Fitness Tip: Learn to Cook

If you've been following my blog you can probably tell that my life revolve around traveling, exploring new places, finding good places to eat and then running it off.  One cannot have all the good stuff without some spending some time to exercise and take care of one's body.   One important factor to maintaining one's health is to also understand what we eat.  What goes into our bodies?  What ingredients are used to cook what? 

How is a croissant different from a whole wheat bread? They are both bread aren't they? What's in a quiche and fruit tart?

While baking quiche and making fruit tart over the weekend a thought hit me.  This was a wonderful way to learn and realize what really goes into our food!  Here you get to know all the ingredients!

Croissant, a favorite of mine requires lots and lots of butter for it to get all those layers and soft texture.  Oh how divine it is to just sink your teeth into the buttery croissant.  Whole wheat bread, however, requires much less butter and is therefore significantly a healthier choice.

Now I love to cook and nothing pleases me more than baking and sharing them with friends.  I used to cook quite often but since I decided to lose weight (and move house) it's been off the agenda for awhile.  So this past weekend I got to do what I enjoy and bake my favorite dish: Quiche Lorraine.

I love it and always had since I was young.  Whenever I see at a bakery or at starbucks it is one of my favorite choices for a snack.  Not a good idea I now realize.  I was reminded of its ingredients while making it.  The base ismade of flour and butter. Lots of butter.  The filling is bacon, cream, cheese and lots of egg yolks.  Whoa!

Then I made fruit tart. Hey fruit tart has fruit and is supposed to be healthy right?  Hmm..the creamy custard was full of egg yolk and lots of sugar.  Not talking about the flour base which is rich in egg yolk, butter, and flour.  Mind you, I love them both but the sudden realization that they were calorie loaded and rich in eggs (high in cholesterol) gave me a wake up call.  A big one too.

I'm not saying that I won't have croissant, quiche, or fruit tart anymore.  That's unrealistic. One cannot go through life without occasional splurges of delicious food.  (I can't anyways), but one can control one's portion size.    I still eat everything (but in much smaller portion sizes) and I find that works just as well.  You don't crave, and you also don't blow up your waistline.  :)

So if you want to be reminded of what's in that delicious soft baked chocolate chip cookie or other foods, I say learn to cook :)  You'll know exactly what your food is made off!  Even better yet, you'd learn to make leaner and healthier alternatives.  Use less butter, use milk instead of cream, take off the fat from the bacon, etc.... :)

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