13 Simple Food Swaps That Could Change Your Life

This list makes it almost too easy for you to get healthier!

Whole grains for white, quality for quantity, just one smart swap can pave the way to a healthier and happier life. So we decided to go all out and provide 13 "this for that's." Now there are no excuses when it comes to making healthier food choices!

1. Cook instead of eating out. Even if you try to eat healthy at a restaurant, that pesky bread bowl or sneaky salad may pack more calories than you planned for. Trust your inner Top Chef skills, and turn on the (skillet) heat. Cooking at home will more likely result in a healthier meal, not to mention a happier wallet.

2. Eat whole fruit instead of drinking fruit juice. A glass of O.J. contains very little of the pulp or skin from an orange—and none of the fiber content. Skip the glass, and go with the whole piece of fruit to reap the full nutritional benefits of this sweet, healthy snack (and save some calories while you’re at it).

3. Pan-fry food instead of deep-frying it. Obvious news flash: Deep-fried food is unhealthy. Keep things crispy by pan-frying lean protein or veggies in the skillet with some cooking oil. We promise it'll be just as tasty!

4. Buy local produce instead of supermarket veggies. Take a trip to the farmer's market instead of Walmart's produce aisle. According to the USDA, locally produced fruits and veggies that are in-season may be more nutritious. And it supports local farmers, too!

5. Choose brown rice over white. White rice is stripped of many essential nutrients (like fiber).

6. Pack a lunch instead of eating out. Bonus: That vending machine will look far less appetizing after you eat the meal you pack.

7. Eat at least three times a day instead of skipping meals. When you don't make the time to squeeze in a midday meal, you end up feeling tired and grouchy—and you set yourself up for overeating later.

8. Chew slowly instead of quickly. What's the rush? Studies show people who eat faster consume more calories.

9. Eat at the table instead of in front of the TV. Dining in front of the television can lead to serious overeating.

10. Eat breakfast instead of sleeping in. It may be temping to hit the snooze button more than once in the morning, but allow some time for breakfast—it may help jumpstart your metabolism and wake you up before you head to work.

11. Order black coffee instead of a latte. If that caffeine fix is calling, order a simple black coffee. A soy-mocha-extra-shot-frappuccino extravaganza isn't worth the calories (or cash).

12. Use a medium plate instead of a large one. Smaller plates (about eight to 10 inches in diameter) can save you more than 20 percent of the calories you'd eat in a larger-plate-sized serving.

13. Nap instead of sipping on an energy drink. Energy drinks can pack as much sugar as six doughnuts, while catnaps are always calorie-free.

6 New Reasons to Eat Almonds And okay, #7: They taste amazing.

6 New Reasons to Eat Almonds And okay, #7: They taste amazing.

Nutritionists are having a love affair with almonds. 

Check out these six new science-backed bennies of our favorite snack:

Less Belly Fat
Belly fat does more than look bad. It hangs around your organs and ups your risk of chronic disease. Luckily, a new Penn State study of 52 adults with elevated LDL (bad) cholesterol, people who ate 1.5 ounces a day of almonds for six weeks reduced their belly fat and waist circumference more than those had a high-carbohydrate, calorie-matched snack.

Lower Cholesterol
Lower LDL (bad) cholesterol, that is. People who eat almonds are 44 percent less likely to have elevated LDL compared to those who don't get their almonds on, according to a new Louisiana State University study of 24,808 adults.

Fewer Cravings 
Snack on this: Eating 1.5 ounces of dry-roasted, lightly salted almonds daily helped curb participants' appetites and regulate their blood sugar, per a new Purdue University study of 137 adults.

Less Inflammation
In a new Chinese study, type 2 diabetics who ate 1.5 ounces of almonds each day for three months dramatically improved their bodies' levels of oxidative stress and inflammation.

Healthier Baby Bumps
More than half of women gain too much weight during pregnancy, increasing their odds of gestational diabetes, high blood pressure, and preeclampsia. But almonds might help. A new study of overweight and obese women by California researchers shows that eating 2 ounces of almonds improves satiety, reduces appetite, and may promote healthy weight gain during pregnancy. 

source-women's health mag!

OATS IDLI/ DOSA

 OATS IDLI/ DOSA

Oats Dosa/Idli is the most easiest way of getting oats into your daily diet. When served with some curry, oats dosa is so tasty that even those who do not like oats will enjoy it. You can make the dosa batter is the traditional way or just make instant oats dosa.

