North African Salad Recipe Below

(ARA) – In the diet craze that has captured our attention over the last four decades, the one plan that stands out from the rest is the Mediterranean Diet. Since the Mediterranean embraces more than 20 countries, each with its own cuisine, the diet is really a fusion of the many foods consumed by the nations bordering the sea.

Olive oil is the anchor of the Mediterranean diet. No other natural oil has as much monounsaturated fat. When drizzled on salads and vegetables or grilled fish, it adds a pleasing aroma and texture. But olive oil by itself is somewhat bland and is always accompanied by liberal amounts of salt.

Salt is central to the Mediterranean diet – olives can only be consumed if they’re soaked in brine for weeks. Feta cheese is cured and stored in salt brine. Capers, anchovies, codfish and roe are all Mediterranean staples routinely packed in salt. The breads, pastries and sauces of the Mediterranean are all high in salt. Virgin olive oil, so cherished for making salads, is slightly bitter because of all the unique antioxidants it contains, so salt is especially important for improving its taste. Greek taramosalata is made from salted codfish roe, while tzatziki is made from salted, fresh cucumbers that are drained and added to yogurt; North African baba ghanoush is made of roasted eggplant, blended with tahini, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil and lots of salt. Yet, the people of the Mediterranean, who enjoy all these foods, have the world’s best cardiovascular health.

The diet is so healthy that the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) used it as a model in its famous DASH Study (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension), which confirmed that the Mediterranean/DASH diet was healthier than the typical American diet and effectively reduced blood pressure.

NHLBI then repeated the study to check the effect of salt. The new DASH-Sodium trial again demonstrated that the DASH diet could reduce blood pressure. Compared to an American diet, DASH showed a greater reduction in systolic blood pressure.

While some policy makers encourage the public to reduce their salt intake, their advice could have harmful unintended consequences such as discouraging Americans from trying this healthful, tasty diet. Cutting one-third of the salt dramatically reduces the palatability of the Mediterranean diet and makes it much less desirable for most people, while cutting two-thirds of the salt makes the diet completely unacceptable. The net consequence of such a strategy will be far fewer people consuming the diet and enjoying its critical health benefits – reducing heart disease, obesity, diabetes and hyperlipidemia, and improving cognitive function.

The Mediterranean diet has proved its worth for centuries. For more information on salt and health go to www.salthealth.org.

To help you get started with a healthy Mediterranean meal, try the following recipe:

North African Salad

Ingredients
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus 1/4 cup
2 to 3 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
1 pound box Israeli couscous (or any tiny pasta such as ziti)
3 cups chicken stock
2 lemons, juiced
1 lemon, zested
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup chopped fresh mint leaves
1/3 cup finely chopped Italian parsley
1/3 cup dried chopped dates
1/4 cup slivered almonds or pistachios, toasted

Directions
In a medium saucepan, warm 3 tablespoons of the olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and saute for one minute. Add the couscous and toast until lightly browned, stirring often, about five minutes. Carefully add the stock, and the juice of one lemon and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, until the couscous is tender, but still firm or al dente, stirring occasionally, about seven to nine minutes. Drain the couscous.

In a large bowl, toss the cooked couscous with the remaining olive oil, remaining lemon juice, zest, salt and pepper and let cool. Once the couscous is room temperature, add the fresh herbs, dried dates and almonds/pistachios. Toss well and serve.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

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The Do’s And Don’ts

There are foods for a low carb diet that you should include as well as some foods to avoid on low carb diet. Meats are very important and all meats are allowed on a low carb diet except for liver, which should always be avoided. You should also not eat meats that have filler or breading because this will make them loaded with carbohydrates and very unhealthy. Seafood can also be included on a low carb diet, but you should try to stick to fish and shellfish because other seafood often contains a lot of carbohydrates.

As for foods for a low carb diet to avoid, high glycemic fruits are one. This includes watermelon, bananas, citrus fruits and pineapple, to name a few. Although these fruits do still offer some nutrition, they are very high in sugar and so you should not eat them frequently.

