Betty Crocker - Betty Crockers 1500 Calorie a Day Cookbook

Copyright 2013 by General Mills, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

All rights reserved

Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, New York, New York

For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 215 Park Avenue South, New York, New York 10003.

www.hmhbooks.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Betty Crocker 1500 calorie a day cookbook.

pages cm

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-118-34434-7 (pbk. : acid-free paper), ISBN 978-0-544-17783-3 (ebk)

1. Low-calorie diet--Recipes. 2. Reducing diets. 3. Food--Caloric content. I. Title: 1500 calorie a day cookbook. II. Title: Betty Crocker one thousand five hundred calorie a day cookbook.

RM222.2.B495 2012

641.5635--dc23

2012032038

Cover photos:

General Mills, Inc.

Editorial Director: Jeff Nowak

Senior Editor: Diane Carlson

Editor: Grace Wells

Food Editors: Andrea Bidwell, Catherine Swanson

Editorial Assistant: Kelly Gross

Contributing Writers: Elyse Cohen, M.S., L.N.; Catherine Swanson

Photographers: Val Bourassa, Rich Wong

Food Stylists: Nancy Johnson, Amy Peterson

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Publisher: Natalie Chapman

Associate Publisher: Jessica Goodman

Executive Editor: Anne Ficklen

Editor: Adam Kowit

Senior Editorial Assistant: Heather Dabah

Production Editor: Amy Zarkos

Cover Design: Suzanne Sunwoo

Art Director: Tai Blanche

Layout: Indianapolis Composition Services

Manufacturing Manager: Kevin Watt

v1.0313

Dear Friends,

Want to eat healthier, lose weight and live a better life? This cookbook is for you! Our simple 1500 calorie eating plan will help you achieve these goals. Eating better and losing weight is easier when the food is flavorful, satisfying and never boring . (Always check with your healthcare provider before making any diet changes.)

Weve organized taste-tempting recipes by meal occasion. Choose a recipe from each meal chapterBreakfast, Lunch, Dinnerand two recipes from the Snacks and Desserts chapter. Then round out your meals with fruits, veggies and healthy side dishes and snacks. No matter what combination of recipes you choose, youll end up eating 1500 calories or less each day (the average number of calories a woman needs to lose weight). All these mouthwatering recipes have been approved by our dieticians and include a complete nutritional analysis.

As an added bonus, you can trim more calories from many recipes by following our A Little Bit Less tips. Have higher-calorie needs or are extra-hungry? A Little Bit More tips show you healthy ways to add bulk to a dish. More or lessthe change in calories is included.

A healthy lifestyle is more than just good eatingso inside youll also find helpful information on how to embrace a healthy lifestyle, make physical activity part of your busy day and know if youre at a healthy weight. Weve taken the guesswork out of sticking to your 1500-calorie goal by including a list of 100-calories-or-less foods you can enjoy. Check out our 7 days of sample menusa weeks-worth of enticing recipes to keep you full and satisfied. With all these fantastic recipes and information, youll be so inspired; success can begin with your very next meal!

Sincerely,

Embracing a Healthy Lifestyle

Having a healthy lifestyle is what its all about. Its making lifelong habits to promote long-term health while reducing risk of health problems, increasing your energy level and improving your mood. If you want to achieve a healthy weight or maintain one, dont worry, we dont mean dieting. Diets are a temporary solution. Often as soon as you go off the diet, the weight begins to return. Achieving lifestyle changes means eating nutritiously, exercising, limiting alcohol and avoiding smoking and drugs.

To control your weight, shed pounds by eating nutritious, lower-calorie foods from all food groups and set a goal of getting at least 60 minutes of physical activity per day. When youre active and eating well, your body can settle into a weight thats healthy for you.

Choose MyPlate for Healthful Eating

MyPlate is the USDA guide to building a healthy plate at mealtime. The MyPlate symbol shows the five food groups (fruit, vegetable, grain, protein and dairy) within a place settingand includes awareness of portion sizes. The symbol visually shows that half the plate should be made up of fruits and veggiesand that we need less protein than grains. Dairy is important to the diet too. MyPlate helps reinforce the message about making healthier food choices from the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which suggest:

Enjoy your food, but eat less. Eat slowly and avoid eating while engaging in other activities such as reading or watching TV so that you dont overeat.

Avoid oversized portions. Use a smaller plate (such as a salad plate), bowl and glass to avoid serving yourself portions that are too big. When eating out, opt for the smaller size of a dish (when two sizes are offered), share with someone else or immediately have your server box up half of your meal to take home for eating at another time.

Make half your plate fruits and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables contain sources of fiber, vitamins and minerals. They are generally low in calories, so its easy to fill up without eating too many calories.

Switch to fat-free or low-fat (1%) milk. Its a simple way to reduce the calories and fat you consume. These products have the same amount of calcium and other essential nutrients as full-fat products but contain fewer calories and less fat.

Make at least half your grains whole grains. Read labels carefully, looking for the word "whole" in front of the word "grain" to assure youre choosing whole-grain options for bread, tortillas, cereals, rice and pasta.

Compare sodium in foodsand choose foods with the lower number. Look for products that are labeled low sodium, reduced sodium or no salt added. When these versions arent available, read the nutrition facts labels to compare foods.

Drink water to keep calories down. By drinking water before and during eating, you can fool your body into thinking its full, so you may end up eating less.

Check out www.chooseMyPlate.gov to learn more. Look for the online tools to personalize and manage your diet quality and physical activity choice. Start small by making changes to your diet one day at a time.

How Many Calories Do I Need Per Day?

To maintain your weight, calories in must equal calories out. This means that you will maintain your weight as long as you are eating as many calories as you are expending through exercise and bodily functions.

To lose weight, you need to eat fewer calories than you burn. You can do this in two ways: cut calories and/or increase physical activity. The recommended way to achieve weight loss is to combine both. In essence, move more and eat less.

A reduction of 3500 calories in your diet will result in a loss of 1 pound of body fat. Experts recommend losing 1 to 2 pounds per week to lose weight and keep it off. Achieve this by reducing some of the calories you consume (5001000 calories per day) and/or increasing your activity level. (The more you burn through exercise, the fewer calories you may need to reduce to lose up to 2 pounds per week.)