Ingredients

• Oats (Quick/ Rolled) - 1 cup 
• Rice - 1 cup
• Cooked rice(optional) - handful
• urad dhal - 1/2 cup 
• fenugreek seeds - 1 tsp 
• salt - 2 tsp 
• oil - to grease the idli tray/ to make dosas

Method 1

1. Soak urad dal and rice separately for minimum 3 hours or overnight. Add the fenugreek seeds to the rice while soaking.
2. Soak the oats for just 5 minutes before grinding.
3. Grind the urad dal separately till it become fluffy. 
4. Grind the rice, oats, fenugreek seeds together with a handful of cooked rice. Adding cooked rice makes the idlis very fluffy.
5. Finally mix everything together with required salt to make a nice batter.
6. Let it ferment overnight or until it doubles in volume.
7. Make idlis or dasas and serve with chutney, sambhar, some kurma or non veg curry.
 
Method 2

Most people do not want to go through the lengthy process of making traditional dosa and idlis. So here's a simpler method to make Instant Oats Dosa. 
       

1. Soak the oats for 5 min in enough water.
2. Grind it to a smooth batter with some sour yogurt.
3. Flavour the batter with some cumin seeds, crushed pepper, chopped onions, grated ginger, curry leaves and chopped cilantro.
4. Make dosas immediately and serve with any chutney of your choice.
5. If you want to make the dosas crispy, add some rava to the batter.

 
Method 3

Most south indians have the normal dosa batter at home everyday.

1. Another variation is to mix 1 cups oats with 1 cups dosa batter and make Oats Uthappam.
2. You can also top the uthappams with chopped onions, green chillies and cilantro.
3.  

10 homemade drinks to KILL THE HEAT this summer!

The mercury has been setting new records in summers every year in India. Scorching heat, sweat and dehydration are some of the common woes every season. Counter this summer with these refreshing non-alcoholic drinks that can be easily prepared within minutes. These summer specialities of India may have been laid on the table for you at home by your mother or grandmother, and here are 10 quick recipes to prepare your favourite drinks yourself this season.

1. Lassi:

Ingredients:

• 2 cups fresh curds (dahi) chilled
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp cardamoms
• 8 to 10 ml saffron (kesar) strands
• 2 drops vanilla essence
• 1/2 cup crushed ice
• 1 tsp hot milk

Preparation:

1. Soak saffron in 1 tsp hot milk and rub till dissolved. Combine the sugar and curds and whisk till the sugar is dissolved. Just before serving, combine all ingredients and blend using a hand blender. Serve chilled.

2. Aam panna:

Ingredients:

• 1 large raw mango
• 1 teaspoon cumin powder
• 4-5 crushed black pepper corns
• Black salt (kala namak) as per taste
• Pinch of Asafoetida
• 1/2 cup Sugar

Preparation:

1. Wash and boil mangoes. Let them cool. Peel, mash and strain the pulp.
2. Add cumin powder, crushed peppercorns, black salt, asafeotida and sugar. Mix well till sugar is dissolved. Divide the mixture into four tall glasses, fill it up with chilled water. 
3. Stir well and serve.

3. Jaljeera:

Ingredients:

• 4 cups milk
• 1/4 cup almonds (badam)
• a pinch of cardamom (elaichi) powder
• a pinch of nutmeg (jaiphal) powder
• 3 to 4 tbsp honey
• edible silver leaf (vark) for garnish

Preparation:

1. Blanch almonds in boiling water for two minutes. Peel and chop roughly.
2. Heat milk in a thick-bottomed vessel and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, add chopped almonds and simmer on low heat for fifteen to twenty minutes.
3. Add cardamom powder and nutmeg powder and continue to boil for another two minutes.
4. Remove from heat, add honey and stir.
5. Serve warm in individual earthenware glasses, garnished with silver warq.

4.Masala chaas:

Ingredients:

• 4 glasses of slightly sour buttermilk (subsitute buttermilk with 2 glasses yoghurt and 2 glasses chilled water)
• 1 tbsp vegetable/sunflower/canola oil
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 10-15 curry leaves
• 2" piece of ginger grated fine
• 1/2 tsp asafetida
• 2 green chillies chopped fine
• Salt to taste
• A handful of finely chopped corainder leaves

Preparation:

1. Put the buttermilk/yoghurt, ginger, green chillies, 5 curry leaves chopped finely, coriander and salt to taste into a food processor and blend well.
2. In a small pan heat the oil. When it is hot add the mustard seeds. They will splutter. When this happens add the remaining curry leaves and asafetida. Remove from the fire in another 30 seconds.
3. Add this to the buttermilk mixture and mix well.
4. Serve in glasses.

5. Sugarcane juice:

Ingredients:

• 6 cups sugarcane juice
• 6 tbsp sugar
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 2 to 3 drops of ginger (adrak) juice (optional)

Preparation:

1. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well till the sugar dissolves.
2. Pour into a shallow container. Cover and freeze till it is set (approximately 4 to 6 hours). Transfer to a mixer and blend till it is slushy.
3. Spoon it into 4 individual serving glasses and serve immediately.

