By: Seomul Evans
Submitted: 2010-02-21 14:48:33 | Word Count: 715
Healthy cooking for special diets doesn’t need to be a chore. The key is to recall crucial topics for each diet and to creatively change your recipes to meet those needs.
Vegetarian cooking is not tough. The goal here is to recall that varying degrees of exclusion of animal products from your favorite diet occasionally makes it tough to lay hands on certain proteins. Most plants, legumes and grains bear at least some amino acids that have the complete proteins found in animal products. Mixing and matching foods is a great method to be sure that vegetarians get all amino acids. Your job is made easier by the reality that most vegetarians are not vegans, which means that several include some variant of animal products into their diets.
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These proteins are excellent supplements to a vegetarian dish of their favor. Textured vegetable protein (TVP), and soy proteins such as those found in tofu and Boca also make vegetarian cooking much easier. Most of these proteins don t bear much flavor of their own, so they ll mix in nicely with any dish you re cooking. When it comes to vegetables and grains, just remember the basic principle: the more colorful the vegetable, the more nutrients it has, and whole grains make better nutrition than their bleached counterparts. Legumes are first class resources, but make sure to cook them well as legumes are often hard to digest for most people.
Many of the same rules for vegetarian cooking also apply for diabetic cooking. Rather than animal products and protein, the subject here is sugar. When most people think of sugar, they think of candy and other sweets. However, there are other foods that carry those simple sugars that often overload the system of diabetics. So, the goal for preparing diabetic dishes is to avoid the temptation to use these sugars in excess. Try using whole grains rather than bleached ones such as white bread and pastas.
Feel free to serve dessert, but try utilizing a sugar substitute and stick to whole grain flour. Sugar substitutes are a must for consideration when serving drinks such as sweet tea and soda. Fruit is a possibility, but don t expect your diabetic guest to consume a whole bowl full. However, keep some sugary snacks and juices available for blood sugar emergencies when blood sugar has dipped well below healthy levels.
Light cooking recipes presents the least hassle because most westerners are starting to appreciate its benefits as a means of disease prevention. The trick to light cooking is simple. Stay away from heavy meats such as meat with a lot of fat on it or red meat. Try replacing meat with TVP or tofu when you can escape with it. Gently fry foods in cooking spray rather than butter or oil, and use foods that will extend the best nutrition possible.
You may need special diets for many number of reasons and these can go from medical to just because you want to. A medically required special diet needs you to stick really closely to your regime and allow almost no deviation from it. If you re going on a special diet for religious reasons then you will still need to stick to your diet strictly but in this case you ll be your own supervisor. If you divert from this diet then it hurts you in a spiritual way with which you ll require to come to terms.
For some people this spiritual hurt will carry more weight with them than any physical hurt they could get if they go off their medically required special diets. If you are already on spiritual special diets and you also need to have medical special diets as well, you might run into some turmoil and conflict. If your body dictates one message but your religion another one, then what can you do? Do you go in for the special diets that will heal you spiritually or do you go in for the special diets that will cure you physically?
It s a tough question but one that you have got to answer for yourself. Most times however, a compromise could be reached and you can work out some special diets that will ultimately suit both your physical and spiritual sides.
