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Sunday, January 8, 2012

Guest Post: Chicken Basil Pasta

Hey all--I'm interrupting my regular posts to bring you a guest post from reader Jackie, who asked if she could share some healthy living tips and a recipe with you today. Despite my excessive number of desserts on this blog, I do strive to live healthfully most of the time (and believe dessert is included in this!), so I was more than happy to let Jackie guest post. You may have heard some of her tips before, but it's always good to be reminded of them again...especially in January, right? Read on to see what she has to say...I definitely want to try her pasta recipe sometime!


Eat Right And Keep Yourself Healthy

Eating right is an easy way to maintain your health. Many people go to great lengths to find solutions to their health problems without realizing that they could have avoided those problems by eating healthy foods on a regular basis. Proper diet can keep you from suffering a number of diseases, such as diabetes or mesothelioma, and increases your survival rate from any diseases that you do acquire. Here are some tips for keeping a healthy diet and a sample recipe that is easy to make and tasty as well.

• Eat a lot of whole grains, fruits and vegetables. Many health problems can be traced back to an over-reliance on processed foods. You are actually supposed to eat 6-11 servings of breads, cereals and pasta. Every person is also supposed to eat 2-4 servings of fruit and 3-5 servings of vegetables.

• Eat a variety of foods that are rich in nutrients. You cannot improve your health by eating just fruits or just bread or just meat. Your body needs to receive nutrition from a variety of food products.

• Eat small portions. The average size of portions has grown considerably in the last few generations. Ironically, as people began to work in jobs that were increasingly sedentary and required less of them physically, they began to eat more food. The actual recommended size of a meat portion is just three ounces. One cup of pasta is equal to two servings.



• Eat regularly. Do not do what many others do to handle their weight problem: starve themselves. This just causes your body to go into survival mode and stop burning fat.

• Enjoy what you eat. Do not eliminate everything that you enjoy eating from your daily menu. Instead, learn to reduce or moderate the amounts of these foods that you eat. If you challenge yourself too much, you increase the chance of failure and a return to the poor diet habits that you had before.


A Healthy Recipe:
Basil Chicken And Pasta
serves 4

Ingredients:
-8 ounces pasta
-2 teaspoons olive oil
-½ cup chopped onion
-1 clove chopped garlic
-3 cups diced tomatoes
-¼ cup basil
-½ teaspoon salt
-1/8 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
-¼ cup parmesan cheese
-2 cups boneless chicken breast, cooked and in cubes

Directions:
Cook the pasta until it is soft and ready to eat. This usually takes about ten minutes. Drain the pasta and set it aside. In a large pan, heat the olive oil and sauté the onions and garlic. Stir in the remaining ingredients except for the parmesan cheese. Simmer for five minutes and continue stirring until everything is hot and the tomatoes have softened. Coat pasta with the resulting sauce and serve with parmesan cheese.

Thanks again Jackie! Readers, any additional healthy living tips to share?



One Year Ago: Crockpot Chicken Wings
Two Years Ago: Cranberry Orange Bread