Serves: 5

Throughout this book I have repeatedly said that eating an abundance of healthy food is critical to becoming healthy and lean. But, if you're like many people, the mere thought of "eating healthy" may bring to mind tasteless, bland meals that become boring and dissatisfying very quickly. And they starve your body of essential calories and nutrients.
I cannot tell you how many times I have been disappointed by so-called healthy recipes that tasted more like rubber than food. I felt that I'd almost rather be fat than be doomed to eat like that. Who wants to live the rest of their life eating lousy-tasting food? I certainly don't! Lean & Free eating is a total pleasure, not a chore.
In this section I'll explain how to make your recipes healthier without sacrificing taste--how to enhance them, not destroy them. My definition of modification is "to make less." And, as you already know, there is nothing "less" about the Lean & Free 2000 Plus Lifestyle. You've learned that you need to eat more good food, move more, and create more positive thoughts about your body so you can avoid triggering your survival system to store excess fat.
So, instead of "modification," I have chosen the term "healthification" and named this section "Recipe Healthification." Recipe healthification is simply the process of making familiar, tasty recipes more healthy by reducing fat, sugar, and salt increasing complex carbohydrates, fiber, and overall nutrient value and balancing solids and liquids.
One of your goals in this program is to maintain a protein intake of 10 to 15 percent of your total calories, increase your intake of complex carbohydrates to 65 to 80 percent, and optimize your intake of fat at the 10- to 20-percent level. (This is all done for you in the Lean & Free menus.) This doesn't mean you eliminate fat. In fact, the more food you eat, the more fat grams you should consume. For instance, at 2,000 calories per day, 15 percent dietary fat is 33 fat grams. But at 3,000 calories per day, 50 fat grams is only 15 percent. That's 50 grams of fat you should eat every day for greater health, energy, supple skin, and optimal leanness. If, on the other hand, you're on a restricted diet of 1,000 calories per day, and you are consuming 15 percent fat, you can eat only 17 fat grams--a particularly difficult task because on a 1,000-calorie diet, your survival system is triggering cravings for fats and sweets.
When I "healthify" recipes, I never sacrifice flavor or appeal. My goal is always to add and enhance nutritional value and flavors.
For instance, unless you suffer from diabetes or are highly resistant to fat loss, there is no need to eliminate all refined sugar from your eating program. The key is to be moderate and eat "real desserts" for dessert. Mix sugar with more complex foods (make whole-grain cookies, not white-flour cookies) and save sugary foods until you've eaten to comfortable satisfaction on water, vegetables, grain, protein, and fruit. If you've already eaten plenty of complex, high-fiber foods, sweets are much less likely to be stored as fat and you'll also probably eat much less of them because you will not crave sweets when your body is completely calorically and nutritionally satisfied. If you are diabetic or highly resistant to fat loss, choose only "A" Choice desserts when you are intent on seeing fat loss, and be very moderate with these choices.
You should be excited to know that about 90 percent of the recipes in your home can be healthified. Exceptions are recipes like a buttermint recipe, which calls for sugar, butter, and oil of peppermint--pretty tough to healthify. So, I eat to full satisfaction, then treat myself to two or three buttermints once in a great while, without any worry or guilt when I'm coasting and am not into weekly inch loss.
Most recipes can be easily healthified by following four simple rules:

Four Keys to Successful Recipe Healthification
I Increase complex carbohydrates and fiber.

II Decrease fat.

III Be moderate with animal protein, sugar and salt.

IV Balance the amounts of solids and liquids.

Let's take a look at each of these four rules and see how easy they are to implement.

I. Increase Complex Carbohydrates and Fiber
1. Make whole grains, legumes, vegetables and fruits the center of your meal.
2. Purchase 100 percent stone-ground, whole-wheat flour, breads, pancakes, waffles, and pita pockets. Buy whole-wheat, whole-corn, and white pasta and tortillas. Artichoke pasta is also wonderfully tasty and very complex. It is blond, and it looks and tastes almost exactly like regular white pasta. I've never found anyone who could tell the difference. (Remember to go with part whole grains for several months or a year or more to allow your system to adjust.) Most of these foods can be found in the regular or health-food section of larger grocery stores. Ask your grocer. Many times they will order these items for you if they don't already stock them. And remember, white pasta and rice will probably not slow your progress if you're eating plenty of other high-nutrient foods.
3. Purchase a wheat grinder. After wheat has been ground for three days, it loses approximately 80 percent of its nutrition. (A grinder is a big money saver. K-Tec stores carry excellent, relatively inexpensive grinders.)
4. Have cracked wheat and brown rice in the fridge. Microwave a bowl full with milk, honey, and cinnamon, and you have a wonderful, complex, nutritious snack if you're hungry. And include veggies with your snack. If you aren't hungry and you want to snack to increase your metabolism, snack only on veggie-based foods.
5. Generally eat the whole fruit and vegetable rather than just its juice where most of the fiber has been extracted (three oranges = eight ounces of orange juice). Juices are much better than soda pop, however, and are also very good for people with systems that are highly sensitive to more complex foods. But remember, by deleting the fiber you have increased the concentration of natural sugar along with its ability to be stored more easily in your fat cells.
6. Gradually add beans and peas into your eating program. (Examples: chili, split-pea soup, bean soup, refried beans with little or no fat added, etc.)
7. Oat bran and wheat bran are good, but whole oats and whole wheat are much better!

