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The different foods and beverages that Americans typically consume contain an overwhelming amount of sugars. It is often argued that these sugars are not essential to our bodies, and in many cases provide little benefit. Some experts believe this is one reason why obesity in children and diabetes in both children and adults is on the rise.

Too much sugar can also be bad for the teeth as well, causing cavities and decay.  Yet many individuals eat as many sugary foods and beverages with as we can. Why do we do this? Because sugar tastes sweet and our diets have conditioned us to crave a sweet taste. Cutting out sweets because it would be a healthier choice is not a reason enough to give up sugar for most of us. Even some people with diabetes or weight issues, who have to watch their sugar intake a lot closer, fall into having sweets they should not have, because sugary foods are enticing to the taste buds and stomach..

Splenda is a sugar-alternative that has the sweetness of sugar because the processing of it begins using pure sugar. That is how Splenda gets the sweetness of sugar and ends without the calories and insulin-raising affects of pure sugar.  Splenda can help you and your family to eat healthier without having to sacrifice the sweet taste from foods that you and your family love.  Splenda also permits diabetics and those watching their weight to have sweet-tasting foods while reducing their sugar and calorie intake. Splenda offers an easier way for you to cook and bake Lo-Cal meals and snacks for your family.

It is not hard at all to transform your family’s favorite meals and snacks into great-tasting, healthier versions of themselves. Breads, cookies, glazes, pies, muffins, and sauces that generally call for sugar for its sweetness effect, are best transformed into healthy alternatives you and your family will enjoy using Splenda granules. For chewier cookies, it may be better to use Splenda blend instead of the granules to make chunkier cookies. If the sugar is more for providing substance to hold all the ingredients together in a recipe than for its sweetness, a blend of sugar and Splenda with a ratio of 25 to 30 percent of Splenda to the amount of sugar needed, will work best in these recipes. You will still be cutting calories and making healthier foods for you and your family.

You may have to use different cooking and baking pans (usually a little smaller) with certain recipes than you had to before to obtain the same consistency as with the old versions of those recipes. Printed right on Splenda packages are recipes to help you in cooking and baking with Splenda. If the recipe you want to prepare is not on the package, hop online and search for a version of that recipe that uses Splenda.

Are you concerned that your family will notice the change from pure sugar to Splenda and not give your healthier baking and cooking a chance? Try substituting ½ to 1 cup of Splenda in a pie or cookie recipe calling for 2 cups of sugar. This will at least give your family more of the sugar taste they still crave while cutting calories they are consuming by a third. Once they realize that there is no bitter aftertaste in foods cooked and baked using Splenda unlike many of those other sugar alternatives, they will be more likely to try recipes using Splenda in the future. You can slowly wean them off pure sugar and before long; they will not be missing the sugar-laden meals and snacks they used to eat at all.

The website provided by Splenda is an excellent resource for learning about how to use this sugar substitute in recipes for better health for both you and your family. On the site, you will find baking and cooking tips, educational resources for coping with diabetes, a store to purchase items to help make your Lo-Cal baking and cooking with Splenda even easier, and a whole lot of other useful information. Do check out the recipe collection where you will find many delicious recipes made using Splenda for you and your family to try.

Make the choice to begin baking, and cooking healthier foods and snacks for you and your family. Let Splenda help make your family’s move from unhealthy to healthier eating an enjoyable experience. With Splenda you can create Lo-Cal meals and snacks the whole family will enjoy. Share your recipes made using Splenda with friends so that they might also begin using and benefiting from Splenda, the great tasting, zero-calorie alternative to sugar. What’s for dinner at your house tonight? It could be a delicious Lo-Cal meal with the sweetness of sugar, but without the calories and harmful effects of sugar. Make tonight a Splenda-Terrific mealtime for you and your family with Splenda.

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One way you can lose weight is to make your own food every day. In this way you can reinvent the way the foods you love are prepared and cut the number of calories that you ingest at the same time.

One tip is to roast your vegetables before you cook with them. This makes vegetables taste sweeter and makes it less necessary to add butter, sugar or creamy sauces. You can serve them on their own or puree them and use them as a base for stock, dips and sauces.  To roast vegetables all you need to do is spray them with low fat cooking spray, coating them lightly and then roasting in a pan. The result is a low calorie solution to flavouring foods.

One of the problems of eating low calorie foods is that they can taste so bland. One thing you can do is use spices to make them more attractive to your palate.  Adding spices and herbs to water oil also helps fibre rich foods like cous cous and rice taste better.

You can also prevent adding fat when baking by substituting butters, fats and oils with pureed substitutes. This allows you to retain the moisture in baked foods without giving up any flavour.

Yet another trick is to cook with fresh juices and fruits.  This can help you cut down on the consumption of fat and sugar in your recipes.  You can even add these to savoury dishes to give them more oomph.

