One of the upsides of sheltering in place is that we are all cooking more. Home-cooked food is associated with better diet quality, but you probably don’t need a research study to convince you of that! It is also great for the budget. This 2017 study found frequent home cooking was linked with reduced per capita food expenditures overall ($330/month among low vs $273/month among high cooking group, p<0.001) (Am J Prev Med 2017, PMID 28256283). I love cooking, and I’m enjoying having some time to get back into it. I find it to be one of my favorite mindfulness practices…observing the aromas and tastes of the individual ingredients, turning the spice rack and pondering what combination will enhance the main ingredients. I also love to get creative with ways to modify recipes to make them a little healthier. A easy place to start is with reducing the sweeteners; you can almost always get away with 1/3 to 1/2 less sweetener in a baking recipe without compromising the texture or the flavor. I also love to find ways to incorporate additional veggies into unexpected places. For example, this beet chocolate muffin recipe! Here’s one that I tried this morning - I think you’ll love it too! https://www.occasionallyeggs.com/chocolate-beet-muffins/
(Note, this is already pretty minimal on the sweetener, and it uses coconut sugar which has the lowest glycemic load of any sugar, so I made it as is! Regular flour, or a gluten-free blend substitute just fine too.)
Send a picture of your latest creation to manager@drericaoberg.com and we will post it on social media! Or go ahead and post on my facebook page @DrEricaOberg or Instagram @dr.ericasoffice. Bon Appetite!