Starchy vegetables such as potatoes and carrots should also be eaten infrequently, and if you really want to be serious about your diet you can make a food diary to keep track of what you are eating and how often.

Now that you have learned about the foods for a low carb diet and foods that should be avoided, you can really get going and start to plan. Once you have made a list of foods for a low carb diet that you can eat, head out to the supermarket and buy them. The best idea is to buy food every week, so that you have enough to last you in between shopping trips and make sure that you will not be relying on unhealthy foods to get you by.

If you stick to the diet, you will start to notice results in as little as a few weeks, but keep in mind that real results will probably not be noticeable until about six weeks after you start the diet.

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Substitutions And Alternatives

When looking at planning a low carb vegetarian meal you have to decide if you want to do a low carb vegan meal or not.  Personally, I think a simple vegetarian meal is the healthier option.  If you have never gone on a vegetarian diet before than going all the way to a vegan diet can be ultimately unhealthy.

A large component of vegetarian food is pasta and bread.  Those two things are out of the low carbohydrate vegetarian diet so you will need to find foods to make up for the calories as well as add in proteins and solid nutrition.  One of the best foods to eat on a vegetarian diet is tofu.  Tofu is high in protein so you will hopefully lose more fat than calories.  The amount of protein calories in tofu is ten times the carbohydrate calories, a very solid ratio.

You can cook tofu a number of ways in an infinite number of styles.  Asian cooking and stir-frying it is probably your best option however.  You can mix tofu with just about any vegetables in a stir-fry recipe that is extremely nutritious and delicious.

Aside from tofu there are many other vegetarian foods that you can try.  Eggs are a great source of protein and have almost no carbohydrates.  The can be high in cholesterol, but for the most part eggs in moderation are very good for you.  Nuts are also a fantastic source of protein, although they can be a bit higher in fat than your other protein options and should be used sparingly on your low carbohydrate vegetarian diet.

As you can see, compared to both nuts and eggs, tofu is a better option.  It has all the positives with very few of the negatives.  If you have never cooked with it before, a low carbohydrate vegetarian diet is a great way to start familiarizing yourself with tofu.  There are hundreds of cookbooks with recipes that you can try to bring healthy and responsible eating into your everyday life.

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The Basics Of Low Carb Eating

If you are wondering what foods to eat on low carb diets, here are the basics. All meats are allowed except for liver, and you should never include filler or breading when cooking. Always read the label for carbohydrate info especially when you are buying canned meat, and the same applies to seafood.

Eggs are okay as a food to eat on a low carb diet, any way that you choose to cook them. Of course, just as with any other diet, the way that you prepare them will help to reduce even more carbohydrates and fat, so poaching and boiling eggs is the healthiest way.

Another of the best foods for a low carb diet is low starch green vegetables, as these will not only offer very few, if any, carbohydrates, but lots of protein as well which is crucial to nutrition. You should restrict all starchy vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, peas and corn, for instance, as these are healthy but also full of carbohydrates.

Generally fruits are all great foods to eat on a low carb diet, however you should avoid high glycemic fruits such as watermelon, bananas, citrus fruits and pineapple. One of the biggest misconceptions people have is that all fruit is okay to eat, and although it does all offer nutritional value of some sort, bananas and similar fruits are very high in sugar and should be consumed rarely.

If you need help learning about food to eat on a low carb diet, a good idea would be to talk to your doctor or even better a nutritionist who is specially trained to deal with these issues. You can also do some research on your own, and the Internet in particular will be one of the best available resources you have at your disposal. Even just an hour or two spent browsing the Internet will help give you a ton of great ideas and really help you get off your feet and get started on the diet.

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Planning Your Protein Intake For Each Meal

The first step is to know your ingredients.  There are many vegetarian ingredients that will offer you as much protein as the animal counterparts.  They sometimes may not be so obvious and other times may not be low in carbohydrates.  Let us take a look at a couple of core ingredients that should form the basis of your low carb diet for vegetarians.

The first ingredient is tofu.  Tofu is a staple of all vegetarian diets, and doubly so for low carb diets.  This ingredient is very high in protein, low in fat and has very few carbohydrates.  Tofu is an absolutely perfect ingredient to build your diet around.

