One of the best ways to start eating more healthfully is to reengineer your kitchen—the room that can make or break your best intentions for weight loss and healthy eating. If your refrigerator and pantry are bulging with store-bought cake, crackers, cookies, and other foods made with refined carbohydrates, now’s the time to make room for the healthy building blocks of meals and snacks that will keep your blood sugar lower and steadier.
The strategy: Buy a rainbow’s worth of in-season fruits and veggies, low-fat dairy and meats, and whole grain breads and cereals. Add a larder stocked with strategically chosen canned, dried, and frozen foods. Now your family is ready to eat well when most people have resigned themselves to take-out pizza, fast-food burgers, or cold cereal.
A key principle of Sugar Solution cooking: Accept help (in the form of healthy convenience foods, from sliced carrots to frozen broccoli to canned beans) when it’s offered. That way, you can still have tasty, healthy, home-cooked meals even if your favorite fruits and veggies aren’t in season yet or you simply ran out of time before you reached the bottom of your to-do list (and the final item was “get groceries”).
You’re ready if your fridge has a rainbow of color inside—prepared salad greens, those sliced carrots, roasted red peppers, spinach, broccoli, dandelion greens, asparagus, celery, carrots, squash, peas; your freezer’s loaded with healthy protein (such as frozen shrimp and veggie burgers); and your pantry’s full of canned goodies like vegetable-based soups, whole grains, and healthy oils. That’s the Sugar Solution pantry. Here’s how to bring it home—and cook it up.
Start your kitchen makeover with your cupboards. Keep—and promise to buy more of—these easy-to-prepare Sugar Solution All-Stars.
Canned tomatoes and tomato sauces: They’re the foundation for an endless variety of stews, soups, and pasta sauces. Look for varieties without high-fructose corn syrup or trans fats.
Dried fruit: Dried cranberries are among the best sources of proanthocyanidins, powerful antioxidants that also help prevent urinary tract infections. A 1⁄3-cup serving confers the same protection as roughly 8 ounces of cranberry juice cocktail. Dried plums (aka prunes) are among the fruits ranked highest in antioxidants, USDA research shows. And ¼ cup of apricots supplies three-quarters of the daily requirement for vitamin A. Just remember: A serving is usually ¼ cup, because dried fruits are calorically, as well as nutritionally, dense.
Whole grain cereals: Look for whole grain oats, wheat, amaranth, quinoa, or brown rice. The nutritional payoff: fiber, minerals, and beneficial plant compounds called phytochemicals. There might be a weight-loss payoff, too: One study found that people who ate oatmeal felt less hungry.
Beans: Staples in hearty soups and chilis, dried beans are superlative sources of iron, fiber, and heart disease–fighting folic acid. Some, such as white, great Northern, and navy, are also respectable sources of calcium. There’s nothing wrong with using canned beans; just rinse to rid them of excess sodium, or try reduced-sodium brands. Keep dry beans in a cool, dry place in airtight glass or metal containers. If you have leftover cooked or canned beans, you can drain and freeze them for up to 6 months.
Soups and broths: They’re not raw ingredients, but they’re so versatile, you can use them as if they were. Try the creamy—but not fatty—vegetable-based butternut squash, portobello mushroom, broccoli, and tomato soups sold in resealable paper cartons by Pacific, Imagine, and Whole Foods. Add 2 tablespoons of whole wheat couscous, greens, and canned beans, and simmer for a few minutes. Serve with a little grated cheese.
Root vegetables: These include white or red onions, fresh garlic and ginger, and potatoes. Acquire a taste for sweet potatoes—they’re more nutritious than white and lower on the glycemic index (GI), so they won’t raise your blood sugar as high. Buy only as much garlic as you need for a week, thereby ensuring freshness. On the flip side, buy onions in bulk and use them often. Store fresh ginger and garlic in the fridge after they’ve been cut.
Whole wheat flour: It can be a satisfying supplement to your white flour. In baking, you’ll get very satisfactory results by substituting up to half of the amount of white flour called for with whole wheat flour. As you grow accustomed to the taste and texture, swap out more white flour, or try recipes that call for only whole wheat flour.
