When you eat far fewer calories than usual, it doesn’t necessarily mean you have to eat blandly or suffer while dieting. Tasty and filling food is still possible, as long as you wish hard enough for food that helps you keep your calorie intake extremely low. You can do pretty much anything in the kitchen to make your low-calorie meals meet your requirements. But if you’re struggling to come up with tastier food to eat, here are a few low-calorie meal ideas to remind you that you still get to eat – and often at a significantly lower cost.
1. Vegetable Stir-Fry with Quinoa
Sauté a mix of colourful vegetables, such as bell peppers, broccoli, carrots, and snow peas in a bit of sesame oil in a wok with a sprinkle of low-sodium soy sauce or tamari. Serve over fluffy quinoa for 300 calories or less per serving and a whopping 10 grams of fibre and 12 grams of protein.
2. Greek Salad with Grilled Chicken
When done right, salads can be light and satisfying. Starting with a base of crisp romaine, add cherry tomatoes when in season, thin slices of cucumber and red onion, and some crumbled feta cheese. Top it with a few ounces of grilled chicken breast for an added surge of protein. Finish with an oil and vinegar dressing (alternatively, use my homemade vinaigrette, mixed from extra-virgin olive oil, red-wine vinegar, Dijon mustard and herbs). That simple Mediterranean-style salad has around 350 calories of flavour.
3. Zucchini Noodles with Tomato Sauce
Trade pasta for veggie noodles (also called ‘zoodles’!) so you won’t miss the carbs and serve yourself more veggies instead: core zucchini so they don’t collapse when forming into noodles, and then spiralise or julienne them into long, noodle-like strands as long as 12 inches. They sauté just fine or toss in the oven to bake until they begin to soften. Then top with your favorite tomato sauce and a sprinkle of Parmesan for under 250 calories of guilt-free low-carb goodness.
4. Lentil and Sweet Potato Soup
This soup is also a good example of how calorie-dense low calories can be: it’s hearty and filling and 100 per cent satisfying. In fact, this recipe clocks in at just under 300 calories per bowl. All you need to do is combine lentils with diced sweet potatoes, carrots and onions, simmer until soft (around 20 minutes) in vegetable or chicken stock, and top with a dollop or two of plain Greek yoghurt for creaminess. You’re looking at around 300 calories per portion of fibre- and protein-packed goodness.
5. Tuna Stuffed Avocado
Make this protein-rich, satisfying, low-calorie meal of tuna stuffed avocado for dinner tonight. Take one ripe avocado, scoop the flesh into a bowl, and mix with a can of tuna, a few diced tomatoes, some red onion, and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. Salt, pepper, and/or whatever herbs or spices you have on hand to season, and then spoon the mixture back inside the avocado halves. One avocado stuffed with tuna will net you about 350 calories.
Add some imagination, and you can have low calorie meal ideas that are delicious yet satisfying – great for giving your body the energy boost it deserves, all without causing you to consume too many calories. These recipes show that there are plenty of healthy ways to enjoy yourself in the kitchen.
Vernon Alston, a former chef, is an extraordinary personality with a rich history of food and a creative cooking style. Being the one for Vernon high proficiency in pro cuisine and also thanks to the years of his experience, he has succeeded in enhancing his skills, thus, deputtering the reputation of him as a chef, who is league in creating unforgettable dishes.
