Spring cleaning doesn’t just have to be for your house … it can be for your body, too! This is the perfect time of year to make some clean and simple healthier food swaps because, remember, any small change is better than none. :)
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Healthier Food Swaps
| DITCH | INSTEAD | GET RECIPE |
| Deep-fried potato chips | Make whole-grain popcorn in a brown paper lunch bag | Homemade Popcorn |
| Bottled salad dressing (full of unwanted additives) | Shake up a few ingredients in a jar to last all week long | Mustard Vinaigrette Dressing |
| Store bought flavored oatmeal packets (full of unwanted additives) | Make your own oatmeal packets | DIY Oatmeal Packets in my Fast & Fabulous Cookbook |
| The dreaded Lunchables | Make your own look-a-like version instead | DIY Lunchable Instructions |
| Skipping breakfast on busy weekday mornings | Prepare overnight oats that will be ready to go out the door with you in the morning! | Our Favorite Overnight Oats |
| The drive-through on busy weeknights | Plan ahead by having a slow cooker recipe waiting for you instead | Slow Cooker Recipes |
| Boxed mac & cheese | Cook a creamy made-from-scratch mac & cheese in the same amount of time | Creamy (Whole-Wheat) Mac & Cheese |
| Store bought boxes (or cans) of chicken broth | Make chicken stock from bones you’d throw out anyway | Overnight Chicken Stock in the Crock Pot |
| Plain cream cheese (on your whole-grain bagel) | Cream cheese with an extra nutritional punch | Veggie Cream Cheese in my Fast & Fabulous Cookbook |
| Sugary and artificially dyed snow cone syrups | Make your own with fruit juice concentrate | Homemade Snow Cones |
| Highly processed store bought fudge pops | Mix up some homemade yogurt-based fudge pops | Extra Dark Fudge Pops |
| Canister of highly processed whipped cream | Make your own easy homemade whipped cream from heavy cream | Homemade Whipped Cream |
What would you add to this list that I missed?
Pesto Chicken Grill Packets
I would ditch the soda and make herbal teas!
Yes, great one! Or just squeeze some citrus into plain sparkling water.
We switched from soda to seltzer. You still get the bubbles, but none of the sugar and chemicals.
And you can add some fruit juice if you want a bit of flavor.
Haha was just saying exactly that in the comment above. Great minds think alike :)
Or a drop of good quality essential oil!
We do quite a few of these–everything is homemade from the most basic ingredients. It’s partly for health, partly for taste, partly for budget. If you had asked me before whether I would be able to do this, I would have said no, but having gone the real-food DIY route for years now, I have to say that it really isn’t that much more effort, but the payoffs are huge.
Yummy! What great alternatives to fried salty snacks. Going to have to make these healthy swaps in my kitchen.
Instead of store bought tortillas make your own.
Ditch the frozen pizzas for easy to make yourself on either pita bread or whole grain English Muffins!
Use white whole wheat flour in place of all purpose flour in your favorite pancake, waffle and muffin recipes. I also cut out the sugar in our pancakes as we top ours with fruit and maple syrup anyway. Also, switch to Maple syrup if you haven’t already.
Thank you so much for this!! I’ve been struggling to find healthier alternatives ever since our family decided to eat better. Well, not anymore! hahaha. This will be my guide for now on. Love it!
Any suggestions for making plain yogurt less tangy? Flavored yogurt is one of my kids last hold-outs. I only buy Trade Joe’s vanilla but even that has tons of sugar. I’ve tried disguising plain yogurt with blended fruit, a bit of maple syrup….but they always taste that plain tang. Help?
Hi there. This is Lisa’s trick: https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/recipe-berry-sauce/.
Enjoyed all you ideas. I am interested in you cookbook. where can I buy a coy?
Hello, Helen. You can find it on Amazon or in most bookstores.