We all love food, but food is not good without seasoning, salt, spices, and sauces. Food is important for life, but it also makes us happy and it gives us endorphins, so it is important to have good food. Delicious food can really boost your mood and help make your days much more meaningful.
When dieting and trying to lose weight, the difficulty of the task can make many people miss meals, starve themselves, or eat bland unflavored food for fear that what they are eating will be too fattening and high calorie. You can lose weight though without going hungry or eating bland food. The secret is in knowing what foods and sauces you can eat safely, because they are low calorie, and they are less likely to cause weight gain. So, here are 8 great sauces to add to your meals to help you diet and lose weight.
Teriyaki Sauce
Teriyaki sauce is great for flavoring meats, especially beef, chicken, and eel. Teriyaki sauce is also very low calorie with only around 15 calories a tablespoon. Teriyaki sauce can become high calorie though when brands mix it with other things, which can make it double in calories so that it is between 30-45 calories a tablespoon. Still, compared to things like butter and mayonnaise, teriyaki sauce is still pretty low calorie.
Sour Cream
Sour cream is great for eating things like mashed potatoes, sandwiches, nachos, taco salads, and chili soup. Sour cream is around 30 calories a tablespoon, and of course, you can get light sour cream which is even less at 20-25 calories a tablespoon, which makes it become a safe diet food.
Plum Sauce
Plum sauce is popular in Chinese cuisine. It is sweet and sour, and it is only around 25-35 calories a tablespoon. Some brands are of course a bit higher calorie than this, and can add up to 40-45 calories a tablespoon, but you can always choose the ones that are healthier and less fattening with a lower calorie count.
Plum Sauce is great in Chinese stir-fries, and spicy chicken and eggplant dishes. If you want to try eating something new, try a chicken dish with plum sauce, ginger, soy sauce, and garlic.
Oyster Sauce
Oyster sauce is less popular with Americans, but it is popular in Asia because of its strong flavor and the fact that it is only around 20-25 calories a tablespoon. Oyster sauce is definitely not for everyone, but it is popular in Thailand and China for seasoning chicken dishes, as well as to flavor fried rice, stir-fries, and vegetable dishes.
Fish Sauce
I love fish sauce, but it definitely is not for everyone because of its strong fishy smell, which many people do not like. It tastes delicious in my opinion though, especially when you add cut up chili peppers to it. Fish sauce can make any plain flavorless dish have a sudden burst of flavor; it is also very low calorie, ranging from 6-15 calories a tablespoon. I often add fish sauce to Thai dishes, foods that I buy that have no taste, as well as rice.
Hot Sauce
Hot sauce is amazing and delicious, and it is healthy and good for your immune system. A lot of hot sauces are 0-1 calorie a tablespoon; they can also range though in calories from 5-10 calories a tablespoon, depending on the brand that makes it. Hot sauce is great for flavoring meats and protein, especially chicken, beef, steak, and fish.
The great thing about hot sauce is that it aids with weight loss because it revs up your metabolism so that you have a higher metabolic rate. A higher metabolic rate will help you burn more calories and be more energetic. The spiciness in the pepper from the capsaicin will also make you feel full on less food so that you eat less, and consume fewer calories at one time. Pepper is also great for cleaning out the body, so it is a natural detox. When your body can properly expel waste, you are less likely to have bloating, and you will have fewer parasites and bacteria in your body which can blow you up and cause weight gain.
Sweet and Sour Sauce
Most people do not realize this, but sweet and sour sauce is only around 14 calories per tablespoon. I do not like sweet meats, especially chicken, but I do like sweet and sour duck, as well as sweet and sour fish dishes. I prefer sweet and sour dishes that only have a small amount of sugar added to them; it is healthier that way, and I can enjoy the food more.
Sweet and sour dishes are quite popular in China, especially sweet and sour pork among the Cantonese, so if you like sweet meats, this is definitely a safer sauce to add to your foods while you are dieting and trying to lose weight.
Lemon Sauce
Lemon is one of my favorite ingredients for flavoring foods and drinks. You can easily make your own lemon sauce at home so that it contributes little to no calories to your meals. I like to do this by freshly squeezing lemon juice onto my meals, especially shrimps, chicken breasts, salads, and vegetables like broccoli and asparagus. I simply add salt, lemon juice, garlic, and pepper to a meal, and it makes it taste delicious, and become more filling. Adding these ingredients to foods will only add about 6-12 calories to your meal.
In restaurants, lemon sauces will of course have more calories, but lemon dishes will still usually contain fewer calories than most other dishes on a restaurant’s menu, so lemon dishes are a safer option for dieters when eating out.
Lastly, lemon also helps you to feel more full on less food, so it is a great natural appetite suppressant, which helps aid weight loss and weight management.
Final Thoughts
Weight Loss takes time, patience, and diligence, but it can definitely be done. When you have the right knowledge about diet, food, and nutrition, you can eat often, and have healthier meals. The secret is to keep tabs on the number of calories that you consume with each meal. Keeping calories low with each meal by making healthier choices will help your body to get on the right path towards weight loss.
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