Healthy ideas!

initialsdeebee wrote: »

While I'm not shy about baking and eating sweets of all kinds with all types of ingredients, I do like to experiment with healthifying baked goods. Although, much of what I've tried might or might not result in fewer calories, but rather more nutrients (trying to create that fantasy world). Anyway, I've had luck baking banana-based sweet breads. Also replacing sugar with bananas, apple sauce, or just reducing it all together since I find many recipes can be plenty sweet with much less sugar (you just have to watch that changing sugar doesn't ruin the integrity or consistency of the product). Chocolate-based sweets are also good to expiriment with since coco powder can add loads of taste and a dessert-like feel, but is itself low in calories. Adding shredded carrots, zucchini, beets or even cooked whole grains like millet or amaranth where appropriate also make things like muffins or sweet bread seem more healthy. If you can eat yogurt, I've tasted wonderful brownies and cakes that use yogurt to replace some oil. Also nut butters can add nutrients and flavor (but don't reduce overall fat). I can't remember a precise recipe off hand and I often expiriment on the fly anyway. If you want something quick and healthy that can feel dessert-like, waffles with whole grains, nut flours, flax, berries, maybe coconut flour or shreds, and topped with small amount of syrup or honey and yogurt can hit the spot for me. Not always low calorie, but filling and nutritious plus the crunch of the waffle makes it.

christinapapou wrote: »

I still eat the way i used to but control my portions now. I love to bake and cook but i only do it 2-3 times a week now to watch what i eat. I made a rule that if we have a nice meal one night, the next day we have salad for dinner even if there's leftovers. I come from a Greek family which always have a big meal for dinner so it was very hard at first but my goal has to be more important then food. Besides its great to have a treat after you worked so hard all week. I look forward to it now. Whats great about this site is you can log your recipes and see how many calories a portion is. Another good thing is to change some products you buy for food for fat free or low cal. I love bacon but limit myself at lunch to one slice but to do that i buy the great value brand from walmart and its low in sodium. One slice is 75cal about but when i add it with egg whites (30 cal serving) its not that bad. I also try to follow he food guide. So if i have pasta one night with tomato sauce i know its alot of carbs so i reuce my carb intake during the day so i can enjoy my meal at night. Hope this helps