Something I didn’t understand about Mediterranean eating before I actually started doing it: Olive oil isn’t just something you use for cooking. I started using it over vegetables, beans, fish, potatoes, salads etc. It completely changed how satisfying basic food tasted.
What do you mean "actually enjoyable"?
Healthy and enjoyable aren't mutually exclusive.
You can use spices you know...
Acid. A squeeze of fresh lemon right before serving.
Butter /s
And bacon!
Generally a pinch of salt helps bring out the flavours. Good quality fresh ingredients are delicious in their own right most of the time and don't need much. It's only like tofu and a couple other things that need some help most of the time.
Well first off, careful with that olive oil. It is a healthy fat, but it's not like the calories don't count. If you are trying to lose weight, you gotta watch these calories.
That being said, a small amount of olive oil properly applied can do more for a dish than a much larger amount of mayo on cream. So it's a useful tool.
For me one of the big unlocks has been low fat dairy. I really enjoy creamy textures and sauces in my food, and things like fat free Greek yogurt and low fat cottage cheese or even just a small growing of parmesan let me get a bit of creaminess going without a ton of extra calories.
MSG and acid
Fresh lemon juice does wonders.
Also I make a tzatziki like sauce with nonfat Greek yogurt, lemon, garlic, onion, cucumber, mint, parsley, salt, pepper, etc.
It's great to go alongside meats, and more often than not it's probably the healthiest thing on the plate.
For me, it’s garlic and a squeeze of lemon. You can throw them on the most boring vegetables or beans and suddenly I actually want to eat the whole plate.
ecstasy
They aren’t but often time healthy food is less flavorful because it lacks some of the key factors of salt, fat, acid, or heat. . . Obviously heat won’t be missing but salt and fat are often cut back.
You can replace the fat with healthier options but salt is trickier; and you still have a different flavor than if you used the original recipe.