If you are embarking on a weight loss journey, there's one advice you must have gotten from all corners - keep the dinner light. It's so difficult to follow this tip as we have been doing just the opposite till now. Submitting to habit, we miss breakfast, gobble up something for lunch but for dinner, we settle down with a lavish large spread and savour it with all the time in the world. To successfully achieve the goal of quick weight loss, it really is important to have pale meals at night. And, foods that are nutritious but contain low amount of calories should be placed in your diet chart. Low calorie foods help you save extra calories that your body doesn't need. Excess calories store themselves as fats.
Why Low-Cal Foods Are Good For Dinner?
Our body clock is naturally developed in a way that it responds differently at different times in a day. Always remember that the food we eat at night metabolises at a slower rate. One good reason that corroborates this fact is that our digestion system is the weakest at night. Just like our body and mind, our digestion system is wired to get some rest at night.
Now, if you are convinced to switch to low-cal dinners, another dilemma may hit you - what should you eat? Don't fret. We are here to help you.
Here are some great low-calorie but nutritious dinner ideas -
1. Baked Chicken Seekh
This Mughlai low calorie meal in its baked form makes for a low-calorie but high-protein meal. The cherry on the cake is - it's oil-free! And that's what you exactly need to level up your weight loss regime.
(Also Read: Summer Diet - 5 Healthy And Light Wraps For Lunch)
Low-cal dinner: Baked chicken seekh
2. Mustard-Parmesan Whole Roasted Cauliflower
Cauliflower, known as gobhi in Hindi, is full of nutrients and contains negligible fat. Roasting will lend it a crunchy texture and smoky flavour. Make this low calorie Indian food a part of your new diet chart and you won't miss your earlier regular meals ever.
Low-cal dinner: roasted cauliflower
3. Mixed Vegetable Salad
Think of fat-free and low calorie meal and salad crops up in the mind first. This salad is a melange of colours, hues, flavours and aromas. It fills up your stomach without adding extra fat.
Low-cal dinner: Mixed vegetable salad
4. Fish Curry Without Oil
Abound with good fats (read: Omega-3s) and devoid of calories, fish is an ideal option for a light and healthy, low calorie dinner. Loaded with a burst of flavours from coconut milk and tamarind, this dish is bound to bowl you over.
Low-cal dinner: Fish curry without oil
5. Low-Fat Celery Soup
Celery is revered for its health-benefitting and fat-burning properties. This low calorie soup is made dense by the use of celery broth. Combined with other flavourful vegetables, this soup comes loaded with wellness.
Low-cal dinner: Celery soup
6. Spicy Pasta
For Italian food lovers, this is the perfect dish to satiate their cravings. This Sicilian pasta is made with healthy veggies like broccoli and will taste heavenly with no cheese or with fat-free cottage cheese.
(Also Read: 13 Best Vegetarian Dinner Recipes)
Low-cal dinner: Spicy pasta
7. Crunchy Vegetable Stir-Fry
Lots of veggies and lots of crunchiness - describes this healthful dish perfectly. Stir-fried with little oil and paired with herbs and spices, this low calorie Indian dish will whet your appetite like no other.
8. Baked Carrot Fries
These fries are just called fries and are not fried. Carrots, which are a storehouse of vital nutrients, add no fat whatsoever. In fact they help in easy digestion of foods further leading to eradicating fat from the body.
Low-cal dinner: Baked carrot fries
9. Mango Lassi Ice Cream
Dinner eventually leads up to craving for desserts. Weight loss doesn't mean you have to kill your sweet cravings. Here's a low-calorie, sugar-free dessert that will end up being a comforting companion in your journey.
(Also Read: 10 Low-Cal Foods That Can Speed Up Weight Loss)
Low-cal dinner: Mango lassi ice-cream
10. Detox Tofu Dessert
Here's another sweet treat to satiate your sweet tooth. This low calorie treat prepared with health-giving tofu, fruits and honey, is not only low in fat content but also flushes out toxins from the body.
Don't ever make the mistake of skipping your dinner. It's essential to feed the body till the end of the day. Just the last meal of the day needs to be easier to digest. Try these low-cal recipes for dinner and fly away to your fitter self. If you know of any other dinner recipes that are low in calories, feel free to share with us in the comments section below.