Once you decide to change your dietary ways, making your new meal plan a way of life is the real challenge. Staying on course is easier if you give your kitchen a "healthy cooking" makeover. Believe it or not, cooking nutritious, diet-friendly meals doesn't have to mean following a recipe.

If you keep the right food staples and the right equipment on hand, you can whip up countless good-for-you, flavorful creations-without excess fat and calories. The key is in the little, seemingly unimportant ingredients that are typically added for some flavor and variety. "The better the condiment, the more often you'll avoid using fat," says Dayle Hayes, M.S., R.D., a registered dietician in Billings, Montana.

What would a registered dietician put into the perfect weight-loss promoting pantry? Just keep the following basics around the house and pair them with your favorite fruits, vegetables and low-fat meats to concoct mouth-watering meals anytime.

Cooking classics:

Olive oil: Experiment with some of the new gourmet, flavored olive oils. "These have so much flavor that you don't have to use as much oil," Hayes says. "Hot chile oil can be used to make a great spicy shrimp dish." Look for garlic-, rosemary-, and lemon-infused oils, too.

Cooking sprays: These convenient, mess-free sprays can give your dishes less fat and more zing. And now there are flavored varieties, which add the taste of olive oil, garlic and lemon to your meals.