Healthy For The Hollidays: Cut Down The Oil !

With the holidays around the corner, we know we will be eating many rich holiday foods before we know it. I'm beginning to think of ways I can start cutting down on calories now. 

One of the simplest ways to reduce calories is to start being aware of how much oil you are consuming. 

Oil is fattening.   

It is a highly concentrated product that is pressed and processed from olives giving you all of the fat and none of the fiber. One tablespoon of oil has 120 calories of pure fat. 

I won't get into the fact that there are those who question the quality, the rancidity, and heating process of the olive oil that is available in our supermarkets, but that's another issue. 

Back to the calories. 

Let's face it. When it comes to gaining weight, it's all about- 

calories in and calories out! 

Oil is a big ticket item when it comes to calories. 

One of the ways I've learned to cut back on oil in my recipes is to sauté in water, broth, or acquafaba (the liquid from cooking chickpeas).  

 A 1/4 cup of oil ( any oil) contains almost 500 calories (480 for some oils to be exact) 

A 1/4 cup of oil is = to 4 tablespoons

          It's really easy to use 4 tablespoons of oil when sautéing vegetables or cooking. and 500 hundred calories is a lot when you consider I eat 1200-1400 a day.

By using broth, water, or acquafaba to sauté ,  I'm saving calories in all my cooking !! For example. I make oil-free soups, oil-free stir-fry, and oil-free roasted vegetables.  In the soup, I cannot tell the difference, in the stir-fry only slightly and the roasted vegetables take a little getting used to - but not too bad. 

By cutting out or back on oil in my cooking,  I save about 300-500 calories per day or more. You need to walk at least 3 miles to burn 200-300 calories which varies depending on you walking speed and weight. I do both walk 3 miles and cut back on oil.

Salad Dressing: 

I add lemon juice with herbs to my salads and skip the oil! 

Sometimes I make a oil-free salad dressing such as a light sweet fruity dressing.

Ingredients: 

Juice of one large organic lime or lemon

1 large organic red apple, cored and diced 

1 heaping tablespoon of maple syrup

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

optional: 1/2 teaspoon of zest from an organic lime

Directions: 

Using a Vitamix or other very strong blender, whiz all ingredients together until well mixed and perfectly smooth. Serve on carrot salad, fruit salad, or as the dressing on a Waldorf salad.

Try my oil-free soups

Homemade Tomato Soup : Easy and Low Fat

 

Homemade Lentil Soup : Easy and Low Fat 

My oil-free pakora appetizers - very easy and delicious

 

Creamy French Mushroom Soup 

 

 

Avocado Appetizer : It has fat, but also fiber. I eat very little of it.

Pasta Primavera 

What do you do before the holidays to cut back on calories? Do you do anything? What are your lower calorie substitutions?