You want to lose weight and you know healthy eating is a big part of that. You scour the Internet looking for simple, but tasty recipes that will leave your tummy satisfied and keep your workouts working for you. However, many of the meals you discover may seem complicated, time consuming or worse; riddled with fat. How can you spice up your menu without breaking your new healthy eating plan?
It's simple. There are a few low-calorie ingredients that will spice up your dish. Most of these are everyday items that you can find them at your local grocery store. Weight loss isn't all about what you cook; but how you cook it.
Learn about these five low-calorie ingredients that will shake up your taste buds and add spice to even the most ordinary meals.
Lemon Juice
It's not just for fish. There are a variety of ways you can use lemon juice to kick flavor into high gear.
- Marinade: Use lemon juice, salt, pepper and garlic to marinade chicken, steak and fish. And, a little chef's secret? Lemon juice used on steak will make it tenderer when cooking it on the grill. Try it out.
- Drizzle: Another way to add life to your meals is to use lemon juice on veggies. Whatever your method of cooking is: steaming, grilling, or baking, add lemon juice and your preferred seasonings to get your taste buds going.
Pepper
Pepper is an excellent way to add flavor to any dish. There are many different varieties of pepper as well. From red pepper flakes to white pepper, each one has its own unique flavor. If you're shy about adding too much heat, start by using basic black ground pepper to your meals. As you tolerance begins to increase, experiment with red pepper, crushed black pepper and finally white pepper. If you graduate from those, then cayenne pepper will bring the heat as well as taste. Have fun trying out these new additions to your menu.
Sauces
Barbeque isn't the only sauce in town. Salsa, lemon pepper sauce, and other types of sauces are great low calorie ways to mix up the flavors of your meals. Some additional examples include:
- Soy sauce: Be sure to use low sodium. Just a dab will do because the flavor of soy sauce goes a long way.
- Frank's red hot sauce: With minimal calories and no fat, this is a great addition to chicken, pork and beef. Use a little bit to add a punch of flavor to your dish.
- Mustard: A flavorful way to add a different taste to your meals. Be sure to read the labels to find out which mustard brands are low in calories (most are), sugar, and fat. Then, simply use it and enjoy.