It’s important to limit condiments because many are high in calories. It was particularly difficult for me to limit my condiments when I started dieting because I love flavor and condiments give bland food flavor! What I learned is that there are condiments you can eat in moderation and there those you should limit as much as possible. I also learned the use of herbs and seasoning can help you limit your use of condiments.
When buying condiments I am not familiar with, I always read the labels to see the amount of calories per serving before I decide to buy them. I am especially careful when buying marinade, barbecue sauce and salad dressing. Many are high in fat or sugar and in calories! Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce are no calorie condiments you can use to season or marinade your food. Others that are low in calorie but should be used in moderation are mustard, ketchup and A-1 steak sauce.
I regularly use fresh and dried herbs and other seasonings to flavor my foods; all of which have no calories. When it comes to fresh herbs my favorites are garlic, sage, thyme, basil and rosemary. I use fresh basil in all the Italian dishes I make and I use sage, rosemary or thyme when I am seasoning meat or fish. I use garlic in almost everything from starches to vegetables to meat and fish.
I regularly use Adobo and Curry Powder which also have zero calories! I use Adobo on my meats and fish and often use it on vegetables and salad too! I mean who doesn’t love a mixture of salt, garlic, black pepper and turmeric, that’s Adobo! I also love curry powder to season meat which is usually a mixture of coriander, garlic, ginger, cumin, turmeric and salt.
I also always buy fresh peppercorns and grate them. There’s nothing like freshly ground pepper on food. The flavor and consistency is much better than with pepper you can buy in the store that is already ground. There is a variety of peppercorn (black, green, pink, red, white and rainbow) to choose from. Black peppercorn has a strong, pungent taste and aroma. Green peppercorn has a sharp, tart, fruity taste. Pink peppercorn has a delicate, sweet and spicy flavor. Red peppercorn has a sweet and mellow flavor. Red peppercorn is hard to find in the US so Americans usually use cayenne pepper in place of it. White peppercorn has a mild peppery drawn out flavor and is great to use in light colored food for visual appeal. Rainbow is a mixture of several different peppercorns.
Lastly, balsamic vinegar is a necessity in my kitchen. Whenever I make a salad I combine balsamic vinegar with my salad dressing. Balsamic vinegar, which is calorie free, makes salad dressing go a long way and also helps limit the calories. When I buy dressing I always make sure it is low or no calorie. Walden Farms makes great no calorie salad dressings! So, whenever possible try to keep your condiments calorie free or low in calorie!
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