How to ACTUALLY start cooking Healthy Food - 5 habits

I absolutely hate the taste of protein shakes. I hate meal prepping and I get very bored making the exact same high protein meals over and over while on a diet, however, even though I don't like doing those things over the past 10 years, I have lost over 70 pounds from my peak weight. of 240 pounds while

cooking

a variety of delicious and flavorful meals, so in this video I want to show you five

healthy

cooking

lifestyle concepts that I have been using for the last decade and that I have a whole collection of recipes linked below. You can

actually

put these concepts into practice, but first I feel like we need to cover what it means to eat or cook

healthy

food

s or else this video is pointless and in the era of the short form. videos and tweets I've felt like you've done a disservice when it comes to a lot of health and fitness content.

I mean, you can choose any

food

and almost guarantee that someone has made a video telling you not to eat it when the reality is that people with completely different diets and lifestyles can be in very good health, so before we

start

, let's explain the fundamentals of healthy eating because while we are all subject to the mechanics of losing weight and getting fit, there is a very close relationship with a variety of outcomes and by understanding the fundamentals, it has completely changed my life and explains why these Five concepts have worked so well for me and maybe for you too.

I think the best no-nonsense resource book I've ever read is understanding healthy eating as a science. guide based on how your diet affects your health and I highly recommend reading it in its entirety, but here are a couple of key concepts. First, there are six principles of your diet that affect health in order of total effect and, as you can see, by far. The most important factor here is calorie balance or calories in and calories out, and they use these principles to create a healthy eating pyramid which is a great mental model, so let's touch on the first three because these are primarily the ones at play. in the concepts we will see.

See first why calorie balance is so important C. Well, there's that famous example where a professor used the Twinkie diet, which is high in fat and sugar, but he controlled the total calories of the Twinkies he was eating and still so he was able to lose over 27. pounds in 10 weeks because he burned more calories than he consumed and this is true in all vegan versus carnivore versus ketogenic versus vegetarian diets for weight management is primarily a product of calories in and calories out, So why is weight so important? Well, we tend to equate weight with good health because there is a lot of evidence showing that being overweight or obese can lead to all kinds of negative outcomes.

The CDC page has a bulleted list of all kinds of disease complications and generally even just lists low quality of life, so in the cooking concepts and recipes we'll discuss, this is by far the most important principle you can play by when it comes to eating and cooking healthy foods that you enjoy, but only because you can lose weight by eating only Twinkies, principle number two of food composition. It also matters a lot - here's a quote from the book in simple terms - while the number of calories you consume per day is by far the biggest impediment to your diet.

Mediated health. There is the concept of healthy food and, in most cases, for better health. The results: it pays to consume more of these types of foods as a fraction of your total calories and food composition is really where all the common advice we've heard comes from: you want to eat a diet very rich in vegetables, fruits, lean proteins, whole grains and healthy foods. fats, but why exactly, there are many reasons here, but from a fundamental point of view, I think there are two main ones: first, these foods help us meet our minimum nutrient needs in terms of vitamins, minerals, fibers , phytochemicals, proteins and essential fats and secondly, these foods are Generally, all foods that are most satiating can be ranked on a satiety index and this just means that, for equal portions of calories from different foods, Some of those foods will keep you fuller longer, for example, 1000 calories of lean protein and potatoes will fill you up much more than 1000 calories of chocolate bars and donuts and this goes back to principle number one because it's easier to consume more calories. less satiety.

Foods compared to foods with a higher satiety index now the composition of foods is also closely related to the amounts of macronutrients number three, so macronutrients are what increase foods and calories by one gram of carbohydrates is equal to four calories, one gram of protein is also four calories, and one gram of fat is nine calories, and macronutrients seem to be where a lot of that seemingly contradictory advice comes from. A ketogenic diet will focus on getting calories from high-fat proteins and very low carbs, a vegetarian or vegan diet is likely to get more calories from carbs and therefore less protein and fat, and a bodybuilder diet will likely prioritize a lot of protein, however, assuming the same total of calories and you are meeting the minimum amounts needed, while the three diets may look completely different in the types of foods you eat daily, they can all be perfectly healthy and this is where I wish more people would reflect on their goals and experiment with different amounts of macronutrients and I'll give you an example in my case a few years ago I wanted to try to be as lean and muscular as possible, so an off number for that type of goal is to eat 1 gram of Protein per pound of body weight.

I was aiming for 160 lbs, so for me that meant 160 G or 640 calories of protein, but guess what? I found this too restrictive and was not enjoyable because I couldn't prepare the types of foods I wanted, without going over my total calorie balance, remembering how the foods you ate affect your physical health, is just one aspect here. Mental and social health are another important part of healthy eating that I feel is never talked about and that we need to figure out. To figure out how they fit into my mental health, I lowered the protein to 120 grams per day and increased the amount of carbohydrates, which made my life much easier.

