The holidays are over and a new year is upon us and the main thing that is going through a lot of people’s minds is the amount of weight they gained from all those holiday goodies. Weight loss is the number one new years resolution made every year. While there are many different steps to losing weight, the most important first step that should be taken is having a proper diet.

Most people think that a healthy diet has to be bland, boring, and restrictive but nothing could be farther from the truth. There are many healthy alternative cooking solutions that are easy to implement without drastically changing the way you eat. Some of them include changing the way you cook the foods and some are as simple as substituting one ingredient over another. Healthy cooking for weight loss is something that is easily attainable if you just follow a few simple tips for healthy cooking.

One common myth that people have about weight loss is that they should always eat low fat. Most people buy pre-packaged fat free foods without even realizing that they may not be healthy for you at all. It is possible to eat all fat free foods and still gain weight because most fat free pre-prepared foods are loaded with sugars and people don’t even realize that this will make them fat. When it comes to fat, we need to distinguish between healthy fats and bad fats. We do need a certain amount of healthy fats in our diet to maintain proper health. And by eating a certain amount of healthy fats we won’t have as many cravings for the bad fats.

One really easy thing that you could do is substitute all oils and butter that you use with olive oil. Olive oil is a healthy form of cooking oil that can supply most of the good fats that you need in your diet. Olive oil can be used for sautéing vegetables and many other uses. Olive oil can pretty much be used wherever you would have used butter or margarine as well.

Another common weight loss myth that is usually unhealthy is to eat little or no carbohydrates which is more commonly known as a low-carb diet. Some of these diets are just down right dangerous. A lot of people will eat a high protein low carbohydrate diet that is also high in fats. The fats are usually not healthy fats either. This can be very dangerous for your heart and can also wreak havoc on your metabolism. Just like distinguishing between good fats and bad fats the key here is to know the difference between good carbohydrates and bad carbohydrates.

Good carbohydrates are generally whole wheat and whole grain products. The more natural state of the grain the better it is for you both for health and weight loss reasons. Processed “white” breads and rice can be lumped into the bad carbohydrate group. Other bad carbohydrates are any processed foods and sugars. It should be quite easy to substitute simple processed carbohydrates and sugars with more natural alternatives. In the case of breads there are many multi grain whole wheat breads that are actually better tasting and more flavorful than white breads. Instead of using processed sugars you can also substitute with a natural zero calorie sweetener like stevia. There are many forms of great stevia products on the market today.

Another healthy cooking tip is to watch the sodium levels in the foods you buy. Many pre packaged foods and even canned vegetables are very high in sodium which is not only bad for your heart but also for your weight loss as well. The best thing you can do is buy fresh fruits and vegetables. But due to seasonal constraints fresh fruits and vegetables are not always available in most areas. The best alternative to fresh fruits and vegetables is frozen fruits and vegetables. When fruits and vegetables are frozen they maintain most of their nutrients and they are not loaded with preservatives and sodium.

Following these few tips about cooking healthy foods can really help with your weight loss efforts and can also save you the pain of having to eat unsatisfying foods that claim to be healthy. Just remember this basic rule. The more whole and unprocessed the foods are the better they will be for your health.