With so much going on in your daily life, who’s got time to keep up with healthy habits even though you really want to. When you don’t have a plan and you’ve done no preparation in advance, it’s pretty easy to resort to convenient options like, ordering a takeout, hitting the vending machine, or grabbing a prepared meal at your local supermarket.
Eating take outs every other day reduces the quality of your diet and increases your chances of gaining weight. Preparing food in your own kitchen is the best way to eat right and lose weight. Yes, there will be tough days when it’ll be difficult to motivate yourself to cook a healthy meal but if you don’t, you will end up screwing your plan to lose weight or eat healthy.
Restaurant meals are more fatty and caloric than the same meals prepared at home. Many studies have shown that when you spend time cooking meals at home, you develop much better dietary habits. This is because it gives you more control over what ingredients go into each serving. Assembling a healthy meal becomes so much easier when you have the right kitchen tools on hand. Don’t forget to use some reusable produce bags when buying your whole foods in the produce section, this simple change can help reduce the amount of plastic consumed
So if the thought of cooking in the kitchen is getting you off-track, check out these awesome kitchen gadgets that are bound to simplify your meal prep.
Steamer
Steaming vegetables rather than sauteing or frying them in butter and heavy oils cuts down fat and calories, all the while preserving many nutrients from your food as in boiling or poaching. Having a Food Steamer in your kitchen can help you benefit from all the fresh, in-season produce at your local farmer’s market or grocery store. Once you taste those gently steamed fresh vegetables and seafood, you’re bound to lose appeal of canned or frozen foods.
If you’ve heard of Instant Pot, you probably know what a wonder product it has turned out to be! This pot can steam up just about anything you can think of in a jiffy. Instant Pot is claimed as a 7-in-1 multi-cooker that can function as a slow cooker, pressure cooker, steamer and rice cooker that cooks food remarkably faster than other appliances.
Another steamy gadget is the Hamilton Beach Digital Steamer. This Digital Steamer is an all-time favorite and usually stays on people’s kitchen counter because of its versatility and convenience. Fill it with water and place one or two of the transparent bowls filled with your choice of vegetables, seafood or chicken breasts.
Set the timer and a beep will tell you when your food is ready, automatically switching to warm for one hour. Enjoy a satisfying steamed meal for the whole family within minutes.
Juicer
While whole fruits and vegetables are better than their juices in terms of nutrients and fiber, juicing can turn out to be a fun way to add them to your diet if you normally don’t like eating them. For some people juicing might even be better than eating whole as it makes it easier for the body to absorb nutrients and give some needed rest to the digestive system. Sneak in healthy leafy greens like kale without having to eat it whole.
If you’ve just begun juicing, Breville’s Nutri Disc JE98XL is going to be your ideal juicer. This innovating juicing system claims to extract more nutrients than other juicers and transfers less than 1.8F of heat, thereby protecting enzymes and maximizing nutrient absorption.
The dual-speed motor can crush up hard fruits and vegetables like carrots and apples at 12,000 RPM, as well as slow down to 6,500 RPM to squeeze out juice from soft fruits and leafy greens. Very easy to use and clean. At a price of $150, it may not sound that cheap but it’s certainly worth it if you’re going to use it often as a part of your diet.
High-Speed Blender
Extracted food is just great whether you’re an athlete or you’re sick. This is because its virtually predigested which means it lets your body effortlessly absorb and use all the nutrition that it has to offer. You get all the vitamins and minerals without having your body to rely on proper chewing, effective stomach acids and digestive enzymes for breaking it down. These blended smoothies can help you boost immunity, lose weight, alleviate joint pain, increase your life-longevity and promote healthy, younger-looking skin.
The best blenders in the world have to be Blendtec’s. Although most commonly used commercially, they could turn out to be your best investment. It comes with a 1560 watts powered motor, which is equal to a 3 horsepower, implying you can blend literally anything you may want!
Its innovative blade design spins over 300 miles per hour, crushing practically anything that comes its way. It also has 6 different preprogrammed cycles and a LCD display that shows a timer count along with the cycle you choose such as ice cream frozen yogurt, ice crush milkshake, soups syrups fondues, sauces dips dressings batters, whole juice, and smoothie. Get your very own blender from Blendtec in Dubai through UAE Ekuep.
If you’re looking for a compact tool that prepares smaller servings, go for an immersion blender as these portable, hand-held tool will let you blend right in the bowl, cup, pot, or pan you’re using. So no extra mess to clean up. You can use it to make smoothies, sauces, hummus, pesto and soups.
Salad Maker
A salad is a must when you’re trying to eat healthy. Choose a homemade salad with fresh organic vegetables at least a couple times per week.
The EZ Salad Cutting Bowl can help you make a salad in an instant. Just toss in your favorite vegetables like lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, cabbage, celery, tomatoes or all of them at once in its bowl. Make sure you rinse them in the bowl. Close in the base and slice through the bowl’s slits. Turn the other side and slice once more and voila! Its all ready to enjoy.
Do you know about new veggie noodle trend? It not only looks great but also tastes delicious with a sauce or dressing on it. Instead of buying them from the store, why not save your dollars and do it yourself. Get yourself a Spiralizer 5-Blade Vegetable Slicer and make it all easy. Just clamp your vegetable or fruit into position, and turn the crank. Out comes the thin curls of absolute veggie heaven, ideal for stir-frying, mixing in with soups, salads, pasta dishes or anything you want.
Avocado Tool
If you’ve planned on eating healthy, avocados are going to be inevitable. A lot of people out there avoid eating avocados just because slicing them up can be a hazard. Save yourself from an ‘avocado hand’ and get an avocado slicer that has been built for easy, safe peeling and slicing.
Checkout the OXO Good Grips 3-In-1 Avocado Slicer which comes with a plastic blade that cuts through the skin and fruit smoothly in an instant, even though it’s not sharp to touch. The pitting tool in the middle locks in the pit and simply removes it with a twist. The fan blade at the other end cuts the green fruit into perfectly sized slices, all ready to be served in a matter of seconds.
