After all the decadence of the holiday season, a new year has kicked off and we have shifted our focus to fresh starts and lighter meal options. With several weeks of winter left, we tend to still reach for heartier comfort foods, which may challenge our New Year’s resolutions. So how do you balance the desire for both comfort and health? We’ve rounded up a few of our favorite healthy and satisfying winter recipes to keep you cozy through spring while staying on track with your health goals.
Healthy Recipes for Weight Loss
Breakfast
These Individual Sausage Casseroles from The Pioneer Woman are a great option to make ahead. They freeze well and need just a few minutes in the microwave to be reheated.
Ingredients
- 1 pound breakfast sausage
- 1 medium onion, diced small
- 15 large eggs
- Dash of salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 medium green bell pepper, diced small
- 1 cup freshly grated cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Generously spray 18 muffin cups with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a large skillet over medium-high heat, crumble and cook the sausage until it’s about ¾ brown. Add the onion and reduce the heat to medium-low. Stir and continue cooking the sausage, stirring occasionally, until the sausage is cooked and the onion is soft. Remove the pan from the heat and set it aside to cool.
- Crack the eggs into a bowl and add the salt, pepper and chili powder. Whisk it until it’s combined. Add the cheddar and bell pepper and stir them in. When the sausage has cooled slightly, Add it by the spoonful and stir it until it’s all mixed together.
- Use a measuring cup to scoop the mixture into the muffin cups and bake them for 20-22 minutes, until they’re puffy and just barely set. Within a minute or two, the casseroles will start to flatten just a little bit. This is normal! Run a knife along the edges of each muffin cup and lift them out of the pan. Serve them warm with a little fruit.
Lunch
This hearty Italian Chopped Brussels Sprouts Salad from Ambitious Kitchen is a take on your favorite Italian sub using seasonal vegetables in the place of lettuce for an amazing crunchy flavor.
Ingredients
For the Italian dressing:
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1-2 teaspoons sugar or honey, depending on how sweet you like your dressing
- 1 clove garlic, finely minced
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
For the salad:
- 1 pound Brussels sprouts, ends trimmed and outer leaves removed
- 1 15-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- 4-6 ounces thinly sliced Genoa salami, cut in half or julienned
- 1½ cups cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
- ½ cup pitted and sliced kalamata olives or sliced black olives
- ¼ cup sliced pepperoncinis
- ½ small red onion, thinly sliced
- ½ cup cubed provolone cheese
- ¼ cup shaved or shredded Parmesan
Instructions
- Make the dressing: in a medium bowl, whisk together the olive oil, red wine vinegar, sugar/honey, garlic, dijon, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper.
- Next, shred the Brussels sprouts by using a food processor with the slicing attachment and pulse until the Brussels sprouts are thinly sliced. If you don’t have a food processor, feel free to use a sharp knife to thinly slice.
- Add shredded Brussels to a large bowl and pour the dressing all over. Next, use tongs to coat the Brussels with the dressing. Let the dressing sit and marinate the Brussels for 30 minutes. While the Brussels marinate and soak up the dressing, you can chop and prep all your other ingredients.
- Next add in the chickpeas, salami, tomatoes, olives, pepperoncinis, red onion, provolone cheese cubes and shaved Parmesan. Toss to combine. Serve immediately with extra black pepper. Serves four to six.
Dinner
This Sheet-Pan Maple-Mustard Pork Chops & Carrots from Eating Well comes together quickly and is loaded with flavorful anti-inflammatory ingredients.
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
- 1 tablespoon whole-grain mustard
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 4 5-ounce bone-in, center-cut pork chops (½-inch thick)
- 1 ½ pounds rainbow carrots, cut diagonally into 1/4-inch slices
- 2 teaspoons finely chopped garlic
- 1 teaspoon coarsely chopped, peeled fresh ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¾ teaspoon ground pepper
- ¼ cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
Instructions
- Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 450 F.
- Whisk one tablespoon oil, mustard and maple syrup in a small bowl. Place pork chops on one side of a rimmed baking sheet. Brush the tops with the oil mixture. Place carrots on the other side and drizzle with the remaining three tablespoons of oil. Sprinkle garlic, ginger and turmeric on the carrots and toss to coat. Season everything with salt and pepper. Roast for 10 minutes.
- Turn the broiler to high. Broil until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the thickest part of a chop without touching the bone registers 145 F, about four minutes. Continue cooking the carrots, if needed, until tender and glazed, two to five minutes more. Serve sprinkled with parsley.
These recipes make it easy and delicious to keep up with your fresh start to a healthier you. If you feel a guided boost would help in achieving your goals, a customized weight loss plan is a great solution.
Why Medical Weight Loss?
