Sauces for Spring

Spring is here and it’s time for fresh ideas. Have you ever considered redressing your veggies? Good sauces enhance a vegetables natural flavor while keeping the veggie the ‘star’ side dish. Buttery cheese sauces are tasty but hardly the only option. Why not try these uncooked sauces for a tasty veggie topping or dip:

• Orange sauce: 3 TB fresh orange juice, 1 TB olive oil, 1/2 tsp grated orange zest, freshly ground salt and pepper to taste. Serve atop cooked carrots, asparagus, beets, sweet potato wedges and other veggies.

• Yogurt mint sauce/dip: great for drizzling on cooked potatoes and carrots, or serving as a dip for raw veggies. Combine 1 c low-fat Greek yogurt with the juice of 1/2 lemon and 1/2 minced garlic clove. Stir in 4 sprigs of finely chopped mint.

• Pesto sauce: In a blender, combine 3 cloves garlic with 2 cups firmly packed fresh basil leaves (may use 1/2 basil, 1/2 spinach, if desired) and 1 TB walnuts or pine nuts. With motor running, slowly add 1/4 cup low-fat, reduced-sodium chicken or vegetable broth and 1 TB each olive oil and lemon juice. Finish with 1 TB fresh parmesan cheese and cracked black pepper to taste. Blend again until smooth. Serve over any veggie.

3 Tips for Creating Healthy Habits

Creating healthy habits is a great way to make small, incremental lifestyle improvements for better performance and to reduce your risk of developing chronic disease. If it truly is all about the journey, make it worth your while by keeping these tips in mind:

Set goals: What do you want to do? Accomplish? Goals should be clear, reasonable, specific, and, if possible, measured or quantified in some way. Instead of “I will eat healthier this year,” try “I will eat 3 servings of vegetables every day. Write your goal down and keep it visible. Read it and re-read it regularly. Use power statements, “I will” instead of “I’ll try.” How will you achieve this goal? What are the steps? If your goal is weight loss, what tools, resources, activities and habits that help you get there?

Stay positive and reward yourself along the way: Celebrate successes and don’t underestimate the importance of recognizing your progress. If your goal is to complete a 5K run, reward yourself every time you complete a practice race, shed time on your miles, etc. Instead of saying “I can’t” say “I can” and “I will.” Complaining won’t get the job done and if it is too easy, was it really a worthy goal in the first place?

Mark your calendar: In addition to writing down your health goals, use an online, old-fashioned, calendar, day timer, journal, etc. Use it to schedule your workouts, shopping trips, to make notes. Noting the number of veggie servings you eat daily will enable you to track weekly average servings. Stay on top of your progress. Make time for your goals and specify the steps you’ll need to complete to reach them.