Handy tip:

Ready-made sugarcane juice sometimes already contains ginger juice. Hence add as per the requirement.

6. Khus sherbet:

Ingredients:

• 16 tsp khus syrup
• 4 tbsp soaked falooda seeds (sabja)
• 16 tsp kewra water (optional)
• Few drops lemon juice
• 3 bottles lemon drink (lemonade)
• Crushed ice

Preparation:

1. Mix all the ingredients except the ice. Serve in tall glasses with crushed ice.

7. Watermelon juice:

Ingredients:

• 1 large watermelon (tarbuj)
• 1 small sized honeydew melon
• 1 large can (850 grams) pineapple juice
• 1 large can (850 grams) orange juice
• 3 bottles ginger ale
• 1 bottle lemonade
• 1 1/2 cups watermelon (tarbuj) juice
• crushed ice to serve

Preparation:

1. Cut the watermelon lengthwise, about 1/3 down. Scoop out flesh with a melon baller from both melons. Chill the balls. Put the scooped portion of watermelon into a liquidiser and take out the juice.
2. Chill the fruit juices, 2 teacups of the watermelon juice, ginger-ale and lemonade. Just before serving, mix all the juices and drinks. Fill the melon shell as required. Add chilled Melon balls. Decorate with flowers if desired.

8. Falsa juice:

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of sugar
• 2 cups of water
• Falsas
• crushed ice

Preparation:

1. Make 2 cups of sugar syrup by mixing 2 cups of sugar and 2 cups water till thick. Remove and keep aside. Soak falsas in 4 cups of water for 4 hours, now blend 2 or 3 times, then pass it through a fine sieve. Discard the seeds, mix the juice and sugar syrup well. Serve chilled with ice cubes and black salt. 

9. Badam milk:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup almonds
• 1 cup pistachios
• 3 cups chilled/ warm milk
• Sugar to taste
• 2/3 tsp cardamom powder
• 2 tbsps kewra essence (available at Indian groceries) - optional
• 2 tsps rose water

Preparation:

1. Grind the almonds and pistachios to a smooth paste in your food processor. Add a little milk to do this. A lot of people like to remove the skin from the almonds before grinding them. I don't do this as the skin contains many nutrients. You can do it if you wish, by soaking the almonds in hot water for 5 minutes. When soaked, press the almonds between your thumb and index finger. The skin will slip off quite easily.
2. Add milk, sugar, cardamom powder, kewra essence (if using) and rose water. Blend well. Serve chilled in a tall glass.

10. Rose sherbet:

Ingredients:

• 2 cups rose petals (washed well and patted dry on a paper towel)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp cardamom powder
• Juice of 2 lemons (strained)
• 1 cup pomegranate juice (optional)

Preparation:

1. Coarsely crush the rose petals in a mortar and pestle and then put into a deep glass bowl. Pour 1 cup of boiling water over the paste and add the cardamom powder. Mix well, cover and allow to steep overnight.
2. In the morning, strain through a very fine sieve.
3. Add the sugar and stir till dissolved - do not heat.
4. When the sugar is dissolved, add in the lemon and pomergranate juices and mix well. The syrup is ready now and can be stored in the fridge for 3-4 days.
5. To serve, pour some syrup into a tall glass, mix with chilled water to taste and add crushed ice

SUMMER POPSICLES @HOME!

SUMMER POPSICLES @HOME!

INGREDIENTS

1. 3 cups watermelon puree (seedless if possible) 2. 1.2 cup fresh blueberries 3. 1.2 cup chopped fresh strawberries 4. 1 kiwi, peeled and sliced
5. 1 peach,diced small 6. handful fresh cherries, pitted and chopped

METHOD

1. Cut the watermelon into chunks and then puree it in a blender until smooth. Set aside.
2. Set out about 1 dozen popsicle molds (amount needed will vary depending on size of molds). 
3. Fill each one with the chopped fresh fruit. Then pour in the watermelon puree until each mold is full to the top. 
4. Place a popsicle stick into each one. Place into your freezer and freeze.
5. When ready to serve, run the popsicle molds under warm water for a few seconds and then pull each one out.

NOTE- THE FRUITS OTHER THAN WATERMELON CAN BE REPLACED

27 FOOD ITEMS TO A FLAT TUMMY!

SMALLY PANEER WRAP

SMALLY PANEER WRAP

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup crumbled paneer
• 1 small onion, chopped fine (I should have added this!)
• 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
• 1/4 tsp powdered cumin / jeera
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
• 1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste
• A small bunch of coriander, chopped fine
• 1 tsp or a bit more tomato sauce / ketchup
• 4 slices of bread
• Butter to toast
• Salt to taste

Now roast these on a tawa or a pan and SERVE