Weight loss is a very personal matter. If you begin a weight loss program and you are successful, everyone will see it and let you know. The problem is that the weight often comes right back, and then you’re back to square one. It’s no wonder that so many people think losing weight — and successfully keeping it off — is so difficult that it seems hopeless at times.
KC Wellness Center is here to help you lose weight and teach you how to keep it off. Our patients tell us that they want to look good, feel great and stay healthy — and that’s what we strive to accomplish. Our programs are safe and affordable and most importantly they work for everyone who follows them. We are proud to say that about 90% (yes, nine out of 10) of our patients have lost the amount of weight that they wanted and have kept it all off. They have also decreased their blood pressure, watched as their type 2 diabetes disappeared and reversed life-threatening cholesterol readings.
Our doctors are confident that our medical weight loss programs are the most effective, individualized, multifaceted programs available, and the programs deliver the most health benefits to our patients. We can help you truly change your life.
Our doctors and professional office staff have decades of experience, and we are here to help you. Our detailed intake process includes these steps:
- Discuss your health history in detail
- Perform a comprehensive physical examination
- Perform comprehensive laboratory testing
- Create a customized plan that will help you lose weight and improve your overall health
There is no one-size-fits-all medical weight loss program. Every person is different: a different medical history, health issues, upbringing, fitness routine and body type. That’s why for some people just dieting and exercising won’t help them lose and maintain a healthy weight. We must carefully consider what the most appropriate and effective program is for you and your lifestyle.
Weight Loss Programs for Men and Women
KC Wellness Center offers stand-alone programs that include lifestyle changes to ensure that you get fast, safe and sustainable results. The initial phase of our weight loss programs includes a combination of medications, supplements and meal plans customized to fit your needs and goals. These are the primary treatments we utilize to achieve fast, amazing results:
- Lipotropic Injections — Our bodies use three essential amino acids to help the liver metabolize fatty acids from foods. When injected, lipotropic compounds can accelerate the fat metabolism rate. As a result, the fatty acids are degraded and utilized or excreted by the body quickly, as opposed to being stored as fat. Adding additional vitamins and minerals to the amino acid blend accelerates this process.
- Semaglutide Injections — These shots help combat chronic weight issues. The treatment has a GLP-1 effect, meaning it signals the pancreas to create insulin, which causes the stomach to empty over a longer period — keeping you fuller longer. The shots also suppress your appetite by using your body’s natural insulin production process and help stabilize blood sugar to avoid crashes.
- Prescription Appetite Suppressants — Our physician thoroughly evaluates each patient and prescribes an appropriate appetite suppressant when it is clinically indicated. The most commonly prescribed medication is phentermine.
- Weight Loss Coaching — Our staff is here to help you through your weight loss journey every step of the way. Not only will you receive weekly weight loss progress, counseling and nutrition advice, but we will make ourselves available via phone or email outside of office hours for your convenience. Our goal is your success!
- Nutritional Supplements — We utilize pharmaceutical-grade nutritional supplements to help facilitate rapid weight loss, increase energy and promote long-term health. We use supplements made by Pure Encapsulations that are guaranteed for potency and purity.
Our doctors and staff are always available to answer questions about your program. We provide nutritional counseling, guides for medication and supplements, detailed shopping lists, meal plans, recipes and weekly progress reports.
If your goal is to regain control of your life, achieve sustainable weight loss and have the body you have been dreaming of, then the medical weight loss program at KC Wellness Center is exactly what you need!
If you are ready to lose weight and learn how to keep it off, then it’s time to call KC Wellness Center. The professionals at KC Wellness Center have many years of experience in helping patients lose weight.
At KC Wellness Center our doctors and nurses consider our medical approach to weight loss the most realistic and effective program available.
Consult KC Wellness
When it comes to complete wellness, there is no one-size-fits-all approach. It is a personal matter requiring an individualized plan to fit your needs and lifestyle. But for many people, without guidance and support from outside resources, successfully meeting your wellness and weight-loss goals can be a challenging process. At KC Wellness, we have a holistic approach to wellness. We help you stay on course to follow a realistic and consistent eating pattern, take any vitamins in which you may be deficient and get regular physical activity. We focus on lifestyle changes that encourage safe and sustainable results.
If you are ready for a routine that will change your life through sustainable weight loss and wellness tips, then KC Wellness may be precisely what you are looking for. Our doctors and staff are always available to answer any questions and provide guidance along the way to help you succeed. You can check out our medical weight loss services here to learn more about what we do. Reach out to our team today to see how we can help you in your health and wellness journey. Call us at 816-214-5276 or contact us here. There’s no reason to wait — let us help you feel your very best every day.
You can also check out our comprehensive guide to medical weight loss. You can see all of our services HERE.