It’s a new year, and for many people who are setting New Year’s resolutions, that also means a new diet.
Queue the usual suspects of grilled chicken and bland salads. But that does not need to be your reality.
Gone are the days when healthy eating equates to torture, with so many options found in supermarkets today to help you uphold healthy eating habits without having to abandon all your comforts.
Here are some simple tips to spruce up your meals while still maintaining your new healthy goals.
Herb your enthusiasm
Talk to any credible chef and they’ll tell you one of the biggest untapped flavors for home cooks is fresh herbs. While they’ll rack up your bill a bit more than their dried version, fresh herbs are an easy way to provide vibrancy to a meal and deliver restaurant-quality food.
Walk into any fad restaurant these days and you’re likely to come across a seemingly simple salad on the menu that packs a punch. The key you’ll find is fresh herbs like dill, cilantro or parsley.
While your salad may be omitting certain additions like creamy dressings and dairy, adding an herb to it can ensure your salad still packs a punch that makes it more enticing to eat.
An easy combination to introduce you to this concept is combining your preferred lettuce of choice, lemon-dijon mustard vinaigrette, cucumber, tomato, red onion, feta and dill.
Good-bye bland grilled chicken
Grilled chicken is an easy go-to for healthy eating that adds lean protein to your diet. But, wow, does it pale in comparison to its unhealthier, and oftentimes tastier, counterparts such as fried chicken.
While you may be cutting high levels of fat and carbs in your diet, which unfortunately fried chicken has, grilled chicken can still pack a flavor punch – and the key is in the marinade.
The blueprint to any good cooking, including marinade, are four ingredients: salt, fat, acid and heat (thank you Chef Samin Nosrat for popularizing this saying!)
Salt is self-explanatory; it’s just salt. While I’d suggest adding this to your taste, it can be hard and a bit unsettling to taste-test your marinade. I’d suggest about 1-2 teaspoons.
The fat component is up to you, but a liquid fat is ideal. The go-to is typically olive oil, but feel free to experiment. While you may be seeking to cut back the fat in your diet, I’d suggest keeping this in to the amount you feel comfortable with as chicken will not have its own fat to cook in.
Acid comes in different forms, notably in vinegars and citrus. For a Latin-American-style marinade, citrus fruits like lime, lemon and even orange (which will add a little sweetness) are great. For something maybe more Italian, opt for a balsamic vinegar.
As for heat, cater this to your palette. Heat does not need to mean chili, but if you’ve got a knack for spicy food, then go for it! Fresh chilis are great and can provide a more subtle heat to your dish, but dried spices like cayenne and hot curries can do the job too. If spice isn’t your thing, garlic is your friend and will provide the same benefits of heat to your dish.
After marinating the chicken for at least an hour, I’d recommend letting much of it drip off so you can still get a good sear on the chicken. If you’re feeling fancy, you can then cook down the marinade in a saucepan to make a sauce for your meat.
Here is a simple Latin-American style marinade I use that’s worth trying out (and is easy to tweak to your liking).
Latin-American Chicken Marinade
Ingredients:
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup lime juice
- 4 cloves of garlic
- Half a jalapeno, sliced
- 1 tablespoon dried or fresh oregano (preferably the Mexican variety)
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons cumin
The store bought stuff
If cooking is not quite your thing but you need to do more of it to uphold your new healthy habits, don’t fret – there are many store-bought options in the grocery store that can aid your diet and ease your cooking woes.
Top brands include Siete Foods and Primal Kitchen, which both offer great gluten-free, dairy-free and oil-free options that go beyond snacks and include sauces, seasonings and canned foods.
If you’re looking for high-protein options, Kodiak offers a variety of products that can deliver it to you through your first meal of the day. Kodiak focuses on breakfast products like pancake mixes and granolas, but cuts out the extra stuff and adds in a healthy dose of protein. This is key for those who love a sweet breakfast, but not necessarily what it may do for your health.
For soda fanatics, there has never been a greater selection of health-conscious pops to choose from. I won’t lie to you, these prebiotic and probiotic sodas don’t taste like the real thing, but if you’re looking for something to scratch the itch of a full-sugar soda, then brands like Olipop, Poppi, Culture Pop and Slice could be for you.
These brands can be found in large health grocery stores, but local chains are carrying these products more and more, so look closer to home before you make the trek to Whole Foods.
While a new diet can be a daunting task, it does not have to be, and implementing some of these methods could assist you in sticking with your new resolution. Good luck with your new healthy eating habit and Happy New Year!