The only negative on tofu is that by itself it can be bland.  If you are expecting the flavor of your normal diet in a low carb diet for vegetarians you probably will be disappointed.  That is not to say that you cannot make meals that are low in carbohydrates and vegetarian flavorful, it is just that you are a bit more limited in your choices.  For making tofu have a little flavor, I highly recommend using peppers and other spicy flavors.  The tofu will absorb these very nicely and it will give your meals a little extra kick.

The other ingredient you can use to bring some protein into your diet is eggs.  Eggs have some advantages over tofu, but are still a bit lacking in the flavor department.  Cheese is a great flavor additive for eggs and if you use hard or aged cheeses as opposed to processed ones you can still keep your low carb diet for vegetarians very healthy.  Parmesan is a great choice to spruce up your eggs.

Another very good high protein food that you can use in your low carb diet for vegetarians is nuts.  Peanuts, cashews, walnuts and even coconuts are all great choices to add flavor and protein to any meal.  All of these combine very well with tofu so you can use them to bring flavor into an otherwise bland meal.  Also they have a decent amount of healthy fat in them.  This is something else that can be lacking in a low carb diet for vegetarians.

Hopefully this has helped to bring a little bit more insight into what you can do to add some flavor into your low carb diet for vegetarians.

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Make A Plan

The most important thing to do if you want to start on a low carb diet is make a plan. Without a plan you will end up being at loss in regards to what meals and snacks you can have and what foods you should avoid, and the diet will most likely not last a long time.

Often people do not think that bread is a low carbohydrate diet food, but it can be. There are special low carb breads out there that you can purchase, just make sure that you read the labels carefully to see what the ingredients are because you can often be fooled if you only read the packaging.

You can even make your own bread using low carb ingredients, which is very advantageous because then you can be exactly sure as to what is going into the bread and therefore what you will be consuming.

Fruits and vegetables are important low carbohydrate diet foods, and make for great snacks for you to nosh on throughout the day. The best idea is to cut up some fruits and vegetables and keep them separated in sandwich bags for instance, so that when you do start to have a craving you can just grab one of these bags and munch out. This will keep you from turning to other fast snacks such as cookies and cake that are not so healthy for you and which are full of carbohydrates and calories.

Pasta is another form of important low carbohydrate diet food, and again there are many wonderful alternatives available which are lower in carbohydrates than the typical pastas. The same rule of reading the ingredients applies here. Because although the packaging may state that the pasta is low in carbohydrates once you read the ingredients you may realize that this is not so true.

Make eating low carbohydrate diet food as fun as you can, in any way you can think of and even ask your friends and family for some great ideas to help you out. Eating healthily can be better than eating unhealthily, as long as you incorporate the right foods and prepare your meals properly.

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The first step to starting a low carb diet plan is learning what foods to avoid on low carb diet. This is important because really, as soon as you learn about what foods to avoid on low carb diet, you will know what you can enjoy and this is when you can really start mixing it up and having some fun.

Some Fruit Surprises

Of all the foods to avoid on low carb diet, you may be surprised to know that there are certain fruits you should avoid. Most people think that all fruits are healthy and that they can eat as many of them as they want but this is actually not true. Bananas, watermelons and similar fruits have a very high glycemic index meaning that they are high in sugar, and so although you do not have to completely restrict them, you should avoid eating them too often.

When it comes to foods to avoid on low carb diet in regards to meat specifically, liver is really the only meat that is included here. All other meats are generally okay, unless they have filler or breading.

Keep Track of Your Progress

Not only should you keep a food diary listing what you eat and when, but you should also keep track of your weight loss progress. Write down your weight and even your measurements at the start of the diet, and then keep track each week or as frequently as you prefer, so that you can see the improvement you are making. This will help boost your self-esteem and keep you on the diet.

It can be hard to deal with learning what foods to avoid on low carb diet especially since some of them are probably your favorite foods to eat, but it will be well worth it in the end and you will notice results almost immediately if you work hard and stick to this diet honestly.