Another thing you can do is to use a wire rack when you cook. Placing the wire rack above the roasting pan allows fatty juices to drip down into the pan.  You can also grill fish and meats in milk or coconut milk to save money.

It is advisable to use a cooking spray whenever you can. This can save you from eating thousands of calories. Most people fry foods using at least tablespoons of oil which is worth 2100 calories of fat.  All you really need is a spray that contains seven calories “per misting” of your frying pan or salad bowl.

You don’t have to buy commercially made vegetable oil spray either. You can buy a pressurised canister that you can put your own oils in.

If you need more moisture while cooking you can also add a little juice or low fat broth to help the vegetables cook faster while flavouring them at the same time.

The point is that you can cook with just about everything else but fat.  That way you don’t have to add unnecessary calories to the food you are eating.  In fact when it comes to being one of the most natural ways to lose weight making your own food is one of the best approaches to cutting calories.

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For people dealing with diabetes or other sugar-related problems, it can sometimes be difficult to watch others enjoy great meals, especially desserts. There are sugar substitutes available that allow you to enjoy these same great meals and desserts. One sugar substitute you can cook with is Splenda. However, many people find that replicating recipes using this alternative sweetener product is difficult. Here are some top tips to help you cook with Splenda:Tip #1: Only fully replace Splenda in recipes that have low to medium amounts of sugarWhen a recipe calls a large amount of sugar, such as with angel food cake or fudge, the sugar has a greater purpose than just making the food sweeter. It is also used to create the texture and structure of the food. Splenda is not the same as sugar in that regard, even though it is just as sweet. So, look for recipes that treat sugar as a sweetening agent. If your recipe calls for a lot of sugar, you can replace 25% to 50% of it with Splenda.Tip #2: Bring out the flavor with vanilla or honeyWhen you are baking cookies and other treats that call for both sugar and vanilla, adding an extra teaspoon or half teaspoon can bring out the sweet flavor of the Splenda and the vanilla flavor of the extract. You should not use more than one extra teaspoon per cup of Splenda. For breads and other recipes that do not call for vanilla but are still sweet, you can use a tablespoon of honey instead. Tip #3: Consider the yeast in your recipeIn order for yeast to work, it needs to be activated with sugar. Splenda does not provide yeast with the proper food it needs to make your bread rise. When you are replacing the sugar with Splenda, make sure that you keep a couple teaspoons as sugar, and for larger recipes, you should use more sugar than Splenda. Yeast recipes are more difficult when you use Splenda, so you may want to do some practice runs to ensure that you have the right sugar-to-Splenda ratio for the yeast to work. Tip #4: Watch your baking timesWhen you use Splenda in your recipes, the baking time is going to be different from using sucrose. Until you know how your recipe reacts to the sweetener change, check your baked goods early to see if they are done. Cakes and breads are sometimes done up to 10 minutes earlier if you replace all of the sugar with Splenda. Cookies, muffins, brownies, and other baked goods might be done up to five minutes before their normal time. When you figure out the correct Splenda baking time, write it on your recipe card so that you know for next time. Tip #5: Flatten your cookies a bit to help them spreadSplenda changes the chemical make up of your cookies, and sugar is one of the ingredients that help a cookie spread as it bakes. Splenda does not do that job as well, so before you put your cookies in the over, press them down a bit to help them flatten. When a cookie spreads, it bakes more evenly. Tip #6: Help your baked goods rise with smaller pansSugar is an ingredient that helps breads, cakes, brownies, and other baked goods rise when baking. If you replace all of the sugar with Splenda, you will not achieve that same fluffy height for the most part. You can help the process by using two smaller pans instead of one larger pan and then following the recipe as normal. If you are still not getting the height you want, try adding an addition teaspoon of baking powder and a cup of nonfat dry milk powder per every two cups of Splenda in your recipe.Tip #7: Follow the Splenda directions carefullyThere are a number of different kinds of Splenda, and before you begin using it to replace sugar in your recipes, read the label to find out exactly how much Splenda to add. For some recipes such as those with regular sugar, you replace the sugar on a one to one ratio. However, other Splenda products, like the Splenda sugar blend, tell you to use only half the amount of blend that you would use with regular sugar. If you do not read the label carefully, your final product could be too sweet or it may not cook correctly. Tip #8: Test everything firstFinally, if you are going to cook with Splenda, test your recipes before making them for a party or event. Splenda does not always react in recipes the way you would expect. By doing a test run, you can see what needs to be adjusted without having to serve less than perfect baked goods to your guests.

Comments Off | Tags: Baking, Cooking, Desserts, Diet, Drinks, Exercise, Food, Health, Low Carb Food, Nutrition, Splenda, Sugar-Free, Sugar-free Cooking, Weight Loss