How to Prepare Food – The Healthy Way!
Are you wondering how to prepare food that tastes good and is good for you? It can be done with just a few simple food preparation tips! Let Truestar show you how to prepare foods that are easy-to-make, delicious and healthy!
To Decrease Total Fat and Calories:
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know.
Cooking tip: You can sauté or stir-fry vegetables with water, wine or broth instead of oil.Reduce or eliminate high-fat ingredients from recipes. For casseroles, add tofu, ground soy, bulgur or brown rice to cut back or eliminate the amount of meat you are using. Always use lean cuts of meat and trim off visible fat. Remove skin from poultry before cooking. Try using a small amount of a stronger cheese instead of a larger portion of a milder cheese. When making a stew or soup, chill it to allow the fat to rise to the top and then skim off hardened fat prior to reheating. Reduce the amount of oil used in homemade salad dressings. Try using 1/3 oil to 2/3 vinegar instead. In baked goods, reduce fat by 1/4 to 1/3. You can also use 2 egg whites or an egg substitute product instead of one whole egg. Use low-fat versions of foods. Most foods have a low-fat substitute that can be easily added into a recipe. Try low-fat mayonnaise, sour cream, cheeses, yogurt and milk where a recipe calls for the full-fat version.
To Decrease Sugar:
Do not buy fruit packed in syrups or juices. Buy fruit canned in its own juice or water or buy unsweetened frozen fruit.Reduce or replace sugar in recipes for a healthier treat! For baked goods and desserts, reduce sugar by 1/4 to 1/3 in recipes. In cookies, bars and cakes, replace 1/4 of the sugar with an equal amount of non-fat dry milk to help reduce calories. You can also use non-sugar sweeteners to replace some or all of the sugar in many recipes. However, some sweeteners will not give the same structure or volume that sugar can provide. You can try it out or use them in recipes especially tested for use with non-sugar sweeteners. Some natural sweeteners you can use include: unrefined brown sugar, pure maple syrup, barley malt, rice syrup, dates, Sucanat (granulated cane juice) and the no-calorie herb Stevia. For more information on natural sweeteners, see A Healthier Sugar? Avoid liquid calories. Fruit juices and soda contain too much sugar and calories. Choose water, low-calorie fruit beverages, diet sodas, low-fat milk or soymilk, club soda and seltzers instead.
To Decrease Sodium:
Choose low-sodium versions of foods. Choose low-sodium versions of soups, broths, bouillon cubes, soy sauce and other sauces, canned vegetables and tomato products. Buy seasonings with no salt or use salt substitutes. Use herbs and spices instead of salt to flavour your food. Reduce or eliminate salt from recipes. In a recipe, gradually reduce the amount of salt. Start by reducing the amount by half. You will soon get used to the less salty flavour and then could reduce it further or eliminate it all together—without missing it! Try to limit the amount of pre-packaged foods. Pre-packaged foods are loaded with salt. Read labels carefully. Any ingredient that includes sodium in its name contains sodium. Check to see how many mg of sodium per serving the food contains. If it is greater than 300 mg per serving, it contains a lot of salt. All Truestar meal plans utilize low-fat cooking methods and are prepared with the finest and healthiest ingredients. See Truestar nutrition plans to get your meal plan and recipes today! Also, get healthy with the Truestar exercise, supplements, sleep and attitude plans.