I ate a variety of foods that I really loved, like sandwiches, pasta, and rice. dishes a less restrictive diet that focuses on the fundamentals of calorie balance could also help social health when you cook or go out to eat with family and friends, for example, when I was in Consulting we went to amazing restaurants all the time, so in those days I did intermittent fasting and then ate a high protein, low calorie lunch so I could choose whatever I wanted from that menu that seemed very good to me, instead of trying to find some healthy option, there is much more information that we could But I think it turns into diminishing returns pretty quickly.

Most studies or citations generally look at specific tests or highly optimal results, which can be important if a specific result is sought. However, I would say that most people can greatly change their lives through non-optimal diets and non-optimal fitness regimens that they could follow for several decades, which is exactly why these five concepts of healthy cooking have really changed my life and you will need to figure out how they fit into yours if you were in the routine of constantly eating. Go out to restaurants to buy takeout or order Uber Eats. The first place I like to

start

is to pick one of my favorite meals and make it at home, but I would say there are three different levels that you'll need to figure out which one works best level one is restaurant recreation level two is macro mindful recreation and Level three is a very low calorie alternative, for example imagine that fried rice is your favorite takeout dish.

We'll use this as an example and take you through the three levels. When a restaurant prepares your food, the only thing they really care about is that it tastes as good as possible and making sure you have a large enough portion, so at level one all you're doing is literally recreating the dish to match the restaurant, what it can do to you I wonder how this is healthier or how it helps me consume fewer calories. Well, I have two reasons: First, you're probably using a lot less fat and therefore fewer calories overall. Now, for something fried like chicken or French fries, it's going to be basically exactly the same. but for common takeaway dishes from Indian Thai Chinese pizza or deli places, in most cases you are probably using less oil than they would because you are thinking about it and secondly, and probably more important, is oil control. portions when you place an order at a restaurant they control. the serving size and therefore the total calories, if you pour that fried rice on your plate, you will realize that it is 1.5 or two times the amount you would

actually

serve yourself at home, so it is 1 .5 to 2 times the amount of calories, so level one is really about portion control, but level two is where we make some changes and this is where I live most of the time.

I have made many videos over the last few years showing how to make this with dishes like fried rice, butter, chicken, pizza cutlet. cheeses, bowls from Chipotle or In-N-Out and really all I'm doing is playing with the total calories and macronutrient amounts and it all depends on the recipe, sometimes I'll use less fat, sometimes less carbs, sometimes more proteins and in this fried rice. video from a couple years ago I made three main substitutions: Number one, I purposely overcooked my rice so it would absorb more water. Water has no calories but it has weight and volume so this led me to two bowls of rice, one with 853 calories and one with 533 calories because I now had more water, this is not something a Chinese chef would recommend but here We have different objectives.

In my second substitution I used about 5g of cooking spray instead of 20g of liquid oil and in my third substitution I used shrimp. Instead of chicken thighs, which are higher in protein and lower in total calories, and in side-by-side bowls I was able to prepare the same amount of food with a drastically lower total calorie count and different amounts of macronutrients, So what about level three? is where you take the same food but significantly change a key ingredient in the recipe to make a much lower calorie alternative. An example of this would be using cauliflower rice instead of white rice.

This has much fewer calories but also fundamentally changes the dish as it is no longer fried rice, other examples of this would be using cauliflower crust pizza or making an egg sandwich with just egg whites and if you want lots of options to choose from using this concept, we are going to make an updated collection. on my new website called cook well, where you can choose and they will all be linked below, but now let's move on to the next three concepts and instead of recreating your favorite foods, these three concepts will show you how to start creating your own healthy recipes .

At home, as we mentioned above in food composition, lean proteins are high in protein and low in calories and will keep you full for a long time, but they can be quite bland and boring if you don't know how to prepare them. Therefore, learning How to Season Lean Proteins is very important because you can completely transform boring lean proteins into countless different dishes. I made a whole video on this concept on how to cook healthy meals without ever running out of ideas, but here's the cliffnotes version I reviewed. Condiment framework where one learns a seasoning technique, two applies it to a lean protein, three chooses a form factor to serve it, and fourth you add condiments and toppings and if you follow this framework you will end up with an unlimited supply of ideas, For example. black and chicken can be made with any combination of spices, first thin out the chicken breast which will help it cook evenly, secondly sprinkle salt on both sides to season it internally and thirdly add the spice blend and here are three of my favorite spice blends for chicken breast. one is garlic powder, red pepper and oregano.

