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Losing weight without the yo-yo effect works best with a healthy and balanced diet for the whole family. In order for weight loss to work successfully in stressful everyday family life, avoid strenuous and one-sided diets.

Special diets are hardly feasible in stressful everyday family life. If sport is then also recommended, the dream of the desired figure seems to be an illusion. Losing weight without exercise and with little time is possible and you don’t have to follow a specific diet.

Diet is a real challenge in losing weight in everyday family life

Most people have tried numerous diets. Many were successful and lost weight. But the problem is always the yo-yo effect after a diet. Because that often occurs as soon as the diet is ended. Often you then quickly weigh more than before the diet and are frustrated. In addition, losing weight with a diet is usually a challenge.

If you’re still short on time and dieting between changing diapers, checking homework, doing quick housecleaning, etc., losing weight is associated with additional stress. Thus, the diet is doomed to failure. Especially when you’re whipping up a delicious meal for the family and need to stick to your diet plan at the same time.

Tips for losing weight without exercising

At the same time, it is difficult for a mother to do sports every day in the stressful everyday family life. Because how do you create space with small children? But the good news for mothers is: You can also lose weight in everyday family life without the yo-yo effect. Because to lose weight and become slim, you need a healthy and balanced diet. For this purpose, try to consider the following when it comes to nutrition in order to be able to lose weight without exercising. In addition, you should first calculate your BMI value to find out how your weight should be classified.

  • Hardly any carbohydrates and consume a lot of protein.
  • Trust in high-quality fats.
  • Beware of juices and high-sugar fruits.
  • A negative calorie balance is essential.

Losing weight without the yo-yo effect through healthy nutrition for the family

Consciously avoid a strict and one-sided diet. Because when you establish healthy eating habits for you and your family, you all benefit. This saves you the extra cooking and reduces stress. If you want to lose weight without the yo-yo effect, then avoid eating high-carbohydrate food in the evening. However, note that they are valuable sources of energy. Therefore, you should not completely eliminate them from your meal plan. And from time to time it can also be a pizza. But permanently losing weight in everyday family life is only possible with a healthy diet. Healthy means the following:

  • Lots of fresh vegetables and fruit (5 servings a day),
  • many whole grain products,
  • little meat and animal fats,
  • if meat then lean varieties, e.g. poultry,
  • low sugar and sugary foods,
  • It is important that you drink a lot of water or unsweetened tea (at least 1.5 liters per day).

Organize a healthy diet well in everyday family life

A healthy diet with lots of fresh ingredients sounds expensive. But the preparation can succeed quickly with the good organization in everyday life. You should also use shared meals to enjoy together and eat consciously. You should at least take your time for breakfast and dinner because those who eat consciously instead of casually learn to listen to their feeling of satiety. You can also organize yourself as follows:

  • Prepare vegetables in the morning when the little ones are still asleep or away from home.
  • Prepare fresh juices or smoothies in just a few minutes with the blender.
  • Pre-cook meals and freeze them in the freezer. This way you only have to cook one day and only have to warm up the food briefly in the following days.
  • Cut up fruit in the evening for muesli in the morning and store it in a storage container. Tip: Put some lemon juice on the fruit to keep its color. Stored in the fridge, the fruit tastes very good the next morning.

Stimulate metabolism to lose weight

As already mentioned, sport and daily exercise are good for your health. Because with it you can stay fit in everyday life and stimulate your metabolism. You don’t have to do any strenuous exercise to do this. Half an hour of walking, cycling, swimming, gymnastics or yoga at home with children is enough. Sport helps you lose weight easily without the yo-yo effect. Because in addition to stimulating the metabolism, sport also has a motivating effect and it is easier to do without the little sweets in between.

Celebrate and enjoy a merry Christmas without stress with tips. Although stress does not always have to be negative, the media and the public often suggest that Christmas should be a perfect celebration. Great gifts and good food should not be missing. With tips on good planning, you can avoid Christmas stress.

