Tag Archives: 5 No-Fail Strategies to Cut Calories

5 No-Fail Strategies to Cut Calories

Sugar and cream in your coffee, gravy on your mashed potatoes, creamy dressing on your salad… Calories can add up quickly! And if you don’t use up those calories, they’ll end up being stored as fat.

But there are easy ways to cut calories from your diet, without eating less or going hungry. The following are just 5 no-fail strategies that can help you reduce your total calorie intake each day.

  1. Eat More Vegetables. Fill up on vegetables to help you feel full. Vegetables are very low in calories, yet packed full of nutrients including vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fibre. You really can’t go wrong with eating more vegetables.
  2. Balance Your Meals. Fill at least ½ of your plate with vegetables, then fill ¼ with protein and ¼ with carbohydrates. This way, you’ll get the nutrients you need without an overload of calories from oversized protein and carbohydrate portions.
  3. Ease off on Batters, Sauces, Gravies and Other Added Fats. Quite often, a very healthy, low-calorie food becomes a high-calorie, fat laden mess because of what’s added to it. Caesar salad, battered fish, potato skins anyone? A salad, fish and potato with skin should be healthy options, right? Watch all those added fats – they add a lot calories!
  4. Use Smaller Plates. Dinner plates have gotten a lot larger over the years – and, like most of us, you likely fill your plate no matter the size. Stick to smaller plates to help keep your portion sizes in check.
  5. Manage Your Appetite. Eat regular meals and snacks throughout the day to avoid getting too hungry, which often leads to overeating. Ever notice that when you’re really hungry you tend to crave high sugar and/or high-fat foods? You’re less likely to choose the side salad instead of fries when you’re famished.
  6. Don’t Drink Your Calories. Liquid calories don’t make you feel full, but they do add up quickly. So don’t sabotage your goals with a boatload of liquid calories. Sorry, this also includes alcohol. If you get bored with drinking water, add flavour by adding a lemon or lime wedge or experiment with other fruits such as berries.