We’ve received a lot of requests for recipes that make it easier to manage your portions and calories, and after a lot of research and testing we’ve compiled some great recipes. Here’s a sample:
Low calorie potatoes
· Wash and Peel off yucky parts
· Cut into quarters
· Place in microwave safe container, and cover with water
· Start with 5 minutes, and test with fork. If it is fork tender it is ready to go, if not add a minute and check again
· If you feel fancy you can add some salt to the water
· These potatoes will be very nutritious – potassium, vitamin C, and fiber, and they will be hard to overeat.
Serve these potatoes with some plain vegetables and some very plain, low fat protein and you will be full before you know it and before you hit your calorie budget.
We’re calling this cookbook The Bland and Mediocre Recipe Book, and it is packed with other recipes like the one above and the one below:
Decent Orange Dessert
· Find an orange
· Peel it
· Put on a plate
· Garnish with mint leaves
· Enjoy!
I bet you figured out that this is our April Fool’s post. We’re not really making a cookbook, but the point above is an important one: even if food is “healthy” when we do too many things to enhance it’s taste and texture it crosses over into the hyperpalatable zone. Hyperpalatable is the scientific term for “too damn tempting”. The more palatable/hyperpalatable we make our food the more likely we are to overeat it and/or the more it stimulates our appetite and makes eating appropriate portions hard (or impossible).
When you find yourself a little bored with what you are eating, remember that this might not be such a bad thing. I am not saying that you should remove all the pleasurable eating from your life, but I am saying that the more you can reserve special and amazing tasting things for special occasions the easier it will be to eat appropriately.
This is not the kind of advice that will get anyone on the New York Times Bestseller list because it is realistic and requires sacrifice in the pursuit of what you want, but the upside is (1) it will actually work, and (2) you can understand and apply this concept in 400 words vs 400 pages.
Simple application: where could you compromise a bit on the hyperpalatability of your everyday foods?
Example: The potatoes recipe above was kind of a reminder for myself. I am writing this April Fool’s post and realizing how much my dinner potatoes have evolved into heavily seasoned and texturally complex slices of heaven. These days they’ve evolved to be steamed, then smashed, then broiled with a bit of oil to get a nice crunchy top to contrast with the soft middle… and, if I stop to reflect, when the potatoes where fairly plain – just steamed with some salt and pepper – they were actually hard to finish, and now the fancy, over-the-top potatoes are impossible not to finish. (My oldest daughter would say, “now you have self-awareness daddy!”)
Happy April Fools’ Day,
Menu