Ten Ways of Making Your Favorite Foods Healthier

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I am forever on a quest to eat healthier, maintain my weight, and keep my family happy at the same time. Teenagers can and will live on macaroni and cheese, pizza, and chicken nuggets if you let them. In our house we have to have variety; we have to have fruits and veggies.

Trying to come up with meals to satisfy everyone can be a daunting task all on its own. Trying to come with healthy meals can be downright intimidating. Yet, somehow we manage.

These are just a few ways we make our favorite foods healthier
without losing any of the deliciousness we love:

Ⅰ. Grow a garden.

The best way to make your favorite foods even healthier is to supply your very own homegrown ingredients. This can be a great money saver, too.

Ⅱ. Buy locally grown.

If you can’t grow it yourself find someone who does. The shorter the distance from harvest to door the healthier it is for you. Find your local farmer’s market and u-pick farms and know what real food is supposed to taste like.

Ⅲ. Coconut oil.

Coconut oil is great for so many reasons. It’s perfect for cooking at high temperatures, thus making it a great alternative to other oils for stir fry. It’s great in a fruit smoothie, too. Try it instead of butter the next time you need a little grease in your pan. A little goes a long way.

Ⅳ. Canning and preserving.

Instead of buying jams, jellies, and even nut butters loaded with preservatives why not can your own. After your trip to the u-pick farm you’ll want to make sure all your hard work is not wasted. Jams are easier to make than jellies and are great for sandwiches, danish, and even homemade donuts. Freezing fruits and veggies picked at their peak will enhance your means all winter long.

Ⅴ. Use butter instead of margarine.

Whether baking or sauteing your foods will love you more if you use real butter over artificial substitutes like margarine. Concerned about fat and cholesterol, try using less butter in the recipe or substituting half for margarine and meet the recipe halfway.

Ⅵ. Venizen instead of beef.

Sure, not too many people are interested in eating deer meat, but it is leaner and healthier than beef and makes a great substitute when it comes to stews, steaks, and even hamburger. I mean, really, have you ever seen a chubby deer?

Ⅶ. Leave out the salt.

Yes, sometimes we need to add a little salt to our food. Most times, we don’t. Read the labels on the ingredients you are using. If salt is a main ingredient, then avoid adding more. Try alternative spices like pepper, thyme, rosemary, parsley, and more. There are so many great seasonings available, don’t limit yourself.

Ⅷ. Go meatless.

Make a stir fry of just veggies. Red, yellow, orange, and green peppers, onions, red cabbage, carrots, celery, garlic, bean sprouts, water chestnuts, and more. Add a little wild rice and you have a filling and healthy meal, sans meat.

Ⅸ. Cocoa or dark chocolate.

Cocoa makes a great substitute for regular chocolate in desserts. Dark chocolate has healthy properties and is great for satisfying ones sweet tooth.

Ⅹ. Make it homemade.

We all lead busy lives. yet homemade is not out of our reach. I have a great pizza dough recipe that takes about 10 minutes to make. Make it a fun family night dinner and make individual pizzas for everyone. The dough makes 2 large or 4 small pies.

It’s all good

I always remember ‘everything in moderation’ and use that as my main rule of thumb. So many great foods and so many great ways to prepare them. Don’t limit yourself to just one way or say ‘low fat, salt free doesn’t taste as good’. Just imagine the world of flavor just awaiting you around the corner. Healthy can be tasty and you don’t have to give up your favorite foods to have it all.

Disclaimer: I wrote this blog post while participating in the TwitterMoms and WeightWatchers SmartOnes blogging program, making me eligible to get a $50 gift card. For more information on how you can participate, click here.

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