Preparing food at home can help you monitor your calorie intake as you are in charge of which ingredients you include in your meals.
However, food preparation can lose its excitement if you get bogged down in certain routines that are regularly repeated.
Livening up your food preparation can be done in a number of ways to prevent your cooking methods becoming stale.
As well as adding change to the ways you prepare food, making healthy alterations will also assist in your diet or weight loss attempts
The great thing about preparing your meals from scratch is being able to substitute ingredients which you know will only serve to provide excess calories
Flavour your foods
A simple way of spicing up your meals is with the addition of herbs, spices and low-fat seasonings. Experimenting with different herbs and spices can add additional flavour to your food and make food that may otherwise taste bland become more enjoyable.
Plan your cooking
Many people blame a lack of time for not preparing or cooking meals at homen, which can lead to some becoming over-reliant on instant foods.
A way to incorporate food preparation in your kitchen is to plan which foods you can have that are healthy but quick to make so you can cook them when you don’t have much time.
Making sure vegetables are strong foundations of your meals will provide the triple benefit of keeping you full, full of useful nutrients and eating low-calorie dishes.
Another time saver is to make larger quantities of some meals which can allow you to save some portions, either in the fridge or freezer, for use at a different time.
Change your cooking method
It can easy to become disillusioned with cooking if you stick to the same processes all the time, so why not try something new? If you don’t do it often, try grilling more food, which involves using little additional fat and flavour is added during the cooking process.
Steaming vegetables is also a much healthier method of food preparation, while the flexibility provided by baking offers more scope for enjoying your food.
Whole grain foods
Swapping out white versions of starchy foods, such as bread and rice, in favour of whole grain versions provide a health benefit as it can reduce the risk of heart disease and, as whole grain versions can fill you up more and can also assist with weight loss.
Whole grain foods include whole grain bread, brown rice (including basmati and wild rice), whole wheat pasta, oats, barley and quinoa, which will add variety to your diet if you do not consume a big amount of whole grain foods, and improve the healthiness of your food preparation as well.
Don’t be scared of healthy fats
Fat has developed a bat reputation almost entirely down to its use in processed starchy foods such as crisps, chips, fried rice, pastry, donuts, cakes, biscuits, milk chocolate and more.
These foods tend to offer high calorie content in small portions as they’re high in both fat and carbohydrate.
Healthy sources of fat, however, are good for helping you feel full for a number of hours. As a good general rule, when eating a starchy meal, you should avoid having much fat with it.
Likewise, if you’re having a meal with a substantial quantity of fat, such as cauliflower cheese or mozzarella salad, be careful not to add too many carbs with it.
