Cooking it the Healthy Way

Three more months and the Christmas season is almost near. This means pay bonuses, shopping for gifts, and Christmas parties. This also means ruining your diet plan and gaining those extra pounds again. Perhaps one of the best ways to lose weight is by bringing in your cooking skills to good use in order to whip up much healthier foods in the kitchen. This allows you to be more in control about the kind of food you eat, and this also fills up your refrigerator with healthier leftovers rather than the usual chips and beer.

The basic idea in cooking healthy is to lower calories on the food which you cook. To do that, you need can reduce, substitute or eliminate certain ingredients rich in fats, sugar and salt content, but still without sacrificing flavor. For one, replace your usual oil ingredients with buttermilk - this not only lessens calories in pancakes and waffles, but also increases the amount of protein and calcium in your diet. You can also mix yoghurt with low fat milk as a substitute for buttermilk.

As much as possible, use products which are low in fat, low in sugar or low in salt. For instance, cheese and full milk are both rich in fat content, but because you also need calcium and protein, you can dairy products with low fat content such as cottage cheese and plain yoghurt for your breakfast meals, and a bit of Parmesan cheese for your pasta dishes. Replace your standard cooking oil with canola oil or olive oil, when frying or steaming food. To reduce sodium content, rinse or strain canned beans or other canned goods with sodium, or throw away the seasoning or at least minimize its use when cooking foods. To add flavor to your meals, use herbs and spices such as onions, pepper, mustards, and other onion family vegetables, instead of the usual salt. To reduce sugar intake, replace sugar with lemon, vanilla or orange extracts to sweeten the dish flavor, especially when making desserts, marinades or baked pastries. Instead of sweets for desserts, substitute for fruits to add more fiber into your diet such as bananas, mangoes, and melons.

Frying is often discouraged when cooking food, since it requires oil into your diet. You can opt to use other cooking methods which ensure less fat content and less oil in your meals, such as grilling, boiling, and baking. Unlike frying which is often used for packaged or processed foods such as sausages and hotdogs, baking, grilling and boiling allows you to use fresh foods. Dutch oven cooking is one way to broil healthy stews and soups. For more ways how to cook healthy food, you can always look for Dutch oven information.

Cooking it the Healthy Way

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