We just found out that a neighbor of whom we are fond had a heart attack a couple of weeks ago. She and her husband still have one kid at home. As one would expect, she is determined to eat only healthy foods. We would like to take her some meals, or have them over for dinner, etc. When I think of extremely healthy, I think of a dry chicken breast and steamed broccoli. Please help me think of some very healthy, lean, but delicious, not boring, meals and snacks.
I’m curious as to why the chicken breast has to be “dry” to be “healthy”?
Google black bean and brown rice enchiladas and check out those recipes. You can make them with wheat tortillas, too, use light sour cream, and add some poached chicken if you want.
Remember that healthy does not mean flavorless.
Bake or grill some chicken but use some fresh herbs and spices to season it.
Make a chopped salad with greens, diced veggies, a little cheese, pasta and even some dried cranberries or cherries with a flavorful vinegar/olive oil based dressing.
Chicken or fish tacos with chopped avocado, shredded cabbage, fresh tomatoes or fresh salsa to top.
Fresh herbs and seasonings without added salt or MSG are your friend for flavor.
I’d call her or the DH if she has one and ask what she likes to eat.
The other night we had fresh wild caught Alaskan salmon and baked kale chips and it felt so dang healthy I just about climbed on my chair and beat my chest!
Our friend is so new to “healthy eating” that she is eating canned tuna…nothing added - just canned tuna. I like the idea of tacos. She did mention that they don’t like beans.
Thanks everyone.
If she is on the DASH diet, salt is a key thing, so a selection of salt-free flavorings might be appreciated. Anything that would make healthy foods like salad better would probably be appreciated.
I like light sour cream, it tastes fine to me. Low salt chicken soup with garlic and other spices might be nice to take over.
What would be wrong with a lean cut of steak on the grill and a salad?
Something easy to make is a chicken and rice casserole. You can buy a rotisserie chicken and shred it up into the pyrex dish. Add cooked brown rice, mushrooms or broccoli or celery, and one can low sodium cream of chicken and cream of celery. Bake for 30 minutes at 350.
The soups come in all kinds of “healthy” versions: low sodium, low fat.
Pair with a salad.
Diabetic cookbooks are usually quite heart healthy, so you could google some of those.
You could roast a small chicken (you could try one of those roast in the bag options if you are worried about dry chicken). Pair it with a nice salad full of chopped veggies.
The possibilities are endless…
What about snacks? All I can think of are carrots and celery dipped in something low fat low salt. (This would be an easier conversation in the summer )
@missypie, take a look at this recipe site:
Hummus! ( I know it’s beans, but I’d ask if they might like to try. Homemade w/less oil, more lemon juice…delish!)
You can’t beat fruit, nut and yogurt parfaits. Use greek non fat plain yogurt and add honey to sweeten.
How about smart pop popcorn? I am hooked on the stuff…39 cal per cup and it actually tastes good! Costco carries the big bag.
Be careful and perhaps ask them. There are foods that seem healthy but interact with the efficacy of medications, for instance, if she is on coumadin, she should not eat spinach or kale or parsley or leafy greens, or cranberry. Best thing is to ask to see the list she got from the doctor.
Tuna may have high mercury content. Skipjack tuna tends to be lower in mercury than others, but higher than some other fish (most chunk light tuna is skipjack, but not all is). Fish with lower mercury include sardines, anchovies, and salmon (preferably wild Alaska caught).
http://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodborneIllnessContaminants/Metals/ucm115644.htm
A friend of ours who has had a couple of heart attacks, doesn’t eat any cheese any more. (He’s French and considers this the worst part of his new diet.) He goes low on salt, doesn’t eat much sugar. He never ate meat or (much) poultry. He doesn’t eat the high cholesterol sea foods like shrimp. There’s another whole list of stuff he doesn’t eat because of gout. One of his favorite dishes is ratatouille.
The Heart Association and Mayo Clinic both have cookbooks. You might get a general idea of what they like and take it from there.
How about printing them this NIH Heart Healthy Cookbook and making them a few recipes out of it?
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/resources/heart/ktb-recipe-book
That’s actually not true with regard to greens. Patients on coumadin may eat greens, they just need to eat them in moderation, and more important, be consistent with how much they eat so that the coumadin can be adjusted accordingly.
Probably a good idea.
Remember Dean Ornish and his super low fat heart healthy cookbooks? You could look there for inspiration.
My H tries to eat right and so eats a lot of salmon (mentioned above) along with two veggies and a small amount of starch at a meal. Thinking of the veggies: broccoli, cauliflower, beets, turnips, carrots, sweet potatoes, brussel sprouts, maybe roasted?
When he first started eating healthy, he was like your neighbors and didn’t know what to choose and was frustrated. He was never crazy about Dean Ornish, but he did like Moosewood Cookbooks and Mediteranean diet cooking.
I’m no longer working in cardiology, but I believe that the “super low fat” diet recommendations of the Dean Ornish variety are no longer recommended. Healthy fats are encouraged now, particularly those found in olive oil, avocados, salmon, eggs, etc. All the cardiologists I worked with even back in the day said that the Ornish diet was too hard to stick with indefinitely.