Healthy Eating Tips to Help You Lose Weight

Losing weight isn’t all about exercise and it certainly has nothing to do with fad diets or pills. In fact, the first step toward losing weight is taking a good look at your eating habits, which most likely are anything but healthy. By integrating even just a few healthy eating tips into your daily diet, you can start losing weight, feeling more energized and even notice an improvement in your overall mood. Better yet, healthy eating tips do not require you to spend extra money in order to get all of the great benefits of a healthy meal plan.

If you are having trouble with healthy recipes, here is a great blog by Brittany Mullins with some good stuff.

Healthy Eating Tips Start with Cooking Light

Heavy, greasy and over-fattening foods are not part of a healthy diet. Though fatty and oily foods can be eaten in moderation, most of us are guilty of expanding that moderation to the extreme. Believe it or not, junk food items will cost you more in the long run than purchasing fresh, wholesome ingredients. At first glance, frozen foods, processed ingredients and junk food items all look as though they cost less, but the reality is you eat more. Therefore, you purchase and replace more often than you would fresh, whole ingredients – and this adds up over time.

Healthy Eating Tips is Not Just Eating

Though you are what you eat, there is more to healthy eating tips than just food – what you drink counts as well. Switching to water is not only healthier, it helps you save money on your monthly grocery bill over sodas and over-sugared drinks. If you are spending the money on bottled water, keep in mind that bottled water companies get their water from municipal water just like your tap. You can save money by using a purifying filtered pitcher or attachment on your tap, which costs about $7 to $10 and gives you clean, fresh water for up to three months.

Healthy Eating Tips Starts with Protein

Protein is very important in a healthy eating diet. Eggs are a great source of protein, vitamins and are very low in price, which makes them a great breakfast item for low-budget healthy eating tips. When people hear of protein, they often instantly think of meat and with that comes the belief that you have to avoid all meats that have marbling or excess fat in them. This is, however, untrue. Fattier cuts of meat are not only more tender and easy to work with, but the fat in meat doesn’t make you fat – calories do. Furthermore, the fats in meat contain essential nutrients like Omega 3, 6 and 9 essential fatty acids.

Keeping a Food Diary

Another important part of healthy eating tips is starting out with a food diary. In order to know just how bad your eating habits are, you need to know what it is you are eating. Keeping a food diary gives you the opportunity to track what you eat, how many calories it has and how many servings you ate of it. You might be surprised how far over the “serving recommendation” you go.

Start keeping a food diary for yourself, focusing on:

The item you eat
What meal the item was eaten in
Total calories, fat, nutrients, etc. in the items
How much you ate of that item

Lighten Up | Tips to Start Cooking Light

Cooking light does not mean zero flavor. In fact, many of your favorite recipes can be prepared lighter through healthy cooking methods without sacrificing any taste. So how do you cut the fat and start cooking lighter for family and friends?

Cooking Light Starts with a Recipe

Before you cook anything, you need to examine the recipe you are dealing with. Though just about any recipe can be transformed into a healthy cooking version, not all recipes are suitable for lighter options. Take a look at each ingredient and see if there are places where you can omit or substitute heavier ingredients for lighter options.

Example: Instead of regular white rice, substitute with brown rice.

Cooking Light Means Eating Lighter

Not only should you focus on how to substitute out or omit ingredients that are not a part of a healthy living, but you should also focus on portion control. Try starting out with a smaller portion than you would typically use for a meal and see if that actually satisfies you before moving on to more. You might be surprised at how much food it takes to fill your stomach – and it’s not very much.

Some Clever Tactics for Cooking Light

Most people turn to healthy cooking in order to lose weight. Therefore, ingredients needed to be monitored, but flavor still needs to be present in order for the meal to be enjoyed. Try a few of these quick and easy tips to transform your recipes into a quick, light alternative:

*Use half the sodium amount recommended within the recipe.

*Instead of regular cheddar, find a flavorful cheese to sprinkle on top of dishes so that you can use less in the end.

*Instead of mixing nuts, cheese or chocolates into batters, sprinkle them on top.

*Use half the sugar recommended for crumb toppings on your favorite desserts.

*Use reduced-fat ingredients wherever possible.

*In recipes that need more than one egg, use an egg substitute or egg whites instead.

*Use citrus to add flavor to veggies instead of sodium.

Look at Canned and Preserved Ingredients

Sometimes a recipe will call for a canned or frozen ingredient. Luckily, more makers of these types of products understand the importance of healthy cooking in order to lose weight and have a healthier body. Therefore, there are options to help you when cooking light, even if it is out of a can.

Rather than buy regular chicken broth, opt for a lower-sodium or no-sodium broth instead. Canned tomatoes and other vegetables can also be found in low-sodium or zero salt varieties to help limit your sodium intake. If working with a product like canned beans, make sure to rinse the beans in a strainer under cool water – this will remove the salt brine from their skins.

Cooking light shouldn’t be a burden. In fact, if you look at it as a fun challenge, you will be surprised at how easy it becomes to turn an ordinary recipe into a healthy cooking game.

Cooking Light Is Easier Than You Think

The term “cooking light” often strikes fear into those who hear it. Many assume that delicious recipes cannot be obtained through cooking light recipes, however this belief is more than false. The fact of the matter is, recipes that you already enjoy can most likely be turned into a lighter,healthierversion, with just a few changes – without sacrificing taste.

Cooking Light | Tips for Frying

If you are trying to maintain a healthy weight orlose weight, you most likely have omitted all fried foods from your diet. The good news is you can still have delicious recipes that include frying and still be cooking healthy. Frying is often considered “unhealthy” simply because of the soggy, oil content that remains on the food when you eat this. By combating this issue, however, you can enjoy fried foods and still eat right.

Keep Your Oil Clean – Debris from fried foods can buildup in your frying oil and begin to burn. Remove this debris with a slotted spoon to keep it out of the oil during frying.
Use the Right Breading – Believe it or not cooking light does not omit breaded foods. When foods are breaded improperly, however, it inflates calories by making the food absorb more oil than needed. Use only enough flour (all-purpose is best) to coat the food. Use carbonated beverages when making a batter, which will eliminate oil absorption.
Pair it Right – Instead of pairing fried foods with French fries or other fatty, high-calorie foods, pair it with a light salad, steamed vegetables or some sort of healthy option instead.

Color Counts when Cooking Light | Cooking Light Recipes

Most cooking light recipes will focus on the main course, but forget the side dishes. Therefore it is your job to find healthy side dishes to pair with your entrée. Vegetables are often the best option because they are low in calories, contain vitamins, nutrients and minerals as well as essential antioxidants. Any vegetable is not enough, however. The color of the vegetables is just as important. The more vibrant and rich the color is of a vegetable, the more likely it contains higher levels of nutrients, immune boosters and minerals. Bright green spinach, for example, is packed with essential nutrients and often is recommended in cooking light recipes.

Go Whole Grain when Cooking Light

A lot of delicious recipes call for pasta, rice or another form of grain as a side dish or component of the main dish. The good news, however, is you can turn those recipes into cooking light recipes simply by opting for whole grain options rather than processed grains. Omit white rice for brown rice, processed pasta for whole grain pasta and even use bulgar wheat or whole grain couscous instead of other traditional grains. By adding in these whole grain options you are boosting your fiber intake and adding essential minerals and vitamins into your daily diet.

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