Cooking your own food is by far the best way to go. You have control over what goes into your food and what doesn't. Dining out once in a while is always a fun social activity, but the numbers are appalling when it comes to fat and calories in what seems to be a healthy meal.

The number one rule to being a healthy cook is to buy fresh ingredients. Fresh produce is not only more delicious, but it lacks the chemicals and preservatives found in canned or precooked meals. Buying organic is always better, but if you can't afford it, just give your produce a thorough rinsing before use.

Be creative. When following a recipe, you usually don't have to use the exact ingredients it calls for. Many people substitute apple sauce or bananas for butter and fat, or sweetener or honey instead of sugar. Whole wheat flour can easily replace white or wheat flour, and extra spices can bump up the flavor without adding calories.
Less is more.

Don't ruin your healthy vegetables by frying them in oil. Lightly steaming is the best way to heat your veggies without destroying the flavor and nutrients. Save the water as a base for broths or sauces. A tip for thickening sauces is to use corn starch. The more it is heated, the thicker your liquid will get. Use this method instead of adding heavy creams or milk.

Speaking of creams and milk, always opt for low-fat versions of dairy. When mixed with other ingredients, chances are no one will know the difference anyway. Sometimes the texture may be different, so play around with a small sample before committing to a whole batch.

Whenever possible, make as much as you can from scratch. Buying prepackaged sauces or cake mixes will save you time and maybe a few cents here and there, but if you read the ingredients there will surely be things that you can't even pronounce. If you don't know what it is, do you really want to eat it?

With so much information on the Internet these days, anyone can be a gourmet chef. Many websites offer tutorials for cooking and baking techniques, not to mention the countless pages of recipes that can be found.

Check out or for some good places to start.

Learn more about this author, Jessica Smith.
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