II. Decrease the Fat
1. Use skim or 1 percent milk. Buy lowfat (2 percent fat) cottage cheese unless you prefer dry-curd cottage cheese. Purchase skim yogurt and lowfat or nonfat (all natural) cheeses and ice-milk and lowfat or nonfat frozen yogurt instead of ice cream. (Lean & Free "Instant Ice Cream" is wonderful.) Use evaporated skim milk instead of cream or half and half.
2. Decrease the oil in recipes by one half or more. ( Be certain to add an equal amount of liquid elsewhere.) You can replace the oil in many muffin, cookie, and cake recipes with mashed or pureed fruits such as mashed, extra-ripe bananas, applesauce, or pureed peaches. You can also replace all of the oil or butter in a cookie recipe with twice the amount of pureÄd beans. And replace half of the oil or butter in a cake or muffin recipe with twice that amount of pureÄd beans. Simply purchase a can of white beans and finely pureÄ them in your blender. You may need to add 1 to 3 tablespoons of water or liquid you drained from the canned beans to achieve the consistency of thick wall-paper paste or creamed shortening and sugar. The beans make the end product even moister and more delicious than the oil or butter makes it. (Example: If cookies call for 1/2 cup butter, omit and use 1 cup pureÄd beans. If a cake calls for 1/2 cup oil, use 1/4 cup "good" oil and 1/2 cup pureÄd beans. Delicious!)
3. Use non-stick pans, non-stick cooking sprays, and paper muffin cups.
4. Use two egg whites to replace one whole egg in recipes. Throw out five to nine fat grams with the yolk, depending on the size of the egg, as the whites contain just a trace of fat. Egg substitutes contain up to eight fat grams per serving and are generally more expensive than following this simple method. Or use powdered egg whites for an economical, "no-waste" alternative. (Check health food or food-storage stores for powdered egg whites.
5. When making omelets, use one whole egg and two egg whites.
6. Use butter or light margarines very sparingly. Butter is 100 percent natural and it's 100 percent fat! Margarines, however, are being linked to more heart disease than butter because of the trans-fatty acids that are created through the process of making liquid-fat, solid at room temperature. This process, known as hydrogenation, actually damages the fat, making it more harmful to the body than butter fat, according to recent studies reported in the media. (See page 273 for more information.)
7. Use fat-free mayonnaises and salad dressings. If you don't like the fat-free kind, try the lowfat varieties.
8. Try mixing equal parts of Kraft Free Mayonnaise and Kraft Free Miracle Whip for a delightful dressing for coleslaw, tossed salad, and tuna salad or sandwiches.
9. Fry in very small amounts of "good" oil, (see page 280), low-sodium soy sauce, non-stick cooking spray, bouillon, water, etc.
10. Skin poultry before you cook it to prevent the fat in the skin from absorbing into the poultry.
11. Cook extra-lean hamburger in a microwave-safe colander with a dish underneath it in the microwave. Rinse meat under hot water twice during cooking time and break the meat into small pieces. This will help drain off and rinse away excess fat. Or, put a spoon under your ham-burger frying pan to tip it to one side. Keep the fat at the bottom and the meat at the top to avoid fat absorption. Then, rinse the meat in hot water.
12. Buy white, skinless chicken and turkey meat and small amounts of extra-lean red meat.
13. Be very moderate with "health foods" such as nuts, seeds, avocados, and olives. They are loaded with "healthy" fat. If you would like to increase your body-fat percentage, or "bulk up" in a healthful manner, eat more of these.
14. Use soft fat-free cream cheese and Smuckers' Simply Fruit Spread on bread in place of butter. (Be moderate with fruit spread as it is high in natural sugar. Yet it is a much more healthy choice than regular jam or jelly.)
15. Use Campbell's "Healthy Request" lower-in-fat Cream of Chicken and Cream of Mushroom soups for gravies and casseroles. They are delicious mixed with fat free sour cream and/or fat free cream cheese on stroganoff-type dishes.
16. Make cornstarch gravies, or refrigerate your regular gravies and skim the fat off the top after they cool and harden.
17. Be very moderate with all fried foods, cream soups, and cream sauces unless you have healthified the food's recipes. (Add thickness to homemade cream soups with pureÄd vegetables, instant potato flakes and evaporated skim milk.)
18. Use light whipped cream in moderation and fat free sour cream. Avoid whipped toppings and sour-cream substitutes that contain palm or coconut oil. These oils are even more highly saturated than lard.
19. Use cold- or expeller-pressed unsaturated oils. (See pages 279-280.)
20. Be very moderate with high-fat corn chips, potato chips, crackers, movie-type popcorn with hydrogenated oils, and related snack items. Purchase baked tortilla chips and light-butter popcorn.

