Ways to Turn Unhealthy Recipes
Into Healthy Ones
Many of our favorite recipes are based on unhealthy ingredients. They may contain loads of fat, salt or sugar, or white flour, or rice. The good news is, in almost every case, there are ways to turn unhealthy recipes into healthy ones.
By simply substituting healthier choices for the unhealthy ingredients, your favorite recipes can be enjoyed – even when you are trying to lose or maintain your weight. An example is substituting brown rice or wheat noodles for white rice or regular noodles.
Low-fat, lean ground beef is another easy fix for many recipes that call for ground beef. Skim or low-fat milk can be used instead of whole milk.
Many recipes call for canned ingredients – which are likely to be high in sodium content. Careful shoppers can easily select canned products with no or reduced sodium. This option allows you to add the amount of salt that best suits your preferences. It puts you in control of adding only a particular amount of sodium. Sugar can be substituted with honey or even a fruit juice concentrate.
When you cannot find a ‘substitute’ for an unhealthy ingredient you can reduce the amount of that ingredient you use. Simply cut the amount of the unhealthy ingredient in half. An example of this is casseroles that include creamed soup. The soup can be thinned out with skim-milk. You can do the same thing with recipes that include milk, sugar, sour cream, etc. Just remember to substitute and or reduce.
Some methods of cooking are much healthier than others. And as most of us know, fried food is not the healthiest choice. And in most cases, even your favorite fried foods can be cooked in a healthier fashion. They can usually be baked or broiled. And some can be prepared in a slow-cooker or crock pot.
Cooking your foods in a crock pot is a great way to enrich the flavors and have a healthier dish. Rather than cooking out all the nutrients, slow cooking preserves them. To turn practically any dish into a crock pot you simply need to reduce the amount of liquid used in the recipe. The reason is, a crock pot will use the liquids contained in the ingredients – they won’t evaporate away.
These simple steps will allow you to turn unhealthy recipes into healthy ones – which means, you can bake your cake and eat it too!