Successfully avoid Christmas stress

Christmas, the festival of love. Actually, a nice opportunity to relax with your family and end the year with dignity. But most of the time the Christmas stress spoils the party and we can’t enjoy the contemplative time. But with a few organizational tips, the festival can be planned well and most of the work can be done early.

Stress can be a positive thing, but you have to like stress, and not feel overwhelmed, uncomfortable, or even corner. The Christmas stress is often not caused by us, but by the compulsion to buy, which is also manifested by a fixed date. If you switch off this fact and the media popularity, you can easily deal with this festival without feeling negative stress.

1) Realize the meaning of Christmas

Christmas is a Christian festival that stems from biblical experience. At Christmas, devout Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. This is often about contemplation and family, less about gifts and other consumption. Santa Claus is a symbol for giving presents, but that transfigures the actual meaning behind the festival. Therefore, return to the original meaning of the festival and use the contemplative time to relax and try to avoid Christmas stress.

Conclusion: The background of the Christmas festival has completely lost its true meaning due to the commercial obsession. Sensuality becomes meaningless, contemplativeness imprudent, and giving gifts becomes a compulsion to buy without sense or understanding.

1) buy gifts on time

If you and your family celebrate Christmas with gifts, then there are a few things you should keep in mind to enjoy a stress-free Christmas. So that giving presents at Christmas time does not become stressful, collect gift ideas for your loved ones all year round. Clear agreements or the exchange of wishes can also simplify the search for gifts and avoid Christmas stress. And if you want to reduce stress, you should go buy gifts early. This can already start at the end of October or in November.

2) Arrange gifts beforehand

As already mentioned, you can get through Christmas stress-free if you organize the presents in good time. To do this, agree on the gifts beforehand instead of letting yourself be surprised. This can also prevent relationship stress at Christmas. Or agree that you don’t give each other anything. In contrast, you might just enjoy being together. Or give you a break together.

3) Buy Christmas cookies or make them yourself

There is no question that Christmas cookies also belong to Christmas. Whether it’s homemade biscuits or bought delicacies, there’s something for the whole family. So that you don’t end up empty-handed, you should buy Christmas cookies early, otherwise, they may be out of stock by Christmas. Since the biscuits keep for a long time, you can store these foods well at home. And if you want to bake yourself, you can do that at the beginning of December and not just at the last minute. Also, read how you can keep the Christmas cookies crispy for a long time.

4) buy and decorate the Christmas tree in good time

Another thing to do at Christmas time is to buy and decorate a Christmas tree. Many buy their tree in early or mid-December. This leaves enough time to decorate it. If you don’t get her until Christmas Eve, it could cause stress. Suddenly you realize that the Christmas tree balls are missing or the chain of lights doesn’t work. Or you don’t have enough time to decorate the tree. Therefore, take care of a reasonable Christmas tree and the decorations early on. Then you spend Christmas without stress. Also, note tips for buying cheap Christmas decorations.

5) Respect for family members

The basic rule is: “Everyone should only go as far as is good for their own well-being”. If you feel bad just thinking about Christmas, feel compelled to organize the Christmas party, or even feel obliged to go there, you should just let it go. Nobody is helped or contributes to the mood if you don’t welcome the festival from the bottom of your heart. If someone prefers to celebrate alone and stay at home, they should be treated to it. Because a celebration at home with great Christmas films can also be nice and avoid Christmas stress.

There are many alternatives that you can use as a substitute for salt in cooking. Why too much salt is unhealthy and how to replace it without sacrificing spice and taste.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a maximum of five grams of salt per day for adults, but the reality is different: According to the organization, the majority of Europeans consume up to eleven grams of salt a day through food. Consuming too much salt over a long period of time can be detrimental to your health. High blood pressure in particular is a dangerous risk associated with too much salt.

