Do you always feel that, the best food in the world is natural, yet rich in flavor? Can we actually avoid eating the extra calories that restaurants often claim their sauces are the essential ingredients to the meal? To lessen the calories in your meal, try switching your sauce.
Here are a few suggestions:
The Cheeseburger Paradise
A normal burger is about 600 calories, adding cheese and mayonnaise will boost the plate an extra 200 calories. To reduce the calories you’ll be eating, simply replace the cheese with veggies such as grilled onions, lettuce, tomato, cucumbers or pickles, along with a little bit of mayonnaise or mustard; these will make the meal more nutritious.
Saucy Swap:
If you want an alternative healthy sauce on your burger, you could try the following recipe:
Mix 1/2 cup of greek yogurt with 1 tablespoon of green onions, 2 tablespoons of Dijon mustard, 1 tablespoon of honey, 1 teaspoon of fresh orange juice, and 1 teaspoon of low-sodium soy sauce in a food processor or blender.
It would give a good mix to your burger.
Breakfast Scramble
It shouldn’t be a stereotype that breakfast only tastes oily and salty. In fact, lean grilled bacon with a poached or scrambled egg, sauteed veggies and whole grain toast can be a healthy, satisfying start of the day. The usual suspects of extra calories are from ketchup and hollandaise sauce; one serving of the sauce a day could add more than 400 calories to your weekly diet.
Saucy Swap:
A couple of spice up suggestions you can make duringyour morning meal:
- Freshly grounded pepper to add some zinc to your veggies
- Fresh or dried rosemary or thyme with bacon or sausages
- Chopped chives in scrambled eggs for a herby boost
- Lemon juice squeezed on top of eggs or veggies for more tang
Salad Toss Up
Salad obviously is a good choice of meal to stay lean and healthy. Again, watch out for the sauce! A lot of salad contains sauce such as creamy caesar, blue cheese or honey mustard dressings that can be high in saturated fat (the bad type), salt and sugar.
Saucy Swap:
Next time when you are having salad, choose a vinaigrette one rather than creamy dressing. Get it served as a side as well so you can measure how much you are adding.
If you would like to do a homemade version of creamy dressing, mix natural yogurt and lemon juice with chopped herbs: dill, mint, chives or coriander. The salad will have an extra layer of flavor.
For a healthier version of honey mustard dressing, mix with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, half a teaspoon of mustard and a teaspoon of honey, and there you go!
Keep an eye on the sauces, and you will have a healthier eating habit!