Five Tips to Reduce Calories at Lunchtime

All you need to do to reduce your calorie intake is to acquire a series of healthy habits. This will also help you to prevent diseases and have a better state of health in general.
Five Tips to Reduce Calories at Lunchtime

Last update: 21 February, 2019

If you want to lose weight in a simple way, we have five tips that we’d like to share with you. All of the tips involve small changes that you can make in your daily life. This way, you’ll able to maintain your diet while losing weight at the same time.

Eat while drinking water

Many people tend to accompany their meals with soft drinks or artificial juices. These drinks do not bring any positive benefits for the body. They only provide unnecessary amounts of sugar and calories.

It is important to acquire the habit of drinking water while eating. Banish sugary drinks from your diet or enjoy them only while with friends or during the weekend.

If you have a hard time drinking water while you eat, you can try to add some flavor to the water, to enhance its taste. Drinking flavored water is a great way to substitute soda or artificial juices.

Avoid sauces

Sometimes we prepare healthy dishes such as salads, grilled meats or fish and end up taking in too many calories. This is due to the fact that we often season our healthy meals with unhealthy sauces.

Healthy sauce

Keep in mind that processed sauces contain a large number of fats and sugars so it is best to avoid them. Dress your salads with a tablespoon of olive oil, vinegar and salt. When it comes to meat and fish, you can accompany them with sauteed vegetables.

If you prefer to have your meals with sauces, you can eliminate processed sauces and choose healthy homemade options.

Swap the batter for the grill

People often batter their fish or meat. Children love it, it’s easy to prepare and it also remains juicy for days. In spite of all of this, you should know that when food is fried, the only nutritional value is a huge amount of fats and hydrates. 

It’s healthier to cook on the grill. You can grill your meat or fish with different and delicious spices.

Healthy desserts

The pastries that accompany coffee, such as a piece of cake with ice-cream, are usually synonymous with a large number of calories. We recommend avoiding classic deserts if you want to reduce your caloric intake. Try the following options instead:

  • Fruits. Fruit is sweet, tasty and satisfying. It makes a perfect dessert because it includes a large number of vitamins and minerals and contains a few calories. If you opt for seasonal fruit, you will benefit from all of its properties and you will also be able to buy it at an affordable price.
  • An ounce of dark chocolate. Unlike milk or white chocolate, dark chocolate can be consumed regardless of your diet because of all of its beneficial properties.
  • Infusions. Infusions are great to aid digestion and they can be the perfect complement after a healthy meal.
chocolate dessert

Add oil with a spray dispenser

The last tip we want to share with you to reduce your caloric intake is to use a spray dispenser.

Buy a spray dispenser from the store and fill it up with the cooking oil that you usually buy. This will help you reduce the amount of oil that you use in your dishes making them healthier.

When you use a traditional oil bottle, you may mistakenly add too much oil while cooking and end up with greasy meals.

Now that you know these tips to reduce your caloric intake don’t hesitate to follow them. As you can see, these tips are easy to incorporate and you will still be able to enjoy your favorite meals in a healthy way.


All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.


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  • Aparicio Vizuete, A. (2018). Evolución de la dieta española desde la posguerra.
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  • Vásquez, C., & Elizabeth, A. (2017). Formulación de salsas dulces bajas de calorías. Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina.

This text is provided for informational purposes only and does not replace consultation with a professional. If in doubt, consult your specialist.