Healthy Food Choices: Herbs

Herbs have no calories or sodium, which makes them perfect to add flavor for any dish. Learn some more about choosing healthy herbs in this video.

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Herbs have no calories or salt
Dry herbs are more concentrated
Fresh herbs should be refrigerated

About this Author

Alice Merritt is currently the Campus Dietitian at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. She has a masters degree from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in public health with a concentration on nutrition. Alice has worked as a registered dietician for four years, and believes that helping people reach their nutritional goals will lead to a long and healthy life.

ALICE MERRITT: Now I am going to talk to you about herbs. Herbs are a very healthy way to increase flavor and seasoning to your favorite dishes. One great thing about herbs is that they do not have any calories and they are also--have no salt. So a lot of times we flavor things by adding a lot of salt but if you substitute salt with herbs, you can get a variety of flavors and you do not have any of the negative side effects of salt. Some good herbs to use are of things like basil, thyme, oregano, parsley. You know any herb you like you can add into dishes. There is a difference between fresh herbs and dried herbs. Dried herbs tend to be a little more concentrated so you do not need to use quite as much dried herbs as you do when you use fresh. So important things to remember about herbs is if you use fresh herbs that they need to be refrigerated. Dried herbs can be kept in your cabinet and are good for about up to six months to a year. It is also good to add fresh herbs at the end of cooking because then--you do not want them to loose a lot of flavor whereas dried herbs you can add in at the beginning of cooking to kind of let their flavor soak into the dish. Like I said, herbs are a healthy alternative to using salt especially if you have high blood pressure or if you are at risk for coronary heart disease. So feel free to add herbs to any of your favorite dishes. These are some healthy things to know about herbs.

Healthy Food Choices: Herbs Video

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