#Spiral up with these healthy boosts to comfort food classics, excerpted from Rebecca Scritchfield, RDN’s Body Kindness.
Pasta
Try pasta noodles made from pulses (a collective term for beans and legumes—like lentils and chickpeas), use whole-wheat pasta, or substitute anywhere from half to all of your pasta noodles with noodles you make from zucchini or squash using an inexpensive kitchen tool called a spiralizer. Boost your helping of veggies in the sauce. Starting with canned, crushed tomatoes, add mushrooms (pulsed in a food processor to the size of ground beef), plus any other vegetable (cooked or raw) you have on hand. Don’t like chunky? You can toss your sauce in a blender for a smooth consistency. Make a pesto sauce with broccoli, spinach, kale, cauliflower, or a combination.
Burgers
Blend half the ground beef with sautéed mushrooms from the food processor. Nobody will ask “where’s the beef?” and the mushrooms add flavor. It’s practically a salad! *
Mac-n-cheese
The cheese is the star here. Rather than try to cut it back, add a vegetable puree that blends right in. Pureed cauliflower and butternut squash are my favorites. Serve up with a side of broccoli. (KidTested Meal Plan: mac-n-cheese with “little trees”!) It works with the boxed stuff, too.
About the Book:
Imagine a graph with two lines. One indicates happiness, the other tracks how you feel about your body. If you’re like millions of people, the lines do not intersect. But what if they did?
This practical, inspirational, and visually lively book shows you how to create a healthier and happier life by treating yourself with compassion rather than shame. It shows the way to a sense of well-being attained by understanding how to love, connect, and care for yourself—and that includes your mind as well as your body.
Body Kindness is based on four principles.
WHAT YOU DO: the choices you make about food, exercise, sleep, and more
HOW YOU FEEL: befriending your emotions and standing up to the unhelpful voice in your head
WHO YOU ARE: goal-setting based on your personal values
WHERE YOU BELONG: body-loving support from people and communities that help you create a meaningful life
With mind and body exercises to keep your energy spiraling up and prompts to help you identify what YOU really want and care about, Body Kindness helps you let go of things you can’t control and embrace the things you can by finding the workable, daily steps that fit you best. Think of it as the anti-diet book that leads to a more joyful and meaningful life!
Buy the Book
Amazon | B&N | Indiebound | Workman
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