As the end of the year approaches, you might be thinking about getting healthy. Studies have shown that while losing weight and improving your health is one of the most popular New Year’s resolutions, you actually have more success if you begin in December.
When you embark on your new health journey, you will probably be plagued with the issue of wanting to eat all your favorite foods, which aren’t the healthiest options. One thing you can do is a healthy food swap. This is when you take something that is unhealthy and swap it out for a similar food, but one that is a lot healthier.
TIPS FOR MAKING FOOD SWAPS
One of the steps in many diet and health plans is to make a switch from one food to another. Before discussing the actual food swaps, let’s talk about some ways you can create healthy swaps on your own. Swapping out bad foods for good foods with a similar flavor has become increasingly popular, especially with various options of eat this not that publications. Before you start down this path to making the healthy food swaps in your life, there are a few things you should consider about the process.
Make Sure the Swap is Better
All too often people make the swap to a better food, or what they think is a better food, only to find that it isn’t as healthy as they thought. Some of the processed food options that have reduced sugar may have an increased amount of sodium or preservatives. When you first start to make food swaps, consider if the swap is better. You can ensure that you are getting a better swap if you stick to natural options, stay away from processed options, and stay away from manufactured food rather than something found in nature. For example, swapping from sugar to an artificial manufactured sweetener is not always the healthier option. Instead choose agave which is a natural sugar source or honey.
Swap Across the Board
If you are making a swap during your breakfast, lunch, dinner, or desserts then make it across the board. What this refers to are things like sugar, salt, or preservatives. If you have milk and sugar with your coffee and want to make a swap, then you may consider swapping to a nut based milk instead of dairy and honey or agave instead of sugar. These are swaps that can move into your three meals and snacks during the day as well. Instead of making them just for one option, make them for all of your similar options.
Decide What is Important
For some people the swaps need to focus on calories. For other people the focus needs to be on fats, sugars, carbs, or preservatives. Everyone has a different health goal and those goals are focused on different things. The key to making the right food swaps for you is to focus on what is important to you and make the swap based on that. For example, if you need to lower your sugars then focus on sugar content and reducing that content. If it is on lowering your calories and increasing your workouts, then you may want to look for options with more protein but lower calories.
By keeping these key points in mind about healthy food swaps, you can ensure you are making a good swap in your life. You can also ensure that you are filling the void that the craving you have for the original food started.
BREAKFAST FOOD SWAPS
You may not think of breakfast as a time when food swaps are necessary, but for most people breakfast is where the most sugary foods reside. In fact, when you think about breakfast food think about the amount of sugar is there in French toast, waffles, or even the grease in things like bacon and other breakfast meats. If you are going to make a major food swap, and breakfast is your largest meal of the day, then this is the ideal place to start.
Eat Whole Fruits Instead of Drinking Juice
One of the best swaps you can make to your breakfast food is to move away from drinking manufactured juices and swap to eating whole fruits. Now you may be thinking that this is insane for your lifestyle and that you would have to eat far too many fruits to equal what juice can give. Manufactured juice contains a lot of preservatives, sugars, and sodium that whole fruits do not. If you are concerned about the amount you would have to eat, then do the juicing yourself. You get it fresh, get the whole fruit, and avoid the sugars and preservatives. You also can source where your fruit comes from and ensure you are getting the actual fruit and not additives.
Swap Cinnamon for Sugar
Cinnamon has many benefits and can easily take the place of some of your sugar content in the morning. Instead of using a heavy syrup or sugar based syrup on your pancakes or waffles, consider mixing cinnamon in with the batter. Cinnamon will give you a sweetened flavor that you are looking for. It will also help to regulate your blood sugar throughout the day. You will also find that you are having a heavy sugar crash like you would normally.
Oatmeal Instead of Cereals, Pancakes, or Waffles
One swap that can make a huge difference in your diet and health is swapping to oatmeal from cereals, pancakes, or waffles. Your concern may be that oatmeal is mushy and has no flavor. This is just a misconception based on the traditional oatmeal that is served at breakfast. You can go with a steel cut option which has more texture and offers a nutty flavor. Adding cinnamon, natural organic honey, and fruit can help boost the flavor and still give you healthy options.
By making just a few of these swaps a day, you can see a significant change in your body and your weight overall. Just a replacement for the sugars in your morning breakfast can make a huge difference in your daily outlook and in your early afternoon feelings of crashing and having a drop in energy.
LUNCH FOOD SWAPS
Lunch can be a time when you may go off of your diet plan. This can be due to a number of factors including lunch dates with office co-workers or just being a rush and grabbing the easiest option available to you. Unfortunately, the quickest and easiest options are often not the best for us. If this sounds like your day, consider these common lunch food options and the swaps that may help you make it better.
Avocado Instead of Mayonnaise
If you are a sandwich eater at lunch, or if you use a lot of mayonnaise or mayonnaise based foods like potato salads, then consider swapping the mayo for avocado. You may be thinking that you would have to use slices, but the truth is you can easily mix the avocado and give yourself a traditional spread feel for sandwiches and salads. All you need is a ripe avocado and a blender or potato masher. Just cut the avocado and mash it up until smooth. Store in a jar in the fridge and use as needed. This will last about a week or so. If you are out for lunch, consider ordering sandwiches with this option. Keep in mind, most restaurants are making this an option. The benefit of this is that you get a boost of oils that you need, more vegetables in your daily routine, and less fat.
