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As a personal trainer and fitness bootcamp instructor in Singapore, very often I meet people who love their cookies. Even while being absolutely committed to healthy diets designed for weight loss, fat burning and muscle building, they still long for a little dietary indulgance once in a while.

What is the best step to take, when we are sincerely, absolutely, dying for a bite of sweet, warm cookie?

The answer simple: Just bake your own! That’s the BEST way to eat your cookies while on a healthy diet.

Making your own luxurious, sugary pastries and confectionaries beats buying them by far. Why?

1. VALUE – when you bake your own, you get more joy per calorie, because the fun of making them, especially if you are making them with your friends or family, the good smells that drift out of the hot oven, the feeling of warmth that comes from sharing handmade goodies, become part of your cookie experience. You don’t get to experience all these things when you just pick up pre-made or packaged cookies. Read the rest of this entry »

Imagine having kids eager to eat spinach? What if you could sneak it into desserts? And how about secretly filling hamburgers with mixed vegetables? Or adding yellow and orange veggies to macaroni and cheese? And what if the kids would gobble them all up and never know the difference! Well, now you can.

It took a health food magazine editor (who had children who were picky eaters) to come up with The Sneaky Chef, a delightful cookbook that features recipes like Breakfast Ice Cream and Breakfast Cookies. You won’t believe all the vegetables that can be hidden in the foods that children love.

This is also a great book for adults who turn up their noses at vegetables. Since you can’t taste the difference, they never have to know that you are feeding them things that are good for them. You can even make these goodies for yourself.

How about highly nutritious (and delicious) cookies and cupcakes for snackers on the go? Can you imagine the possibilities for healthful holiday treats?

Well, see for yourself how easy it is….

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If you are trying to lose weight, or you have high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, or other health conditions that require changing your diet, often it can be tough to find food that you like. And if you are preparing food for a family, you don’t want to have to fix totally separate meals for different family members.

People often complain that low-fat, low-salt food is tasteless, but it doesn’t have to be that way. All it takes is a little creativity and great, fresh ingredients.

Here is a fat-free, salt-free way to make grilled fish that is simply delicious. These instructions make enough grilled fish to serve two adults and a small child, but you can easily increase the quantities to serve more people.

You will use no oil or butter, and no salt. Yet this dish is richly flavorful. It is wonderful served with baked plantains and black beans (the traditional side dishes), or with baked potatoes, salad, and any other vegetables you like.

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Image via Wikipedia

Besides being delicious, nuts are a good source of nutrients that are important for healthy skin. In recent years, however, some people have avoided eating nuts, because they were concerned about eating too much fat.

Now there is great news for health-conscious people who love nuts. New research shows that almonds do not cause weight gain.