I'll use it for hogis or pasta salads. The second is cumin, chili powder and garlic powder. I'll use it for fajita tacos or maybe some Mexican inspired dishes. The third is sumac, cumin and garam masala seeds. It's a new one I've been trying and using in these yellow rice bowls.Middle Eastern inspired with pomegranate seeds, walnuts and pickled onions and they are the perfect side dish and I will leave a recipe for this one specifically because it is just one. You have to try it anyway, although once you have your proteins seasoned, next you have to calculate your carbohydrates.

Now we learned about carbohydrates above. Fats and proteins, neither of them are the enemy. Here I am considering controlling carbs as a calorie balancing product and I will do this in my kitchen in two different ways: first I will replace them, so I do this all the time with macaroni and cheese or pasta salads, so instead of just eat a lot of pasta, I will substitute some of the pasta with lean proteins and different vegetables, one of my other favorite recipes is this white cheddar macaroni and cheese, green chile chicken, where I made it by adding pablanos and chicken instead of just pasta and cheese.

The second way I control my carbs. You are using a lower calorie carbohydrate alternative, for example this could be using lower calorie corn tortillas for your tacos or quesadillas instead of flour ones. Another example of this that I always have in my pantry are the high protein ramen noodles that are from today's sponsor, V Ramen. So I've been using them for the last 3 years and you guys have seen them before on the channel with my spicy garlic noodle recipe and they have a huge variety of individual instant ramen flavors where one package is around 500 calories and 28 grams of protein or I really like to have a couple of packets of nudes, one brick is 400 calories and 23g of protein so this is a great starting point to add a sauce and lean protein and again you are changing the macronutrient amounts , which leads to more. filling and enjoyable meal Vite Ramen is made in the USA by a small family business that is committed to people before profits.

I prefer to get extra protein and micronutrients from whole foods that I can get creative with and make fun dishes with, so head on over to the link. below and use the code Ethan to get 10% off your order with $25 worth of free chopsticks, spoons, and stickers and fourth, having a variety of low-calorie condiments and side dishes in the refrigerator is one of The easiest ways to start making healthy foods taste much better. and I have two subcategories here first they are naturally low calorie condiments and garnishes and these include fresh herbs pickles hot sauces vinegar Sauces mustard Citrus juice and Greek yogurt So why are condiments and garnishes so good?

Simply put, they make our food more interesting. Fresh herbs have strong aromas. Pickled items have a tart flavor and, in the case of pickled onions, have a nice color contrast. Hot sauces and sauces can be hot mustard and Greek yogurt, they are tangy and creamy, and citrus juices and vinegars are savory and all of them are naturally low in calories. ingredients that I always have on hand, the second category is the creation of low-calorie seasonings, now they can be bought in the store or made at home. I know there are a lot of options now, like low calorie salad dressings, syrups or sauces that you can buy in the store and If any of you have favorite store bought sauces, let us know in the comments and help all of us on the channel.

I've made several low-calorie condiments, like Jalapeno Ranch which I made with less mayonnaise and more. sour cream in this video or the yogurt-lime dressing I used in my pasta salad video and if you simply learn to up your seasoning and garnish game, you can make healthy food taste amazing, evaluate, integrate and enjoy , this last concept might be the most important and the most difficult to understand, there are many ways you can cook healthy foods and have fun doing it and ultimately, discovering routines and protocols that you can follow in the long term is probably what will make the difference. biggest difference when preparing many meals.

Food never worked for me, but that doesn't mean it can be exactly what someone else needs, so you need to evaluate and integrate these concepts to fit your needs. For example, here is a list of small kitchen tasks I will do throughout the week on busy days, if I have 3 minutes in the morning, I will salt my lean protein and put it in the refrigerator. So I've completed step one of seasoning the lean proteins. If I need some inspiration, I'll try a new one. an interesting-sounding spice marinade, like in that Sunday morning chicken recipe. I like to start with a brace and go about my day and 6 hours later I just need to find a carb source to serve as a bonus.

I will do it. I will keep frozen vegetables in the freezer that I can prepare on a weeknight. I'll keep the naked ones in my pant to go with a dip and when I'm having trouble snacking, I'll make some high protein snack wraps that I can freeze. on reheating, so where should you start today? Well, you can use these concepts to create your own recipe or we'll have the full collection on our new cookwell website for you to get inspired, but either way that's going to wrap it up for me on this one and as I mentioned before, the health and fitness talk is a complicated topic.

It frustrates me to see people just arguing and seemingly contradicting each other, just throwing talking points over and over again when I feel like more people should be focusing on a broader topic. bigger picture and really figuring out how people can use their individual lifestyles with the fundamentals of healthy eating or fitness and stuff, but anyway I hope you enjoyed this kind of look. I'm happy to do more in the future. I'm on a bit of a cut right now, so maybe I'll give an update in a couple of months to see how it goes, but anyway that'll wrap it up for me on this one.

I'll see you all in the next one, peace. all