Working Out

Five Tips To Ease Hip Pain Symptoms

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Whether your aching hip is caused by a pinched nerve or a fracture on the pelvic bone, you can do one or more quick and easy tips to ease the pain and other symptoms you might get like a dull throbbing or a numb sensation. Try the five tips below to get relief from pain and help your hip get back to perfect condition again.

 1. Get off your feet.

You may think it’s strange to rest your feet when it’s your hip that’s aching, but actually walking and moving around requires hip movement, and any unnecessary motion can bring a fresh burst of pain. Mild cases of hip pain can get better after a few hours of rest, while severe injuries may need a couple of weeks or more.

 2. Lie on your back when resting and sleeping.

Hip pain can get worse if you put too much of your body’s weight on it, so refrain from lying on your side or on your stomach, both of which puts more pressure on the hips. Lying on your back is actually the best position, not just for hip injuries but also for leg and foot problems or even a pinched nerve upper back.

 3. Avoid repetitive exercises.

Although you are required to get enough rest to let your hip heal, you will still need to do the right exercises to speed up recovery by conditioning your hip muscles and stimulating good blood circulation. Moves like kicks and twists should be avoided. Instead look for routines that will strengthen without being repetitive, such as Pilates and Yoga. Exercises for pinched nerve in hip also focus on correct posture and won’t subject you to high impact, so go for stretches over repetitive moves to treat hip pain.

4. Use ice wraps and cold packs.

This is the best step for getting instant pain relief for the hip. An ice wrap can soothe the pain signals released by the sensory nerves and decrease swelling. Ice packs made with ice cubes and a towel or Ziploc bag is also as effective but may be more difficult to keep steady on the hip than an ice wrap.

 5. Gently massage the hip area.

A hard massage can be too painful for an aching hip, so use light gentle strokes with your fingers and palms instead. A soft touch can be far more calming than strong pressure, so relax and keep your strokes light when massaging your hip.

Dessert Fruit Kid Friendly Recipes

Healthy and Easy Fruit Dessert Recipe

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Desserts can often be a tricky area when living a healthy lifestyle.  Luckily, there are many desserts that call for natural ingredients that can actually provide health benefits to your diet and can work with your plan on how to lose weight fast through nutrition.  One of my favorite desserts involves using papaya, mango, pineapple, a little coconut milk and some pistachios.  Because of its ingredients, this dessert is not only a healthy option but is also gluten free and can be eaten by people who suffer from diabetes (depending on their current blood sugar levels). This dessert tastes delicious and is high in vitamin C, fiber and beta-carotene.  Plus, it is quick and easy to make.

The first thing to do is slice up a ripe pineapple, mango or papaya.  You can mix up a combination of the fruit or choose just one.  Place the slices into a bowl or on a serving platter.

Next, you will drizzle coconut milk (or lite coconut milk) on top of the fruit.  For about every 16 slices of fruit, you should use approximately 4 teaspoons of coconut milk.

Lastly, add about 2 tablespoons of pistachios.  Most people like when the pistachios are chopped up into smaller pieces, but chopping or not chopping is up to your personal preference.  If you are short on time, the dessert can be eaten immediately.  However, if it is a hot day it is usually better to pop it back into the fridge for 10-15 minutes to make it cooler before eating.

This is also a good recipe to serve to kids on a hot day instead of popsicles.  Just prepare the fruit and coconut milk and stick it into the freezer for about 2 hours.  You can add the pistachios when your kids are ready to eat or leave them off for your picky eater.  If you are adding the pistachios, I have found that slightly mashing the fruit up inside of a bowl makes it easier for the kids to eat the fruit and pistachios at the same time.  For more health and fitness tips, visit Know My Body.

Healthy Products

How The Benefits Of Flax Seed Can Give Side Effects

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To those who are not familiar with it, flaxseed can sound as exotic as quinoa, acai berries, noni fruits or any other health food making health headlines recently. Flaxseed certainly counts as one of the most nutritious foods around, with its rich fiber and omega 3 fatty acids content, but if you’re not careful, the flaxseed benefits can lead to side effects. Let’s find out what the flaxseed side effects are so you will know how to avoid them and experience only the many health benefits.

Gastrointestinal Problems

Nausea, diarrhea, appetite loss, and stomach pains are some of the digestive problems associated with eating flaxseed, and it can be rather confusing, for isn’t the high fiber content of flaxseed supposed to treat gastrointestinal disorders? In the right amount and when taken correctly, the dietary fiber in flaxseed can do wonders to treat and prevent digestive problems, just as incorrect and excessive amounts can lead to said problems. Too much fiber leads to a laxative effect and diarrhea, but in some cases, very high doses may even cause intestinal blockage and constipation. To prevent this, stick to the dose approved by your doctor or nutritionist, such as one to two tablespoons of flaxseed a day, and never consume more than five tablespoons at a time. To help your body use and dispose of the fiber properly, drink plenty of water and eat a healthy diet with water-rich foods like berries, tomatoes, and leafy green vegetables.

Although whole flaxseeds are said to be the healthiest, you may be better off enjoying flaxseed oil or ground flaxseed benefits, both of which are easier for our bodies to digest. However, take care not to exceed the maximum dose for these flaxseed varieties, for they may still cause gastrointestinal problems in large amounts.

