This week we share the fourth in a series of blog posts that give you practical weight loss tools. We are demonstrating how to use spices and herbs to enhance the flavor and the health value as you prepare food for the week to make your weight loss journey easier. Karis Hicks created a food demonstration for our Sweet Loss Wellness, Inc. clients as part of her Nutrition Internship with Sweet Life Wellness, Inc. and final project for her master’s degree in nutrition from North Carolina Central University. Karis offers her insights in the accompanying video to help you keep it simple and flavorful and make it easier to lose weight and keep it off. Here’s what Karis shares with you in her own words with this video.
Karis: I’m going to adjust my view here so I can see everybody and everything. All right. So we have done two other culinary demonstrations. One of them was at our client day celebration back in, was that September? Yeah, that was back in September up in Maryland. And we talked about olive oil. And then in October, we talked about knife skills. And if you missed that, I think it was recorded correct, Jo. Yes, it was recorded and it was sent out so you can go back and watch that. It’s a short 10 minute little clip that I do up, as a part of that training call as well. So you can go back and watch it if you missed it.
Today’s topic is, as you can probably tell, spices and a fun fact that I told Kay and Jo earlier. I actually built this little spice shelf myself. I have them up in my cupboards usually, but as you can tell, I have a pretty wide variety. There’s lots of colors of spices, and this might feel really overwhelming for you. And if it feels really overwhelming, that’s okay, because we’re going to talk through why this should not be overwhelming.
So the first thing I want to touch on is why spices and herbs? Why is this a big deal? And one of the biggest things to remember is that using spices in your cooking instead of oils or salt, you still get flavor, a rich flavor with these spices, but you won’t have other, the other harmful things such as higher cholesterol or higher blood pressure that might come from the salt or the oil. And then there are a lot of health benefits that come from these different spices. So over here with my baking, you have cloves and cinnamon. And they are antioxidants, very high in antioxidants. And that’s the same with herbs like oregano and thyme, sage and rosemary. And we’ll be using some rosemary today in our demonstration. Anti-inflammatory, that would be things like ginger or garlic, turmeric, and even black pepper will help with anti-inflammatory properties, and then also your immune system.
I am getting over a cold, Jo, you are struggling with probably the same type of cold that I have. Again, ginger, turmeric, which is this bright orange, beautiful fall looking spice. Also really, really good for your immune system as well as oregano and garlic. So those are some of our health benefits. And then another reason to use spices and herbs is just the appeal. And what I mean by that is color. We love to eat foods that look good to us, right? If you look at a food and it looks bland, you are probably not going to be the most appetized by that food. And as you, I don’t know if you can tell in this weird lighting, we’ve got this bear salmon, this very plain brown rice that I just cooked up. And then I just steamed some sweet potatoes and some broccoli. I did not roast them because I just have my braces tightened last week, and we are eating healthy. But we had to make some adjustments so that I can eat this very soft food.
So it’s very plain, there’s nothing on this yet. I have used no olive oil, I have used no salt. I have, I’ve used nothing, it’s very plain and very empty. So what we are going to do is we’re going to spice this up a little bit, and before we add some spices here, I just want to walk you through some helpful tips. And again, this is being recorded, so you can go back and write them down later if you need to. But the first helpful tip is to store your spices, let’s use red pepper. Store your spices in an airtight container. There are a lot of these that you can purchase from different stores, Target, Walmart, Amazon. But the biggest thing you want to look for is this little seal right here. It’s a rubber seal. It goes all the way around the lid and it will actually lock in place so that it’s an airtight container and your spices and your herbs will stay fresh.
Another tip for you, a lot of us just like to open our spice containers and shake right over top of our food. However, the steam that’s rising from our food will then get trapped in the spice container and create moisture later on. So it’s helpful to sprinkle some out onto your hands just a small bit and then sprinkle it onto your food. Again, not over top of your food. So that will keep your spices fresh. Another tip is do not store it in the fridge or the freezer. I think there’s a myth that a lot of people believe if you store it in the fridge or the freezer, it will stay fresher for longer, that’s not true for the same reason as shaking it over top of your food and that’s because of moisture. So you wanna keep moisture away from that.