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High Protein

When you follow a low carb diet plan, you want to increase your protein intake. A high protein low carb diet plan is how many people successfully lose weight. The idea is this: your body uses carbohydrates for energy but your muscles are made up of protein. By increasing your protein intake with a high protein low carb diet plan, you are increasing your muscle mass, which will burn more calories while you’re resting and thus result in fat loss.

Variety

You don’t have to eat the same thing every day if you don’t want to. Some people choose to do that so that they don’t get tempted by other foods. However, if you want variety, which most people do, find many free low carb diet plans that will give you many great food choice ideas so that you can have a complete menu of options for your entire week or month.

Shopping

When you go shopping, it’s best to stay on the external parts of the grocery store. The interior aisles of a grocery store are where you find most of your processed, unhealthy foods. When you find your free low carb diet plans, you’ll see most of the food choices are found on the external aisles of the grocery store. You’ll find meat, dairy products and a few bread options.

Get Some Exercise

Just don’t forget to exercise when you follow your free low carb diet plan so that you can lose weight in the fastest, and healthiest, way possible. Only by exercising will your body burn up that unwanted fat more quickly. You can do pretty much anything for exercise as long as you get your heart rate up and you do it consistently.

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There are some terrific ideas when it comes to choosing foods for low carb diet plans. Meats, poultry, eggs, fish and shellfish for instance all contain practically no carbohydrates. While processed meats are often cured with sugar (carbohydrates), which means that you should stay away from the processed meats such as salami and ham should be avoided.

Snacks

Not only is it important to find foods for low carb diets for actual meals, but also for snacks. You are going to need to keep yourself satisfied throughout the day and so therefore you are going to need to have ideas for snacks as well. There are easy ways to satisfy the munchies, and it is important to have access to nutritious low carb snack foods so that if you get a craving during the day you will have something to nosh on.

Celery with peanut butter, hard-boiled eggs, dill pickles, deviled eggs, sunflower seeds, nuts – all of these are great ideas for snacks to eat throughout the day if you get hungry. So make sure to have your cabinets stocked with these sorts of foods for a low carb diet.

Also remember that you can go around to your family and friends for information and help with selecting the right foods for a low carb diet. And read books and do research on the Internet to make sure that you are on the right path and that you are going to be making the right choices. Putting yourself on a low carb diet to begin with is a great idea, a fantastic way of burning fat and gaining muscle. If you want to look and feel your very best, try a low carb diet even for just a few weeks to see the differences that you feel and see. It will also be helpful to talk to your doctor here or a nutritionist, who will be able to properly assess your condition and make sure that you are getting all the nutrition your body needs.

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Foods To Incorporate Into Your Low Carb Vegan Diet

The one thing to be careful of when planning your low carb vegan diet is to be careful of vegetarian low carb recipes.  Many of these recipes will contain animal products in them and as you know that is not what the low carb vegan diet is all about.   So I would suggest finding a few simple foods and then developing your own recipes off of that.  Below I am going to outline some suggestions.

The best and most adaptive vegan food you can use is tofu.  You can do just about anything you want with this wonder product.  Whether it is mimicking eggs or making a recipe that highlights its actual flavor, tofu reigns supreme in the low carb vegan diet world.  The problem is matching things with the tofu to keep the diet low in carbohydrates.

If you are looking for explosive flavor and versatility, peppers are a great choice.  Unfortunately when used in vegan cooking their flavor tends to dominate a dish.  While this is nice once in a while, peppers and tofu every night can get a bit old.  So you probably will want to find some alternative low carb vegetables to use in place of peppers for the off days.

Peanuts are a great source of protein and when cooked properly can make a wonderful sauce.  A tofu dish with peanuts, hot spices and coconut milk can provide a very unique and delicious meal.  On a low carb vegan diet you cannot really have any rice, but you may want to look at bean sprouts as a replacement.

Carrots are another vegetable that are strong and flavor and offer you something unique to liven up your foods.  They are rich in nutrients and can add a completely unique flavor to any dish.

As you can see you have many options for your low carb vegan diet, do not be afraid to experiment and mix and match foods.  Start with the ones outlined above and see what you can create.

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