Nutritional health is achieved through the therapeutic use of whole foods, safe culinary preparation, and understanding the metabolic impacts of specific dietary frameworks and ingredients.
Technically, a picnic ham isn't ham; it's pork. Ham is defined as a cut of meat taken from the top of the hind legs of a pig. A picnic ham, on the other hand, is a cut of pork taken from the pig's front legs, and it includes part of the shoulder.
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Roasting or baking is one of the few safe ways to cook a chicken directly from its frozen state. Roasting it thaws and starts cooking it fast enough to prevent potentially dangerous rapid bacterial growth; never slow-cook a whole frozen bird.
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Goose breast, unlike chicken and turkey breast, is dark meat. In fact, it's quite dark, with a considerably stronger flavor than dark leg meat from more familiar poultry.
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Ground beef with onion is a flavorful combination called for in a number of recipes. Sometimes -- as with sloppy Joes or beef casseroles -- you can just toss diced onion into the pan with the meat while you cook it. This doesn't work for solid preparations, though, such as meatloaves, meatballs and hamburgers.
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Freezing shredded carrots works best with young, fresh carrots. By properly preparing them, shredded carrots keep up to a year in the freezer without considerable changes in taste. The key to freezing shredded carrots, as with most fresh vegetables, is blanching them first.
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Skinless chicken breast is a healthy source of protein with less saturated fat, cholesterol and calories than red meat. You sacrifice some built-in flavor for going healthier, but don't despair. Chicken has such mild flavor, you can do pretty much anything to it to please your palate.
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Tuna is one of the fatty fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids that the American Heart Association suggests eating twice or more weekly. However, because tuna runs relatively high in mercury, have it only as an occasional part of your seafood rotation, along with salmon, mackerel, cod, trout and other fatty fish.
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Sausage isn't exactly a health food; it's filled with fat, preservatives and fillers, and it's a relatively high-calorie item. Opting for turkey sausage over a more traditional variety made with pork or other red meats is healthier since turkey is leaner and lower in calories.
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Baked salmon is a healthy entree that's simple to cook and versatile enough that you can find plenty of recipes to prepare without ever tiring of this fish. When cooking salmon, the size factor most directly affecting cooking times is its thickness; the thicker the cut, the longer it takes to cook through.
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Though technically a dark meat, chicken thighs are an agreeable middle ground for lovers of dark or white meat. They're more tender, flavorful and juicy than white meat, without a pronounced dark-meat taste.
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Beta-carotene, a type of fat-soluble carotenoid phytonutrient, is also known as "provitamin A" because the body converts it into vitamin A. Beta-carotene is the source of orange and yellow coloration in fruits and vegetables, and is also found in green and red fruits and vegetables and in some grains and oils.
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A flounder fillet is a healthy, high-protein, low-calorie, fast-cooking, light, delicately flavored piece of fish to which you can do just about anything your palate desires. These particularly thin fillets are tricky to cook on the grill or on the stove, but they're entirely manageable in the oven.
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Early white bush scallop squash is a variety of summer squash more familiarly known as pattypan squash. Taking their nickname from their scalloped edges, pattypan squash are white, yellow or light or dark green.
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Shrimp is a low-fat, low-calorie food that can easily be sauteed in minutes on the stove top. Shrimp is rich in high-quality protein, and it's a good source of potassium, phosphorous, magnesium and vitamin A. It's worth noting, though, that shrimp is high in cholesterol and sodium.
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A ham steak is a cut of ham purchased uncooked or smoked. They're generally between 1/4 and 1/2 inch thick. Ham steaks make a convenient meal, especially for one or two people, being smaller, quicker and less complicated to prepare than an entire ham roast or other pork dish.
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Tilapia is a low-cost lean protein, making it a satisfying, health-conscious entree choice. However, while fish is touted for health benefits from omega-3 fatty acids, tilapia is relatively low in them. It also contains more omega-6 fatty acids than omega-3s, which may be detrimental.
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Italian sausage is a versatile meat that can be used in a variety of dishes for any meal of the day. Store fresh Italian sausage in the refrigerator before and after cooking, and eat it within four days after cooking. You can freeze Italian sausage if you're not using it by its expiration date.
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Juicing allows you to eat more of certain foods you would otherwise have difficulty eating in significant quantity. For example, it's more appealing to drink several bunches of parsley in a glass than to eat them whole. You do lose fiber when you use a juicer, which extracts the pulp.
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Rib-eye is a high-quality cut with nice fat marbling in tender, flavorful meat. Its saturated fat, cholesterol and calorie content make it a delicious dish best enjoyed in moderation, but you can make it a bit healthier by baking it rather than cooking it in oil on the stove top.
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With the highest possible Aggregate Nutrient Density Index, or ANDI, score of 1000, kale is considered a superfood. The ANDI score reflects a food's nutritional density in comparison to its calories per serving.
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