Spices Instead Of Sauces

I've been trying to cook at home as much as possible over the past few years. This helps me keep my diabetes in better control, track my calories and macros better, and save some money. After tracking calories for years and always trying to eat less "extra" calories, one way I've found to help with this is to use spices more than sauces.

I enjoy food and want it to taste good. Two common ways to change the taste of a dish is to add either spices or sauces. I love barbecue sauce, ranch dressing, and garlic aioli, but they often have a ton of calories from either sugar or fat. On the other hand, most spices are calorie-free or very low calorie. The biggest thing to watch out for is getting too much sodium, but it's more of something to keep an eye on.

The most daunting thing for me is picking spice combinations. To help with this, I'll often buy pre-mixed seasoning blends or rubs that sound good. This way, I can just pick one of those blends when I'm cooking and coat whatever meat or food I'm making. I trust that whatever corporation made those blends figured out how to make them taste good, so I can just go with that instead of measuring out individual spices. This is likely more money, but in the grand scheme of things, it's worked well for me.

I think most people consider my food over-seasoned, but by having strong seasoning in the food, I am less likely to grab a sauce to put on top when I'm eating. This has helped me reduce my caloric intake and fit my target macros better.