Okay people, take the title of this journal entry figuratively! A wok isn’t going to serve as your fitness coach, persuading you to put down that cheeseburger and head to the gym. For the record, if you’re gonna have a cheeseburger, make it yourself; buy the highest (lowest fat content) ground beef (ground turkey, preferred) possible; eliminate the cheese, and ask me for my wonderful recipe I call a “Dirty Burger!!!” It’s generally a bun’less burger. It’s encouraged that you experiment with different herbs and spices when seasoning, attention to a low-sodium preference. Some nutritionist recommend eating close to the same thing each night with subtle changes for flavorings.
On topic: I personally think that I wouldn’t have lost all the weight I have if I hadn’t had a wok. Roughly 75% of the things I eat and cook at home can be prepared in a wok. I guess my preference of consumed foods consist of anything healthy that’s stir fried in a wok, or where choices of meat can be cooked with minimal oil to no oil-fat/calorie content(s). I love my veggies. (Hey, can someone tell my mom that I just said that, haha.) I love buying my vegetables, which consist of bell peppers (red, green, yellow, and orange), onions (sweet and green scallion), broccoli, green beans, and cabbage (I make a mean cabbage soft taco), bok choy, etc, etc.
I encourage all to find a very cheap produce store with cheaply priced veggies. I prefer the discounted produce and fruits specific stores that have competitive pricing daily. I live in the Chicagoland area and I frequent produce stores such as Cermak Produce, the Egg Store, Jerry’s Fruit & Garden Center, and Valli’s. For similar stores in your area simply do a search at yellowpages under ‘produce’ for your area/location. You can view links under my ‘Relevant Links’ section in the right column of this page. From my experience, stores similar to these will give you the best bang for your buck, some better than others!
My base meals tend to consist of any combo of vegetables, combined with boneless/skinless chicken breast(grilled or sauteed-excess fat trimmed off), or fish, or some other meat. Veggies style is an option as well, such as steamed or sauteed vegetables smothering seasoned cooked cabbage. Find yourself a meat market store where the pricing tends to be cheaper due to less overhead. And in many of them, you get to pick out your own meat, where basically the store itself is one big freezer. I stay away from buying red meat for the most part. Well, when it’s time to grill and BBQ, you can count me in! WOOHOOOO!
Cooking with a wok doesn’t require you to use grease or heavy butter. I only use virgin olive oil, or perhaps some zero to low calorie butter spread spray. I cook with high heat a lot of the times while using the wok for stir frying veggies. I also prefer to pan grill my meat in the wok. Having a glass cover helps thicker meats and veggies to cook faster. But, you must not overcook you veggies, which is a MAJOR mishap with cooking veggies! The longer you cook them, the more of there nutritional benefits are lost! Just remind yourself; ‘If it’s close to crunchy, that’s a good thing.’
Having a good wok is KEY! The link proceeding provides a quick guide to the best wok for you and its benefits. about.com
Remember that old adage “You get what you pay for?” This is one of those cases where that may serve some truth. I’ve bought a few different wok’s, and from the one I have currently, in comparison, I prefer this model. It’s a carbon steel wok with a flat bottom. I also have a shorter diameter flat bottom wok. The way I see it, there is no substitute for a good carbon steel wok. Not only is it relatively inexpensive, it conducts heat evenly which makes for easier cooking. While there are many other types of woks on the market today – aluminum, stainless steel, even copper – I’ve randomly asked a few Asian people whom tend to prefer this model for their pan-Asian cooking.
It’s just so easy for me to throw foods in the wok and let it sizzle. It’s fun cooking. I love to take a day (Sunday) and cut up my veggies and store them in storage bags or plastic containers for cooking later on in the week. I do the same with my chicken breast; I’ll cook enough on Sunday and store for a few days. With doing this, and having a wok, you’ll have a very healthy meal cooked in 5 minutes tops for any given meal! With this as well, you leave very little excuse for not feeling like preparing food to cook. When you’re coming home from work, and having to deal with whatever you have to deal with, it’s wonderful to basically have your meals already prepared. All there is next to do is wok-it! Try it!
There are so many different varieties of herbs and spices to taste your stir fries with. Personally, I haven’t gotten tired of cooking my favorite home cooked healthy dish. There are those prepared pre-packaged sauces and sodium-infested flavorings to season vegetables and meats with. Some flavorings(e.g. powdered sauces) are specifically for stir frying. In my opinion, I’d stay away from them, particularly if hypertension and high blood pressure is an issue for you. Buy your own crushed herbs and spices and/or buy them fresh. I haven’t stepped my game up yet to consistently want to buy my herbs and spices fresh. I’m a bachelor, and buying them fresh is just time consuming although it’s the better option for better tasting. Low-sodium teriyaki or soy sauce are a couple of flavors I use from time to time. But, be very careful with any type of soy sauce as I like to call soy sauce liquid salt.
Lastly, if ya don’t own a wok, and you’re trying to either lose weight or maintain healthy eating, shame on you!
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Filed under: Weight Loss Tips | Tagged: cook, cooking, exercise, health, healthy, loss, low sodium, recipe, stir-fry, vegatable, veggie, weigh, wok | 4 Comments »