Actively reducing salt consumption is not always easy: We get most of it from finished products, snacks such as crisps and pretzel sticks, but also bread and cheese. In addition to fat and sugar, fast food also contains a lot of salt.

So, if you want to control your salt intake, your primary goal should be to cut down on processed foods and cook more at home. This has a positive side effect: you save a lot of packaging waste and you know exactly what you are eating.

However, there are also some flavorful alternatives to salt that you can use in cooking. So you save on salt, but you don’t have to sacrifice taste and spice.

Spices as a salt substitute

“Seasoning” does not necessarily mean “salting”. Instead, use more different spices when cooking and thus develop the whole spectrum of taste. Spice powders are easy to use and widely available. Tip: If you don’t mind the effort, you can grind many spices yourself at home.

Keep the following in your pantry at all times:
For vegetables:
chilli powder
anise
garlic
nutmeg
fennel seeds
cardamom
For fish and meat (for ecological reasons, it is advisable to eat little or no fish and meat):
White pepper
Black pepper
curry powder
paprika powder
Caraway seeds
pimento

Replace salt with vinegar

You can also replace salt with high-quality vinegar. Although vinegar tastes tart, adding small amounts gives you a great flavor.

Herbs as an alternative to salt

Fresh and dried herbs ensure an intense aroma and varied taste. There is an abundance of herbs:
Parsely
chives
dill
wild garlic
basil
watercress
rosemary
thyme
lovage
oregano
coriander
marjoram
tarragon
mint
sage
lemon balm
As you can see, there are a lot of different herbs, many native, others Mediterranean. If you want to harvest your own herbs, you can create your own personal herb bed with your favorites.

Garlic and onions as a salt substitute

Onions and garlic have a strong flavor of their own and add flavor to your food without the need for additional salt.

Replace salt with yeast

Many dishes, especially soups and broths, can also be seasoned with yeast products. Yeast gives your food an aromatic, spicy taste. Yeast flakes, yeast extract and yeast seasoning pastes are suitable. When buying, make sure that the product in question does not contain any additional table salt.

Sodium reduced salt as a salt substitute?

As its name suggests, reduced-sodium salt contains less sodium chloride than regular salt. As a substitute, potassium chloride is in such products.

Sodium-reduced salt is suitable with regard to a low-salt diet in that you can save a lot of sodium chloride. However, it is said to have a slightly bitter aftertaste and taste less salty than regular salt.

The best thing to do is to try it out to see whether it is suitable and worthwhile as a salt substitute for you. Seasoning with natural ingredients such as spices, herbs or yeast is more recommended.

Salt substitute: More tips

If you want to reduce your salt intake, weaning it off slowly will help. On the one hand, you should (after) add less salt overall. Your taste buds will get used to it over time, so you won’t miss all that salt anymore.

Many seasoning products, such as vegetable broth and soy sauce, are also available in reduced-salt versions. Keep your eyes open when shopping and look around for such products. You can save a lot of salt this way.

Low-carb pasta is now available in many different forms. Noodles without carbohydrates taste delicious and are a good alternative to conventional wheat noodles.

Low-carb noodles for low-carb diets

With a low-carb diet, you replace carbohydrates with fats and proteins, which also fill you up and provide energy. Conventional pasta mainly contains carbohydrates and is unsuitable for a low-carb diet. There is a large selection of low-carb pasta so that you don’t have to do without pasta despite the lack of carbohydrates.

Low-Carb Noodles: Konjac Noodles

Konjac root extracts have been used medicinally and as food in Southeast Asia for over 3,000 years. The main component of the tuber is the fiber-containing glucomannan. Dried and ground, you can use it as a thickening agent or as a gelling agent and prepare desserts with it. Konjac is also processed into low-carb noodles.

