Gaining health in an exiting way!

I have had a wonderful exiting time these last 13 months by exploring other cuisines than my normal Scandinavian. And in the Vietnamese kitchen I have found such healthy foods and great tastes. It has been a lot of fun and a great challenge even, since here in Stockholm where I have lived it has not been easy to find the ingredients.

I have not only lost weight and gained a lot of health benefits, but also gotten a new and exciting hobby.  I have learned to cook food that people really only go to restaurants and eat and maybe cannot even find it there.  And now I can make them and it is really inexpensive as well since there is so much greens.

I now know all the Asien Markets here in Stockholm and surrounding areas. I have also learned to adapt the receipts to use the more common vegetables for us, vegetables easier to find. Still I make sure I watch the amounts of carbohydrates so I choose those with less instead of those with more. And I have studied and learned about the vitamins and minerals in the various ingredients. And I can only see gains and no losses in every change I have made.

The great thing with the Vietnamese and even Asien way to prepare the food, is that it is steamed or woked instead of fried or boiled. The other great thing is all the healthy vegetables. And the third thing is the spices and tastes. It makes any dish a feast really and without the fats and calories from sauces or dressings that we might normally use. And Vietnamese is even healthier than what I have been eating of Chinese food for instance. One reason because of the dipping sauces that comes along. 

Healthy Soups!

Over these months I have eaten a lot of soups as well. It fills you up. And I find it a great thing to eat when wanting to lose weight. And even here you can make a lot of great soups inspired by the Vietnamese kitchen. So here is a soup I have made a lot as well these months.

If you cannot find or access the exact ingredients use your creativity and your own taste and what you have locally around you.

The point is you can spice up the food and the soup or a salad instead of using fat sauces or dressings that you might use for a main dish or a salad normally. Here you have a hot main dish with lots of vegetables and spices and all health at the same time. And the soup will make you feel full. 

Vietnamese Sweet and Sour Fish Soup

http://ohemmabjorg.blogspot.se/2013/07/vietnamese-sweet-and-sour-fish-soup.html

Here in Stockholm I have never been able to find elephant ear which is in this receipt so I have put something else in instead. One thing I have used is Lotus Root and it is great, crunchy and good and looks great in the soup as well!

LOTUS ROOT

Lotus root has a lot of vitamin C, but also a lot of other vitamins and minerals. It is very low in calories and carbohydrates as well. The fiber, together with slow digesting complex carbohydrates in the root help reduce blood cholesterol, sugar, body weight and constipation conditions.

Regular consumption of foods rich in vitamin C helps the body protect from scurvy, develop resistance against viral infection, boosts immunity, hasten wound healing and remove cancer causing harmful free radicals from the body.

In addition, it contains moderate levels of some of valuable B-complex group of vitamins such aspyridoxine (vitamin B-6) which influences mood, help control nervous irritability, headache, and tension. It also protects heart-attack risk by controlling harmful homocysteine levels in the blood.

Further, the root provides healthy amounts of some important minerals like copper, iron, zinc, magnesium, and manganese, cofactors for the production of red blood cells.

OKRA

Another great vegetable in this soup is Okra. It is also very rich in both Vitamins A and C and have a lot of other vitamins and minerals as well. It has no fat and almost no carbohydrates, it has good dietary fibers and very little calories.

Gaining health in an exiting way!