Tip Of The Week: Healthy Cooking

Tip 6: Making Sandwich

Endlessly versatile, healthy sandwiches are easy solutions for quick meal.

Sandwiches are convenient options for any of the day's meals, but over-sized sandwiches with calorie-dense dressings and meats can be bad for health. If you make them right, sandwiches can also be nutritious and within your caloric budget. So you don’t have to avoid them totally if you are on a weight loss program. Choose nutrient-dense ingredients and use portion control to make a healthy sandwich that fits your diet plan.

To make a sandwich even healthier:

• Switch to reduced salt wholemeal or wholegrain bread. Use whole grain bread, buns, rolls or flatbread instead of white counterpart. Be careful, though, because some bread may be labelled "wheat" bread and looks brown may actually be white bread made brown by caramel colouring or molasses. Another tip is to look at the amount of fibre. Whole grain bread should have at least 2-3g of fibre per slice. And preferably, look for bread that has only 1-2 g of sugar per slice at most.

• Limit high-fat spreads such as margarine or butter. You won’t miss butter if your sandwich has a few tasty ingredients in it.

• Limit your use of spreads high in saturated fat like cream cheese and butter. Substitute them with a thin spread of peanut butter or other nut spread, mustard, low-fat cheese spreads, avocado or hummus. These contain healthy fats, but neither are low calorie, so don't overdo it.

• Use plenty of salad or vegetable fillings

• Choose reduced fat ingredients when you can, such as low-fat cheese or mayonnaise.

• Try to reduce your use of processed meats. Instead use fish such as tuna, sardines or salmon.

• Enjoy toasted sandwiches with baked beans.