 

Decreased Blood Coagulation

The normal act of blood clotting is essential for open wounds to stop bleeding, but when the blood starts clotting inside the body, this can lead to serious problems, including heart attack and stroke. This is why some people need to take medicines like Warfarin to keep blood clots in their veins from developing and growing larger.

Unfortunately, flaxseed is just one of the healthy foods that inadvertently affect the circulatory system, much like how the side effects of hibiscus tea can lower blood pressure. Large doses of flaxseeds are known to give an anticoagulant effect on the blood. This is why consuming flaxseeds in high doses should be avoided by those on anticoagulant medication and who are going through surgery in a matter of days. Flaxseeds may cause the blood to “thin” out and keep the cells and platelets from naturally clotting, so consult your doctor first before taking flaxseeds if you are taking special medication or have surgery coming up.

Healthy Products

Three Natural Remedies to Lower Cholesterol

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High cholesterol is a chronic health problem that contributes to coronary artery disease and stroke. Patients with high cholesterol are often prescribed medications to help lower bad cholesterol, or LDL levels. For people with borderline levels medications are not always need. Simple changes in diet and exercise habits may be all that these people need to reduce their cholesterol. For any extra boost patients can try one of these three natural substances.

  1. Niacin: niacin, is also known as vitamin B3. This vitamin has caught the attention of the medical community and naturopaths for its potent cholesterol fighting qualities. Niacin has been clinically proven to help protect against heart disease by boosting HDL, or good cholesterol, levels. Many patients may find this supplement difficult to tolerate due to its uncomfortable side effect, niacin flush. This sudden sensation of warmth and redness in the skin can be decreased is a baby aspirin is taken 30 minutes before you take your niacin. There are also extended release formulations of this supplement that may decrease the severity of the niacin flush.
  2. Fish Oil: fish oil supplements contain heart healthy omega 3 fatty acids that are known to lower triglycerides. Add fish to your diet or try a supplement to improve your cholesterol naturally. Click here to learn how much fish oil you should take to help improve your heart health.
  3. Soy Products: soy is being carefully studied for its potential to improve cholesterol levels. It is gaining popularity as part of a diet known as the portfolio diet which is a diet strategy that uses a combination of soy and other foods to lower lipid levels. Try adding soy to your diet in combination with a low fat diet for reduction in your lipid levels.

The best natural remedy for high cholesterol levels is a healthy diet and routine exercise. For those that need an extra boost, try one of these three supplements to see your cholesterol numbers rapidly improve.

Tips

Using Long-term Storage Beans Instead of Oil and Butter

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You can’t bake without 0il and butter – right? Most cookie and cake recipes require some oil or butter and while that’s okay, the fact is that oil and butter, when used in excess, can be a cause of high cholesterol and can add more calories to your diet as well.

What can be substituted for oil and butter that does not have the same high cholesterol – high calorie effect? You can use pureed bananas, pumpkins or applesauce in your baked goods but they do impart their own unique flavors. What low calorie food could you use that won’t change the flavor of your favorite chocolate cake recipe? Well, I’m here to tell you about how the long-term food storage beans in your pantry can be a wonderful substitute for oil and butter. If you think this is unbelievable, you will just have to try it out for yourself. Now, you can definitely find a use for that huge bag of beans that you have recently gotten.

Here are some useful tips for oil and butter substitution:

1.     Substitute oil for bean puree on a 1:1 ratio. Bean puree is simply beans that have been put in the blender and pureed.

2.     Substitute drained cooked beans for butter.

3.     Use a 1:1 ratio when employing beans as substitute for oil and butter.

4.     Use the beans exactly how oil and butter are supposed to be used in your recipe.

While using beans as an oil and butter substitute may seem a bit far-fetched to you, I guarantee that it really works. Go ahead and try it, and you will definitely be amazed at the difference, or rather, the lack of difference. If you want to also check out other ways where you can use other food storage items, then you can click this link: twitter – daily bread food storage.

UnDiet Note: the tips in this article are geared towards baking rather than grilling or sauteing. We’ve tried this method with great success in chocolate chip cookies and brownies 🙂

Tips

Ordering Take Out Food – Making Healthy Choices

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When ordering take out food from fast food chains, it’s good to know how to choose healthier options. I know that this can be a difficult thing when you are talking about fast food but consider the following options.

Burger Restaurants

When ordering take out food from burger chains, choose any one of these to ensure that you are getting a healthier option:

1.    Regular, single-patty hamburger without mayo or cheese and skip the bun unless it’s whole wheat.

2.    Grilled chicken sandwich and skip the bun unless it’s whole wheat.

3.    Veggie burger and skip the bun unless it’s whole wheat.

4.    Garden salad with grilled chicken and low-fat dressing.

5.    Egg on a muffin if it’s a whole wheat muffin.

6.    Baked potato.

7.    Side salad.

8.    Grilled chicken strips.

With any of the above choices limit cheese, mayo, and special sauces unless you’re doing a high protein diet.

Fried Chicken Restaurants

When you decided to drop by a fried chicken chain restaurant go for these foods:

1.    Skinless chicken breast without breading.

2.    Honey BBQ chicken sandwich.

3.    Garden salad.

4.    Mashed potatoes.

Avoid breading and fried items. Limit gravy and sauces.

