Enjoy your favorite feel-good foods - without the calories
Say the words
"comfort food" and what comes to mind? Maybe it's piping-hot macaroni
and cheese with a crunchy, golden-brown crust, or chewy, gooey chocolate chip
cookies warm from the oven. What about a big mound of fluffy white mashed
potatoes with a pool of melted butter dripping down the side?
Comfort foods are
"feel good" foods. They soothe and nurture us, and encourage that
secure, "filled-up" feeling in our stomachs. Just biting into a
favorite food takes you back to a time when you felt happy and nourished, loved
and cared for.
It's hard to argue
with that kind of power, especially considering the world events we've
experienced lately. "When we're anxious or fearful, we go back to foods we associate with
times of lowest stress, that is, with childhood," says John Foreyt, Ph.D.,
of the Behavioral Medicine Center at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
Unfortunately these
foods usually come with a rather steep nutritional price tag: They're often
high in fat, calories and sometimes sugar. But many experts say that doesn't
mean we must resist comforting ourselves with these foods we crave.
"We shouldn't
deny ourselves foods with emotional attachments," assures Rebecca Reeves,
Dr.P.H., R.D., an obesity researcher at Baylor College of Medicine. "If we
do deprive ourselves, we'll just want to eat more and more."
Keep the Comfort, Lose
the Calories
We want our comfort
foods, but we also want to keep calories and fat grams in check. Why spend 600
calories and 30 grams of fat on an entrée that will taste just as good and be
just as satisfying with 400 calories and 13 grams of fat? "If you can
modify comfort foods for fat and calories and still have them taste delicious,
then you can enjoy them even more," says Dr. Reeves. But can we truly
satisfy our desire for comfort foods without going way over budget in the
calorie and fat columns? You bet. With a few tried-and-true kitchen tricks,
most comfort foods can successfully survive a major calorie renovation and
still keep our taste buds and tummies happy.
Lightening up your
favorite comfort foods is all about the three R's: Reduce the amount of
high-fat, high-sugar, high-calorie ingredients used in the recipe (don't forget
to reduce portion sizes, too!); replace the high-fat and high-sugar ingredients
with reduced-fat or reduced-sugar ingredients; and remove some unnecessary
high-fat or high-sugar ingredients completely.
With the three R's in
mind, we've taken the top three comfort foods and transformed them into dishes
equally as comforting but lower in calories and fat (see recipes, below). If
you have one serving of each of the top three comfort foods each week, you'll
save a total of 332 calories and 39.8 grams of fat by choosing the lighter
versions. That means you'll shave off 1,438 calories and 172.4 grams of fat
each month, or 17,264 calories and 2,069.6 grams of fat each year.
How to Lighten Up the
Top 10 Comfort Foods
1. If you know you'll
want that pat of butter melting atop your mound of mashed potatoes, reduce or
eliminate the butter you use in making them.
2. To lighten packaged
macaroni and cheese, make it with 2 Tbsp of butter instead of 4.
3. If you cut the fat too
much in your chocolate chip cookie, it isn't a cookie anymore, it's a chocolate
chip muffin. You can substitute 1/3 to 1/2 of the butter or shortening with
light or fat-free cream cheese.
4. There are some really
creamy and flavorful light ice creams on the market. Look for brands that
contain 4 grams fat per 1/2 cup serving. This way, it's lower in fat and
calories, but still satisfies.
5. Clear broth and
tomato-based soups are usually low in fat. But if you're buying canned soups,
check the calories and grams of fat on thenutrition label to make sure.
6. If you're ordering
pizza, your best bet is to forgo the extra cheese, and top your pizza with
veggies rather than meat.
7. Trim pot roast of any
visible fat before you cook it and try not to add too much fat while preparing
it.
8. Fried chicken fans can
still get the crispy browned breading on the outside and the moist, juicy
chicken on the inside by oven-frying breaded chicken sprayed with a thin layer
of canola oil cooking spray. Remove the skin from the chicken breast before
coating.
9. Pasta noodles
themselves aren't high in fat, it's what we pour on them that gets us into
trouble. You can make low-fat and -calorie creamy sauces by using less butter
and switching to lowfat milk or fat-free half & half instead of cream
or whole milk.
10. A grilled cheese
sandwich lower in fat and calories is a nonstick frying pan away. Coat the
bread with a spray of canola cooking spray and use your favorite reduced-fat
cheese.