Bad Dinner Habits
By Sara Butler
If you cook dinner most nights at home, then bravo to you! It's much easier to cook healthy when you do it in your own kitchen. Still, there are bad habits that can hold back your journey toward a healthier you, even when cooking at home.
Here are some of the worst at-home dinner habits people have that may be sabotaging their health goals.
Going Heavy on Salt
One of the problems with eating out at restaurants is all the salt that you can get in one meal, but that can be a problem for home cooks, too. Regularly eating too much salt can make you crave and actually eat more fatty foods, so it's a good idea to watch how much salt you eat and cut it where you can. Stock your pantry with herbs and spices and use them liberally as a salt substitute. You probably won't even miss it!
Choosing Sauce That Isn't Great
If you love to sauce up your home cooking, then by all means, do it! Pasta sauce is a healthy and plentiful option in many homes, but be careful about the type of sauce you go for. Many jarred pasta sauces are full of added sugar and salt and have a ton of extra ingredients you don't need. You may want to take your sauce game up a notch by making your own sauce at home. It's easier than you think and tastes a lot better!
Frying Foods
If you regularly fry foods at home, then you're not making it a whole lot healthier than eating fried foods out at a restaurant. Frying foods strips away important nutrients and tacks on calories at the same time, not to mention unhealthy saturated fat.
Avoid deep frying foods and instead find healthier ways to cook, such as broiling, grilling, or even sauteing in a little extra virgin olive oil.
Your Plates Are Too Big
How big are your plates? This may seem like a silly question, but upon closer inspection it makes sense. Piling your dinner high on a large plate will mean that you eat a larger serving and get more calories in the process. Try instead to serve your dinners on smaller plates and you may be surprised how many calories this can cut from your day.
Dinner is important, but make sure you're not setting yourself up for bad health with bad habits.
To learn more about your health, wellness, and fitness, see your local chiropractor at The Joint Chiropractic in Queen Creek, Ariz.