The ABC for an healthy recipe

"Healthy recipes", "healthy menu", these are themes used many times in culinary magazines, books and websites. Can we always trust it? When the word "healthy" is shown it let us think that eating such a recipe will maintain us away from illness and disease. Or at least we expect it not being deleterious! It's not rare to find recipes full of sugar, salt or fats under the "healthy" rubric... Are these recipes really "healthy"? Here a criteria's list to find out which recipes are fake and which a really the best healthy recipes.

Privilege recipes that contains the least transformed ingredients. For exemple meals recipes with canning soups. These soups are rich in sodium and saturated lipids vs an homemade béchamel sauce prepared with milk low in fats, margarine and flour.
Be careful with foods rich in sodium. Soy sauce, broth concentrated, meats, sausages, tomatoes paste... Opt instead for low in sodium version.
Too much lipids and bad fats. For exemple; a recipes with lots of cheese will be nutritious and full of proteins; but rich with saturated lipids, bad fats. In general, butter, puff pastry, shortening, meats, cheese and dairy products rich in fats contains lots of saturated lipids. It's predominately in recipes and foods is harmful for health.
Careful of sugar. Sugar is unavoidable for desserts and bakeries products like muffins and cookies. Refined sugar such as white granulated sugar and brown sugar are interesting when used in small quantities. Take a look at recipes made with honey or maple syrup which contains antioxidants and other beneficial substances for health. Plus, avoid choosing recipes that has more than a cup of sugar in it for only 12 portions.
The more cereals are raw, the healthier it is. Take a look at recipes with whole grains and flour. Whitened or refined version loose its vitamins, minerals and fibers.
Fruits and vegetables, kings and queens of recipes. The more fruits and vegetables it has, the better we feel. We can't repeat it enough. These vegetabes are essentials to your vitality.

Small « makeover »

We can also take these tips and apply it to our favorites recipes and make it more "healthy".

The revamp version of the Ricardo spaghetti sauce

Quantity	Originale recipe	Recommandation to lower sodium
675 g	Sweet or spicy Italian sausages flesh	675 g of chopped lean beef of firm tofu
675 g	Lean chopped beef
60 ml (1/4 cup)	Olive oil
½ teaspoon	Crushed hot pepper flakes
3	Chopped onions
4	Peel and diced carrots
4 branches	Diced celery
4 cloves	Chopped garlic
1 cans of 156ml	Tomato paste	Unico tomato paste : 20 mg for 30 ml
2 cans of 796ml	Diced tomatoes	Primo or Unico Italian diced tomatoes without added salt : 5 mg for 125 ml
2 cans of 796 ml	Tomato sauce	Hunt’s tomato sauce without added salt : 40 mg for 125 ml
500 ml	Beef broth	Campbell’s diluted without added salt 66 mg / 250 ml
10 ml	Dired oregano
2 to 3	Cloves
Up to taste	Salt and pepper	Do not add salt but add ¼ teaspoon of basil and thyme and dried herbs