Making healthier food choices is an excellent way to look after your physical and mental health. After all, our dietary choices can influence our risk of diseases like diabetes, stroke, and heart disease.
As much as you might want to make healthier food choices, the idea of eating bowl after bowl of bland salad might stop you from trying. Fortunately, healthy food can be a lot more exciting than that! You may start to enjoy meal times by trying some of the following cooking tips:
Get Creative with Marinades
Main dish ingredients like fish, tofu, and chicken don’t have to be flavorless just because you’re choosing to make healthier food choices. You can create delicious and low-calorie marinades with a range of easily-accessible ingredients.
For example, you might pick up a bottle of your favorite Cakebread Cellars wine, mix it with lemon juice, salt and pepper, and Dijon mustard, and marinate your fish in it before cooking and serving. As a general rule, red wine can form the foundation of any rich and delicious marinade for red meat, while white wines are delectable for any marinade used for chicken or fish.
Use Herbs and Spices
Whether you’re serving a vegetable or meat dish, you can elevate it to new levels with the right herbs and spices. Eating healthy doesn’t have to mean eating boring! You can pair various herbs and spices with your favorite ingredients, such as mint, cumin, basil, turmeric, and paprika. Even simple dishes like bacon and eggs can have an incredible depth of flavor when you take the time to find herbs that work in harmony with them, such as dill, chives, and parsley.
Prioritize Healthy Swaps
Transforming your refrigerator and pantry can sometimes be overwhelming. You might be out of your depth with all these new healthy choices and don’t know where to begin. If you know you’ll struggle with new food choices, start slow by making healthy swaps.
This can mean you enjoy food similar to what you currently have but a healthier version. For example, rather than eating white potatoes for dinner, you might opt for the more nutrient-rich version, the sweet potato.
Try Different Cooking Techniques
It’s not just food flavors that help you enjoy food; how the food is cooked can also contribute. As we all know, a delicious roasted or barbecued chicken can be far more enjoyable than one that has been boiled in water.
Whether you’re skilled in the kitchen or not, start researching different cooking options for your main ingredients. Even changing how you cook your vegetables might change your enjoyment of them.
Add Dressings and Sauces
Some people can struggle to enjoy vegetables and other healthy ingredients they haven’t eaten much of in the past. While you can grow to love them with time, adding a sauce or dressing may speed up the process. Fresh vegetables like carrots and bell peppers always pair beautifully with ranch. Greek yogurt and balsamic vinegar can also be delicious salad additions.
There’s no denying that changing your eating habits can be challenging. However, eating healthy foods doesn’t have to be something you dread. Make food exciting by changing how you cook it, marinating it in delicious sauces, and trying new herbs and spices. You may then start looking forward to your new, healthier meals and snacks.