And then a good rule of thumb is called the one half rule, where when we’re seasoning something, a dish for four to six people, we start with a half teaspoon of that spice. If you’re serving roughly four to six people, you use a half a teaspoon of that spice and it will be plenty to go around through your food. And then a big concept is to let your flavors marry, so if you’re making a homemade salad dressing with say some olive oil and some different seasonings before your dinner, make it about an hour or two ahead so that that can sit in your fridge and blend really well together, and you’ll get a more rich flavor.
And then last but not least, this is why my food is so plain right now. I’m actually going to eat this tonight for my dinner, so you get to see my dinner. But my food is so plain because I did not add any spices during the cooking process or at the start of the cooking process because that can sometimes, if it’s added at the very beginning, say, when I was steaming my vegetables, I would’ve lost a lot of that flavor through the steaming. So it’s best to add spices and herbs towards the end of your preparation as much as you can so you don’t lose that flavor.
All right, so we’re going to go ahead and start with salmon. And for my salmon, I’m going to do something very simple, I’m going to do, where am I here? We’re gonna do rosemary and pepper. I love a good rosemary bread, but rosemary also goes really good on salmon. So I’m gonna add a little pepper and just a little bit of rosemary. Again, not a ton because a little bit of rosemary goes a long way, but it’s really yummy. We’re gonna close that back up. And then for my sweet potato broccoli, we are going to do some paprika, which is a little bit spicier, some cumin, and I would say some red pepper flakes because I like my vegetables to be a little on the flavorful side. You just want to go a little bit careful with the paprika because it’s very, very strong. So again, I’m going to give a little bit into my hands. We’re just going to sprinkle this over top, maybe a little bit more because we’ve lost some of it. And I can put the extra in the sink.
And then we’re going to take some cumin as well. This is my favorite blend of spices to do with sweet potatoes when I roast them, like in a pan on top of the stove with a little bit of olive oil. And you can use olive oil, this extra virgin olive oil, that’s why it’s out. To encourage you to roast your vegetables with just a little bit of extra virgin olive oil and add your seasonings and your spices, your herbs right at the very end and that olive oil helps the seasonings and the spices to bind. And then last but not least, just a few of these spicy red pepper flakes, because I like a little bit of spice in my vegetables. So yummy that we are done with that. And then lastly, for my brown rice, I love using a little bit of garlic powder. You can also use fresh garlic, but I am in grad school after all so I am going to be taking the shortcut and using the garlic powder. You can also do this in the pot after you have steamed and fluffed your rice. You can just mix it all together in the pot. And then I’m going to add a little bit of parsley as well. We’ve got that garlic and parsley going on. Garlic…
All right, so this is the end of our culinary demo here. This is everything I have to share with you. Again, everything I just did you could do at the very end of your cooking process. I just had mine already plated because it would’ve been a little harder to have you guys watch me doing this for the past 15 minutes with all of my different foods. But it’s very simple, very easy for you to do as well. And again, these jars are very inexpensive, but it does allow you the opportunity to use some spices for health benefits instead of just always using salt. And you notice I have no salt out right now, and oftentimes many nights a week, I don’t add salt to my food because these spices give me enough of the flavor. So no salt and no oil. My heart is happier. I’m sure my arteries are happier as well, and my food still tastes delicious. So that is what I have for you all tonight.
Click here for Karis’s video blog post demonstration of Kitchen Knife Skills to Lose Weight the Healthy Way.
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- Click here to watch the Latest Sweet Life Wellness Podcast Episode on How to Enjoy Mindful Eating.
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Kay Loughrey, MPH, RDN, LDN
Transformational Speaker, Breakthrough Coach, Nutritionist-Dietitian
Karis N. Hicks
North Carolina Central University
M.S. – Nutrition Studies
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