Eat What You Love

I wear many hats, both professionally and personally. My professional hats are that of culinary instructor, registered dietitian, and successful cookbook author (with sincere gratitude to my many readers). But the truth is, the most important hats I wear are my personal hats: those of a mother, a wife, a daughter, a stepmother, a sister, and a friend. These roles are first and foremost in my life and they are what continue to inspire my work.

But before we get to the tantalizing recipes, in order to understand the healthy nutrition principles I have based them on, some nutrition basics are in order.

I'm starting off talking about calories for the same reason they're listed at the top of the food label and that's because calories are king when it comes to nutrition. A calorie is a measure of the energy we derive from the food we eat. Calories give us the energy we need to do everything in our daily life. If we didn't eat anything, we simply wouldn't have the fuel to survive. But just as the number of calories we eat has the ability to keep us in good health, eating too many calories makes us gain weight, which can lead to poor health. Unfortunately for our waistlines and our well being, eating more calories than we need is quite easy especially when you consider that the foods we eat today are richer, sweeter, and served in larger portions than ever before. When analyzing the nutritional content of the original restaurant dishes and traditional recipes that many of my healthier versions are based on, it became abundantly clear to me just how many calories we unknowingly consume. My assistants and I were stunned as time and time again we were confronted with the enormous number of calories (and sugar and fat and sodium for that matter) packed into many of our favorite foods. We found this information so compelling that you will find these comparisons shared in the Dare to Compare sidebars throughout the book. I am sure that you will be as astounded by the comparisons as we were, and yet delighted that you can have tasty and healthier versions of the same foods for just a fraction of the calories. (To put the Dare to Compare information into perspective, keep in mind that the USDA broadly estimates that the average American requires approximately 2,000 calories a day to maintain their weight. To calculate your daily calorie needs, go to www.marlenekoch.com and click on my Personal Calorie Calculator.)

When I began my career as a registered dietitian I worked in a hospital and counseled patients about their diets. At that time the message regarding fat was quite simple: fat was bad, but carbs were good. I vividly remember our education materials as they declared that butter and chocolate should be all but banned, but bagels and nonfat sugary foods (like nonfat frozen yogurt) were good for us. (It's no small wonder that bagel stores and yogurt shops proliferated!) Since that time, as new research has shed a better light on the good and bad health effects of fat, the message has not only evolved but has also become more complicated.

Every chef knows that salt makes everything taste better. Salt not only suppresses bitter tastes, it brings out the sweet, and the sour, flavors in foods while adding its own distinct flavor. Unlike sugar, the taste for salt (also known as sodium chloride) is not innate, but acquired. Studies show that as we eat more salt, we taste it less—but we crave it more. It's estimated the average American consumes more than 4,000 milligrams of sodium a day or the equivalent of 15 pounds of salt a year! The trouble with salt is that, on average, as our sodium intake rises so does our blood pressure, and high blood pressure leads to serious health concerns. The current recommendation is that we should consume no more than 2,300 milligrams of sodium a day, which is less than one teaspoon of table salt. As I developed my recipes I made an effort to cut back on the salt by using reduced-sodium products whenever possible. These recipes contain ingredients such as reduced-sodium broth and light soy sauce, or instructions to drain and rinse canned beans. The result is that these balanced, flavor-packed recipes (even those that are a bit higher in sodium) contain far less sodium than those found in canned or frozen food, in the deli case, or at your local restaurant.

If you're like most people, when you think of foods that contain carbohydrates, the first thing that probably pops into your mind are foods full of starch, such as bread and pasta. But the reality is that there are several different types of carbohydrates (or carbs), and each has its own unique set of characteristics, both nutritionally, and when it comes to taste. The three main groups of carbohydrates are: complex carbohydrates (or starches), fiber, and simple carbohydrates (or sugar). (Note: On the food label the main heading "carbohydrates" is the total amount of carbs. The fiber and sugar content are then shown, like in my analysis, because of their healthy, or not so healthy, properties).

This is the group of carbohydrates most people think of when they think of carbs, and it includes breads and grains, beans, lentils, and starchy vegetables, such as corn, peas, and potatoes. Complex carbohydrates, or starches, are composed of long chains of glucose hooked together that break apart upon digestion to provide us with energy. While complex carbohydrates are often called "good-for-youcarbs" because they are packed with vitamins and minerals (and they tend to raise blood sugar more slowly than more refined carbs), they are also a dense source of carbohydrates. And it's their density that can make the calories, and carbs, in starchy foods add up quickly. Specifically, a single serving of a starch in most meal plans consists of an average of 15 grams of carbohydrate (See Carbohydrate Counting). In food terms a serving equals half a cup of mashed potatoes, a third a cup of pasta or yams, or a quarter of a large bagel. When those portion sizes are compared to what most people eat, it's easy to see why eating starchy carbs in moderation can be challenging. In this book you will find that I used my kitchen magic to give you more bang-for-your-carbohydrate buck. First I used whole grains and fiber-rich carbohydrates wherever possible, and second, I used creative tricks to slash the starchy carbs, so everyone, even those on carb-controlled diets, can enjoy all the foods they love.

When it comes to a good-for-you carbohydrate, it doesn't get any better than fiber. Fiber is composed of non-digestible carbohydrates, which add bulk to your diet without adding calories or raising your blood sugar. When added to an overall healthy diet, fiber has also been proven to promote weight loss and weight maintenance, as well as reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease. The recommendation when it comes to fiber is that we consume 20 to 35 grams a day by eating a variety of foods to ensure we reap the benefits of both types of fiber.

This book includes a great number of wholesome recipes that make it easy, and delicious, to add fiber to your diet. For example, you'll find plenty of ingredients like whole grains, including white whole wheat flour and high-fiber tortillas, used along with fiber-rich oats and beans, instant brown rice, and a variety of great-tasting fruits and vegetables. Additionally, the bread chart on page 203 and the fruit chart on page 362 are designed to help you grocery shop with healthy fiber in mind.

Sugar, the simplest form of carbohydrates, may taste sweet, but it certainly gets a lot of not-sosweet press. The truth is that we are born loving the taste of sugar, so you can blame your sweet tooth on Mother Nature. From the moment we first taste our mother's milk, our taste buds motivate us to seek out foods that are sweet, and with good reason: we need sugar to fuel our bodies (and our brains). Unfortunately, while the sugars found in whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and milk, may be what Mother Nature intended for us to eat, it is often the intense sweetness of "added sugars," such as granulated sugar, brown sugar, honey, and syrups, that we crave. The good news is that we all (including those with diabetes) can enjoy the sweet taste of added sugars in our diets—as long as we do so in moderation.

The word protein comes from the ancient Greek word meaning "of greatest importance ." Protein is a component of every part of your body, and of every function. In fact, when it comes to staying healthy, protein is vital. Protein serves as a major building block helping the body to maintain everything from strengthening bones and muscles to supporting skin and hair. Protein also helps to keep the immune system functioning and is a necessary element in creating vital enzymes and hormones, like insulin. But lately protein has gotten the most attention because of its ability to help control weight and blood sugar.

Diabetes is a condition in which blood glucose (or blood sugar) is not regulated properly. When you have diabetes your body either does not produce enough insulin and/or the insulin you make is not effective. Insulin, a hormone produced in the pancreas, is necessary for moving glucose (which is made from the food you eat) from your blood into your cells where it is used for energy. When glucose cannot be moved into your cells it builds up in your blood. The diagnosis of diabetes is made when blood glucose (or sugar) rises above normal levels.