HEALTHY ALTERNATIVES

I am continually looking for healthy alternatives, recipes and resources that will help us stay (at least somewhat) fit. My idea of "healthy alternatives" centers around . . .
 -less processed foods and ingredients; foods that are as fresh as possible.
 -inclusion of foods that are nutrient dense (often referred to as "super" foods these days) — bright green, red and yellow veggies, whole grains, olive oil, fish, poultry, nuts & seeds, fruits, dried beans.
-reliance on healthy cooking methods and techniques.
-moderation.
 On this page I will share some of my favorite resources and links to recipes I've posted on our Home page.

FAVORITE SOURCE FOR RECIPES & INFO

BEST FIND YET - Prepare Your Own Recipe Nutrition Label: http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/recipe_analysis.php
Type in recipe ingredients (or cut & paste from your recipe) and number of servings, hit “Analyze Recipe” . . . and, like magic, a nutrition label for your recipe appears! This is online – nothing to download. I have tried a number of others; most require multiple steps, are tedious to use and the results do not seem to be in line with other similar recipes. This one is easy, seems to be accurate and it is now my go-to recipe analyzer!

HOW TO MAKE SENSE OF THE INFO ON A NUTRITION LABEL? 
WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?

·        WHAT’S THE RIGHT AMOUNT?
o   Recommended daily CALORIE intake. (Access table by clicking on CALORIE.)
o   DRI (daily recommended intake) for VITAMINS, MINERALS & MACRONUTRIENTS (Access table by clicking on DRI.)
o   Fiber25 to 30g. Check out eHow Health for ideas on how to increase fiber in the diet.

·        HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH?
o   Cholestorol  -- The American Heart Association recommends less than 300 mg of cholesterol per day through food for people with no heart disease risk factors, and recommends less than 200 mg per day through food for people who have any heart disease risk factors. 
o    Sodium  – In its most recent recommendation the American Heart Association lowered the recommended amount of sodium  to 1500mg per day. 
     
·  FOR MORE INFO. The National National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute's Adult Treatment Panel (ATP) in an attempt to educate the public about nutrition, physical activity and weight control and to treat of elevated cholesterol has released it’s  new "Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes" (TLC) Guidelines. They offer great explanations concerning the terminology used on nutrition labels and offer lots of helpful examples(Access table by clicking on TLC Guidelines.)

LINKS TO RECIPES ON OUR HOME PAGE -- click on recipe name to access
Desserts (although most are not totally guilt-free, these do meet some of our criteria for “healthy alternatives”)

Also check out the MIXES & MORE tab at the top of the page for other recipes.

INTERESTING ONLINE RESOURCES:
Recipe Modification — I found an extremely helpful chart from  Ohio State University Extension  - Healthy Recipe Modification Tip Sheet.
  Start Right, Eat Right Recipe Modification chart