The trend towards healthy eating is constantly on the rise, and what more and more health-conscious individuals are prioritizing these days are a diet that’s both nutritious and satisfying. The question, however, is “What makes a meal healthy?” There are basically three important factors that determine whether a meal or recipe is healthy or not. Here they are:
The Ingredients
The ingredients a meal is made up of is obviously the most important factor that will determine whether it’s nutritious or not. Fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean meats, healthy fats – these are what you will usually find in a healthy recipe. One other hand, you should avoid recipes or meals whose main ingredients are trans-fats, sodium, white flour, processed food, and sugar. Always read the label to avoid unwanted ingredients and take advantage of healthy ones. If you’re eyeing a particular recipe and it contains ingredients that can be considered unhealthy, you can still use that recipe, but see to it that you find alternatives to replace unhealthy ingredients.
The Calorie Count
Next to ingredients, the calorie count in the recipe is another factor that can indicate whether it’s healthy or not. Understanding the amount of calories your body needs is crucial, especially when you are trying to lose weight. Determining the calorie count of a recipe is easy since there are now websites that provide recipe analyzers or recipe nutrition calculator. If you want to make sure you’re not going to exceed with the amount of calories for a particular recipe, take advantage of these features.
The Cooking Method
Finally, you have the method use for preparing the meal. You probably realize that how you cook your meal will determine whether it’s going to be healthy for your body or not. Generally speaking, the simpler the cooking method, the healthier it is. This is the reason that steaming is the healthiest method for cooking. Baking and roasting are excellent ways to cook food as well as they don’t cause the addition of fat to the dish you are preparing. The same is true with sautéing, stir-frying, grilling, and broiling. On the other hand, you would want to stay away from cooking methods that adds extra fat to your dish such as deep frying or regular frying.
Aside from keeping these three things in mind, it’s also important to be careful when looking for recipes online. Not all recipes that claim to be healthy and nutritious actually are. For this reason, only look for recipes in websites you know you can trust, and as much as possible, do your best to learn more about healthy eating and healthy cooking. This way, you can be a hundred percent sure that what you are serving yourself and your loved ones are only what are best for their health.
Stephen G John
