by Sarah Flamion

Created on: November 24, 2009   Last Updated: December 01, 2009

A culinary degree and hours to spend in the kitchen are not pre-requisites for creating delicious, low-fat meals. As the popularity of healthy cooking has increased, the number of sources for simple, low-fat recipes has grown substantially. A more exciting and healthful diet is just a few clicks away.

Many recipe clearinghouse websites have tools which allow users to filter the full spectrum of recipes to include only those which are low-fat, or have special pages dedicated specifically to healthy cooking. Often these sites allow users to create a personal recipe file to bookmark favorite recipes. A few of the best of these websites are listed below:

* MyRecipes collects recipes from a variety of sources, including large publications like Cooking Light. The site has excellent search capabilities, and also provides a feature of the day for those lacking inspiration. Nutritional information is provided, as well as user reviews. MyRecipes also offers articles and videos on various cooking topics.
* The Food Network recently created a new Healthy Eating section, which has specialized pages for topics such as low-fat cooking. There are beautiful images of most recipes. Some recipes are provided by famous Food Network chefs and some are submitted by at home chefs. Recipes on the site are rated which can help users easily identify the best of the best, and videos providing food preparation tips are available.
* AllRecipes is another large site with a low-fat section. AllRecipes provides ratings and pictures of the recipes, as well as advanced functionality such as a shopping list builder.
* Taste of Home offers images, ratings and shopping lists as well as the ability to share favorite recipes with friends via social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.
* Kraft Foods has a healthy living section with quite a few recipes that can be made from basic pantry staples.
* Recipezaar is one of the largest recipe clearinghouses on the web, offering over thirty thousand low-fat recipes.
* Epicurious features nutritious recipes from a variety of sources such as Gourmet, Bon Appetit and Self magazines. Epicurious features tools such as shopping lists and a food dictionary, and now has an iPhone application.
* SparkRecipes contains recipes submitted by over 5 million members and has a recipe calculator to find the nutritional information for every recipe on the site.
* FoodFit allows users to filter through healthy recipes by selecting tags such as "low-fat" and "quick". FoodFit offers articles on healthy cooking and living, several free newsletters and a "Dinner Tonight" section for last-minute ideas.

There are also smaller websites and blogs that provide nutritious recipes and have a more personal flair. Some of the best:

* LowFat Lifestyle features recipes as well as weekly cooking tips.
* 101 Cookbooks is an award-winning blog featuring frequently updated healthy dishes, often vegetarian.
* Anita's Recipes is a recipe blog focused almost entirely on low-fat recipes, with frequent updates.
* Healthy Eats is a blog and weekly newsletter that focuses on healthy eating.

Build up your low-fat repertoire by trying one or two new low-fat recipes each week, keeping your favorites for future reference. Soon you'll have a library of delicious options when preparing a healthful meal.

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