When most people think about low calorie diets they think bland and lacking in taste but in reality these diets just mean making meals in which 1200 calories are consumed daily. Recipes low in calories can be delicious depending on how you prepare them. A diet with reduced calories does not mean you have to avoid foods that you enjoy, it just means you should change the way you prepare them. Most of our meals consist of meat, starch and vegetables and as long as we prepare them healthy and reduce the portions we are sure to lose weight.
Using different spices, flavor can be added to a meal without adding calories.
For example bay leaves will add zest to soups and stews and will also enhance the taste of any steak. Garlic or ginger when added to meat will give it an extra kick that will arouse the senses. Other spices that give flavor to meat are oregano, thyme and sage to name a few.
When you cook meats choose meats low in fat and the spice you use will depend on whether you are cooking lamb, chicken or beef. To bring out the flavor for lamb use mint, rosemary or cinnamon, for chicken use dill, ginger or celery and the flavor of fish is improved by dill, lemon juice or dry mustard.
Vegetables are very important in reduced calorie diets because they allow one to eat as much as they want without any significant addition of calories. However remember not to get carried away with the butter on the veggies as this will defeat the purpose. Green beans improve considerably in flavor with the addition of basil, garlic or marjoram whereas squash is enhanced with the addition of onion, cinnamon or nutmeg. There are no hard or fast rules with regards which spice must go with a particular food, experiment with different spices and find out which one suits your personal taste.
An important part of a good low calorie diet is keeping tight control on your sugar intake. Sweets are very tempting and taste great but they cause your blood sugar level to rise and unless you exercise vigorously everyday it will be stored as fat. Carbohydrate intake therefore must be kept at a minimum if you want to avoid weight gain and a low carb diet generally means eating just meat and vegetables. However we usually recommend that you make meals that include even dessert to avoid unnecessary cravings. Take note that when making dessert a spice that can improve the flavor without adding sugar is nutmeg.
Always remember that a good diet must be high in fiber to allow you to tolerate high levels of carbohydrate. The fiber reduces the absorption of the carbohydrate into the blood stream by encouraging them to move along faster and the American Diabetic Association recommends that any food that has less than 5 g of fiber per serving is not worth consuming.
The preparation time of these meals is very important since most people live on fast food because of their busy schedules. So recipes that can be prepared in 30 minutes or less will be more popular. When faced with a diet low in calories your best option is to think reduced calorie and high bulk or volume. This means eating large amounts that fill you up such as veggies which are high in fiber and low in calorie. To enjoy these meals do not stick to conventional recipes experiment so that the meals stay interesting. Boredom is a very quick way to give up on a diet when you feel you are missing on good tasting food. Enjoy your meal.
Lady Tex is a writer who specializes in diet and diet related issues.
You can check out her latest website at Low Calorie Diet, where she shares a lot of insights on diet related issues such as, Low Calorie Diet Menu.
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