5 Diet Friendly Food Rules for Cooking at home

Cooking at home is a great solution for really keeping control of ingredients, avoiding sodium loaded prepared food, as well as out-of-control portions at restaurants. The challenge of cooking at home is that, if done incorrectly, you can end up eating just as much or more than you would have eaten had you gone out. Wouldn’t it be a bummer if you would have been better off eating that to go meal from Olive Garden after all? As with anything, education is key - and as you improve your healthy lifestyle and food knowledge, we are happy to offer 5 simple rules for keeping your at home cooking healthy so you can reap the maximum benefits while losing weight!

Nix Nibbling

For most Americans, nibbling and sampling ("testing") during the preparation of food is a number one diet sabateur. When you are cooking, you are surrounded by endless temptations. Warm and inviting scents, quick bites or tastings, and the feeling of hunger, which is likely present since you are preparing to eat, are all going to beckon you to snack while cooking. But remember ... you are about to eat a meal!  You don’t want your careful portions ruined by the immeasurable amount of tiny bites you took along the way to the dinner table. So, the solution is to cut the nibbling to low calorie bites, like raw veggies or pickles. Keep them handy by the stove, so you have a healthy alternative to any rash bites of that crispy chicken skin you might be eyeing.  Another solution that is very helpful is to take a supplement, such as an appetite supressant about 20 minutes prior. These natural and safe products (make sue if it is in the evening you dont choose one with stimulants!) will give you a little feeling of feeling full, in other words they wll "take the edge off" and help you easily prepare food without the urge to sample. 

When cooking at home, carbs are the easiest and most affordable foods to whip up. However, they can be unfriendly to diets if you eat more carbs than necessary, especially if they are simple starches such as white rice and pasta, which we dont ever recommend.  It is probably not news to you, but curbing your carbs (overall calories) while cooking is very necessary to weight loss. 

All carb-laden foods are not created equally. For example, I recently switched out steamed white rice or potatoes we normally serve at the table every night for quinoa and sweet potatoes. These foods break down more slowly in the body and will help you feel fuller faster. They also contain nearly double the nutrients of their processed cousins.  There are many great varieties of healthy grains, and we invite you to speak with your BalanceDiet coach or read magazines such as Cooking Light for inspiration. 

Perhaps you are not a fan of whole grains or earthier tasting carbohydrates. That’s okay too! As I mentioned earlier, natural supplements can help you feel full and help to improve the overall quality of the food choices you make.  For example, BalanceDiet's 06 Carb Blocker is a clinical strength but very natural supplement which uses only organic nopal cactus as its ingredient.  The plant based formula, when taken with a tall glass of water, will bind to most of the simple sugars which enter your body, allowing the bound carbs to pass through your body with less carb absorption. Sounds like a magic pill, right? Well… sort of! It is a favorite of this author!

The second component one should worry about while cooking their healthy dinner is extra calories from overall fat. Many home chefs love to use tasty cheese cubes as a quick way to curb their appetite while cooking, but this solution just increases the total fat intake for the entire meal. Challenge that cheese solution, or your otherwise fat craving, with a #10 Fat Blocker supplement by The BalanceDiet Company. This clinical grade fat absorbing supplement uses the primary ingredient of Chitosan. Chitosan is actually produced from the shells of shrimp found in the cold waters of the Atlantic ocean, and binds to excess fat you ingest much like the Nopal Cactus in 06 Carb blocker does to carbs. Just take it 15-20 minutes before you are ready to eat, allowing it time to get into your system, (if you have a seafood allergy, this would not be a recommended product for you though)

It’s easier to say “no” to dessert in a restaurant where a slice of chocolate cake might run you an extra eight dollars on top of your forty dollar meal, but at home, the carton of chocolate moose tracks in the freezer may easily call to you. Here’s the solution: Just Ditch Dessert! Just say no. Just as you would at a fancy restaurant, consider the cost of high sugar and high fat foods have on your body before you pick it up at the grocery store. Look at the sweets in your cabinets as the most expensive food you own and save them for a special time. Dessert is not an everyday meal. Face it.  There are also some easy and healthy options, such as frozen grapes, which are very sweet and are a light, refreshing way to complete a meal.  Although its not for everyone, many of our experts here prefer to complete an evening meal with coffee.  Again, we want you to get a great night's sleeep, so this tip might not be for everyone - but a nice cup of tea or plain coffee (no sigar, no milk) can help your body metabolise the meal more efficiently.

So, these rules are strict and not so easy when you are wrapped up in an Iron Chef Fantasy in the middle of your comforting and delicious smelling kitchen. But, I have one last rule to follow to help you accomplish all the other rules: curb your cravings with Slimberry Curb!  I am making these product recommendations because I really believe they help myself (and many others) take the edge off of the desire to snack and nibble.  In weight loss and living healthy, all of our small decisions add up, so using a healthy supplement such as any of the natural appetite suppressants mentioned in this article will surely help you lose weight and maintain it  meal by meal.

While the 06 Carb Block is great for blocking carbs and taking the edge off of hunger, and while 10 Fat blocker will do the same with fats, Slimberry Curb by e'co is the perfect solution for sweets and snacking as an overall product.  This amazingly helpful blend of herbs and appetite suppressants includes a signature "3 tea" blend, which I love: black tea, Oolong tea, and green tea.  The tea blend is what gives this product is anti-oxidant power, combined with 7Keto and organic Hoodia which are powerful craving curbers. It helps target belly fat and reduces cravings, so it is the perfect assistant a hungry chef. This nice think about slimberry CURB is that it is stimulant free, so it can be taken in the evening or at night, any time of the day really (30 minutes prior to when cravings usually set in)

Following these 5 rules will lead you to sure success for cooking at home and keeping off the excess pounds.