Eating healthy means cutting on your calorie intake. This means you have to reduce the amount of fats and sugars that you eat as they put you and your loved ones at risk of becoming diabetic. Organizing your kitchen so you maintain a nutritious diet will make your plan work successfully. Also, train yourself to cook your foods rather than relying on take-out. Below are the tips to keep a nutritious diet at home without eating too many calories.
Don’t Keep Junk Food in the House
Junk food is high in calories. Also, they are addictive, and you’ll be discouraged from cooking healthy foods when you depend on them. As a result, make sure that your cabinets for kitchen are free of junk food. Instead, stock them with healthy, fewer calorie alternatives. This way, you will have slashed off excess calorie intake, at the same time encouraging yourself to cook all meals while at home.
Cook With Skin Then Take it Off
Cooking with skin and then taking it off is an ideal way to reduce fat intake. When you cook or fry food with skin, especially poultry, most fats are stuck in the skin. The inner meat is left moist and nutritious. Discarding the skin will help you reduce your fat intake, reducing the number of calories you consume. It adds only one gram of fat per portion yet keeps the juices in the meat. You don’t have to worry about the flavors as you can rub garlic and herbs under the skin. As a result, you’ll have reduced your calorie intake by 56 and fat by seven grams for every 4-oz serving.
Use Less Sauce
Sauces like ketchup and mayonnaise add more calories to your diet. A 15 ml tablespoon of mayonnaise adds more calories to your food by 57. Therefore, if you add sauce to your food, ensure that you use it in small quantities. You can avoid using them completely and opt for natural alternative flavors.
Avoid Calorie Rich Drinks
When talking about reducing your calorie intake, you may forget about the drinks you take. Sugar-sweetened drinks like soda are a high source of calories. There are more than 200 calories and 44 grams of sugar in a single 16-ounce bottle of soda. Drinking much of these put you at risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes. Also, they hasten the rate at which you feel hungry, making you consume a lot and take more calories in the long run. Going for healthy alternatives like sugar-free soda and water can help improve your diet.
Opt for Diet Cookies
Diet cookies are an ideal way to reduce your calorie intake. You can learn how to bake the best diet cookies and avoid the wheat cookies that contain too many calories. They have reduced sugar and calories yet have a delicious taste. When preparing diet cookies in your kitchen, you’ll need crunchy cereal, sweet banana, a hint of cocoa, and cinnamon. Each cookie will give you only 95 calories, yet you’ll have consumed important nutrients like potassium and fiber.
Drink Sugar-Free Tea or Coffee
Tea and coffee are as good as having no sugar. You’ll still enjoy the tasty flavor of caffeine, even if it’s sugar-free. One teaspoon to your tea or coffee would add 16 more calories. Since these are drinks you are likely to take every day, you’ll end up consuming more calories in the long run.
Bulk Up Meals With Vegetables
Most people avoid vegetables during meals. Some think vegetables are not tasty, yet they are nutritious and healthy. Therefore, ensure that when serving meals, vegetables should form a significant share on the plate. As you increase your vegetable intake, you’ll be cutting down on your calorie consumption. Ensure that you keep this a trend in your kitchen so you don’t have to fight your loved ones to eat vegetables. Even when they grow to become independent adults, they’ll understand the benefits of vegetables in their meals.
Keeping healthy meals in your kitchen will help you stay healthy. At the same time, you won’t have to worry about your calorie intake that would put you at risk of obesity or type 2 diabetes. As a result, heed the above tips to help you cut down on your calorie intake.
