We all know that home cooked meals are much healthier for us than restaurant or take out meals. But how healthy are your meals? Many ingredients still have a ton of calories and fat so your home cooked meals may be doing an injustice to your weight. Cooking smart by cutting calories and fat instead of taste is not only smart for your health but for your waistline as well. By using these tricks of the trade you will be well on your way to a healthy, lower calorie diet in no time.

1. Use avocado instead of butter. For most baking recipes that call for butter substituting avocado will cut some calories and substitute “good” fats for bad fats. Avocado contains high amounts of heart health Omega 3’s and will still leave your baking as moist as calorie ridden butter.

2. Substitute non stick sprays for oil or butter. Oiling or buttering pans before cooking may not seem as though it would provide a significant number of calories to your diet but you may be surprised. One tablespoon of olive oil is 120 calories! If you use two tablespoons to cook one meal you could be adding up to a few pounds a year from this source alone. Non stick sprays come in low calorie versions and do the trick without the calories.

3. Use the low fat version. Most everything now comes in low fat versions. Mayonnaise, milk, butter, cheese, and many other ingredients you use to cook every day can be substituted for those with just as much taste and not as many calories.

4. Use broth for cooking. Using just half a cup of broth to stir fry vegetables in instead of calorie laden sauces will keep the taste and moisture of the vegetables without adding on the extra pounds. Many sauces have up to 900 calories a cup!

By being mindful of what you are putting in to your meals you will ensure optimum health and ensure weight loss without much of an effort at all.