By Muscle Media
With the humongous servings that restaurants serve these days, Americans have grown used to eating large amounts of food every day. This is good if the food that they eat is nutritious and lesser in calories. Unfortunately, this is not the case. That is why, it is important that when you do eat at home, you eat healthy and light as much as you can to counteract the calorie intake that you have gotten. This starts with the cooking light.
Cooking light does not only depend on the ingredients but also the oil that you use. In fact, the oil can change the caloric and fat content of the dish. You see, even if all your ingredients are healthy, for instance, vegetables; but if you use oil that is based on animal fat, you will still have a not so healthy dish.
Here are some ways to ensure that you cook light and healthy for your home.
1. Use vegetable-based oil
This is the most important rule. Use oil that is vegetable based to ensure that what you are cooking your food with do not have much fats and calories in them. The most popular of these are the corn oil and the palm oil. These oils are made up of what is called the good cholesterol. This kind actually help in the functioning of the heart and balances out the bad cholesterol that we get from meats and animal fats.
2. No added chemicals
As much as you can, do not put any other chemicals or flavoring into your food that are not natural. It adds to the unhealthiness of the dish that you are serving. Powder flavoring may help enhance the taste in the dish that you are cooking but it can also cause liver and kidney problems because of its high salt content. Another thing to avoid is to use deep fried mixes and batter to your food as this only add to the caloric content of the food but none to the nutritional content.
3. Lessen the meat
Make it a habit to cook vegetables and seafood at home. Make meat a once or twice a day fare in your home. This way, you and your kids will be getting the protein needs that your bodies have but lesser of the fats and cholesterol that meats give. If you do have to eat meat, choose those that are lesser in cholesterol. White meat such as chicken and turkey are considered healthier than red meats like pork and beef.
4. Cooking for less
One way to eat light is to psych yourself to also cook light, not only in caloric and fat content but also in the number of servings. This is especially true if you are cooking for dinner. Cook less rice and more of the dishes. Do this gradually though. Drastic change in food intake can cause health problems. This is also not recommended if there are young children. With young children, it is important that you provide them with all the food that they need for growing up. This does not mean though that they should overeat but neither should you put them on a diet unless said so by a doctor.