Cooking oil: Truth is, all vegetable oils are a combination of good, bad, and in-between fats, but the balance varies greatly. The healthiest are highest in monounsaturated and omega-3 fats and lowest in saturated fats and contain moderate amounts of omega-6 polyunsaturated fats. The top two: olive oil for salad dressing and a quick sauté, canola for baking. Keep olive oil away from heat and light for the longest storage—up to 2 years. Store fine olive oils as well as nut oils that you use less often in the refrigerator. Don’t worry if the oil becomes cloudy; its translucence will return when it reaches room temperature.
Throw out—or at least promise never to purchase again:
• High-sugar cereals. Consider tossing any cereal that contains 12 grams of sugar or more per serving.
• High-fat, high-salt processed foods. Canned pasta dishes, canned meat spreads, and even some tomato sauces are nutritional nightmares when it comes to fat and salt.
• Refined grain products. Are the only grains you have egg noodles and white rice? It’s time to expand into whole grains, such as semolina or whole wheat pasta.
• Snack foods. Check the labels and toss anything that has trans fats, is high in sugar, or has no fiber. And don’t lead yourself into temptation: Toss big bags of chips—the ones that are difficult to stop digging into.
• White bread and rolls. Give up the marshmallowy, low-fiber, low-nutrition types.
If you love to bake, try making healthier versions of your favorite recipes by using alternatives to white sugar. The sweeteners below either have fewer calories, a lower glycemic index, or additional nutrients. (Aspartame and saccharin cannot be used for baking and are not listed here.)
Brown sugar: A mixture of white sugar and molasses, it has a slightly lower carb content than white sugar. If you swap white for brown, you’ll save 15 grams of carbs in every ¼ cup you use. Keep in mind that brown sugar is still a refined sugar and is not the lowest-carbohydrate sweetener.
Stevia: This herb has enormous sweetening power. The liquid form (it’s also available in powder form) is the most convenient choice for cooking—it measures easily and stores in the fridge. But go easy. One-eighth of a teaspoon of liquid stevia is equivalent to ½ cup of sugar. Start out with less than you think you will need and gradually increase the amount. Unlike sugar, stevia doesn’t aid in browning or provide textural lightening in baked goods, yet it works well in everything from pancakes to puddings. You’ll find stevia in health food stores or large supermarkets.
Splenda: The primary ingredient in Splenda is sucralose, a sugar substitute processed from real sugar that has been modified so that it isn’t absorbed by the body. Sucralose is calorie free, does not affect blood sugar levels, and maintains its sweetness across a broad range of temperatures. Splenda measures cup for cup like sugar and performs almost like sugar in recipes. When used in moderate amounts, it doesn’t have the cloying aftertaste associated with artificial sweeteners.
Splenda is especially useful in baking, but it doesn’t caramelize like sugar. One option is to use half sugar and half Splenda. You’ll get the caramelizing and browning properties of sugar, but with fewer calories and carbs.
The top shelf of your fridge should be dominated by water, unsweetened iced tea, seltzer, and low-fat or fat-free milk. Also stock these.
Fruit and veggies: Keep enough fresh produce to last you at least a few days or the entire week (depending on how often you grocery shop).
Dairy: Go for reduced-fat, low-fat, or fat-free milk, cheese, and yogurt. Look for margarines with no trans fats, or, if your cholesterol is above normal, try a cholesterol-lowering margarine such as Benecol.
Eggs: Hard-cook extras to keep on hand for a day or two for a fast and nourishing snack or sandwich filling.
Peanut butter and other nut butters: All-natural peanut butter (stir it when the oil separates), as well as cashew, almond, and soy nut butters, should be kept in the fridge so they don’t turn rancid. Packed with healthy monounsaturated fats, they’re satisfying and healthy.
Healthy meats: Go for lean cuts of beef, skinless chicken and turkey, and lean pork. If it’s not breakfast without bacon or sausage, try turkey bacon, all-natural chicken sausage, or soy hot dogs instead of pork varieties.
Condiments: Keep on hand low-fat canola mayonnaise (it has heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids), low-sodium chutneys, mustards, ketchup, and relishes. Experiment with healthy, fiber-rich spreads from the supermarket deli section. One we love: hummus, a delicious, nutrient-rich chickpea and garlic spread that’s great for sandwiches or as a dip for baby carrots.
