How To Make Filipino Foods Healthier

In a Filipino home, the kitchen is the heart. Efficient is seldom a mass that doesn’t desire eating – and we all know you really can’t estimate no. With obligatory and certain consumption of delicious ensaymada, puto, and ube rolls, my abdomen is happy but my waistline is not.
Lately my save has been call me if I could make some of his favorite Filipino dishes healthier. My first scrutiny was, how can you make crispy pata healthy? As a registered dietitian and professionally trained chef, I’m constantly at warfare with myself when I cook and eat Filipino food. I craving it to be healthy, but no matter what it exigency be masarap or it won’t get eaten.
With a trick ahead of me full of celebrations and weekday dinners, I yen my family to know and enjoy Filipino foodstuff, but I don’t thirst this to impact our long - title health. Much of the average Pinoy diet is comprised of meat, fried foods, substantial starches and sometimes sugars and sodium. Cast it all well-adjusted with American portion sizes and you’re at risk for heart disease and diabetes – dispassionate by itemizing the recipes.
I’ve risen to the challenge of adjustment ways to tweak prevalent recipes and staple foods to shave off calories, saturated fat, sodium, and sugar but not skimp on spice.
Here’s a look at a few of the healthy changes we’ve make-believe in our flat:
The rice stud was a sticky latitude. Telling cut Asian they should eat brown rice will most oftentimes come with a pile of resistance. I’ll admit – there’s fly speck fairly selfsame pure, fluffy rice that slightly sticks together when you push it onto your bailer. At first it’s best to meet this challenge half way, mixing both brown and ghastly rice to get half your grains whole. It’s not absolutely the corresponding but it’s not as forceful a handle as occupation to all brown rice.
After doing that for a while, we took the plunge to get our fiber intake up and keep our cholesterol in good standing by only eating brown rice at home – erase when we have arroz caldo.
Depending on what meat your lola’s recipe used, a few changes can make this a healthier dish. If making pork adobo, reunite a lean cut of pork consonant pork loin; if it’s pusillanimous make sure it’s skinless. No matter what the meat is make it lean. Knops the soy condiment to a low sodium tale to help keep hypertension at bay. These light switches can be made in various of the stewed recipes from calderata to bulalo for a healthier fashion.
When it comes to afternoon snacks, we try to keep it glossy and easy, semanship away from parched goods and sweets. This is an easy one's move to increase our fruit and vegetable intake for the day and we’ll repeatedly have lawful fresh produce for our merienda. Making this quarters keeps the calories in check and helps us increase our vitamin and fiber intake. If it’s a sizzling summer day, we might make a mango shake ( beam recipe ).
Spice it up
With family from the Bicol region, we’re not excitable to spice up our dishes. Research suggests that eating hot peppers may help exalt metabolism ( every inconsiderable bit counts ). We get our fix with a side of suka at sili with our meals.
These are aloof a few of the alterations we’ve incorporated for a healthier Filipino meal. I haven’t construct a way to alter the crispy pata even-handed after all, but with our other small changes and moderation we’re able to fit it in!
Mango Shake Recipe
Ingredients:
1 cup of Sof๚l Mango ( you can find this is the yogurt section of your local Asian retailer )
3 halves ripe fresh mango or frozen mango
1 cup skim milk
ฝ cup crushed ice
2 Tbsp whipped topping ( optional )
Directions:
Place all ingredients in a blender. Pulse on high speed until mixture is smooth. Pour into a glass, top with whipped topping and enjoy!
Makes 2 servings.
Nutrition breakdown per serving:
Calories: 173 calories