Choosing low-calorie dinners can still include good food and desserts. Use online recipe databases or calorie-counting cookbooks, plan ingredients carefully, substitute ingredients, and try healthy frozen entrees. Look for recipes that list calories and nutritional information, avoid artificial sugar or fat, and create a personal recipe file. Plan balanced meals with half vegetables, one-quarter protein, and one-quarter starch or whole grains. Use ingredient substitution and healthy frozen entrees for busy days.
Choosing low-calorie dinners doesn’t mean giving up good food or even avoiding desserts. With many people trying to lose weight or maintain a healthy body, learning to choose low calorie dinners with discretion is an important part of ensuring a diet that is low in calories and provides essential nutrition. Some good ways to choose a low-calorie meal include using online recipe databases or calorie-counting cookbooks, planning ingredients carefully to ensure a balanced meal, using the substitute ingredient, and trying healthy frozen entrees for a quick fix.
Many websites and books are dedicated to helping people create and find the best low-calorie dinners. While there are hundreds of choices for recipes, it’s important to look for certain characteristics when choosing a recipe book or database. First, good recipes will list both the calories and nutritional information for the dish, including the amount of fat, protein and vitamins provided. Second, try to avoid recipes that advocate the use of artificial sugar or fat as a means of reducing calories, as these products could be harmful to your health. It can be helpful to create a personal recipe file of the best low-calorie finds, so that subsequent dinners can be easily planned without having to search for hours.
When preparing a low-calorie dinner, ingredients and proportions need to be carefully considered. Technically, eating three slices of white bread may constitute a low-calorie meal, but it will never provide proper nutrition for a healthy body. While experts disagree on which fruits, vegetables, proteins, and grains are best for health, in general, most health experts advocate a diet that includes a large percentage of vegetables, proteins, and grains. lean and whole grains. When planning balanced, low-calorie dinners, consider arranging each plate to contain half vegetables, one-quarter protein, and one-quarter starch or whole grains.
Ingredient substitution can be the key to cutting calories for both treats and full meals. For example, to make a deli sandwich into a low-calorie dinner, consider swapping out whole-wheat bread, mustard, or salsa instead of mayonnaise and lean turkey. For an ice-cold treat, try delighting yourself with frozen yogurt or sherbet instead of high-calorie full-fat ice cream. Substituting smart, healthy ingredients can help save hundreds of calories a day.
In stressful or busy times, making low-calorie dinners from scratch can seem like a herculean task. Instead of stressing over cutting carrots after a 12-hour day, consider relying on healthy frozen entrees occasionally to create good, low-calorie dinners. To choose healthy frozen dishes, read the ingredients very carefully: avoid sugar and fat substitutes and beware of high sodium levels. Some frozen dinners even use all-organic ingredients and even provide vegetarian, low-sodium, or gluten-free options. While frozen meals may not provide the same nutritional value as fresh versions, they can be an excellent way to control portions and calories during your busiest days.
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