The Konjac noodles, which are visually reminiscent of glass noodles, contain almost ten kilocalories per 100 grams and only around two grams of usable carbohydrates.
Since the pasta substitute is not made from grain, konjac noodles are also gluten-free.
In addition to glucomannan, konjac noodles contain large amounts of water and the natural stabilizer calcium hydroxide.
The low-carb noodles are also known as Shirataki noodles and are versatile. You can find them in the Asian market and in more and more supermarkets and organic markets.

Low carb red lentil pasta

Low-carb noodles made from red lentils contain more carbohydrates than konjac noodles. With around 56 grams of carbohydrates per 100 grams, however, they are lower in carbohydrates than conventional wheat noodles. Low-carb red lentil pasta is also healthier for other reasons:
Unlike wheat pasta, lentil pasta is made up of complex carbohydrates. These have a lower glycemic index, meaning they cause blood sugar levels to rise more slowly after eating than wheat noodles. As a result, the low-carb pasta keeps you full for longer.
Lentils are legumes and therefore gluten-free.
Low-carb pasta made from lentils has a high protein content, which also keeps you feeling full for longer. They are a good plant-based source of protein, especially for vegans.

Low carb chickpea pasta

At around 37 grams per 100 grams, low-carb noodles made from chickpeas have significantly fewer carbohydrates than wheat noodles. Your glycemic index is also lower.

Chickpea noodles, like lentil noodles, contain a high proportion of fiber and unsaturated fatty acids.
They are also very high in protein.
In addition, the low-carb pasta contains many vitamins and minerals, especially magnesium, iron and zinc. Wheat noodles have a much lower nutrient content.

Soy Noodles: Asian low-carb noodles

Low-carb soy noodles also contain very few carbohydrates at 13 grams per 100 grams.

Pure soy noodles have a high protein content and keep you full for a long time.
When it comes to low-carb soy pasta, you should make sure that you buy the pure soy version. Many soy noodles on the market are mixed with wheat flour or egg and are then no longer gluten-free and low-carb or no longer vegan.
Just like regular pasta, you can buy soy noodles in different shapes. They are available as classic spaghetti, tagliatelle, fusilli or spirelli. They taste slightly nutty and go particularly well with Asian recipes.

Even if most people can no longer hear the advertising slogan “Then it’ll work with the neighbor too” of the beaming housewife with a sparkling wine glass in the camera, the nagging envy tells us all: “I also want to have clean glasses like that .”

However, today’s cleaning lady thinks economically and avoids environmental pollution wherever possible. This commendable attitude is in no way opposed to the Clean Glasses plan. Here are a few tips on how glasses, cutlery, and porcelain, and especially stainless steel, can shine in the kitchen cupboard without water stains.

How are water stains formed?

The given tips work against contamination on dishes, which are usually due to incorrect treatment. Water stains occur when the water cannot flow freely down the clean dishes. Therefore, very well cleaned dishes can air dry without forming water stains. Usually, this condition does not last very long, so it is advisable to dry the dishes well right away.

1. What the dishwasher really needs

Unfortunately, this is often the case: the dishes come out of the dishwasher unclean. On the one hand, this can be due to the wrong acknowledgment, but more often the lack of salt is the devil in the details.

Dishwasher owners should therefore always make sure that there is enough salt in the filling device provided for this purpose. Although the “Minna” washes with hot water alone, the composition of the rinsing water contains magnesium and calcium ions, depending on the degree of hardness, which is deposited in a light layer on the dishes.

The dishwashing salt prevents this process by precisely separating these ions and leads to clean dishes that do not show any streaks when dried with a clean tea towel. Also, note tips for descaling and cleaning the dishwasher.

2. Washing by hand: Crystal clear, environmentally friendly

It’s not the amount of detergent that causes clean dishes. It’s washing dishes with your head. For people who have their own household for the first time: First, the glasses, then the plates, then cutlery, pots, and pans, as these are the dirtiest, in the end. The glasses should be washed so hot that you almost (!) burn your fingers. It is enough not to let the sink fill up completely with water.