III. Be Moderate with Animal Protein, Sugar, and Salt

Animal Protein
1. Replace one half of the ground beef in a recipe with cracked or bulgur wheat. Flavor the mixture with bouillon, onion soup mix, low-fat cream of mushroom or chicken soup, etc.
2. Use lowfat ground turkey in some recipes to replace higher-fat ground beef.
3. Be aware that dark chicken and turkey meat with skin can be higher in fat than extra-lean beef. Be moderate with all meat, not just beef. Beef sometimes gets an undeserved bad rap.
4. Use more beans and vegetables to replace half of the meat in appropriate dishes.
5. Eat fish at least once or twice per week as it contains omega-3 fatty acids that can help reduce your risk of high blood cholesterol. Tuna in water is a good choice.

Sugar
1. Replace sugar with frozen fruit-juice concentrates such as Dole Pineapple, Apple, Orchard Peach, Mountain Cherry, Country Raspberry, Orange, Pine-Orange-Banana, Welch's White Grape Juice, etc. Try mixing pineapple and apple-juice concentrate to complement hard-to-match flavors. (Make certain the frozen juice concentrate you choose is void of added sugar and artificial sweeteners.)
If you are diabetic, use fruit-juice concentrates exclusively and check with your local health food store to see if they carry, or can order, "Fruit Sweet," by Wax Orchards, a wonderful combination of three neutral, complementary fruit flavors. (For "Fruit Sweet" recipes and information, send several stamps to: Wax Orchards, 22744 Wax Orchard Rd., SW, Vashon, WA 98070.)
2. Dried fruits such as raisins and dates are a good natural sweetener when added in moderation to cookies, cakes, and cereals. Eating them in large quantities is not recommended,
as they are very high in natural sugar.
3. Use pureéd fresh fruit, Smuckers' Simply Fruit Spread, and lowfat fruit yogurt on your whole-grain pancakes, waffles, and French toast. Or be very sparing with regular syrup.
(Avoid syrup if you are diabetic, hypoglycemic, or highly resistant to fat loss.)
4. Virtually eliminate soda pop. Drink water and occasionally fruit juice and very occasionally carbonated fruit juice. Vegetable juice is a good choice, but not as good as the whole veggie.
5. Buy fresh fruits or fruits packed in their own juice or very light syrup. Rinse off the light syrup in a colander.
6. When canning fruit, use 1/8 to 1/4 cup sugar to one quart fruit. If you are diabetic, use 1/4 cup fruit-juice concentrate to one quart fruit.
7. Avoid ALL artificial sweeteners!

Salt
If you suffer from high blood pressure:
1. Take the salt off of the table.
2. Cut the salt by one-half in recipes.
3. Avoid foods such as many canned soups and stews that are high in sodium.
4. Use low-sodium soy sauce.
5. Drink six to twelve eight-ounce glasses of water per day. (but no more than 20).
6. Exercise regularly.

If you do not suffer from high blood pressure:
1. Drink six to twelve eight-ounce glasses of water per day.
2. Exercise regularly.
3. Be moderate with salt (sodium) intake.

IV. Balance the Amounts of Solids and Liquids
1. If you decrease the solid ingredients in a recipe, find appropriate ingredients to increase or balance out the recipe. (Example: if you decrease the meat in a recipe by 1 cup, increase the vegetables in the recipe by 1 cup.)
2. If you decrease the liquid ingredients in a recipe, find appropriate ingredients to increase to balance out the recipe. (Example: If you decrease the oil in a recipe by 1/2 cup, you may decide to increase another appropriate ingredient such as water, applesauce, skim milk, fruit-juice concentrate, etc., by 1/2 cup. Or add twice that amount of pureÄd white beans.)
Now that you can see how easy it is to follow the four keys to recipe healthification, let's healthify the following three recipes.