 

Mexican Restaurants

When your choices are Mexican restaurant chains, the following foods are your best choices:

1.    Grilled chicken soft taco.

2.    Black beans.

3.    Shrimp ensalada.

4.    Grilled “fresco” style steak burrito.

5.    Veggie and bean burrito.

Avoid flour tortillas unless they’re whole wheat and definitely don’t choose breaded and fried items. Limit sour cream and cheese unless your doing a high protein diet.

 

Sandwich Restaurants

When you decide to go for a sandwich restaurant try the following healthier choices:

1.    Six-inch sub instead of twelve-inch.

2.    Fill your sandwich with lean meat (roast beef, chicken breast, lean ham) or veggies.

3.    One or two slices of lower-fat cheese such as Swiss or mozzarella.

4.    Add low-fat dressing or mustard instead of mayo.

5.    Add extra veggie toppings.

6.    Choose whole-grain bread and take the top slice off your sub sandwich and eat it open-faced.

 

Asian Restaurants

When you choose an Asian chain restaurant select foods that include the following:

1.    Egg drop, miso, wonton, or hot & sour soup.

2.    Stir-fried, steamed, roasted or broiled entrees (shrimp chow mein, chop suey).

3.    Steamed or baked tofu.

4.    Sauces such as ponzu, rice-wine vinegar, wasabi, ginger, and low-sodium soy sauce.

5.    Steamed brown rice.

6.    Edamame, cucumber salad, stir-fried veggies

Avoid sweet and sour as these contain sugar. Avoid deep fried.

 

Italian Restaurants

Italian fast foods are likewise on the rise and can be a great choice when you want to eat healthy.

1.    Thin-crust pizza with half the cheese and extra veggies.

2.    Grilled (“griglia”) dishes.

3.    Antipasto with vegetables.

4.    Substitute grilled or steamed veggies for the pasta.

5.    Order an entrée with a side of veggies.

Avoid breaded and fried items.

 

So you see that when  you’re ordering take out food you can choose to be healthy.  There’s no reason to compromise your health with foods that are not nutritious.  For a convenient way to order food online, check out vellka.com.

High Protein Recipes

How To Make Shrimp Cocktail With A Food Processor And Quality Ingredients

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There’s nothing quite like the refreshing and cool taste of a shrimp cocktail. There’s a bite and a lightness to it that makes it the perfect appetizer or mid-day snack. While most people prefer to order them in, it’s a great idea to make homemade cocktails from scratch. Follow these simple and easy steps and you can enjoy shrimp cocktails in the comfort of your own home.

Get your ingredients

The great thing about shrimp cocktails is the fact that their ingredients are actually really easy to find. For the sauce, all you need is chili sauce, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco, cilantro, lemon, and a bit of pepper. These are all things that you can easily find in any grocery store or supermarket. For the shrimps, it’s really best to buy them raw and fresh from a local fish market. Pre-cooked shrimp can come across as rubbery or hard and can really ruin a cocktail.

Make your sauce

While a lot of people like to make their sauce by mixing it in a bowl, you can save a lot of time by using a food processor. You don’t need to set your processor at a very high setting since nothing is being chopped or cut. The food processor can basically mix your ingredients quickly and evenly, something that might not happen if you’re making the sauce by hand.

Boil your shrimp

There are basically two ways to boil your shrimp: Plain or with light flavoring. Either way works perfectly fine since the cocktail sauce is the main source of flavor. If you’d like to add a bit of seasoning, you can put some lemon juice, garlic, chili pepper, and salt into the boiling pot before adding the shrimp. Once you put the shrimp in, all you have to do is wait until it turns pink. This indicates that the shrimp is done and it only takes a few seconds.

Cool your ingredients

This is an important step since shrimp cocktail should be served cold. The sauce and the shrimp should be placed into separate containers and then put into the fridge. It’s best to cool all of the ingredients for at least two hours so that no lingering heat remains.

Assemble your cocktail and serve

The cooled shrimp should then be mixed with mayonnaise and salt and pepper in a large bowl. Martini glasses should be lined with lettuce and the cocktail sauce should be placed on top of them. Next the marinated shrimp can be added to the mix and the entire concoction should be served right away.

UnDiet Note: you can mix the shrimp with yogurt in place of mayo or half yo and half mayo – if you would like and this Shrimp Cocktail recipe will be just as impressive.

So next time you’re pressed for potluck or dinner party ideas, consider making a fresh and tasty shrimp cocktail. Your guests will be impressed and they’ll never know how easy it was to put together. If you’d like other recipes and ideas, check out kitchopper.com for awesome suggestions that are sure to impress. It’s amazing how meals can be elevated when you just add a little shrimp!

 

Tips

Portion Distortion

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Thank you to Leanne Ely, CNC – the Dinner Diva for sharing with us her thoughts on how to not let eating out in a restaurant destroy your health plan.

One of the things that I have struggled with in regard to my own personal body clutter is learning to eat less food than what I want to eat. What I want to eat and what I need to eat are often incongruous and I have a small battle inside my head trying to decide if I am going to “behave” or “sin”. You know exactly what I’m talking about! It’s an issue I know a lot of us all share in common. Getting a grip on how much you really need food-wise is tough. We are used to overfeeding ourselves, truth be told.

Take restaurants for example. Not only do they bring your food on PLATTERS and not plates, they give you enough to feed your entire family. And what do we do? The food comes, we oooh and ahhh over how big the portion is and then we dig in. We will either eat till we’re stuffed and bag it up to take home or we’ll eat it all and complain about how full we are.

