What Are Diet Recipes?

There are several reasons why diet recipes are functional. While weight loss tends to be the primary intention of diet recipes, diabetes, elevated cholesterol, vegetarianism, general health and allergic precautions are additional objectives for preparing them.

Weight Loss

The recipes intended for weight loss are typically low-calorie and low-fat. Reducing calories and fat grams of traditional recipes is easy. The following list will help you get started:

• Lean ground turkey or chicken instead of red meat

• Pureed vegetables instead of cream-based soups

• Cooking spray instead of oils and butter

• Applesauce, pureed prunes or bananas instead of oil in baking

• 2 or 3 egg whites instead of 1 whole egg

• Reduced-fat dairy products, such as cheese, milk and yogurt, instead of full-fat varieties

• Flavored vinegars instead of full-fat salad dressings

• Evaporated skim milk instead of heavy whipping cream

• Neufchatel cheese instead of cream cheese

• 3 tbs. of cocoa powder plus 1 tbs. of oil instead of 1 ounce of baking chocolate

Another helpful hint is to replace the oil in commercial cake and brownie mix with ½ cup of non-fat plain yogurt to produce a great tasting treat without all the fat and calories contained in the oil. If oil must be used in certain recipes, you can make them healthier by choosing unsaturated fats such as canola, safflower and olive oil instead of vegetable oil, palm oil, vegetable shortening, and lard.

Low Carbohydrate

Monitoring your intake of carbohydrates for a diabetic condition or to meet the requirements of low carbohydrate weight loss plans, such as Atkins or South Beach, requires reducing sugar and increasing fiber in a recipe. The following foods are favorable replacements:

• 1 cup of sucralose (Splenda) for 1 cup of sugar

• Brown rice instead of white rice

• Whole grain breads instead of white bread

• Whole-wheat flour instead of white flour (experiment with exchanging ½ of total)

• Whole fruit instead of fruit juice

• Whole-wheat pasta instead of semolina pasta

The amount of sugar listed in a recipe can often be decreased by 1/3 without a noticeable taste or texture difference. Also, grinding oatmeal to a powder in a blender or food processor creates a nutritious supplement to the flour.

Vegetarian

Recipes can be modified to suit a vegetarian diet as well. By replacing meat products with soy products and dairy products with soy, rice or nut-based products, any recipe can be converted. The following replacements are sure to please the vegan diet:

• Vegetable stock, apple juice, cranberry juice, or diluted miso instead of chicken or beef broth

• Agar-agar, arrowroot or kudzu instead of gelatin

• Soy, rice or nut milk instead of cow’s milk

• Soy cheese instead of dairy cheese

• Tofu-based mayonnaise instead of traditional mayonnaise

• Crumbled tofu instead of cottage or ricotta cheese

• Pureed tofu instead of eggs

• Carob instead of chocolate

• Tofu, tempeh, textured vegetable protein or beans instead of meat

Gluten-free

A constituent in wheat, gluten is an allergen to a moderate percentage of the population. For this reason, diet recipes conducive to preventing reactions eliminate all gluten products. Substitutions for this type of diet include:

• Barley, spelt, buckwheat, rice, corn and kamut flours instead of white and wheat flours used in breads, crackers, and baked goods

• Rice and spelt noodles instead of semolina pasta

Whether diet recipes need to address weight management, health conditions or mere food preferences, with experimentation and creativity any recipe can be turned into an appropriate and delicious meal.

Recipe Substitutions

For other common recipe substitutions, visit: Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service