Whole Wheat Instead of Bleached Pastas
Making a whole wheat from white wheat switch can make a big difference in your carb count for the day. It can also give you the whole grains that you need and fiber in your diet that you may be missing. The bleached pasta options have chemical aspects that have bleached grains. They also have more carbs and less of the whole grains you need. This is an easy switch since most lunchtime menus do offer a whole-wheat pasta option, sandwiches, or brown rice options on their menus. It is a simple switch that you will barely notice in taste.
Spinach Instead of Lettuce
Lettuce is a traditional standby for salads and as an addition to sandwiches. It is incredibly popular on lunch menus and as part of lunch recipes. However, it doesn’t offer much in the way of vitamins or minerals. One simple switch is to swap the lettuce for spinach. Spinach offers a high level of vitamins and iron and can be ideal if you are pregnant or increasing your workout intensity. Spinach is available at most restaurants during lunch salad bars and you can even have it on sandwiches at most chain deli’s and sandwich shops.
These swaps can be made ahead of time and taken for your lunch. In fact, preplanning your lunch with these swaps is an option that most people consider and use in their daily lunch routine. Remember, if you are eating out, consider checking out the menus in the area beforehand and have something in mind that is healthy instead of just fast.
DINNER FOOD SWAPS
Dinner time is a moment in the day where you do one of two things. You either totally indulge and have a lavish meal, or you have a quick meal that is loaded with carbs and fats. You may be thinking that of all the meals in your day, dinner is not one where you could make many swaps that work for you. The truth is, there are several dinner options that are common that can be made easily and adapt to your lifestyle.
Vegetable Pasta Instead of Wheat Pasta
One of the easiest swaps you can make a dinner is for one of the most common dinner options, pasta. Instead of eating traditional wheat or flour based pasta, consider a vegetable pasta. You can take vegetables such as various squashes and zucchini and spiral cut them. This creates a pasta effect similar to spaghetti. You can choose to heat the vegetable or leave it at room temperature and have a traditional pasta sauce. This will cut down the carbs and still give you the taste and flavor you are looking for. It will also boost your vegetable, mineral, and vitamin intake over a traditional carb filled pasta meal.
Black Bean Instead of Hamburger
Hamburgers are a common dinner and hamburger meat based foods are also incredibly common. Instead of reaching for a traditional angus beef or ground beef hamburger, consider having a black bean option. You can make your own black bean patties that resemble a traditional beef burger in texture and can be stored in the fridge or freezer. You can even add more vegetables to the black bean patties and use regular cheese and other toppings. The black beans will give you folate, potassium, and Vitamin B6. You can add spinach instead of lettuce as a topping for added iron.
Cauliflower for Potato Mash
Potatoes can give you a great side option, but they will also give you a lot of starch and carbs that may not be what you are looking for. Instead of reaching for a traditional baked potato, twice baked potato, or mash consider a mashed cauliflower option. The texture is the same and can have the same additions like butter and sour cream that a traditional potato can have. Cauliflower also gives you fiber, B6, niacin, and riboflavin.
These are only a few of the dinner food swap options to consider. Another step you can take is to look at the other food swaps you are making in your day and consider applying them to your dinner as well. You may find that some of the food swaps repeat themselves and are easily adaptable.
DESSERT FOOD SWAPS
Dessert foods are the number one area of food swaps in most health routines. In fact, most people do feel that it is better to do away with desserts completely rather than just swap them with something healthier. The thought is that dessert swaps won’t meet filling the void of sugar you are craving. The truth is there are several dessert swaps that are as sweet tasting and indulgent as their traditional counterparts.
Banana for Traditional Ice Cream
Ice cream is the number one dessert item and is offered in dishes, bowls, as part of another dessert, or as a topping. It can also add sugars, fats, and a lot of calories to your daily intake. One easy swap for this is frozen and blended banana. All you need is a ripe banana that has been chilled or frozen. Place the banana in the blender and blend until smooth. Serve directly just as you would traditional ice cream. You can add a vanilla bean, raw sugar, or a little organic honey to sweeten it if it is not sweet enough for your tastes.
Greek Yogurt for Vanilla Ice Cream
Vanilla ice cream is a topping normally used on pies, but it can also be something you don’t think about when you grab ice cream related products. Instead of going with an ice cream option, small cup or dish, or as a topping consider Greek yogurt instead. Greek yogurt offers several vitamins and nutrients your body needs and you can find it in nut based options like soy and almond. You can add honey, vanilla, and fruit to help boost the flavor. It is also a readily available swap at most stores.
Yogurt Tart for Fruit Pie
Fruit pies, especially during the holidays are incredibly popular and also incredibly fattening. They may be loaded with fruit, but they are usually also loaded with sugar and different starches. Instead of going with the traditional pie, consider swapping it for a shortbread and yogurt fruit tart. All you need is vanilla Greek yogurt, shortbread, and fruit. Crumble the shortbread and mix with a little natural butter. Place it in a pie plate or baking sheet and bake for just a few minutes. Add the yogurt and place the fruit on top. You can add nuts and other options for a fruit and sweet replacement.
These are only a few of the swaps. If you aren’t sure if these will work for you, consider vegan and vegetarian options. These are generally designed to be as indulgent and optimal dessert replacements for people trying to make healthy changes in their life. Remember that you can always start slow, opting for fruit instead of a Pop-Tart in the morning or wrapping your sandwich in a big lettuce leaf instead of going with bread. Every small change you make will have a drastic effect on your overall health.