Let me share with you how many calories are in a typical chain restaurant meal. For fun, I’m going to share with you something I just ate at a major chain restaurant a while back (thinking a salad would be a good choice) and how blown away I was that it was this many calories and this much fat it’ just unbelievable!

The Chicken Caesar Salad I ate had 1,010 calories and 76 grams (yes, SEVENTY-SIX) of FAT!!!!!!! Hello?? I was absolutely STUNNED!! That’s just not doing my body any favors! 13 grams of that 76 fat grams were saturated fat, too.

What does that tell you?

Two things:

1) BEWARE of “healthy” main course salad options at restaurants and,

2) Restaurant salad dressings are usually really, really over the top fat-wise, carb-wise and in calories.

And that brings me back to my original point: less food – we don’t need to eat all of that! The all-you-eat-mentality is particularly pronounced at restaurants. They BRAG about their hefty portion size!

So how do you handle restaurants? Know what you’re walking into, for starters. If it is a chain restaurant, look on line to see if you can find the menu and the nutritional info for the menu. Not all restaurants do that, but there are other sites out there with that info – just Google it.

Second, have a back up plan. Order sauces, dressings and anything else that you will lend a huge caloric and often, fatty punch to the meal, on the side. All restaurants will happily accommodate – just ask.

Third, if you haven’t split your meal with a dining companion, ask for a doggie bag right when your meal comes. Cut your meal in HALF or more, and bag it up. If it is off your plate, you are less apt to chow down on it and leave with a Thanksgiving-stuffed feeling.

And last but not least – keep restaurant eating as a treat and not a part of your weekly plan. Eating at home is always cheaper, most likely to be more nutritious, you control the fat and the salt and the service is predictable, right?

If you need help planning your menus, go to Saving Dinner and try our Menu-Mailer, your family will thank you. Enjoy!

Uncategorized

Food Combining – Separate Starches from Proteins

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This week you’ll learn how to properly combine foods for maximum weight loss. The practice of food combining makes every calorie you consume do double duty to help you lose weight. Many people do nothing other than properly combine whole foods to lose weight fast and maintain their goal weight. Food combining is essentially keeping Starches separate from Proteins and eating Fruit at the right time relative to whether you’ve eaten a Starch or Protein meal.

The Basics of Food Combining For Maximum Weight Loss

To give each meal and/or snack the time to thoroughly digest and move through your system without depositing unwanted fat and waste products, you need to allow two and a half hours after a Starch meal/snack before eating a Protein or Fruit meal/snack, and four and a half hours after a Protein meal/snack before eating a Starch or Fruit meal/snack. Veggies, nuts, seeds, and soy are Neutral and may be eaten with any meal or between meals, although I like to wait at least two hours after a meal so that I can have a big beverage before eating anything else.

This means that you will not have a baked potato with your steak, a bun with your hamburger or a tuna sandwich on traditional bread. But it doesn’t mean the end of life as you know it. There are many substitutions you can make to have your hamburger and eat it too – so to speak – which you’ll find on the substitution pages.

Print These Pages

For a list of foods that are Starches, foods that are Neutral and foods that are Proteins, go to the Food List page.

To help you manage your meals print out the List of Substitutions, Protein Substitutes, and Starch Substitutes pages and refer to them when making a meal or recipe that traditionally would be an imperfect combination.

Get out your favorite recipes and rework them so that they don’t contain any incompatible items.

Working With Food Substitutions

Substituting soy products for dairy and meat products will open up your diet by giving you more food choices. For instance, while you shouldn’t have milk on your cereal because you would be combining a Protein with a Starch, you can have nondairy milk on your whole-grain, sugar-free cereal. Nondairy cheese can substitute for dairy cheese in a burrito or a Pizza Sandwich.  Soy “ham” makes a great deli style sandwich on whole grain bread.

One word of caution regarding nondairy cheeses. Some brands taste awful and don’t melt well. Experiment until you find one you like. If you happened to have a Trader Joe’s store near you I think their soy cheese is the best there is. If you want to avoid cheese altogether try using guacamole, slices of avocado or humus in place of cheese.

If you find it difficult to switch cold turkey to nondairy products, begin substituting 1/4 of the dairy or meat in your Starch recipes with soy products. Then try 1/2, then 3/4, then all soy. See Starch Substitutes for more ideas.

A word to those on high-Protein diets; don’t assume that all soy products are completely Neutral. Read the ingredients. You’ll often find grain products which will add to your carb intake. UnDieters on the Basic or Family Plan need not worry about the small amount of grain in these soy products. Typically I use these soy products with Starch and Neutral meals and use meat and dairy products (rather than their soy alternatives) with Protein meals. Vegetarians can however use these soy products with Protein meals.

A note to those allergic to dairy; sometimes you’ll find derivatives of dairy products such as casein which is a milk protein in dairy substitutes. I’ve only found one nondairy cheese that does not contain casein (Soymage), but I don’t like how it tastes or melts. So read carefully and make a  note of those products you like that are good UnDiet substitutes. Tip: so that I don’t have to try and remember or reread the label when making a meal or snack I mark my purchases with a “P” for Protein, “S” for Starch, or “N” for Neutral.

