Low-calorie Cooking Tips

Want to get rid of bloated belly? If yes, cut down calories from your meals to begin with your weight-loss plan. Besides, bringing the caloric value of your dish down makes it healthier as well. Here are 7 low-calorie cooking tips that will help you reduce calories in your plate. [Read: How to Cut Calories Gradually?]

1. Know the Right Cooking Method— Instead of deep frying your dish, you may choose cooking methods that require usage of little oil, preventing any addition of extra calories in your dish. Choose from baking, broiling, grilling, sautéing, poaching or steaming. Broiling and grilling are best cooking options to prepare fish, meat and poultry as these techniques let the fat from meat drain away while it is still cooking. Sautéing lets the dish cook in small amount of heated oil, however, ensure in advance that the oil is hot or you may end up preparing a soggy dish.
2. Replace Refined Flour— One of the most important ingredients in Indian kitchens is whole wheat, which is also the best replacement for refined flour (maida). You may replace the items made of refined flour (maida) with whole wheat flour to make a dish lower in calories and higher in nutritional value.
3. Choose the Healthiest Cooking Oil— Get rid of all types of vegetable oils and stack your kitchen with olive oil, the healthiest type of cooking oil.  Along with being low in calories, olive oil is heart-healthy, thus wins hands down over other vegetable oils.[Read: 3 Heart-Healthy Oils]
4. Include Oats in your Diet— Although, they are tasteless and won’t satiate your taste buds, they are healthy and contain fewer calories. To keep the caloric department of your desserts down, you may add oats to them, making them healthier. To bake your dishes, replace refined flour with oats.
5. Yes, honey!— Trimming the sugar content of your dish will obviously reduce the number of calories in it. Honey, which is low in calories and healthier than other forms of sugar, can replace white and powdered sugar in your kitchen. Add honey to your desserts to get rid of unhealthy sugar and empty calories.[Read: Honey and its benefits]
6. Fresh veggies and fruits— The bright coloured fruits and vegetables not only add aesthetic look to your dish, but also load it with innumerable nutrients. As a matter of fact, vegetables are low in calorie chart, making a good substitute for meat nuggets. Use chopped veggies instead of meat nuggets in soups and stews.[Read: Weight Loss Foods]
7. Use Eggs— Egg whites include fewer calories and make the dish healthier. For a low-calorie breakfast, you may opt for boiled, scrambled, whipped or curried eggs.

You can also consult a nutritionist or dietician to know the best techniques to cut calories from your food items.

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