Eating light

Ten ways to eat light

There is a trick to lightening up your food without ditching the flavour (or the fun) - or more specifically, ten tricks. Here they are:

Get the proportions right

Instead of having a little soup and a big main course, have a small first course and a large bowl of soup. Instead of loads of meat, gravy and potatoes, swap the ratio so there is a pile of roasted winter root vegetables and a lamb chop or two.

In Asia in particular, wise home cooks have long known how to make a little meat go a long way by teaming it with rice and vegetables. Lighten up your cooking by swapping meat for fish. It's easier to digest and there are some great winter fish in season (look out for sustainable fish such as ling, pollock, gurnard, and megrim sole). Build your meals around omega 3-rich salmon and mackerel or base them on prawns, langoustines and mussels and you’ll feel lighter immediately.

Add flavour without fat

Give your food an extra kick. If you're bored with your dinner, then you'll either eat too much of it, or eat too much of something else after it, so the best idea is to not get bored in the first place. That means:

• shop seasonally (food in season is at its height of flavour and nutritional value)
• use fresh herbs and herb oils for instant flavour
• add 'kapow' with chilli, garlic, relishes and mustards
• cook with wine instead of fats, reducing it down and using its wonderful flavour to add depth and complexity to stews
• use lemons to add a citrous tang, roasting them alongside chicken, grilling them with fish, and squeezing their juice over green vegetables and salads
• infuse olive oils with your favourite spice (such as paprika) and brush the spicy oil over chicken or fish before cooking
• use organic tomato juice as an instant vegetable stock for tomato-based soups and stews
• lighten up a simple fish or chicken dish by turning it into a soup: the broth fills you up yet is very light

Eat carbs for lunch, protein for dinner

If you have your main carbohydrates in the middle of the day, then your body has plenty of time to digest them in the afternoon. So lunch can be pasta with tuna and capers, a sandwich or a baked potato, and dinner can be something lighter, such as grilled fish or a big bowl of soup. Your body will be able to digest it more easily and not feel weighed down.

Buy a steamer

There are few things more boring than a plate of steamed vegetables (quick, where's the butter?) but there's a lot more to steaming than soggy veggies. Steaming concentrates food's natural flavours, retains nutrients and leaves very little need for extra oil or fat. It's the perfect way to cook delicate food such as fish and shellfish, and is great for cooking chicken, egg dishes, Chinese dumplings, couscous, pumpkin, tofu and rice.

Bake instead of fry, grill instead of bake

Many foods that are traditionally fried taste better (and are better for us) if baked in the oven instead. The food absorbs much less oil or fat, and meat and oily fish will render their own fat without drying out. So sardines and mackerel are best grilled or baked rather than fried.

Potato wedges will turn crisp and golden in the oven with just the merest coating of olive oil. Even meatballs, traditionally pan-fried in generous amounts of oil, can be baked on an oven tray instead, then simmered in a healthy tomato sauce.

Eat breakfast

It might sound odd, but a good way to 'eat light' is to 'start heavy' in the morning with a healthy breakfast, such as oats, that will give you a slow release of energy throughout the morning. If you don't like porridge, then try Swiss-style muesli of oats soaked in apple juice and tossed with grated apple, yoghurt and fruit. Or whiz together some oats, pitted medjool dates, yoghurt, apple juice and honey into a smoothie.

Substitute, don’t scrap

Don't cut out your favourite foods - that will only make you miserable. Instead, find ways to lighten them. Use yoghurt instead of cream to add richness to soups and fruit puddings. Use crushed avocado instead of butter as a rich, creamy topping for toasted sourdough bread.

Extra virgin olive oil adds a wonderful flavour to food but you don’t need gallons of it - store some in a plastic squeezy bottle and you'll use far less when cooking or adding a final flourish before serving.

Instead of adding cream to vegetable-based soups, blend half of it in a food processor and return it to the pan, or mash half the beans or potatoes to thicken it beautifully.

Stock up

Make sure you're stocked up with good things like lemons, garlic and herbs, free-range eggs, canned tomatoes and beans, balsamic vinegar, tahini, nuts, seeds, dried fruits, crisp breads, lentils, chickpeas, brown rice, curry paste, canned tuna, Dijon mustard, and, of course, onions (the basis of so many good dishes), and loads of vegetables.

Take your time

It's not just about the food - it's also the way you eat it that matters. Eating light means eating at the table, with friends and family. It means eating at a relaxed, leisurely pace, with plenty of time for chewing before the next mouthful goes in. That way the brain has time to send those all-important 'I'm full' messages to the body.

Make your dining table a charming place to be, with candles, music, wine and good conversation. The more you look forward to the mealtime itself, the less need there is for lots of heavy, filling food.

Love your food

The great thing about eating light is that you can still love your food - just focus on loving food that’s good for you. People who really adore food and flavour have a much better chance of eating well, and healthily, and enjoying every minute of it. They shop seasonally, know how to cook, and are often actively involved in the growing and preparation of good food. So greed is good, after all.

Recipes

Flavour is very much to the fore with these recipes from Jill Dupleix - and they'll also give you the chance to try out some new techniques:

• Beetroot soup - this soup gets its richness from yoghurt instead of cream.
• Greek meatballs - these are baked instead of fried (which cuts down on oil), then simmered in a light tomato sauce.
• Paprika salmon - use spices to add lots of flavour. Here we've used a spice-infused olive oil.
• Jump-in-the-pan chicken - tear the chicken into pieces and cook it very quickly with white wine and lemon juice for lots of flavour without fat.
• Chinese ginger fish - steaming maintains the flavour of delicate fish, spiked with chilli, ginger and soy.
• Korean beef in lettuce - make a little meat go a long way with this quick recipe.
• Salmon in a light, fragrant broth - turn a meal into a soup and let the fragrant broth fill you up but leave you feeling light.
• Chilli soy tofu - tofu is the perfect protein, but it can be a bit bland. Problem solved when it's spiced up with chilli and soy.
• Tea-spiced pears - steaming isn't just for savoury dishes, as this unusual steamed pud shows.