Happy Eating is Healthy Eating

Knowing that you can Eat and Enjoy what you are eating without Guilt

One of my favourite past times is Eating, my next favourite past time is entertaining my family and friends. If you were to ask me if I love to cook, I think my instinctive answer would be NO:

However, I love to eat and I love having the company of family and friends. It is not always affordable or practical to go out all of the time and also you can use healthier alternatives with your cooking so as to provide healthy eating that will also not put on weight.

Entertaining Made Easy: so I when I entertain, I am not just aware of looking after my own health but that of my family and friends as well.

Personally I don't believe in strict diets as such, I have been asked that as I am a Naturopath, am I a vegetarian. No I am not, you may well ask why I guess because I find it personally too limiting and plan meals for three sons and a husband personally it was too difficult. So we opted for the occasional meal of red meat, with the majority being fish or chicken incorporating one or two vegetarian meals per week.

Steps to Healthy Cooking on a Daily Basis:

1. Eliminate: Processed sauces, using your own fresh ingredients such as onions, garlic, sesame oil and herbs for flavour. You can also use fresh produce such as apples, mangoes, pears and tomatoes for sauce base ingredients.

2. Improvise: without compromising tradition or flavour such as using yogurt instead of crème, do add salt to cooking, use coconut oil and olive oil instead of butter. Keep deserts light incorporating fruit and yogurt where possible? You’ll help everyone enjoy the bountiful food without packing on any extra kilos as well and remaining fit and healthy.

3. Avoid weight problem foods for starters or additions: such as high fat nuts: macadamia, cashews, also salted nuts, chips avoiding adding cheese, cream sauces, gravy, butter, and whipped cream to your dishes.

4. Healthy alternatives for dips and starters: Kale chips, wafer crackers, pitta bread toasted, even tasty wholegrain bread and of course not's let forget sliced carrot sticks, capsicum, cucumber, broccoli etc.

Planning your Shopping: Whether this be for your entertaining or daily menu as you incorporate these healthy choices they will become habit so that no matter what the occasion whether it be the family meal at home or entertaining for friends and family it will make your health and your life so much easier.

The Key is to Shop Smart -
◦ Make it easy by keeping appetizers light. For tempting yet healthy appetizers, offer prawn cocktails, whole-grain crackers with goat’s cheese, vegetables such as carrots, cucumber, capsicum, celery, include herbs such as mint, basil and dill with a taziki homous, sweet potato or beetroot dip. You can also have fresh fruit skewers
◦ Harness the Effect Power of Fresh Produce Vegetable ideas can be baked sweet potato, pumpkin, parsnips including green beans lightly steamed served with almond slivers and lemon juice.
◦ Your meat intake Animal fat will add not only the calories but will also add problems with heart and circulation so by cooking your meat without the fat either in a Webber or you may well even prefer a barbeque so long as you don’t burn the meat as this is carcinogenic. Portion size is important when it comes to red meat, chicken & turkey if you keep it to the size of the palm of your hand. Chicken, Turkey and Seafood are really great and can be dressed up with garlic, mustard; citrus fruits can be mixed together with some olive oil pour over meat prior to cooking very easy and tasty.
◦Drinks: Obviously you may well want to part take in some alcoholic beverage wine or beers are the best when it comes to both health and weight. However this does need to be kept to a ideal consumption of 2 – 3 maximum drinks – of course if you are not driving. So what else can you drink? Well unsweetened Coconut juice is very palatable as well as being excellent to aid digestion and need I say no more of course water to look after your kidneys.

Empowering You to Optimal Health Julie Doherty N.D

Author's Bio: 

Julie Doherty is a Fully Accredited Naturopathic & Massage Practitioner with the Australian Traditional Medicine Society Ltd.
Having completed Professional Qualifications in Naturopathic Medicine: Herbal Medicine: Homoeopathic, Nutritional Medicine: Holistic Massage Therapy: Body Work: & Natural Beauty Therapy. This has enabled Julie to follow her dream of supporting people to overcome their health issues & heal their body with the use of a combination of Naturopathic, Herbal, and Homoeopathic & Nutritional Medicines & Therapies to become well without causing further harm or complications
Julie is involved in supporting other health care professionals with treatment protocols for people who are on prescription medication, chemo therapy and other related health care procedures
Julie’s vision and passion has been & still is to assist each person to become well with the least invasive & most effective treatments. Whilst working with likeminded people.
Over the past 25 years, Julie Doherty has successfully treated & assisted people with various areas of ill health and disease from the common cold, skin ailments through to cancer.
Julie’s approach is to enable each person to have the best “Quality of life possible” whilst making your treatments effective, affordable and manageable incorporating these strategies into each person's everyday living. Respecting each person's culture and individual characteristics
Julie is a sought-after public speaker, lecturer & author providing community talks, facilitated & implementing professional related courses.
Julie is a published blogger and author who is recognized for her expert knowledge with Self Growth supporting & providing assistance with healthy life protocols.
Julie has been recognized by the Stanford Who's Who and the Continental Who's who for her dedication and recognition of excellence as a Health Care Practitioner, Executive, Entrepreneur and Professional standards of ethics.
What makes the work of Julie Doherty stand out? The successful testimonials of her clients becoming well both-young and old, from a wide range of disease and signs of ill health: It has been commented about her humanness, her humour, her willingness to reveal so much of herself, her belief and commitment to her industry and clients, and the easy-to-understand style of her communicating and her simplistic way of explaining treatments and programs to become well. Her understanding of the interconnectedness when there is a problem with health and it is out of balance that it is never just one thing, so addressing all related causes of the health problem/problems that she addresses with you.
To complement our healthy treatment programs Julie has formulated a Skin, Hair & Body Care Range that is good for you “Just For You”, not only will it have your skin looking great, healthy & vibrant. Your skin needs to be fed good healthy nutrients the same as your body