How to Eat Low Fat Without Low Taste

November 25th, 2008 — Meals, healthy eating, trigger food 

cottage cheese One of the main things that keeps people from trying low fat foods is the fact that a lot of them taste, well, pretty bad. It's all too easy to brush it off as "rabbit food," and convince yourself that you need real food. However, there are many low fat foods that are actually quite flavorful and there are methods that you can use that can enhance flavors without adding fat. Low fat food doesn't have to taste awful and we'll show you how you can actually start enjoying it with a few tips.

Let's look at a popular low fat food, skim cottage cheese, that is high in protein and very helpful for anyone that is on a diet. If you're used to eating regular cottage cheese, or none at all, the flavor in the skim or fat free variety can be a bit off. Try adding a little black pepper on top, or even some paprika. If you like it spicy, try adding a little shot of Tabasco sauce to it. Look for seasonings that are fat free and that will add to the flavor of your low fat cottage cheese.

Now, let's move onto low fat cereal. In some cases, it may be better to call it low fat cardboard. The same is true with low fat chips. They really can taste a little flat and pretty unappetizing. If you're eating low fat cereal and barely choking it down, try adding a little Splenda to it. This is a great calorie free sweetener that can really help and it doesn't affect your blood sugar as opposed to Nutrasweet or saccharin. You can also try using vanilla flavored soy milk instead of regular milk. You'll be getting the benefits of soy protein and the vanilla flavor helps mask the tastelessness of the cereal. For fat free chips, try dipping them in fat free salsa. Once again, you're tricking your tastebuds and it really does work.

Salsa is a great additive for a lot of foods that can spice things up without adding any fat. Use it on lean chicken to make it less boring, or add it to some celery for an extra kick. Anytime you would normally use high fat dip, replace it will fat free salsa. This gives you that feeling of being able to enjoy dipping foods without the guilt.

The main key is retraining your palette. Let's face it, high fat foods taste pretty good and that's why they are so hard to quit. However, here's an experiment you can try. Eat low fat foods for one month and then allow yourself a small sample of the foods you used to enjoy. Chances are, that high fat food is going to taste pretty awful. You'll be able to literally taste the oil and it may even make you a bit nauseous. The human palette is highly trainable and if you can convince it that low fat tastes better, you'll never be in danger of falling off the wagon again.

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Retrain Those Taste Buds

July 16th, 2008 — alternative ideas, diet, healthy eating, low carb 

Chicken BreastOne of the biggest problems for many people on diets is that the food simply doesn't taste good. It's very hard to stay motivated on your diet when you feel like you're eating cardboard and bad cardboard at that. After years of indulging in your favorite fatty foods, your palate and taste buds have been trained that these tastes are good and non-fat foods are bad. However, you can change this around with a little persistence and it will become a lot easier to start eating healthy. In fact, the vast majority of those who retrain their taste buds find that if they cheat with one of their old favorites, it suddenly tastes pretty awful.

Here's how to get started on the path towards training those taste buds to like good for you food instead of just food that tastes good. You'll need to start small, and take your cues from the foods you already like. There are a few techniques that you can employ to gradually start replacing fatty foods with good foods and still enjoy the process.  As a bonus all of these tips are both low fat AND low carb.

Let's start with the simple stalk of celery. On its own, bleh - it's pretty tasteless. It's real hard to get jazzed about eating yet another stalk of the stuff. Blow the lid off of your taste buds by adding a low fat flavor to them. For example, one great technique is to fill that stalk with some great low-fat salsa. This really packs a punch and you won't even notice the lack of flavor from the celery. You can also add low fat peanut butter, at least in moderation. Soon, your taste buds will begin associating celery with these wonderful flavors and it will be a lot easier to eat it.

Next, let's move onto the grilled chicken breast. Once again, on it's own - yuck. With the right seasoning? Your taste buds will be hollering for more. Try to play around with different spices. They'll add lots of flavor without any calories. For example, you can add a bit of lemon zest to make that chicken stand out, or if you're feeling spicy, try some white pepper or curry powder. That will give that bland meat a real personality and you'll even start craving it if you like it.

Another food that is pretty hard to stomach on its own is lettuce. Not many people enjoy lettuce by itself, which is why we fall into the trap of drenching it with high calorie and high fat dressings. Instead of this, try to experiment with some tasty vinaigrettes. They're very low fat and low calorie and there are so many varieties out there that you can really make humble lettuce taste very good. You can also try some other techniques, like adding a fruit salsa to your lettuce. This gives it a very unique taste that your taste buds will want to try again.

These are just a few suggestions - open up your cabinets and see what you can do!

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