Food
When it comes to reducing the calorie intake, many believe that it is necessary to cook something special: as a rule, expensive and tasteless. However, to keep the usual dishes in the menu is quite simple.
Get rid of excess fat
It is no secret that fats, which are almost twice as high in calories as proteins and carbohydrates, significantly increase the energy value of ready meals. However, it is impossible to completely refuse fats: they are necessary for the normal functioning of the body, although not in the quantities that many are accustomed to see at ease.
Use vegetable oils for frying, purchase a kitchen sprinkler to lubricate the pan and fill the salad, and also learn how to use instead of stewing instead of meat, fish or vegetable broth. It will add flavor and slightly increase the fat content of the finished dish.
Another less obvious source of fat is dairy products. Try to buy milk, kefir, cheese or yogurt with a minimum fat content: they are less calorie, taste no worse and cost less.
Choose lean meat or poultry
The chicken is considered to be the least fat and high-calorie source of animal protein, provided that you removed the skin from the carcass.
Try to avoid pork - even low-fat tenderloin - and old beef, which is difficult to remove excess fat. In such meat, even the leanest piece is too fat.
Other low-calorie sources of protein in the diet are lean minced meat, fish, seafood, and legumes.
Get rid of excess sugar
In some ready-made products, especially intended for children, sugar is put so generously that it can be half the weight of a serving.
Try not to buy ready-made breakfasts, sweet curds and yogurts, cakes and cookies. If you want a dessert, it is much more reasonable to bake yourself and add sugar to the initially unsweetened foods - then you can control its quantity.
By the way, in many sweets and baking, the recipe reduces the sugar content by half. The finished product does not lose in taste if you add confectionery spices: vanilla, cloves, nutmeg or cinnamon.
Choosing the right cooking method
Avoid frying in an oil pan or fryer - with this cooking method, the food absorbs too much fat.
Try to boil, steam, bake or stew, and also use the “grill” mode in the oven. You may also need a special grill pan, which removes excess fat from the cooking product.
In the end, a little oil to taste can be added to the already prepared dish. Then you will know that it definitely does not contain harmful substances that are formed in fats with strong heating.
More vegetables
Vegetables are objectively cheaper than meat, especially seasonal and from local producers. Master the cooking of vegetable dishes: they are much less calories than meat and even fish. Of course, if the vegetables are not drowned in fat.
By the way, vegetables such as eggplants, green beans and other legumes can replace meat in some recipes. Especially when it comes to all kinds of stews and dishes using pasta and dough.
Be economical
Superfluous calories often fall into ready meals due to the generosity or carelessness of the hostess.
For example, instead of rubbing 100 grams of fresh cheese into a pasta sauce, put a tablespoon of spicy cheddar in it - the taste of the sauce will be much more expressive and there will be less fat in it.
Culinary scales and various measurements for bulk products in the kitchen will make a lot of discoveries - and seriously save.
The most important
Get rid of the extra calories in the diet is quite simple. Choose the least fatty foods from your favorite foods, control the amount of sugar and butter when cooking, love vegetables and buy kitchen scales.