Oil Substitutes: All the Flavor, None of the Fat

We all know it’s true: frying things is bad for you. But oil is used in so many other recipes as well, and it is not good for you. Oil is basically fat. This means that the more you use, the more fat you are ingesting. So how can you reduce your oil intake to lose weight? There are some great products on the market today that you can use instead of oil for baking and cooking.

•    Applesauce – This is a great oil substitute when it comes to baking. Try using it in muffins and cake batter. It will give a slightly sweeter taste than oil, so you may need to take out some of the sugar from the recipe to make sure that you aren’t making the cake too sweet. Which, let’s face it, is good for you too!

•    Bananas – Mashed up, bananas can make an excellent oil substitute. Use them when you bake bread, or for muffin mixtures.

•    Olive oil – Olive oil is the healthiest of all the oils. If possible, substitute it for other oils. Remember that it has a strong flavor and so probably shouldn’t be used for baking – unless you want your brownies with an olive flavoring.

•    Cooking spray – This is a can of oil, which works like an aerosol. This means that you reduce the amount of oil you use when greasing pans. Cooking spray can be expensive, but there are some home stores that sell a refillable bottle which will allow you to do the same thing but reuse the bottle and fill it up with whichever oil your recipe calls for.

Reducing the amount of oil you ingest can have a big effect on your diet. Particularly if you are taking some of the more popular diet pills, such as Ali or Xenical, in which case you need to be particularly careful about how many grams of fat you ingest daily.