Getting Started with Food Combining

You may not be able to jump right into whole wheat bread and nondairy cheese, but you can structure your meals so that you’re not eating Starches with Proteins. If you’re used to meat and potatoes it will be a bit of a challenge, but if you’re serving some of your favorite veggie dishes instead of potatoes with your Protein meals, and nixing the rolls or using Protein Rolls, you should do okay. If you anticipate lots of objections from your family, start by serving potatoes or their favorite rolls and a veggie dish that they like with your Protein meals. Every now and then eliminate the potatoes or rolls, substituting a Protein Bread or Protein Rolls until you find what satisfies and then you can completely eliminate the potatoes and bread with Protein meals.

Foods like fried chicken which combine Protein and Starch (the bread coating is a Starch) can be easily converted, although if you’re not serving any other Starches with your meal the small amount of flour and bread crumbs used to coat the chicken is fine, as long as they are whole grains. Some great substitutes for the flour coating on any Protein food are:

  • ground sesame seeds
  • ground nuts
  • ground pork rinds
  • Protein Bread crumbs
  • soy flour or a mixture of any of these

Be Prepared For Maximum Success

Using the substitution charts begin constructing a shopping list so you’ll have the ingredients you need to begin making over your favorite meals.
Get out your favorite recipes and rework them so that they don’t contain any incompatible items. Make a list of any items you’ll need to purchase or prepare.
Eating Out While Food Combining

New research showing that our bodies can handle mixing small amounts of Protein and Starch has given us wider margins when constructing meals. The trick is to keep the ratios small. For instance the small amount of flour in a gravy served with a Protein meal or the small amount of breading in meatloaf or meatballs shouldn’t set you back. The trick is to make sure you eat lots of raw Fruits and/or veggies with every meal. It also helps to take an enzyme supplement. I still use soy flour, veggie broth, and ground pork rinds when I make these items at home but this new research gives me more options when I’m eating out.

$$$aver

When making a Protein meal serve larger portions of vegetables and smaller portions of meat and dairy. If you’re used to having meat for most of your dinners, cut back to three or four meat meals per week. Check out the Recipe Index for some satisfying Starch and Neutral meals, and the Meat-less Recipes Index will help you plan meals that contain less meat and therefore cost less.

Step-By-Step

1. Keep Starches separate from Proteins.
2. Print out these pages:

3. Begin making the proper food substitutions.
4. Make a shopping list.
5. Prepare substitute items that you’ll need to prepare meals.
6. Don’t try too many substitutions at once. Take it gradually so you don’t feel overwhelmed or discouraged.
7. To continue receiving your (hopefully by now, treasured) UnDiet Steps each week click on over to PayPal to subscribe.

Step-By-Step Subscriber Advantages

Upcoming UnDiet aids some free, some discounted:

  • Travel Card
  • Fast Food Card
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  • Meal Plans
  • The UnDiet Recipe Book
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  • UnDiet recipes, meal plans, and information available only to Step-By-Step subscribers.
  • Continually updated UnDiet information.
  • Tips & Tricks designed to make the UnDiet as easy (and fun) as possible.
  • Step Ahead tips to help you drop a quick 2-5 pounds in a day or over a weekend.
  • Meal Plans to help you integrate the UnDiet Steps into your life.

Next Issue

A special menu plan filled with UnDiet basic recipes designed to help you prepare foods that are traditionally improper combinations. Once you try the Pasta Alfredo with Bacon, UnDiet Pizza, Crispy Chicken, Bacon Muffins, Maple Walnut Cream Cheese Pie, Meatloaf with Flourless Gravy … you won’t worry about what you’ll be missing with the UnDiet, except of course, all those extra pounds that are already disappearing. All things are possible – with a little ingenuity!

  • Painlessly transition to whole grains.
  • Special recipes released only to Step-By-Step subscribers.
  • How to satisfy (fool) your family when serving them whole wheat and brown rice.
High Protein Recipes

High Protein Salad Recipes

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Want a quick and easy salad for lunch or to round out a low carb chicken dinner?  The recipes here are not only healthy, but bonus! – they’ll make your tongue tingle!

Basics

Use low fat yogurt rather than nonfat or full fat yogurt.

Substitute half low fat yogurt for half of any sour cream or mayo in your favorite salad dressing recipe.

Add low fat yogurt to your favorite bottle salad dressing. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.

Eggs

Also see Rome Zucchini Salad under Sausage heading below.

Quick Egg Salad

In a bowl mix equal amounts of low fat yogurt and mayo. Season to taste with sea salt, black pepper and mustard.

Stir in:

  • egg white, scrambled
  • green onion, sliced
  • celery, chopped or sliced

Pile salad onto any of the below:

  • toasted high protein bread
  • chips made from protein tortillas (slice into desired size and toast in the oven until crispy)
  • protein tortilla lined with lettuce – roll and eat
  • lettuce leaf cup
  • cucumber slices

Dilled Egg Salad

This summery salad has been adapted from the book “Vegetarian Sandwiches”. You can use this salad on Protein bread or crudites when you make it with eggs. Make the tofu version if you’re going to be having this on whole grain bread or bagels.

Mix dressing in small bowl:

  • 2 tablespoons drained yogurt or mayonnaise
  • 2 teaspoons chopped fresh dill or 1/4 teaspoon dried
  • 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • (1/4 teaspoon honey)
  • 1/2 clove garlic, minced or 1 clove roasted
  • sea salt and black pepper to taste

In medium bowl use a fork to roughly mash 2 hard-cooked eggs, peeled and chopped, or 1/2 cup extra-firm tofu (not silken).