Once briefly cleaned underwater with a kitchen sponge inside and outside as well as on the handle, a small amount of cold water can always remove the foam. This means that the washing-up water also has a more bearable washing-up temperature for the dishes that follow the glasses. The other cutlery and dishes are then treated in the same way before they are wiped dry with the tea towel.

3. Tea towel is not a hand towel

Before using them for the first time, new tea towels should be washed just like another laundry, as the textiles often contain chemical color pigments. Not only are these unhealthy, but they also leave a film on the dishes that make spot-free cleaning difficult. Failure to do this first wash can lead to smeared dishes that cannot stand up to scrutiny in the sunlight.

Surprisingly, many people, mostly men, students, and trainees, do not know the difference between a hand towel and a tea towel. In the industrial processing sector, too, this differentiation is no longer made exactly, since they are both almost the same size. However, the tea towel is made of thin cotton or linen fabric, while the hand towel, as a category of body towels, is made of less absorbent but thicker cotton fabric. Since cotton fibers fluff easily, the long-fiber linen tea towel with a dense weave structure is the better choice for drying glasses and good china.

Cutlery and stainless steel can also be perfectly polished with it. The extremely absorbent microfiber cloths are just as powerful. However, when washing at 40 or 60 degrees, they must never get fabric softener on them, as the remains lead to the formation of streaks and the absorbency of the microfiber cloth is reduced by the fibers being pressed together. To ensure that dishes are cleaned as germ-free as possible, the tea towels should also be changed regularly. In addition, note how you can remove coffee and tea rims from cups.

4. When the dishes “take a hit”

If the enamel is broken, it is unfortunately not possible to have a flawless tableware appearance without a professional repair. If, on the other hand, water or dirt stains have formed over a long period of time due to incorrect treatment, which is becoming increasingly clear under the barely visible layer that is not so easy to remove, pure vinegar or citric acid can work wonders.

However, these household helpers, which can effectively replace almost all special chemical cleaners anyway, require a little more exposure time for stubborn dirt. Concentrated vinegar or vinegar essence with 75% water content or acetic acid is easily degradable and the somewhat unpleasant scent disappears in no time. However, this cleaner is powerful against calluses, grease, and limescale and even makes blind glasses and mirror surfaces shiny again.

For burnt pots or greasy pans, a dash of vinegar essence diluted with a soda can be spread over the surface with a sponge. After a short exposure time of about 10 minutes, this mixture, which has practically absorbed dirt and lime, can be easily washed off. Even stubborn burnt residues, such as those often found on grills or in ovens, can be removed in this way without having to scrub.

Does salt belong in the pasta water? If so, when and how much? There are many myths circulating on the subject. We explain to you what really matters when it comes to salt in pasta water.

Preparing noodles is very easy: Boil water in a pot, put noodles in, cook noodles. But many wonder how much salt is needed and when to add it – right at the beginning in the cold water or as soon as it boils? All in all, the salt in the pasta water can affect three factors: the taste of the pasta, the boiling point of the pasta water and the cooking time. Let’s take a closer look at each factor.

Salt in the pasta water: why the timing is still interesting

Nevertheless, it makes a difference whether you add the salt to the cold or boiling pasta water. Salt dissolves better in hot than in cold water. Therefore, when you add the salt to the cold water, a larger amount that doesn’t immediately dissolve will sink to the bottom of the pot. There the salt causes stains and can damage the pot in the long run.

Tip: Stainless steel pots are much more robust than aluminum pots. Salt doesn’t do much harm to the former.

Pasta water: salt and its effect on cooking time and taste

The Max Planck Institute says: No, salt in the pasta water does not significantly affect the cooking time. So why would you salt the pasta water at all? The answer is: for the taste.

Salt in the pasta water ensures that the pasta retains its flavor. Behind this is a relatively complex physical phenomenon called osmosis. Put simply, you can imagine it like this with pasta water: If the water is completely unsalted, the salt concentration in the pasta is higher than in the pasta water (pasta naturally contain minerals such as sodium). The system wants to compensate for this concentration gradient. This is why minerals from the pasta go into the cooking water. The result: the noodles lose their taste. On the other hand, if you salt the pasta water well, the pasta can even absorb salt.

