Health is the reflection of your diet. You must know the impact of what you eat on your wellness even when you prepare meals at home. Various ingredients go into them for flavor, texture, and aroma. Do you pay attention to your choices? Are you aware some condiments that make your food mouthwatering may not be suitable to consume? How do you identify them? You may wonder if leaving those spices and sauces will affect your cooking compass. Don’t bother! You can continue to savor homemade preparations with much more satisfaction with proper substitutes for those disguising as flavorful and hiding their true side. Let’s learn about them and the alternatives so your kitchen rack is always full of options.

Mayonnaise

An entire jar of mayonnaise in the kitchen can be a must. Or, there can be more than one. Home cooks and chefs rely heavily on this to make appetizers and snacks for guests who are supposed to visit them over the weekend. They find it the star of their recipes often. If you listen to nutritionists, you will realize that most readymade mayo sauces are made with refined soybean oil, which can lead to problems like diabetes and obesity due to over-consumption. As an easy alternative, you can switch to mayonnaise containing olive oil. Or, you can get sour cream or Greek Yogurt for more health benefits.

Ketchup

Who doesn’t love this pureed condiment? And its ability to enhance the taste of an even regular dish is admirable. Whether you make an elaborate preparation or assemble something from the previous night’s leftovers, ketchup promises to make it taste better with its presence. But it is surprising to learn that this popular choice is a health nightmare as one teaspoon of ketchup equals a whole package of sugar. Does this frighten you? You may ask how such an excellent ingredient consumed for ages can risk your wellness. A decision to let go of this may seem harsh right now. Still, there is nothing to worry about. Move to tomato relish prepared with relatively little sugar. You can make it at home or buy from stores as well. 

After knowing about this condiment, you may start doubting everything you use in your cooking. You can feel stressed for not realizing that even everyday kitchen items like these can be unreliable. Please don’t blame yourself! Some platforms share great insights on diet, nutrition, food, drink, beauty, etc. For instance, you can read more on OrganicallyBlissful for your kitchen and self-care needs to upgrade your knowledge. Before this, let’s uncover a few other unhealthy things in your kitchen. 

Honey mustard

Everyone loves their sandwiches because they are delicious and easy to make in a few minutes. When you are tired and not particularly looking to cook anything, eating a sandwich with quick fillings of veggies, fruits, salmons, etc., is the best way to satiate your hunger. You throw in a mix of different ingredients to ensure nourishment. Talking about elements, many people like to apply honey and mustard on their sandwiches to bask in the blend of sweet and salty tang. However, some brands add too much sugar to honey to increase its sweetness. That means you could be ingesting too much sugar without being aware. You can do away with this mix by using hummus as a spread. Hummus contains iron, vitamins, potassium, magnesium, fiber, and unsaturated fat.

Fat-free dressing 

It sounds tempting! When you read fat-free on the food label, the decision doesn’t have to wait. It will land in your kitchen for sure. However, it is essential to be informed that most such salad dressings are an explosion of sugar. Please don’t allow yourself to fall for it. Instead, use Greek yogurt for its creamy texture, low sugar content, and healthy fats.

Hot sauce 

Your love for spicy meals makes hot sauce your favorite add-on. Are you sure? For the unaware, consuming hot sauce or spicy preparation is linked with releasing feel-good chemicals like endorphins that alleviate pain. But one must probe the cost they pay for this high. Hot sauces often contain loads of salt. Eating salt in high amounts can be bad for your health. Your exposure to high BP, stroke, and heart problems increases. Restricting yourself to only one teaspoon of hot sauce is okay. Otherwise, you can supplement your food with chili pepper and flakes for more kick. 

Soy sauce

Anyone can get easily carried away by the kind of taste it offers to their taste buds. But it’s unfair to compromise your health for something packed with high doses of salt and sugar. You may wonder if anything can make up for its absence. Yes! You indeed have plenty of alternatives to match its umami personality. For example, you can get coconut aminos to maintain the attraction of your dishes. Interestingly, most coconut aminos contain only 90 mg sodium per teaspoon compared to ordinary soy sauce’s 291 mg sodium level by the same measure. Since coconut aminos are wheat- and soy-free, people with allergies don’t need to worry about consuming them.

This condiment of coconut sap and sea salt can elevate the taste of your stir-fries, sushi, and other recipes. You can also use it as a dip. Furthermore, those immune to soybean allergy can add Hoisin sauce to their refrigerators as another substitute. Hoisin sauce contains fermented soybean cream with different sweeteners, spices, and other elements. Due to this, it perfectly complements stews, soups, stir-fries, marinades, etc. You can also use it to glaze your tofu, meat, or fish. Some people may be unwilling to relinquish their old habits and continue applying soy sauce. That’s understandable! But they can also protect their well-being by shopping for low-sodium variations. While these are the same as regular soy sauces, low-sodium options come with nearly 35-40% less salt.

There is no better way to care for your and your loved one’s health than watching over what you consume. Being mindful of your kitchen ingredients is the ultimate solution. You can follow specific credible sites for guidance about these things. 

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