Are you gaining weight? Maybe you are not preparing meals the right way

Are you unsuccessfully trying to prepare food at home to support your weight loss but failing miserably? Just make sure you are preparing meals the right way

Guneet Kaur | Published: July 7, 2019 11:30 am

We help you by pointing out the common mistakes that you might be making in the kitchen. © Shutterstock

Preparing meals at home has never been easy. But some of us are concerned about our health and weight gain and we take out time and prepare food for ourselves. In an era where getting food delivered to our door step is just a click away, preparing food at home might seem like a task.

Many of us, undoubtedly, have been told umpteen times that food prepared at home is the healthiest option. But when we decide to make it a habit to do so, more often than not, we end up making a lot of bad choices.

This is especially true when you are trying to lose weight. You know you have to do it but just can’t seem to get it right. Here, we help you by pointing out the common mistakes that you might be making in the kitchen.

You use too much oil

This is a no brainer. Consuming food prepared in too much oil will eventually make us gain weight and we may not even notice the amount of oil we are using to cook our meals. Oils used in moderation have positive effects on our health, according to a study published in New England Journal of Medicine. In fact, olive oil ,is associated with healthy heart and coconut oil is said to rev up our metabolism and lower bad cholesterol. Olive oil and coconut oil are healthy but using the right amount is the key here.

Your Fix: Don’t drizzle the oil, instead use a spoon so that you are aware of the amount of oil you are using. This one extra step will save you so many calories and that extra running too.

Mindless Munching

This is the mistake we are all guilty of, while preparing meals, we tend to taste what we have made, and, if we are hungry, we ‘taste’ more of the food we are preparing. This makes us full before having our meal. Another mistake that we do after this is that we eat the meal, even if we are full, just for the sake of having it.

Your Fix: Prepare your meals when you are not hungry or try preparing meals while chewing gum. The best time is right after you have had lunch or snacked on a mini meal. This will prevent you from overeating.

Forgetting about the snacks

Going to office with just a lunch box? This might not be enough. This will make you starve and then you will end up having snacks that are unhealthy. Always have some healthy snack options also. You can munch on these between your meals. Spend some extra time preparing your snack box and this will definitely pay off.

Your Fix: When hunger strikes, we tend to have anything that is in front of us. Take along an apple, banana, or almonds with you in a single serve box so that you don’t go overboard with these snacks.

Relying on packaged dressings and marinades

Using store bought marinades and dressings can increase the amount of fats and calories in your food without you noticing it. These products have a high sugar and sodium content. They are small additions to our meals, but they cause a lot more harm to your weight loss journey than you migh suspect. According to the Food Addiction Institute, if sodium, sugar and fat is consumed at the same time, it can be highly addictive. These three together activate the reward centre of our brain and make us come back for more servings.

Your Fix: Always try and prepare your own marinades so that you know what goes into it. Prepare big batches of these so that you are not tempted to buy the packaged ones. But be careful. The home-made sauces and marinades are preservative-free, so they wont last forever.

Prepping the same food everyday

Everyone needs variety in their life. Even if you are eating the best food available on earth daily, you will eventually get bored. You will also be consuming the same nutrients daily. This is not a healthy option. Your body needs all kinds of nutrients in a balanced diet.

Your Fix: Make a weekly plan and give yourself lots of options to choose from. You will be more efficient if you allow yourself some flexibility. While preparing meals, you can make 3 different meals at once so that you can have an option of what to eat when.

Your cooking method

You might be making a mistake with your cooking method. The method by which you prepare foods is important as it depends on the amount of oil used. Steaming, poaching and boiling remain the healthiest options as they consume no oil and it does not add extra calories to the food. According to the Journal of Epidemiology, having grilled foods increased the risk of postmenopausal breast cancer by 47 per cent.

Your Fix: Try and figure out which will be the best cooking method for you. Go for the cooking methods, which not only use less oil but also taste good. Like steamed fish is a healthier option than a grilled one.

Adding extra salt and fat for better taste

If you succeed in controlling your taste buds, half the battle against weight gain is won. Taste is something that makes us indulge in unnecessary eating. Preparing meals at home is necessary or else you will visit a fast food café again. And to make the food tastier, we add on more fat and sugar to our meals. This can turn us into salt addict. Yeah! You read that right. Salt addiction is also a thing. A study in Oxford Journal’s Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation says that the hypothalamus reacts to salt in the same way as it does to alcohol, cocaine and opiate. Also, salt, sugar and fat combined will make you overeat.

Your Fix: Keep a check while adding these compounds to your food. Initially, the food will taste bland but you will soon get used to this kind of food. Opt for some healthier alternatives like rock salt instead of normal salt and olive oil or coconut oil instead of your normal cooking oil.

Published: July 7, 2019 11:30 am

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