Throw out—or at least promise never to purchase again:
• Sodas and sugary teas and fruit drinks. If you can’t live without something bubbly or sweet in your cup, it’s okay to have one diet soft drink per day.
Keep the items below on hand and you’ll always be ready for quick, healthy meals.
Bananas
Garlic
Melons (cantaloupe, honeydew, watermelon)
Onions
Oranges
Plums
Sweet potatoes
Winter squash
Apples
Bell peppers
Broccoli
Butter (preferably light)
Cabbage (green or red)
Carrots
Cauliflower
Celery
Cheese (Cheddar, mozzarella, Parmesan, Monterey Jack, cream cheese—preferably reduced-fat)
Cucumbers
Eggplant
Eggs
Fresh greens
Grapefruit
Grapes
Half-and-half
Lemons
Milk (1%)
Mushrooms
Nuts (almonds, macadamias, pecans, pine nuts, pistachios, walnuts)
Orange juice
Parsley
Raisins
Scallions
Seeds (sunflower, sesame)
Sour cream (reduced-fat)
Squash (yellow squash, zucchini)
Yogurt (low-fat, plain)
Bacon (pork or turkey)
Beef (lean ground, tenderloin, various steaks)
Broccoli
Chicken (skinless, boneless breasts and bone-in parts)
Corn
Frozen fruit (no sugar added)
Green beans
Lamb (ground, chops)
Peas
Pork (chops, tenderloin)
Salmon
Sausage (pork or turkey)
Spinach
Tortillas (corn and whole wheat)
Turkey (cutlets, tenderloin, ground breast)
Unsweetened coconut
Veggie burgers
Whole wheat bread
All-fruit spread (various flavors)
Apple juice (or cider in the fridge)
Brown rice
Brown sugar (or brown sugar substitute)
Canned broth (chicken, beef)
Canned chopped clams
Canned fish (anchovies, salmon, sardines, anchovies, trout fillets, tuna)
Canned fruit in fruit juice
Canned mild green chiles
Canned tomato products (whole, crushed, sauce, juice)
Canola oil
Cocoa powder (unsweetened)
Dried apricots
Dried mushrooms
Dry or canned beans (black, white, pinto, red kidney, chickpeas, brown lentils)
Hot-pepper sauce
Maple syrup (low-calorie)
Marinara sauce (low-sugar)
Mayonnaise (no added sugar)
Mustard
Oat flour
Oats
Olive oil
Olives
Peanut butter, natural (and other natural nut butters)
Peanuts, unsalted, dry-roasted (and other nuts)
Pearl barley
Pesto
Quinoa
Roasted peppers
Salt
Sesame oil
Soy flour
Soy sauce
Splenda
Stevia
Tea, herbal teas
Vinegar (cider, white wine, red wine, balsamic)
Whole grain crackers
Whole wheat couscous
Whole wheat flour
Whole wheat pasta
Whole wheat pastry flour
Worcestershire sauce
If you’re lucky enough to be blessed with a large freezer, go crazy! The freezer is a marvelous tool for healthy eating. You can stock it with homemade meals that keep you on track and healthy convenience products for quick, satisfying meals. Frozen foods are designed for convenience and last up to a year. Have these on hand.
Frozen veggies: Flash-frozen at the peak of ripeness, they’re often more nutritious than fresh stuff that’s been languishing in the produce bins. Go for Asian stir-fry or other mixtures to capture the widest variety of healthful nutrients. Your pick should include one or more of the following: broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts. For a fun change of pace, try edamame (young, green soybeans).
Frozen fruits: Like veggies, fruits are flash-frozen at their ripest. Your best-tasting and most nutritious bets: berries (loaded with antioxidants) and mangoes (with beta-carotene). Toss half a cup each of blueberries and raspberries into a smoothie or add to pancakes and breads.
Frozen soy foods: Veggie burgers and hot dogs cook in under 10 minutes—and some varieties of veggie burgers are even toaster-ready!
Frozen shrimp and scallops: They’re as good as fresh; in fact, most “fresh” shrimp is actually defrosted before it’s sold.
