Many people who want to lose weight fall into the trap of thinking that they must eliminate all fat and sugar from their diet. This common mistake is, in fact, one of the most common reasons people fail to lose weight. The reason: A fat-free, sugar-free diet deprives us of too many of the foods and dishes we love. This opens the way for craving and, at the end of the day, cheating and eventually giving up the diet.

So be smart and don’t fall into this trap! You must understand one thing: if you want to lose weight, it does not mean that you should ban all fats and sugars. If you simply reduce them and are more physically active, you will burn more calories than you eat and therefore lose weight. It’s as simple as that.

A few small changes to the ingredient list of a recipe can make it much healthier and make your favorite dishes a valuable part of your weight loss diet. This is what you should do to reduce your calories:

1. Replace dairy products with low-fat foods.
2. Replace unhealthy fats with healthy ones.
3. Replace table sugar with healthier sugars.

Trick #1: Replace dairy with low-fat foods

• use sour cream instead of crème fraîche (at least 16% less fat)
• replace cream (30% fat) with buttermilk (1% fat) or coconut milk (14-16% fat, no cholesterol)
• buy low-fat or fat-free milk (2 resp. 3.2% less fat than whole milk) or cheese
• use ricotta (4-10% fat) instead of mascarpone (47-75% fat)
• replace cream cheese with cottage cheese (5-9% fat) or low-fat cottage cheese (2% fat), also suitable for use in desserts and pastries.

Trick #2: Replace unhealthy fats with healthy fats

• use vegetable fats instead of animal fats (for example, margarine instead of butter)
• olive oil is excellent for use in salads or for frying many vegetables in the pan or oven
• Canola or rapeseed oil has a less prominent flavor and is more suitable for baking and sweet dishes.
• prefer products made with vegetable fats, especially canola and olive

Trick #3: Replace table sugar with healthier sugars

• natural sweeteners like honey, maple syrup, and fructose contain less or healthier sugar than table sugar
• artificial sweeteners (eg, Sunett, NutraSweet, Splenda) contain little or no sugar
• Naturally sweet foods (eg, most fruits) provide not only sweetness but also important nutrients

The amount of weight you want to lose will determine how big your adjustments need to be. If you just want to lose a few pounds after the holidays, you may be fine with a moderate reduction in fats and sugars such as low-fat products and natural sweeteners, while losing 70 pounds may require more drastic measures in the sense of artificial sweeteners and foods. fat-free.

It’s always good to ask your GP or other healthcare professional for advice if you’re not sure what dietary adjustments to make. But if you adapt your recipes by applying the three simple tricks explained above and increase your physical activity, you can lose weight, enjoy doing it and even successfully keep it off.