Appealing Diet Food !
People often think of diet food as bland, tasteless and boring but it doesn't have to be that way. A healthy diet should appeal to all of our senses, not just our tastebuds.
How the food smells, looks, feels and even sounds can make the difference between blah and boring to delicious and exciting. Why do you think the best restaurants take so much time to provide a good presentation to the diner? Even the bit of radicchio or orange slice on the side for a garnish is there to make it look more appealing to the eyes.
Starting out with the planning and preparation of the food, you need to do everything you can to make the flavors work with each other and to come alive in your mouth. One of the easiest ways to do that is use a variety of seasonings and spices when preparing your dishes. For some reason, people seem to think that if food is good for you then it can't taste all that great. Guess what? Spices don't add calories or fat – just flavor and aroma to appeal to your sense of smell as well as sense of taste.
Arranging your plate the right way can make a big difference in how appealing your food will look, especially if you are on a diet. It's not how much food that is actually there so much as your brain's perception of what is there. If it looks like only a little food, you will see it as skimpy and unfilling before you ever take a bite. One psychological trick that works for many people is to use a salad plate instead of a dinner plate. Your eyes see a plate rounded over with food and your mind thinks you are about to have a feast.
Color plays a big part in how we perceive that the food will taste.
If you have a plate that looks monochromatic, your brain says boring!
Serve a variety of colors in each meal with at least one brightly colored vegetable. Two or three vegetables in contrasting colors brightens up the dinner table while enabling you to limit more fattening foods and still feel full in the end.
Foods come in an almost infinite array of colors so don't stick to just one or two. Purple cabbage, the orange of grated carrots and red bell peppers can add a real punch to a garden salad without adding fat or very many calories at all. Peppers come in yellows, greens, oranges and reds so they are a wonderful way to add a dash of color and a huge dose of flavor at the same time.
For real visual appeal, use the tricks that the restaurants do to make their food presentation more attractive.
A simple stem of parsley adds quick elegance to a plate of food. Edible garnishes like radish roses or kiwi slices can also dress up an otherwise ordinary meal. Perhaps you could cut things in a different way than you usually do such as julienned carrots instead of simply slicing – there's an easy way to make the food look different.
Don't forget about the texture of your foods, either. A good mixture may have soft mashed potatoes with crispy green beans and juicy poached chicken. Most vegetables will have a nice crunch to them if you don't overcook them, plus that leaves more nutrients in the food so it's even healthier.
We all should make our food as appealing to the senses as we can but especially when we are dieting. By paying attention to the smells, colors and textures of our foods, we are much less likely to feel deprived or bored. This is probably the easiest way to ensure that our diet is successful as we more apt to stick to it if we are enjoying our food.
