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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Tips For Picking the Right Foods

October 23rd, 2008 — Weight Loss Journal, food, food labels, goals, healthy eating 

If you are focusing on losing weight and making lifestyle changes, the first two weeks are undoubtedly the hardest. Your body and your mind need time to adjust to your diet, and this initial period requires a lot of motivation and a desire to stick to your new plan. Anytime you make lifestyle changes, it is difficult to know which foods you should be eating, and what foods you may never be able to eat again. Here are some tips to get you started.

1. Remove all the food you can’t eat from your house.

This is the first step in picking the right foods. When you don’t have the temptation sitting within easy grasp, it is a lot easier to keep on the right track. If your family eats those foods, they will need to learn to adjust, at least for a few weeks, until you are safely on the road to your changes. It is so much easier to make that healthy choice when you don’t have the chocolate cake in the fridge whispering at you.

2. Learn about the harmful effects of the chemicals in processed foods.

This is one easy way to guarantee that those tasty processed foods will never appeal to you again. Start learning about the chemicals and additives in your food and chances are, you will want to avoid them at all costs. Thanks to the Internet, anyone can learn more about the food we eat, and the additives that are included.

3. Find ways to make good foods taste better.

It’s a sad fact that until your palate gets adjusted, healthy food can actually nasty pretty nasty. However, by learning more about how to prepare that food you can make it taste better. Avoid adding dressings and sauces, but learn about different seasonings and different preparation techniques that can make any food taste better.

4. Reward yourself for the good choices.

Since it can take a week or two to start seeing real results on the scale, it is important to set up small rewards that will keep you going until you do reach that point. Avoid food rewards, but set up a system where you either do something you enjoy, or indulge in a little pampering, as a way of telling yourself “good job.” It is a lot easier to keep motivated when you make it an enjoyable experience to pick the right foods.

5. Take every day at a time.

Looking at a week’s worth of healthy food choices can be intimidating for everyone. Focus on the food choices you are going to make today, not tomorrow and not next week. Break it down so that you are only focusing on the choices that have to be made right now, and let everything else fall into place.

It will get easier to make the right food choices, and you can look at this initial phase as a training period that will make everything that is to come easier to accomplish.

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