Make Losing Weight Easier by Adding Flavor

When weight loss or weight maintenance is your goal, it helps to think about food as more than fuel. An attractive place setting with pretty china and artfully arranged meals fills the eye and enhances your eating experience. Still, when it comes right down to it, flavor is one of the best ways to help you feel satisfied.

Changing a meal by using different flavors helps you get a lot more mileage out of standbys like chicken breasts and ground beef. For example, ground beef with tomatoes and basil leans toward Italian cooking, while ground beef with chili powder and cumin takes you to Mexico. Chicken breasts stir fried in teriyaki sauce will whisk you away to the orient. Change up the chicken with a few herbs like tarragon or rosemary, and you can enjoy French cuisine.

Salad is a mainstay for those who want to eat healthy, get lots of fiber and lose weight. It's also a great opportunity to add new flavors. Using balsalmic instead of wine vinegar is a very different way to dress a salad. Mix lettuce, sliced green onions and sliced celery with torn romaine lettuce. Peel and section oranges with a sharp knife, cutting them over a clean bowl to catch the juice. Toss the oranges in the salad and mix some olive oil in the juice to create your salad dressing.

While it's not a good idea to go overboard on fats, a little butter or cream can add a silky mouth feel and a bit of extra flavor to something like steamed veggies. Try browning the butter to add a nutty taste. Nuts and seeds also add some healthy fat and provide both new flavors and some crunch in salad and side dishes like sauteed green beans.

Real food, real flavors. A great way to use the basic principles of the Metabolic Research Center to help you lose weight. So come on, experiment a little.