Are You Sabotaging Your Food? by Stephanie Foster

Eating healthy takes serious effort. Keeping the junk calories is tough, especially as you build newer, healthier habits. But you need to make sure you aren't sabotaging your own efforts with what you add to your healthy foods or how you prepare them.

The simplest step is to learn to appreciate food at a more basic level. The more sauces, salty or sugary things you add to your food, the more likely you are to be adding something unhealthy.

For example, many people feel their vegetables need butter or salt added to them to taste better. However, this can be due to overcooking. Many people boil their vegetables into blandness.

Try cooking your vegetable differently or for a shorter time. Grilled vegetables have a very different flavor from boiled ones, but even lightly steamed ones will taste much better than overcooked ones. Leave a little crunch to your cooked vegetables and you will find the flavor much improved.

If you want to add something, keep it simple. Chicken broth can provide a great flavor as you cook. Low sodium soy sauce, fresh or dried herbs and so forth can bring out delightful flavors.

Many people even spoil their uncooked vegetables. Just think about some of those classic salad toppings, such as bacon bits and many salad dressings.

Some salads can have as many calories and fat as a fast food hamburger and fries, just due to what's added to them. You can avoid this by thinking about what you put into your salads. Fruits, nuts, cheese, egg and so forth are quite healthy. Use a vinaigrette or have your salad dressing on the side to control the quantity.

Obviously, avoid frying your foods. Frying adds a lot of calories. Stir frying isn't nearly as bad, with its limited use of oil. But immersing your food in oil to fry it is a great way to ruin the healthfulness of food.

Sandwiches can be very good for you too, but you need to think about the bread you're using. Plain white bread isn't especially good for you. Try whole grain breads instead. You may find a new favorite.

Healthy eating is a major lifestyle decision. It takes time to build better habits. Most people cannot make the leap in a single bout of healthy shopping. It takes time to rebuild habits and to change your taste buds so that you begin to prefer foods prepared in a more healthy manner. But you can do it if you are determined.

Author Resource: Stephanie Foster writes http://www.makehealthymeals.com/ and shares her ideas and recipes. She offers more advice about eating healthy on her website.

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