Stir in:

  • 3 tablespoons minced bell pepper
  • 2 tablespoons minced celery
  • 1 tablespoon minced red onion
  • 1 tablespoon drained, chopped capers
  • 2 tablespoons, minced dill pickle
  • 2 tablespoons minced, jicima

Layer salad onto a slice of Protein bread garnished with a slice of tomato or cucumber, shredded lettuce or jicima or micro-sprouts. Serve open faced or topped with another slice of Protein bread. An alternative to Protein bread would be to stuff celery sticks or cherry tomatoes, roll up in a lettuce leaf with deli-sliced meat, or spread on top of slices of tomato and/or cucumber.

If using the tofu version then make the sandwich as above using whole grain bread or bagel in place of Protein bread.

Basil Omelette Salad

This is one of those dishes I conjured up when it was cold outside, there wasn’t much in the fridge and I was feeling guilty for not eating enough vegetables that day. I wasn’t up to a bowl of cold lettuce so this crepe-thin omelette with piles of tomato and basil was the perfect solution. I’m calling it a salad because it’s mostly raw veggies.

Stir 1 teaspoon basil pesto, (or 1 teaspoon fresh or 1 teaspoon dried basil), into 1/4 cup egg whites ( or 1 whole egg). Season with sea salt and pepper to taste. Pour into heated, lightly oiled pan. Tilt to coat bottom of pan. When top of omelet is almost dry carefully loosen omelette from pan and flip over. Tear one slice mozzarella or white non-dairy cheese into pieces and place on top of omelet. Cover and turn off heat.

While cheese is melting prepare salad. Chop & toss 1 tomato (Optional: add 1/4 avocado, 2 – 4 tablespoons red bell pepper & 1 – 2 tablespoons red onion) with 1 teaspoon basil pesto, seasoning with sea salt and pepper to taste.

Slide omelette onto plate. Spoon half the salad onto half the omelette, fold omelette over salad. Top with rest of salad.

Sausage

Chipotle Sausage Salad

This is a variation of the New ‘awlins Sausage Salad, born out of desperation for the taste of that delectable delight, but missing some of the key ingredients.

Shape 2 cups sausage into 1/2-inch balls. Cook sausage balls with 1 cup chopped onion over medium heat until browned and cooked through, about 10 minutes, stirring or shaking occasionally so that all sides are browned. Alternatively you could cook large sausage patties, then cut them into 1/2 inch squares.

While sausage is browning assemble in large bowl

  • 1 cup julienned celery
  • 2 stalks green onion, sliced
  • 1 cup julienned jicima

When sausage is cooled enough to touch add to salad bowl and toss with

  • 1 teaspoon canned chipotle in adobe sauce or 2 teaspoons reconstituted dried chipotle
  • 1/4 cup mayonnaise

Taste and add sea salt and black pepper to taste.

If you like it hot, then use your choice of hot sauce in place of the chipotle in adobe sauce. We like a bourbon hot sauce cuz the bourbon heightens the chili pepper’s heat. So, although the smoking process lowers the heat of the jalapeno, this sauce has a nice kick along with the smokiness of chipotles.

New ‘awlins Sausage Salad

This salad is great as a main dish with a side of Perfectly Neutral Mashed “Potatoes”.

Serves 4 as a side dish, 2 as a main dish.

In a food processor pulse 1 cup fresh flat leaf parsley, stems removed until roughly chopped

Add and continue pulsing until finely chopped

  • 1 green, red, yellow, or orange bell pepper, chopped
  • 4 stalks green onion, trimmed and sliced in 1/4-inch long pieces

You’ll have more of this garnish than you’ll need for the salad. Use leftovers to garnish other salads, soups and casseroles. It will keep for 3-4 days in the fridge. It’s great stirred into mayo and used to spread on bread for a sandwich.

Scrape mixture out into small airtight container.

As you prepare each of the ingredients below place them in a medium serving bowl:

  • 4 hard boiled eggs, chopped
  • 4 large link sausages, casings removed, cooked and chopped
  • 2 cups chopped celery
  • 1/2 cup chopped peeled jicima
  • 1/2 cup cooked, chopped onion
  • 1/4 cup chopped dill pickle
  • 1/4 cup bell pepper mixture

Toss with your favorite creamy salad dressing. Go light on the dressing as this salad is very flavorful. This salad can be kept in the refrigerator for a day or so – keep leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

Rome Zucchini Salad

I was trying to fix this salad for a friend at her house without making a trip to the grocery store and so came up with the following version. This salad is great as a main dish with a side of Perfectly Neutral Mashed “Potatoes” topped with a little pesto or Parmesan cheese.

In a food processor pulse until roughly chopped

  • 1/2 bunch fresh basil, large leaves torn
  • 4-8 sprigs fresh flat leaf parsley, stems removed

Add 2 stalks green onion, trimmed and sliced in 1/4-inch long pieces and continue pulsing until finely chopped.