Nuts: Yes, we recommend storing nuts in your freezer. They’ll last longer because the cold prevents the good-for-you oils from turning rancid.
Whole grain flours: Store tightly wrapped in the freezer. Bring to room temperature before using.
Throw out—or use up and don’t buy again:
• High-fat, high-calorie, high-sugar frozen treats. (Keep one flavor of ice cream as a special treat, or make your own “sorbet” with frozen fruit and a splash of juice.)
• High-fat, high-sodium frozen foods.
You’ve cleared your kitchen of unhealthy foods and replaced them with an array of nutritious, flavorful, blood sugar friendly alternatives. Now, just what should you do with them? Read on!
Beans come in a kaleidoscope of shapes, sizes, and colors, and each variety is stuffed with vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients. Beans are also rich in fiber, which gives them a low-GI rating. Here’s how to use them.
• Add canned beans to salads and pasta dishes, or blend with herbs to make dips.
• Lots of time? Use dried beans for more flavor. Soups taste delicious when made with slow-cooked beans. Beans cook faster if you soak them overnight first, or try a slightly quicker soaking technique: Start the beans in a separate pot, cover with water, boil for 2 to 3 minutes, and then let sit for 1 to 4 hours. Add the beans to soup, and cook according to package directions.
Most oils, like canola or vegetable, are healthier choices than saturated or solid fats like butter and bacon drippings. But while these oils have their place in healthy cooking, you should also make room for a fine olive oil—or something even more exotic. Fine oils cost more but yield wonderful flavor dividends. Here’s how to showcase them.
• Extra-virgin olive oil is dark green and has a bold flavor that holds up best in uncooked dishes such as dressings, marinades, and sauces. You can also add it at the end of cooking to boost the flavor of pasta or vegetables, for example.
• Classic olive oil is more golden in color and mild in flavor. This is a good all-purpose choice for sautéing and cooking.
• Extra-light olive oil has a less noticeable olive flavor. Use it for sautéing, stir-frying, or baking. Among all the olive oil varieties, extra-light holds up best to high temperatures.
• Pure nut oils have a nutty flavor achieved by grinding whole or big pieces of nuts, roasting the ground nuts, and only lightly filtering the oil that’s produced. Walnut oil, made from English walnuts, is topaz in color, with a delicate flavor. Cooking destroys its toasted-walnut flavor, so use this oil for dressings and dips, or add it to hot dishes just before serving. Almond oil, which also has a mild flavor, holds up to heat better than walnut oil. It’s a good choice for dressings, light sautéing, or baking. Try it in muffins or on green beans with almonds.
The ancient Romans often served nuts with or after dessert—hence the phrase “from soup to nuts.” You can add nuts to almost any dish, savory or sweet, and they’re loaded with healthy monounsaturated fats, protein, and other important vitamins and minerals. It’s fine to snack on nuts right from the bag (stick with one palmful or less). Here are ways to take your nut presentation to the next level.
• Toast them to enhance flavor. Place nuts in a dry skillet over medium heat and stir frequently until lightly colored and fragrant. This should take only 2 to 3 minutes. If your oven is already on, place the nuts on a baking sheet and toast at 350°F for 3 to 5 minutes.
• Toss with pasta. Pasta dishes and casseroles are typically made with ingredients that have a high GI, like white pasta, potatoes, or bread crumbs. A tasty way to lower the GI is to add nuts. Pine nuts are terrific with pasta or couscous. Pecans, walnuts, and almonds work well with casseroles, vegetables, and rice dishes.
• Get beyond peanut butter. Cashew butter is exceptionally rich tasting and delicious on toast with fruit spread. Creamy macadamia nut butter makes a great sandwich spread. Almond butter is fantastic in sauces. You can use almost any nut butter to make a dip or sauce, including tahini (sesame seed butter), which is especially flavorful. You’ll find these nut butters in most health food stores and some large supermarkets.
It can be hard to give up white bread, white rice, or sugar-laden breakfast cereals. But as more Americans turn to whole grain products to cut their risk of diabetes and other diseases, a surprising thing happens:
They actually begin to prefer them. Here are some tips for using fiber- and vitamin-rich whole grains.
