Baked goods can be a part of a diet meal plan-if the person baking them takes care to make a few simple substitutions to lower the fat content and to boost the nutritional value. And, fortunately, these substitutions aren’t difficult to make. Here are three tips bakers can try to lower the calories and carbohydrates and increase the nutrition in baked goods.

Lower the amount of sugar in the recipe

Many baked good recipes, such as those for cookies and cakes, can be made with less sugar and still taste just as good. In fact, most of the time people won’t even notice that the sugar content has been lowered. Lowering the sugar will lower the calories and carbohydrates in the baked good.

So, start with the amount of sugar called for in the recipe, and lower it by ¼. For example, if the recipe calls for 1 cup of sugar, try using ¾ cup of sugar instead. If people still enjoy the taste, make the recipe the next time with 1/3 less of the amount of sugar called for in the original recipe (in this example, you would use 2/3 cup). The third time you make the recipe, you can try using half of the amount of sugar (for this example, the amount would be ½ cup).

Another idea is to substitute the sugar with Splenda, which now has a version of it’s popular sugar substitute for baking.

Substitute the fat in the recipe

Instead of using the butter, margarine, or oil called for in the recipe, try using pureed fruit. You can use applesauce or baby food prunes or any other type of pureed fruit. Experiment with substituting for all of the fat in the recipe-you may only want to substitute for half of the fat, depending upon the recipe.

This substitution decreases the fat content in the recipe and boosts the nutritional value.

Switch out some of the flour

For recipes that call for all-purpose flour, try substituting half of the all-purpose flour for whole wheat flour. This will add whole grains to the baked good, increasing the nutrition. You can substitute more than half, but some people dislike the taste and consistency.

Try all of these with your baked goods and you’ll find that some small changes can go a long way.

Photo Credit: randomrobert

The best kinds of fats are those that are natural and unaltered by human processing. The most beneficial fats are found in nuts, seeds, olives (including cold-pressed olive oil), fish, and avocados. The damage to any good, natural fat comes in how it is altered by humans to make it more palatable, marketable, or for better preservation. Partial hydrogenation is the worst and possibly most common culprit, but there are numerous other processing steps – refining and exposure to high heat, for example – that can ruin its healthfulness. Particularly positive fats to look for are omega-3 and omega-6. These are most commonly found in fish.

Heavy fish consumption, while it has many benefits, must come with a cautionary note. Due to mass polluting of their ecosystems, many kinds of fish now contain toxins and heavy metals (typically mercury). For most types of fish and most healthy adults, these are not present in levels that should be of concern. However, if you are greatly increasing your fish intake to bulk up on positive fats, avoid fish at the top of the food chain like albacore tuna. These will contain not only the metals and toxins that they have absorbed, but also the toxins absorbed by all of the fish they have eaten. There are guidelines published through the US Department of Agriculture that outline the safest types of fish to consume, in what quantities, and who should be especially careful of their fish consumption, like pregnant women.

Contrary to popular opinion, animal fats may not be worse than vegetable fats. The most common reasons for animal fats being so negative has more to do with the ways the livestock is treated and processed. Even butter, when it’s the fresh churned, good old-fashioned kind, contains good fats.

Just as fats transport nutrients around in our bodies, they perform a similar function in livestock. One side effect of this is that antibiotics, steroids, and growth hormones are also known to adhere to the fats in animals. For this reason, non-organically raised meats should be consumed cautiously and not in extremely high quantities. Additionally, any meats that have been fried will contain some of the most harmful fats. This is because when lipids are exposed to extreme temperatures, such as in the frying process, the fats are altered in a harmful way and nutrients are removed.

The next time you make some dinner don’t be so quick to dismiss fats. Like anything, use moderation, and focus on good fats.

Photo Credit: shaletann

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