HEALTHY FOOD DIET-SUBSTITUTES FOR OLD FAITHFULS

Healthy Food Diet

To start, use the table below to improve your family's favourites or create new ones. You'll find most ingredients in the health section of your local grocery store or bulk barn.

 

Remove Refined
Processed Foods

Replace with these healthier choices

White flour

Whole wheat, rye, spelt, or multi-grain flour

Sugar sweetened cereals

No sugar added cereals

White rice

Brown rice, barley, spelt kernels, or quinoa

Sugar sweetened jam

Fruit juice sweetened jam, or mashed berries

Sugar sweetened fruit juices

No sugar added fruit juices diluted with filtered water, or freshly squeezed

Margarine

Light Butter (use sparingly) or mix half light butter with 1/2 olive oil to cut back on saturated fats. Can also substitute flaxseed oil for the olive oil if you are not cooking, keep refrigerated.

Shortening, palm oil

Expeller pressed Olive oil, organic cold pressed canola oil & nut oils

Commercial Peanut butter with sugar added and Hazelnut butter alternatives

Peanuts only peanut butter, or other nut butter. Purchase hazel nut butter on it's own(health store) and add cocoa powder and a little agava or brown rice syrup to taste.
Experiment with making your own at your local health store.

Canned fruit

Fresh fruit or flash frozen with no added sugars

White/Brown sugar,Artificial Sweetener - Splenda, Sugar Twin, etc.

Honey, maple syrup, stevia, molasses, sucanate, agava agava, rapadura, brown rice syrup

Canned/Packaged soups/broths

Homemade soup/broths

Store bought cookies

Homemade cookies with whole grains

Table salt (Example: Windsor Brand)

Grey Sea salt, local herbs and spices

White bread

Multi-grain bread

Potato chips/Other unhealthy snacks

Baked low sodium tortilla chips (easy to make your own too), unsalted Nuts & seeds

Regular eggs

Omega 3 Free-range eggs/ Organic eggs

Farmed salmon

Wild salmon(available in can all year long)

Flavoured/Sweetened yogurt

Organic plain yogurt (add fresh fruit if you like)

Recipe Nutritional Analysis per serving should be

  • Low in sugar; less then 5 grams (1 tsp) per serving,
  • less than 2.5 grams of saturated fat, trans fat free,
  • good source of fibre , at least 3 grams or more
  • 100% Natural Whole foods ingredients

More on Natural Sweeteners

Sweetener

Uses

Substitutions

Pure maple syrup

Baked goods, cakes

Substitute 2/3 or 3/4 cup (165 to 175 ml) maple syrup for 1 cup (250 ml) white sugar. Reduce liquid by 3 tbsps (45 ml). Also add 1/4 tsp (1 ml) baking soda per 1 cup (250 ml) maple syrup.

Brown rice syrup

Cookies, fruit crisps, granola, pies, puddings

For cakes, combine with another sweetener such as maple syrup. Substitute 1 1/3 cups (325 ml) for 1 cup (250 ml) white sugar. Reduce liquid by 1/4 cup (60 ml). Add 1/4 tsp (1 ml) baking soda per 1 cup (250 ml) rice syrup.

Honey

Baked goods, herbal teas, coffee

Substitute 2/3 to 3/4cup (165 to 175 ml) for 1 cup (250 ml) white sugar. Reduce liquid by 1/4 cup (60 ml). Add 1/4 tsp (60 ml) baking soda per 1 cup (250 ml) honey. Reduce oven temperature by 25 degrees and adjust baking time.

Sucanat (natural sugar cane with fibre and water removed)

Baked goods, tea, coffee

Substitute 2/3 to 3/4 cup (165 to 175 ml) for 1 cup (250 ml) white sugar. Sold in dry form at natural food stores.

Blackstrap molasses

Zucchini bread, cookies

Substitute equal amount

Stevia

All types of cooking, baking, beverages

Substitute 1/2 tsp (2.5 ml) powder for 1 cup (250 ml) sugar.

Source: Michele Hagadorn, RNCP, CFT - Alive Magazine - January 2005 No. 267

Great Grains
For gains to be absorbed well, they should be cooked with sea salt (at least 1/8 tsp. salt to 2 cups of grain) to reduce their slightly acidic properties. With the exceptions of bulger and couscous, which can be cooked simply by soaking them in hot boiled water, most grains may be cooked in the following manner:

Grain Cooking Chart

Grain
(1 cup dry)

Cooking Water
(Cups)

Cooking Time
(Minutes)

*Amaranth

2 1/2 - 3

20 - 30

Barley

3 - 3 1/2

50-55

*Buckwheat groats and Kasha

2

15 - 20 (toasting brings out flavour)

Bulger: medium and coarse

2

Soak in boiling water 30 mins.

*Cornmeal

3

20

Couscous

1 1/2

Soak in boiling water 15 mins.

Cracked wheat

3

35-40

Kamut kernels

3 1/2 - 4

50-60

*Millet

3

40-45

Oat kernels

3-4

45-60

*Quinoa

2

15(rinse thoroughly before cooking)

*Rice: Long Grain
Short Grain
Basmati

2 1/2
2
2 1/2

35-40
35-40
35-40

Rye kernels

3 1/2 - 4

50-60

Spelt kernels

3 1/2 - 4

50-60

*Wild rice

2 1/2

50

*Are gluten and wheat free.

  • Rinse the grain in fresh water, allow debris to rise to the surface and strain the clean grain.
  • Bring the amount of water needed to a boil in a heavy saucepan or pot.
  • Stir in the grain, return the water to a boil, lower the heat and simmer, covered, until the water is absorbed.

Stirring during cooking makes the grain mushy. Stir only after cooking to make the grain fluffy, if desired.
Vegetable and meat stocks or fruit juices can be used with or substituted for water in cooking.
Left-over grains can be refrigerated for several days and reused in salads, soups, stews, or casseroles. Left-over grains do not, however, freeze well.
Cooked grains generally expand to three times the volume of the uncooked grain, with the exception of quinoa, which expands four times when cooked.
Toasting any grain can make for an interesting enhancement of flavour. Toast for 4-7 mins. in a dry skillet with one tablespoon of oil per cup of grain, to bring out the grain's rich, nutty flavour and aroma. Then proceed to cook as directed.