Healthy Low Calorie Recipes

Written by Sky Taylor, Diet Bites

Pulling off pounds using healthy, low calorie recipes....

Have you got a few more pounds than you want or that you need? If so, join most of the rest of the world. Even people who are at their normal weight often express a desire to shed a few pounds. Where people's weight is concerned, it can certainly be a puzzling issue - and at times, even a mystery.

But one thing is certain in the World of Dieting. One of the best methods for losing those extra pounds is through healthy, low calorie recipes.  

How to Save Calories & Fat Grams in Simple Recipes

While we can easily switch butter for regular margarine and save a few calories and fat grams - we can go a step further and switch regular margarine for reduced fat versions.

While there isn't a significant amount of calories from switch-to-switch, if we look at the butter and the reduced fat margarine, we can really see a big difference in caloric values. And that reduction also allows us to reduce the numbers on our bathroom scales. The reduced fat margarine contains less than 1/2 the calories of the full-blown butter.

How to Save Calories in More Challenging Recipes

Then we have the more challenging - and tricky recipes which some dieters fondly miss such as macaroni and cheese. Reducing the caloric values is extremely challenging because one cup of most pasta contains about 200 calories. So we're at the high end at the beginning of the recipe. So let's see how we can carve away some of those unwanted calories and still enjoy our macaroni and cheese, too.

We'll start by reducing the amount of the pasta to a 3/4 cup serving. We just saved 1/4 the calories - or about 50 calories. That's a substantial amount because we can use that amount to 'pay' for our cheese. One-half cup of reduced fat cheese contains about 170 calories so let's use this amount as we want our recipe to be very flavorful.

And for the milk, rather than whole, we'll use skim. Low fat milk works well in recipes and it may be difficult to distinguish from whole or reduced fat based on flavor. So if we combine the cheese, the 1/4 cup of skim milk with the pasta - and add pepper, we've created a basic mac & cheese for about 350 calories - and with the cheese, our recipe will produce about a cup of food.

Next, we start to look for ways to increase flavor without adding significant calories or fat grams. When we add fat, we add a lot more calories. So let's think lean. Let's think about what food might compliment this recipe. Bacon bits - REAL bacon bits.

If we prepare the bacon in the microwave, we'll end up with a slice that contains about 25 calories as most of the fat is released and absorbed by paper towels amid the cooking process. OR, we can opt to use the bacon bits in a jar which contain about 25 calories per serving.

We stir them into the recipe and we suddenly have a lot more flavor.

While macaroni and cheese certainly isn't the best choice for a diet menu, we wanted to use this example to show you how you can take one of the 'worst foods' for a diet plan and make it where it will fit into your plan. If you enjoy a serving of green beans with this recipe and a slice of 60 calorie bread - as well as a glass of unsweetened tea, the total calories equal about 450 calories.

In Summary

Work to reduce fat in the recipe which in turn reduces caloric content. The Dairy Group can be controlled somewhat by opting for reduced fat products.

When cooking at the stove, think about the healthiest preparation methods. Again - think about decreasing fat in the diet which will assist you in your weight loss plan. Rather than frying that chicken breast, try pan-roasting it instead. And rather than preparing a chicken gravy, try a broth-based sauce that will serve as a gravy. For vegetables, before drowning them in butter or margarine, try cutting back a little at a time until you can enjoy the freshness of the vegetables rather than overpowering them with added fat. And reach for your spice rack which can add flavor without adding calories.

Every little positive thing you do when preparing meals in the kitchen, even when working with your favorite recipes will produce a positive impact on your weight.