A matter of taste: How much salt in the pasta water?

You can decide how much salt you add to the pasta water according to your taste. A simple rule of thumb is: ten grams of salt for 100 grams of pasta and one liter of water.

Another tip comes from chef Sami Nosrat (author of the book Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat): salt the water until it tastes like sea water.

Salt in Pasta Water: Does It Affect Nutrient Content?

Unfortunately, the question of whether salt in the pasta water influences the nutrient content of the pasta has not been conclusively answered. Intuitively, the section on osmosis would tell us that salted pasta water is beneficial because less of the material in the pasta migrates into the water. However, the difference may be insignificant or other factors that have not previously been considered play a role.

But with these tips you will have a nutrient-rich meal in any case:
Use whole wheat pasta instead of white flour pasta. The former contain more fiber, minerals and vitamins.
Whether with or without salt: when cooking, water-soluble nutrients are transferred from the pasta to the pasta water. This applies, for example, to B vitamins. You can save part of it by enriching the pasta sauce with the pasta water. The pasta water also contains starch from the pasta, which binds your sauce. And since you salted the pasta water well, it also adds flavor.

Thickening cherries is worthwhile for refining various desserts. We present three ways to help you thicken without much effort.

Thickening cherries is an easy way to create a delicious topping for desserts and sweets. There are three options: You can thicken cherries with cornstarch (or a cornstarch substitute), vanilla pudding powder and cake glaze. For this you need the following ingredients:

650 g organic cherries
0.5l water
2 tbsp cornstarch/custard powder/cake glaze

It usually takes less than five minutes to thicken the cherries. We explain step by step how to do this:

Place the cherries in a saucepan with the water.
Let the kirsch come to a boil.
Stir in the starch/custard powder or frosting as soon as the mixture boils. Caution: Begin stirring immediately after adding your thickener of choice to the water. That way no lumps form. You should also not add cornstarch directly to the boiling water, but mix it with a little cold water first and then add it. This also prevents lumps from forming.
Important: cherries are in season from June to August. So this is the best time to thicken cherries.

Peel the butternut or just leave the peel on? Here you can find out when you should peel butternut and how you can still use the peels.

Butternut squash, also known as butternut squash, is a popular type of squash that you can use in a variety of ways. Nevertheless, the preparation always raises questions: Do you have to peel butternut? There is no general answer to this and it depends, among other things, on the respective court. We’ll show you what’s important.

Shell the butternut or leave the shell on?

The skin of the butternut doesn’t get really soft, like the Hokkaido pumpkin, for example. You can eat them, but some dishes turn out better if you peel the pumpkin first. You should peel the pumpkin, especially for recipes in which you only cook it for a short time. In principle, you can leave the bowl on for soups and purees. You can avoid pieces in the finished meal by thorough pureeing. You can also leave the peel on for dishes like pumpkin wedges that take a long time to cook or bake.

Especially if you want to eat the skin, we recommend that you buy an organic pumpkin. This is how you avoid residues of chemical-synthetic pesticides on the shell. It is best to buy regionally grown pumpkins during the season to support local producers and avoid long transport routes.

Peeling the butternut: Here’s how

If you’ve decided to peel the butternut, here’s how to do it:

Remove the ends of the butternut and slice lengthways.
Remove the core with a spoon.
Stand the squash upright and use a sharp knife or vegetable peeler to cut off the skin.
By the way, you don’t have to throw away the pumpkin skins: you can use them for a snack instead. Cut the peels into small pieces and fry them in hot oil together with finely diced onion. Finally, you can season the bowls with pepper and salt and add other spices as you like.

You don’t have to throw away the seeds either. Dried and roasted, it also becomes a delicious snack.