Betty Crocker Chicken or Turkey A' La King

Regular Recipe: Healthification Example:

1 can (6 oz.) Sliced just over 1 ½ cans (10 oz.)
Mushrooms, drained sliced mushrooms, drained
(Reserve 1/4 cup liquid) (Reserve ½ cup liquid)
½ cup diced green pepper 1 cup diced green pepper
½ cup butter or margarine 1/4 cup butter
½ cup Gold Medal flour ½ cup whole- wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper 1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 cups light cream 2 cups skim evaporated milk
1 3/4 cups chicken broth 1 3/4 cups chicken broth
(Fat is not skimmed (Refrigerate and skim fat
Off the top) Off the top)
2 cups cubed cooked chicken 1 cup cubed, cooked, pre- skinned
Or turkey White chicken or turkey
1 jar (4 oz.) Pimiento, chopped 1 jar (4 oz.) Pimento, chopped
Toast cups (next recipe) Toast cups (next recipe)

Betty Crocker Toast Cups

Toast Cups Healthification Example:

Heat oven to 375°. Follow original recipe, except use
crusts from thinly sliced fresh whole wheat bread and very
bread spread with soft butter sparing amount of butter. Spray
or margarine. Press buttered muffin tin with cooking spay to
side down into muffin cups. Prevent sticking
Bake 12 minutes or until
lightly toasted.


Notice how easy it was to employ the four keys to recipe healthification in the Chicken a la King recipe:

I. Increase complex carbohydrates:
A. Increased mushrooms by 4 oz.
B. Increased green pepper by 4 oz.
C. Use whole-wheat flour instead of white flour.
II. Decrease fat:
A. Decreased butter by 1/4 cup (cut it in half) = minus 46 fat grams.
B. Use skim evaporated milk instead of 2 cups light cream = minus 74 fat grams.
C. Skimmed chicken broth (if applicable) = minus 5 fat grams.
III. Be moderate with animal protein, sugar, and salt:
A. Decreased salt by 1/2 teaspoon. (I must admit, I don't always follow this step. I don't suffer from high blood pressure, and 1/2 teaspoon isn't very much in an eight-serving recipe.)
B. Decreased meat by 1 cup (be certain to use white meat and skin it before cooking it or buy it that way) = minus 104 fat grams.
IV. Balance the amounts of solids and liquids.

A. Solid increases: 4 oz. Mushrooms
Perfect 4 oz. Green pepper
Balance B. Solid decrease 8 oz. Chicken or turkey
C. Liquid Increases: 1/4 cup mushroom liquid or
Perfect Water
Balance D. Liquid decreases: 1/4 cup butter


We have now followed the four keys to successful recipe healthification. The result will contain a whopping 229 fewer fat grams than the original product. It is higher in complex carbohydrates, healthier, and absolutely delicious.

Let's look at how the following recipe follows the four keys to successful recipe healthification.

Coffee Cake Healthification

3/4 cup butter or margarine, 6 tablespoons butter,
Softened Softened
1 ½ cups sugar 3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs 6 egg whites
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
3 cups Gold Medal flour 3 cups whole- wheat flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking power 1 ½ teaspoons baking power
1 ½ teaspoons soda 1/4 teaspoon salt (because it is
Such a small amount)
11/2 cups dairy sour cream 1 3/4 cups fat free sour cream

Filling: Filling:
½ cup brown sugar (packed) 1/4 cup brown sugar (not packed)
½ cup chopped dates
½ cup finely chopped nuts 1/4 cup finely chopped nuts
1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon 1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon

I. Increase complex carbohydrates:
A. Use whole-wheat flour instead of white flour.
B Add chopped dates (more complex than sugar for added sweetness).
II. Decrease fat:
A. Decreased butter from 3/4 cup to 3/8 cup = minus 46 fat grams.
B. Change 3 eggs to 6 egg whites = minus 17 fat grams. (This decreases the fat and balances the liquid.)
C. Change 11/2 cups dairy sour cream to 11/2 cups fat free sour cream = minus 72 fat grams.
D. Decrease chopped nuts from 1/2 cup to 1/4 cup = minus 17 fat grams.
III. Be moderate with animal protein, sugar and salt.
A. Decrease brown sugar from 1/2 cup to 1/4 cup, adding chopped dates for sweetness.
IV. Balance the amounts of solids and the liquids

Perfect A. Solid increases: ½ cup chopped dates
Balance B. Solid decreases: 1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup nuts

Perfect C. Liquid increases: 3 more egg whites
Balance D. Liquid decreases: 3 egg yolks
As you can see, by following the four keys to successful recipe healthification, it is easy to make your recipes delicious while making them much healthier and leaner. We just decreased the fat in this coffee-cake recipe by 152 fat grams. Wow! It also makes you feel quite creative and satisfied that you are performing a much-needed service for yourself and others who enjoy your cooking.
It takes no great skill or magic to drench a recipe in butter and sugar. The test of a truly great cook is to make something taste great and be good for you at the same time.
To get a quick, easy start on eating healthy foods, just refer to the many fast and delicious Lean & Free recipes and combine them with the perfect nutrient balance contained in each one of the menus. You may also find great fun in healthifying your own favorite recipes, so make a goal to healthify one of your own recipes each week. Healthifying recipes helps keep you personally involved in the process of transforming your body from a fat-storing warehouse to a fat-burning machine.