You can make your usual diet less caloric and more nutritious.
Nutritionist Ekaterina Stetsenko emphasized that one way to switch to healthy eating is to cook food yourself. She shared recommendations for adjusting recipes of the most popular homemade dishes to make them healthier.
Salads. A mayonnaise dressing significantly reduces the benefits of any vegetable salad, as does an abundance of vegetable oil. A more beneficial option would be a sauce based on yogurt, mustard, ginger, balsamic vinegar, garlic, and citrus fruits. By trying different combinations, you will be surprised at how enjoyable it is to experiment. As for the favorite festive dishes of Russians, the caloric content of Olivier salad can be reduced by using less potatoes, replacing pickles with fresh ones, and substituting canned peas with boiled ones. It is better to replace sausage with boiled chicken or shrimp. Mayonnaise should be made from scratch.
The traditional herring under a fur coat can also be made with less potatoes or even exclude this ingredient altogether. It can be partially replaced with chopped egg whites, and more beets and carrots can be added. If avocado is added to the salad, it will become more interesting and nutritious. Such a “fur coat” is becoming increasingly popular.
Soups. A light and healthy first course is especially important for those who are watching their figure. The nutritionist recommends making broth from vegetables, chicken, or turkey without skin. Thick, strong broths, especially those made from bone marrow, lose enzymes and vitamins due to prolonged cooking and also contain a lot of fat.
To make the soup healthier, it is advisable to exclude potatoes due to their high starch content. When accumulated in the body, they impair the absorption of vitamins and trace elements and can cause gastrointestinal problems. Potatoes can be replaced with sweet potatoes, turnips, celery or parsley roots, cauliflower, or zucchini. If potatoes are still important, it is better to use young root vegetables, which contain less starch. If the vegetables are sautéed before being added to the soup, it will increase its caloric content.
Hamburgers — many believe that they should be completely excluded from the diet. However, a hamburger can be made diet-friendly by replacing white bread with whole grain, rye, or bran bread. The top part of the bread can be removed, and the patty can be made from lean meat, replacing mayonnaise with a yogurt-based sauce with added spices to taste. Pizza can also be healthy. For the dough, it is advisable to use rye or whole grain flour, rolling it as thin as possible. The base can also be replaced with minced chicken fillet, a mixture of cottage cheese and spinach, or zucchini. It is better to stick to a simple tomato sauce. Suitable toppings include chicken breast, vegetables, mushrooms, and seafood.
Desserts. Flour for desserts can conveniently be replaced with ground almonds, oatmeal, corn starch, or bran. This will help reduce the caloric content of the dish while maintaining the familiar taste. The caloric content of cream can be reduced by using low-fat cheese, such as ricotta or cottage cheese, as well as yogurt. The nutritionist noted that in tiramisu, mascarpone is replaced with a delicate cream prepared as follows: 0.5 liters of kefir is poured into a colander lined with 2–3 layers of cheesecloth and left for 4 hours. Instead of butter, avocado puree can be used. Pancakes can be made without flour and sugar by blending 1 banana with two eggs. This mixture is used as batter, and the pancakes are fried in a small amount of oil and served with unsweetened fruit puree.
