How to Eat Healthy Meals Without Sacrificing Taste

This is a guest post from Sean K. 

We all know that eating healthy is important for our health. Indulging in fatty foods could lead to heart complications and high blood pressure over time. Many people mistakenly think that eating healthily means you have to give up flavor and all your favorite foods. However, with a little planning, you can create healthy meals that keep your diet on track and your taste buds satisfied.

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Here are three simple ways to improve your health but still be satisfied with your food.

1.     Make Balanced Meals

Try and make balanced meals when you cook. This means that every meal should include a variety of foods, such as fruits, vegetables, grains, protein, and dairy.

Take steak and potatoes, for example. This popular meal just gives you starch and protein. Try switching out potatoes for some whole wheat pasta and green beans to provide your body with a wider array of nutrients. You can season the green beans with garlic, salt, and olive oil. This provides flavor without a lot of fat. Also keep your steak portion small, no larger than 2-3 ounces. With these small changes you can still enjoy a nice steak dinner but will consume a lot less calories!

2.    Watch the Amount of Food You Eat

One of the hardest parts of eating healthily is to stick to your routine. It’s important to remember you can still treat yourself when you’re watching what you eat. Just be smart about it. Also, pay attention to when you snack. Instead of eating from the bowl, put the number of chips you want to eat straight onto your plate so you can see how many you’re eating.

Knowing portion sizes is important as well. A serving of meat is at most 3 oz. 1 oz. of meat is about the size of a matchbox and 3 oz. of meat is about the size of a deck of cards. You can also buy a scale to accurately weigh portions and count calories.

Remember, you can still eat your favorite foods, just in smaller portions!

3.    Improve Your Culinary Skills

Cooking meals yourself helps you to better control portion size and make sure you’re not eating food with lots of butter and oil in it. Try and stay in and cook more as opposed to eating out frequently. Make sure your meals contain lots of different colors. A colorful dish is not only visually appealing, but it contains lots of different types of nutrients. For example, yellow fruits and vegetables contain beta-carotene and vitamin C, whereas blue and purple fruits and vegetables include zeaxanthin, resveratrol, and fiber. Spice up your salad or side dish with eggplant, butternut squash, or red peppers. Instead of going out for lasagna, prepare a delicious eggplant parmigiana. Try this recipe, which is quick and easy, and takes about 45 minutes to make.

If you plan correctly, cooking can save you time and money. If you cook a big meal Sunday afternoon, you can have leftovers to eat for the next few days or turn into new meals.

Try some of these easy meal tips and see what happens. Healthy food can be tasty after all!