Our "Quick Tips" series brings you practical, effective weight loss tips to start using right now! This installment is all about simple ways to make eating healthy a little easier.
Get a Fruit Fix
Drinking six ounces of fruit juice is a quick, easy way to get in a fruit serving, but you're better off eating whole fruit than drinking juice. While juice contains the same nutrients -- like vitamins A and C -- whole fruits contain
fiber. The whole fruit will provide you with better satiety (sense of fullness) throughout the morning. Eight ounces of juice is 100 calories while a medium orange is 62 calories.
Better Breakfast
Give your healthy breakfast a nutrition boost by incorporating fruit. Ideas include adding chopped apples or berries to yogurt, adding fresh fruit to cereal or oatmeal or covering whole-grain toast with sliced bananas. If you don't have fresh fruit on hand, canned, dried and frozen fruit is great, but just be sure to look out for added sugar or syrups.
Try this Baking Sub
Did you know pureed dried figs can be used as a fat
replacement for baking? When substituting dried fig puree, use only half the required amount of shortening, margarine, butter or oil that is called for. For instance, if a recipe calls for a cup of margarine, use a half-cup of margarine and then add a half-cup of fig puree. Be sure to not over-mix the batter or over-bake it when making this sub.
Cut Cake Calories
Frosting contains 140 calories per slice of cake. Try your next slice topped with a little cocoa powder or powdered sugar to cut major calories while savoring some sweetness.
Cut Post-Meal Calories
Dessert is high calorie, but a cup of coffee is not. Sub it in lieu of a typical dessert and you'll save tons of calories at each meal if you normally indulge. Your post-dinner sweet tooth just might disappear in time as the hot drink gives your body the "I'm full" signal. Not a coffee person? Try a flavored tea, such as hazelnut, or a diet hot cocoa.
Switch Up Your Sandwich
Hitting the
sandwich shop at
lunch? Try a change from your usual turkey: Deli roast beef is almost as low in fat as turkey. Two to three deli slices are less than 150 calories. Avoid pre-made tuna and chicken salads, which are made with full fat mayo and loaded with calories.
Spray Away Calories
Olive oil is a healthy cooking staple, but its calories still count. Instead of pouring olive oil directly from the bottle, use a spray bottle -- a couple of spritzes is about half a tablespoon, or 60 calories.
