Many people who want to lose weight are caught in the trap of thinking that they should ban all fat and sugar from their diet. This very common mistake is in fact one of the most common reasons why people fail to lose weight. The reason: a fat-free, sugar-free diet deprives us of too many foods and dishes that we love. This opens the way for craving and, at the end of the day, cheating and eventually quitting your diet.
So be smart and don’t fall for this trap! You need to understand one thing: if you want to lose weight, it doesn’t mean you have to ban all fats and sugars. By simply reducing them and being more physically active, you will burn more calories than you eat and therefore lose weight. It’s as simple as that.
A few small changes to a recipe’s ingredient list can make it much healthier and make your favorite dishes a valuable part of your weight loss diet. Here’s what to do to cut your calories:
- Replace dairy products with low-fat foods.
- replace unhealthy fats with healthy ones
- replace table sugar with healthier sugars
Trick No. # 1: replace dairy with low-fat foods
- use sour cream instead of crème fraîche (at least 16% less fat)
- replace cream (30% fat) with buttermilk (1% fat) or coconut milk (14-16% fat, no cholesterol)
- buy low-fat or skim milk (2 or 3.2% less fat than whole milk) or cheese
- use ricotta (4-10% fat) instead of mascarpone (47-75% fat)
- replace cream cheese with cottage cheese (5-9% fat) or low-fat cottage cheese (2% fat), also suitable for use in desserts and cakes.
Trick No. # 2: replace unhealthy fats with healthy ones
- use vegetable fats instead of animal fats (for example, margarine instead of butter)
- Olive oil is great for use in salads or for frying many vegetables in a skillet or in the oven.
- Canola or rapeseed oil has a less outstanding flavor and is more suitable for baking and sweet dishes.
- prefer products made with vegetable fats, especially canola and olives
Trick No. # 3: replace table sugar with healthier sugars
- Natural sweeteners like honey, maple syrup, and fructose contain less sugar or healthier sugar than table sugar.
- Artificial sweeteners (eg, Sunett, NutraSweet, Splenda) contain little or no sugar
- Naturally sweet foods (for example, most fruits) provide not only sweetness, but also important nutrients.
The amount of weight you want to lose will determine how large your adjustments should be. If you only want to lose a few pounds after the holiday season, you may be fine with a moderate reduction in fats and sugars such as low-fat products and natural sweeteners, while losing 30 pounds may require more drastic measures in the sense of artificial sweeteners and foods. fat-free.
It is always good to ask your GP or other healthcare professional for advice if you are unsure of what dietary adjustments to make. But if you adapt your recipes by applying the three simple tricks explained above and increase your physical activity, you can lose weight, enjoy while you do it and even not recover it successfully.
