The Synergytraining Blog

Once the holidays have come and gone, we become even more aware of the fat content on our plate. Thankfully, there are easy ways to cut the calories by substituting certain ingredients with others; here are a few of our favourite culinary tricks!

Skip the yolks. Egg whites do not contain any fat or cholesterol, whereas egg yolks do (and lots of them). An easy way to eat just the whites is to pick them off of hard-boiled eggs.

Replace butter with applesauce. For cake, cookie and muffin recipes, replace oil or butter with applesauce. The final product will still come out moist and delicious!

Make your sauces broth-based. We all know that cream contains loads of fat, so opt to make your sauces with broth or a white wine base rather than with cream.

Replace ground beef with crumbled tofu. Tofu is a great low-fat alternative to most ground meats. You can even replace half of the meat with tofu without noticing or tasting the difference!

Steam or grill foods. These are two healthy ways to cook, as they don’t require any additional use of fat or oil.

Eat meat without sauce. Marinate your meat or season it with herbs and spices, rather than drenching it in a rich sauce. Cooking on the grill is also a great way to eat your meat as is.

Limit your butter intake. Many recipes will come out tasting exactly the same with less than the recommend amount of butter. For example, macaroni and cheese will taste exactly the same even if you prepare it with less butter than the quantity listed on the packaging.

Limit the quantity of sugar in your recipes. You can use as little as half the suggested amount of sugar in most recipes, except for jams and other desserts. They usually call for more than necessary anyway!

Replace cream with skim milk. You can gradually learn to appreciate 1% or skim milk instead of 2%, 3.25% and even cream mixed into your coffee. However, it is not recommended to replace cream in recipes.

Replace mayonnaise with plain yogurt. Mayonnaise is usually used to make dips. Try using yogurt, instead, for a lighter texture and an equally-delicious taste.

Degrease soups and sauces. When making soups, ragouts, or sauces for pasta and more, let them cool in the refrigerator for a few hours, and degrease them before eating. A layer of fat will form on the edges, which you can easily scoop away with a spoon.