Simple Food Swaps

Simple Food Swaps to Help you Reach your Health Goals Faster

Cooked Food Served on White Ceramic Bowl

Did you know there are several easy and simple ways of changing up your diet right now? These things will give a bit of an edge on reaching your health goals faster. It’s simple: switch some everyday food items with something else that is much healthier for you. Below is a list of some of my favorite food swaps that we do in my household daily!

Switch to Spinach

Bowl of Spinach

Switch all iceberg lettuce for any dark green leafy vegetable. Spinach is my favorite because it is high in iron. Kale is another great one too if you like the taste. Switch anything and everything you make with iceberg lettuce for leaf-like spinach and you will automatically be upping your fiber and nutrient intake. Put it on sandwiches, spinach salads, in stir-fry dishes, on burgers, or shredded spinach on tacos. There are countless ways to use it!

More Honey, Honey

Honey on White Bowl

Using maple syrup or honey instead of regular table sugar in baking recipes. This simple trick can keep your blood sugar from spiking like it would with sugar. This is better for your body and digestive system.

Up your Oats

Healthy Swaps for clean eating

Try oatmeal instead of sugary cereal. Making this switch will increase your fiber intake dramatically. Fiber helps you feel full longer and can decrease your chance of over-eating at your next meal. Oatmeal has also been shown to help reduce cholesterol and is rich in antioxidants.

Using Oil Instead of Butter

Man Holding Clear Glass Bottle

Bake or cook with grapeseed or avocado oil instead of butter. If a recipe calls for 1 cup of butter, you can easily substitute it with 1 cup of oil. You will be reducing your cholesterol and increasing your intake of essential vitamins and minerals such as Vitamin E. 

Yogurt with My Chips…Well, Yes!

Using plain Greek nonfat yogurt instead of sour cream in recipes such as dips. Sour cream is full of the non-healthy, saturated fat. On the other hand, yogurt is full of probiotics and other important vitamins and minerals. Be sure to get the plain kind, it tastes the most like sour cream and doesn’t have any added sugars.

Are Avocados the New Cheese?

Sliced Avocado

Use avocados instead of cheese on sandwiches. Have toast in the morning with avocado spread and an egg on top with some seasoning…yum! Try putting avocado in your salad instead of cheese, or avocado on your breakfast burrito instead of the cheese. I promise you won’t miss the cheese at all. Plus, avocados are rich in vitamin E, an essential fatty acid and antioxidant. Vitamin E is extremely important for our immune system and eyes. You will still get the creamy texture of cheese without all the extra sodium and cholesterol. Although avocados are high in fat, they are high in the good kind of fat, the one that will help to reduce your blood cholesterol, including your LDL and VLDL numbers.

There are many more food swaps to use. Schedule an appointment with our dietitian, Heather, to get more ideas!


2 Comments

  1. Love these switches. They are so easy to incorporate into daily life

    1. Glad you liked them!

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