Thursday, August 14, 2008

3 Ways To Start Cooking Light

By Greg Spence


Healthier cooking is all about how cooking light can improve your health without producing boring or unattractive food. Today, more emphasis is being put on reducing our calorie intake and eating foods that are better for us. In order to achieve this we need to look at cooking lighter which need not be difficult.

Thankfully, many staples are now easily available in low fat versions. From reduced fat Oreo cookies and cheddar cheese to milk and bread, you really do have many cooking light choices in several food groups. You can make your kids' favorite mac n cheese and use skim milk instead of whole Vitamin D milk and use vegetable spread which has no trans fat as opposed to regular butter and you have already saved you and your family a lot of calories.

Opt for low fat mayonnaise or even zero fat alternatives like fat free ranch dressing and Miracle Whip as condiments for your dips and sandwiches. Use tuna packed in water instead of oil and you can see that by making small changes, you are saving calories left, right and center. And remember, just as calories add up, they also count when you are saving them in different ways.

If you eat a lot of refined white bread then you will not be getting the fiber you need and your fat intake will be high. When choosing bread go for the oat-based alternative or the 100% whole grain variety. Just because bread is brown does not mean it is healthier for you. By taking a true whole grain alternative your body will get an increased intake of fiber and lower amounts of fat.

The oil you use for cooking is also an important part of your lighter cooking style. Extra virgin olive oil is ideal but can be expensive a cheaper alternative is Canola, which has lots of health benefits when compared to vegetable oils.

If you are into baking, try using Splenda, a no calorie sweetener instead of sugar and try unsweetened apple sauce instead of vegetable oil. Line your baking pans with no fat cooking spray instead of butter and use semi sweet or preferably dark chocolate.

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