Scrape into medium salad bowl and add

  • 4 hard boiled eggs, chopped
  • 4 large link sausages, casings removed, sliced and cooked
  • 2 cups chopped zucchini
  • 1/2 cup chopped celery
  • 1/2 cup cooked, chopped onion
  • 1/4 cup freshly shredded parmesan (use grated only if you don’t have shredded on hand)
  • (1/4 teaspoon sea salt)
  • (1/4 teaspoon black pepper)

Toss with your favorite creamy salad dressing, preferably a garlic or tomato dressing. Go light as this salad is very flavorful. Garnish with toasted pecans.

Chicken

Green Chicken Salad

The herbs are the key to this salad. The flavor will change drastically depending on what herb or herbs you choose. Try cilantro, parsley, or basil alone in the salad. Other herbs such as rosemary, tarragon, or sage are too strong tasting to use more than 1/4 cup, but you can mix them with other herbs to make up the 2 cups. Lime juice works especially well with cilantro, orange juice is wonderful with rosemary, lemon goes with everything.

Use a food processor to finely dice each set of ingredients. Dump ingredients into a medium bowl as you go along.

  • 4 cups cooked chicken, chopped and 1 clove garlic or 2 cloves roasted garlic
  • 2 cups fresh herbs and 2 cups lettuce
  • 1 cup leaves and inner celery stalks (taste to make sure they aren’t bitter) and 1/2 cup red onion and/or green onion
  • 1/4 to 1/2 cup radish, cut into quarters (squeeze diced radish in your hands to release as much moisture as possible before adding to mixing bowl)

Dress lightly with mayo. Season to taste with sea salt and pepper, and a little fresh lemon, orange, or lime juice if you like. Not too much juice though; you don’t want to thin the dressing.

Serve:

  • on top of a bed of lettuce lightly dressed with an oil and vinegar dressing
  • spooned onto cucumber slices (taste wonderful lightly salted or sprinkled with citrus juice)
  • stuffed into celery sticks
  • spooned onto radish slices (don’t use radish in the salad itself)
  • rolled up inside lettuce leaves

Pesto Cottage Cheese Salad Dressing

Puree until smooth

  • 1 cup lowfat cottage cheese
  • 1 cup mayo
  • 1/4 cup pesto

Taste and add sea salt and black pepper to taste.

Feta Tarragon Salad Dressing

Let this dressing rest for at least 30 minutes before serving to give the flavors the chance to develop.

Puree in blender until smooth

  • 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar
  • 2 medium garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon, 1 teaspoon dried
  • 1 cup feta cheese
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon finely ground flaxseed (if you need to grind the seed, do it in the blender before adding other ingredients)

With blender running slowly pour in 1/2 cup soymilk.

Tuna

Cherried Tuna & Beans

Mix in a bowl:

  • 1 cup cherries, halved
  • 2 cups fennel, thinly sliced (you could also use celery)
  • 1 can water packed tuna, squeezed to drain well
  • 1 can soybeans, rinsed and drained
  • 1/4 cup thinly sliced red or green onion, optional

Toss with your favorite oil and vinegar dressing. We love to use a raspberry or cranberry vinegarette.

Tuna Carrot Slaw

This very simple salad doesn’t look as good on the page as it tastes when made. It’s become one of my new favorites. I’m giving the recipe for one serving since I love to have this for lunch, but if you want to serve it for dinner, just use the amounts in brackets to serve four. Make it up at least thirty minutes before serving to give the flavors time to meld.

Stir together in small (medium) bowl

  • 1/4 cup mayo [1 cup]
  • 1 – 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice [1 -2 tablespoons]
  • 1 teaspoon dried dill, 1 tablespoon fresh, chopped [1 tablespoon dried, 1/4 cup fresh]
  • dash or two of cayenne [1/8 teaspoons]
  • small pinch of black pepper [1/4 teaspoon]

Add to bowl and stir until well coated with dressing

  • 2 large carrots, shredded [8] 2 tablespoons (chopped red or green onion) [1/2 cup] 1 handful water-packed tuna, squeeze in your hands until very well drained [1 cup] 2 – 4 tablespoons cashews, chopped [1/2 – 1 cup]

Prosciutto Melon Salad

Remove the seeds from 1 cantaloupe. With a spoon or melon baller scoop out the flesh to form bite-size pieces. Cut a small section from the end of each cantaloupe half and set aside the cantaloupe shells. In a medium bowl add to cantaloupe and toss until well mixed

2 cups torn lettuce 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 2 tablespoons fresh lemon or lime juice 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, chopped sea salt and black pepper to taste Scoop salad into melon halves. Garnish with thinly sliced prosciutto and grated or thinly sliced Parmesan.

Reuben Salad

Arrange on a bed of lettuce

  • corned beef, diced or cut into large chunks
  • swiss cheese, shredded or cut into small cubes
  • sauerkraut or sauteed, shredded cabbage

Drizzle with dressing.

Dressing

Mix with fork or shake in a bottle

  • extra-virgin olive oil
  • balsamic or unfiltered, unpasteurized apple cider vinegar
  • Dijon mustard
  • sea salt
  • black pepper

Basic Protein Salad

I was never a salad eater before I started working with the principles of the UnDiet. Even though this salad seems pretty simple – and it is – it makes all the difference. My mouth is watering just writing this down. This salad is an entire meal, and often in my house!

