Although it is possible to eat a healthy meal at a restaurant, cooking your own healthy meals can be faster while at the same time allowing you to customize the food to your tastes. Using new techniques and changing the way you cook can lead to healthier, tastier meals.
Use Herbs, Spices and Condiments
Although a plain, skinless baked chicken breast may contain protein and little fat, adding spices and herbs to your meats and vegetables kicks up the flavor factor without adding calories or unhealthy fats. Season your meat with a rub made of your favorite spices, such as garlic, black, red and cayenne pepper. Grill or bake the meat until done. Avoid commercial dressings, as 1 tbsp. of Roquefort or blue cheese dressing has about 77 calories, Italian dressing contains 43 calories and mayonnaise contains 99 calories. Make your own salad dressing with balsamic vinegar and Italian seasoning, and cook fresh vegetables with onion, oregano, basil or shallots rather than butter.
Use Healthy Substitutions
Healthy cooking involves controlling the ingredients to ensure both appealing taste and properly balanced nutrition. Bake healthier cakes or muffins with fruit purees or applesauce instead of solid shortening or butter. Reduce fat in main dishes by using low-fat cheeses, fat-free sour cream, skim milk and nonfat salad dressings in place of full-fat versions. Avoid adding salt to dishes, opting instead for fresh, chopped herbs or salt substitutes. Read the labels on canned broths, sauces, vegetables and soups and choose the lowest in sodium or use homemade when possible. Trade beans for chicken or beef in Mexican dishes, soups and stews to reduce fat.
Try New Cooking Methods
The type of preparation method you use directly affects the number of calories and nutrition in the finished dish. If you scramble eggs in a pan sprayed with cooking spray, you add few calories. However, if you use 1 tbsp. of butter in the pan, you add 102 calories and additional saturated fat. Use a wok to stir-fry both meats and vegetables, recommends the American Heart Association. Remove the fat before baking meats, and place the meat on a wire rack in a roasting pan to allow the fat in the meat to drip into the pan. Grill vegetables and fish in foil, pan saute vegetables or meats with water or broth and microwave or steam vegetables until tender-crisp.
Try New Foods
Consider expanding your palate and trying nutritious foods you have never tasted before. Use baked tofu in a salad, or try a soup made with a bag of mixed beans. Try new vegetables, such as turnips, long beans or brussels sprouts. Use easy-to-prepare spaghetti squash rather than traditional white pasta in spaghetti. Use an apple variety you have never tried in an apple-walnut salad or as a base for healthy apple crisp. Put avocados on your grocery list, and add a few slices to your next sandwich.
References
- "Healthy Cooking with Spices and Herbs"; Alice Henneman, MS, RD
- California State University, Sacramento: Healthy Cooking and Baking Substitutions
- American Heart Association: Healthier Preparation Methods for Cooking; Sept. 10, 2010
- Let's Move: Try a New Fruit or Veggie
- USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference: Release 17: Energy
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