I’ve got another installment of simple healthy food swaps to share with you today. I hope these ideas make things a little bit easier for you. How about picking two or three to try out this week?
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Healthy Food Swaps
| DITCH | INSTEAD | SERVING SUGGESTIONS |
| Sugary (or diet) soda | Sparkling water with a squirt of your favorite citrus | Use either lemon, lime, grapefruit, or orange. |
| Candy or other desserts | Extra dark chocolate – try 85% | Combine dark chocolate with a handful of salted cashews or almonds or use it as a scoop in your favorite nut butter. |
| Highly refined oils such as canola or vegetable | Butter, olive oil, or coconut oil | Butter and olive oil are great at lower temperatures and coconut oil will hold up at a high heat. Melt butter to replace oil when baking. |
| Store bought salad dressings | Quick homemade vinaigrette | This is one of my favorite homemade dressings. |
| Refined crackers made from white flour (such as Wheat Thins) | 100% whole-grain crackers (such as Triscuits) | Top with cream cheese and jam, your favorite chicken salad, mashed avocado, melted cheddar, or smoked salmon. |
| 100-calorie pack snack mix (made with refined grains) | Handful of lightly salted nuts | Pair the nuts with dried fruit for more flavor and variety. |
| Premade dips for veggies | Hummus | There are a couple of decent store-bought hummus options. Look for chickpeas, olive oil, and other ingredients you would use at home! |
| Fruit juices | Whole fruit | Eat an orange instead of drinking orange juice or eat an apple instead of drinking apple juice. The whole fruit is packaged with everything nature intended you to have along with the natural sugars from fruit! |
| Ice cream | Banana ice cream | So easy to make with just frozen bananas, milk (of your choice) and a blender! Get the recipe here. |
| Pasta made from white flour | Whole grain pasta or spaghetti squash | This is my family’s favorite spaghetti squash recipe. |
| Highly processed tortillas made from white flour | Bibb or iceberg lettuce “cups” | We love to use big cups of lettuce in place of tortillas for taco meat or sandwich fixings. |
| Refined croutons on a salad | Toasted nuts or seeds (such as pumpkin or sunflower) | Simply toast raw nuts or seeds in a dry skillet over low heat and use in place of store bought croutons. |
Anything you would add to this list that I missed?
Fabulous Blender French Toast (Allergy Friendly)
Kristin DeLaet
August 11, 2017 at 4:13 pmHave you tried the new pasta brand Banza? The pasta is made from garbanzo beans.
Amy Taylor (comment moderator)
August 18, 2017 at 3:01 pmI love bean pastas!
Josten
August 11, 2017 at 11:14 pmSparkling/seltzer water tastes so good to me in the summer time! Love flavoring with my own fruit at home.
SUZANNE
August 12, 2017 at 12:03 amOR kombucha
Megan
August 12, 2017 at 6:21 pmAnd it’s so cheap (and quick) to make!
Helene
August 12, 2017 at 6:46 amDont use grain crackers instead use: cucumber slices, zucchini or yellow summer squash slices, torn up flaxseed wraps, or plantain chips
Helene
August 12, 2017 at 6:47 amWe have very lightly flavored sparkling water here with no sweetener in it. Refreshing! Poland springs makes some even.
Jasmine
August 14, 2017 at 7:07 pmPlain Nonfat Greek Yogurt in place of Sour Cream in any recipe!
Nonfat Cottage Cheese and/or smushed avocado in place of Mayonnaise (especially for chicken/tuna/egg salads).
Fresh fruit in yogurt instead of pre-sweetened flavors (we prep quarts of crushed fruit in advance to dump on yogurt for easy breakfasts).
Julie Chapel
August 29, 2017 at 1:45 pmHello, What would you replace cream of chicken soup with?
Amy Taylor (comment moderator)
September 13, 2017 at 12:09 pmHi there. This is a base recipe I’ve used several times: http://pinchofyum.com/homemade-cream-of-chicken-soup.