10 Simple Tricks to Cut Calories—Without Sacrificing Taste

Enjoy the full flavour of your favourite treats with a significant reduction in calories.

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Cut calories by taking your coffee black
Photo: Shutterstock

Cut calories by taking your coffee black

Frappuccinos add up, warns Jane Dummer, a registered dietitian in Kitchener, Ontario. Save over 220 calories by ordering a black coffee instead. Can’t stomach it au naturel? Try flavouring it with a dash of cinnamon. (Here are more ways to make your coffee habit healthier.)

Banish bread from your lunchbox

Put some crunch in your lunch using collard greens instead of bread to roll up sandwich fillings.

Ditch pre-flavoured yogurts

Flavour your own yogurt instead of buying pre-sweetened brands, advises Rory Hornstein, registered dietitian. “Stir in one teaspoon (5 mL) of maple syrup or honey, which contains only one-third of the sugar in sweetened yogurts.”

Say yes to yam flour

Fill your next bowl of soup with shirataki noodles—Asian-style soft noodles made from yam flour.

Bake, don’t fry

“Bake your bacon!” recommends Jo Lusted, a TV chef and the author of Dish Do-Over. When baked, excess grease collects in the catch-pan—not on your plate.

Find out more mistakes everyone makes with bacon.

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Cut calories when baking a cake in the oven
Photo: Shutterstock

Pump up your cakes with puree

For those who want to eat their cake, too, replace the eggs, oil and water that you’d add to a packaged cake mix with a 14-ounce (398 mL) can of pumpkin purée. (Here are 14 more healthy ingredient substitutions you never thought to try!)

Add cauliflower to pasta

Substitute cauliflower florets for one-third of the pasta in your favourite mac and cheese.

Crack down on cream cheese

Save 90 calories at the coffee shop by asking for margarine on your bagel instead of cream cheese.

Cut the whipping cream

For creamy sauces, Lusted suggests swapping 35 per cent whipping cream with low-fat evap­orated milk.

Use less salad dressing

Consume less salad dressing by dipping your fork in a side serving of sauce, then spearing your greens.

Next, check out 50 ways to lose weight without a lick of exercise.

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