substitute vegetables or a baked potato for french fries.
• Look for items on the menu that are baked, grilled, dry-sautéed, broiled, poached, or steamed. These cooking techniques use less fat in the food preparation and are generally lower in calories.
• Don't be afraid to ask for special low-calorie or low-fat preparation of a menu item.
• Plain bread or yeast rolls are relatively low in fat and calories. It's the butter and oil you add that increases the fat and calories.
• Choose entrees with fruits and vegetables as key ingredients. Enjoy the flavors they offer. Fruits and vegetables are a good source of dietary fiber as well as many vitamins and minerals.
• Choose foods made with whole grains. Examples include whole-wheat bread and dishes made with brown rice.

Summer Lasagna

1 can (8 oz.) tomato sauce
1 medium onion, chopped
1/4 teaspoon basil leaves
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon oregano
1 cup part skim ricotta cheese
1/2 cup shredded part skim mozzarella cheese
1 tablespoon fresh parsley or 2 teaspoons dried parsley
3 medium zucchinis
1 large tomato, sliced
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Combine tomato sauce, onion, basil, pepper and oregano in small bowl and set aside. In a medium bowl, combine ricotta, mozzarella and parsley. Slice zucchini length-wise into strips. Arrange strips in an 8x8 baking dish. Spread ricotta mixture over zucchini. Layer with sliced tomato. Spread a layer of tomato sauce mixture. Continue layers as above. Sprinkle with Parmesan. Bake uncovered at 370 degrees until brown, about 20 minutes. Nutritional analysis per portion: 44 calories, 3.5 grams of protein, 3 grams carbohydrates, 2 grams of fat.