• Swap white pasta for whole wheat pasta and you’ll get more fiber, a lower GI, and—believe it or not—more flavor. Whole wheat pasta has a more complex, nutty taste than your typical pasta made with white flour. Most supermarkets carry both strand and shaped whole wheat pastas, such as spaghetti, linguine, and rotelle. Look for them right next to the refined white pastas. Whole wheat couscous—a tiny, higher-fiber pasta—makes excellent grain salads and pilafs as well as a wonderful side dish on its own.
• Brown rice is higher in fiber and vitamins than white rice, and it has a chewier texture and nuttier flavor. Both short- and long-grain varieties work well in casseroles and as simple side dishes. Many grocery stores also carry whole grain rice mixes that include various types of wild and brown rice, with a taste that beats plain white rice hands down. If you must choose white rice, go for parboiled; it has a lower GI than regular white rice.
• Coat foods such as fish or chicken with whole grain bread crumbs. To make ½ cup of fresh whole wheat bread crumbs, place two slices of whole wheat bread in a food processor and process until fine crumbs form. Use immediately or freeze for another time.
Unless you’ve tried buckwheat pancakes or homemade whole wheat bread, you may shy away from giving up your all-purpose white flour. As a first step, mix whole grain flour with the all-purpose stuff, and use the combo to thicken sauces and dredge meats. Here’s what you need to know about using the most popular whole grain flours.
• For delicate baked goods like cakes, use a combination of whole wheat pastry flour and oat flour to create a lighter texture. For instance, to replace 1 cup of all-purpose flour, use ½ cup of whole wheat pastry flour plus ½ cup of oat flour. You can also achieve a lighter texture with whole wheat pastry flour by sifting it a few times before using.
• Whole wheat pastry flour soaks up more liquid than all-purpose flour, so you might need to add a few extra tablespoons of milk, water, or juice to your recipe or use a few tablespoons less whole wheat flour than the recipe calls for.
• Try kamut flour. Pronounced ka-MOOT, this flour is an ancient relative of modern common wheat, with more minerals. The high gluten content makes kamut an easy substitute for white flour in your recipes. It tastes richer and nuttier and has more protein and fiber than all-purpose flour.
• Experiment with buckwheat and amaranth flours. Buckwheat flour is gluten free and works well in pancakes, breads, dumplings, and pastas such as soba noodles (buckwheat noodles). Amaranth flour tenderizes the final product somewhat and adds a pleasant nutty flavor. For recipes containing more than one type of flour, substitute 1 cup of amaranth flour for 1 cup of all-purpose flour.
• Lighten up baked goods. While most baked goods made with whole grain flours will be a little heavier than those made with white flour, you’ll get a fairly light product if you sift the flour two or three times to incorporate some air.
You can go way beyond squirting lemon juice on broccoli. Splurge on the most exotic flavorings you can find—saffron, real vanilla beans, fresh herbes de Provence. Here are a few ideas to get you started.
• The volatile oils in herbs are teeming with aroma. When using dried herbs, add them early in cooking so they have time to release flavor. Crush them before using for even more intense flavor. More delicate fresh herbs such as basil and parsley are best added toward the end of cooking.
• Citrus juices lend fresh flavor to everything from chicken and fish to pasta and vegetables. Or look to lemon, lime, or orange peel to bring out more flavor in baked goods like cookies and muffins. Vinegars brighten the taste of foods, too. Splash flavored vinegars such as raspberry vinegar onto salads, vegetable side dishes, and beans.
• Dried foods are concentrated sources of wow-that-tastes-good flavor. A handful of chopped sun-dried tomatoes can really deepen the taste of pizza, pasta, and salads. Or add rehydrated dried mushrooms to rice dishes, soups, or casseroles. Dried porcini mushrooms are especially good. If you’re making muffins, breads, or a dessert sauce, try dried fruit. When heated with almost any type of liquid, the rich, sweet flavor of dried apricots, dates, figs, and raisins blossoms beautifully.
• Kick it up! Nothing perks up a dish like hot sauce. Salsa, hot-pepper sauce, or even crushed red-pepper flakes may be just the thing to boost the flavor of a dish. There are dozens and dozens of hot sauces with amusingly quirky names, from Rigor Mortis Hot Sauce to something called Dave’s Insanity Sauce.