Who doesn’t love a good plate of fries, right? Or a juicy lamb steak with butter dripping around it? Craving something like that to kill your hunger pangs right now? Well, these things are delicious, but regular consumption can affect your health permanently. That doesn’t mean that you have to stop enjoying your favourite dishes. With a few tweaks here and there, your favourite foods can become healthier versions of themselves without losing their epic taste. Here are some healthy food options which you can use instead of the ones loaded with empty calories.
1. Replace fries with baked sweet potato wedges
Fries taste great, but you know what tastes and feels better? Sweet potato wedges! Trust us, you won’t want to eat packs and packs of fries after you taste these wedges. And they’ll even fill you up faster than fries. Sweet potatoes are a rich source of fibre, essential vitamins, iron and anti-oxidants like beta-carotene. If you have baked sweet potato wedges, that’s even better. None of the oil or deep frying and all of the goodness and taste.
2. Order chicken steak instead of lamb or pork
When a serious meat eater sees red meat on the menu, they don’t even look at any other option. But red meat is not good for your heart and your arteries in the long run. To avoid trouble later, choose white meat now. Order a juicy chicken steak instead of the lamb or the pork when you go out to eat next time. Fish is also a great option. It’s healthy and it tastes great with sauteed vegetables. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with a tiny bit of butter on vegetables to make them taste even better.
3. Eat brown rice instead of white rice
As Indians, we eat a lot of rice. And we have so many varieties to choose from. However, white rice can sit in your stomach and just add to the unhealthy fat. White rice is also more and more refined these days, which makes it unhealthy for you. You don’t have to give up rice though. Brown rice is a great alternative. It won’t taste anywhere near the same if you eat plain rice. But if you douse it in flavour, curries, dals, or anything else, you won’t miss white rice at all. Brown rice also fills you up faster so you’ll eat less of it.
4. Sweeten your tea with honey instead of sugar
Sugar is the devil. Or that’s what nutritionists say. So, we’ll believe them. For now. On days when you feel like you need something sweet but don’t want to undo your healthy eating streak, use honey. Mix it in your morning tea, your cereal, or make desserts with it. Honey is a great sweetener and adds its own comforting taste to the dish or drink. Honey is also really good for your health so you would be doing your body a favour by including this nectar in your diet.
5. Eat mashed cauliflower instead of mashed potatoes
Believe it or not, cauliflower is a really diverse vegetable. If you want to give up on rice completely, grated cauliflower is a great replacement. Since it doesn’t have much of a taste of its own, it takes on the flavours of anything you put on it. You can also use it to make a pizza base, and you can use it as a side dish. Cook it well and add all the flavours you like, and it’ll taste exactly like mashed potatoes.
If you’re trying to start a journey towards healthy eating, you should also be getting some physical activity every day. Click here to know what you should and shouldn’t do before hitting the gym for the first time.