To a bowl of lettuce add any of the following:

  • bite-sized chunks or shredded cheese
  • sausage
  • pepperoni
  • ham
  • turkey
  • chicken
  • corned beef
  • roast beef
  • shrimp
  • lobster
  • crab
  • ham, turkey, or chicken salad made with sugar-free mayo
  • hard-boiled eggs

Sprinkle with sea salt and black pepper. Dress with mayo thinned with fresh lemon or lime juice, or just drizzle on a little extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Mexican Caesar Salad Protein, Neutral if not using feta cheese

Puree

  • 2/3 cup creme fraiche, real or soy sour cream, or firm tofu
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 2-4 tablespoons fresh cilantro, 1-2 tablespoons dried

Break 8 cups romaine lettuce into bite-sized pieces. Toss with enough dressing to evenly coat. Garnish with 2 tablespoons pumpkin seeds & (3 tablespoons feta cheese).

Egg Salad Salad

The recipe title is not redundant, this is an egg salad that is a SALAD. The measurements here are not exact but they don’t need to be. You can make this salad with small amounts of produce leftovers and adjust the amounts according to what you have.

Pulse in food processor until finely diced, but not pureed

  • 1/2-1 cucumber, seeded and peeled (if the skins aren’t waxed then you can leave the peel on)
  • a pinch of sea salt

Dump from processor bowl into strainer and allow to drain for 30 minutes

Pulse in food processor until very finely diced, but not pureed

  • 4-8 hardboiled eggs
  • sea salt and black pepper to taste
  • 2-6 stalks celery
  • 1 tablespoon-1/4 cup onion
  • (green cabbage)
  • (jicima)
  • (water chestnuts)
  • (green beans)
  • (choose only one: sesame seed oil, dill, or tarragon to taste)

Add cucumber and pulse just until thoroughly mixed into the salad.

Serve on top of:

  • Protein Bread
  • cucumber rounds
  • zucchini rounds, raw or cooked
  • thinly pounded and cooked chicken breasts

or wrapped up in:

  • lettuce leaves
  • slices of corned beef, ham, or any spiced ham such as prosciutto

Perfect Potluck Picnic Pea Salad

This can be served in a large bowl or mounded on a platter lined with lettuce leaves.

Combine

  • 2  ~ 10 ounce packages frozen peas, thawed
  • 1 cup cheese, cubed (cheddar, Edam, jack, mozzarella – choose one, don’t mix cheeses)
  • 1 cup celery, chopped
  • 1 cup creme fraiche or sour cream
  • sea salt and pepper to taste

BLT Salad

Mix in salad bowl and set aside 1/2

  • 1 cup mayo
  • (1/4 cup creme fraiche, yogurt, or sour cream)
  • fresh lemon or lime juice, just enough to thin the mayo to pourable consistency
  • 2-3 cloves roasted garlic
  • (1 teaspoon Dijon mustard)
  • (1/4 teaspoon horseradish)
  • sea salt and black pepper to taste

Add to bowl

  • Romaine lettuce
  • bacon, crumbled or cut into bite-size pieces
  • tomato, chopped or sliced
  • (cheese: cheddar, Swiss, mozzarella, jack)

If you need to add some of the reserved dressing do so. Leftover dressing can be used on any other salad.

Broccoflower Salad

This is a very large salad which is good for potlucks. You can cut the recipe in half to serve to your family or make the entire recipe and use the suggestion below for leftovers. If you only have 1/2 a head of cauliflower or broccoli just use more bell pepper, celery, or tomato.

A couple of hours before serving mix in large bowl

  • 3/4 cup sugar-free bottled Ranch dressing and 1/4 cup mayo or
  • 1 cup mayo
  • 2 cloves roasted garlic
  • 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
  • juice from 1/2 lime
  • 1 teaspoon dried cilantro or parsley, 1 tablespoon fresh
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Scoop out 1/2 the dressing and set aside to drizzle over assembled salad. Add to bowl

  • 1 head broccoli florets, slice each head lengthwise into bite-size pieces
  • 1 head cauliflower, cut into bite-size pieces
  • 2-3 stalks celery, diced
  • 1/2 bell pepper, julienned
  • 1 cup olives, sliced or diced
  • 1 cup cheese, cut into cubes (Mozzarella, Gouda , Provolone, or Edam)
  • 1 large tomato, with seeds removed and chopped- if you think you’ll have leftovers use the tomatoes as a garnish so you don’t have to pick them out before cooking up the casserole below.

Broccoflower Casserole

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place leftover Broccoflower Salad in oiled baking dish. Pour a little heavy cream over veggies, sprinkle with sea salt and black pepper. (Drizzle or dot with butter.) If there’s not much cheese in the leftovers add some cheese. Bake for 20-30 minutes until veggies are just tender.

Chicken Salad with Egg Yolk Dressing

Makes 4 servings.

This is a great way to use egg yolks leftover from making UnDeviled Eggs.

Ingredients
4 egg yolks
6 stalks celery
2 dill pickles
1 tablespoon capers
3 cups chopped chicken breasts
2 tablespoons green chilies
1/4 cup yogurt
1 teaspoon mustard

Directions

In a medium bowl, use a fork or potato masher to mash together egg yolks, yogurt and mustard. Season to taste with sea salt, black pepper and garlic.

Stir in remaining ingredients.

Eat as is or:

  • mound on top on cucumber slices
  • roll inside lettuce leaf
  • serve on a bed of steamed greens dressed with lemon or lime juice and a little salt and pepper