7 easy and healthy food substitutions
These simple swaps reduce the intake of calories painlessly and not only are they delicious, but they can make a big difference on your scale too.
Complete diet makeovers can be tedious and overwhelming. The better choice is to focus on small simple changes, which makes healthy eating more manageable and sustainable over the long term and helps you slim down in a fun way.
Fruit at the bottom yogurt
Replace with: Plain yogurt with fresh fruit
Health benefit: The concoction at the bottom of yogurt containers is typically more sugar than fruit. Slice up some strawberries or plop in some blueberries for a fresher take on the fruit-yogurt combo. Switching from Dannon's blueberry-flavoured fruit-on-the-bottom yogurt to their plain variety topped with fresh blueberries will save you 60 calories and 13 grams of sugar.
Latte
Replace with: Café Americano
Health benefit: Sticking with the straight stuff gives you a more concentrated dose of coffee - and its free-radical fighting antioxidants. After all, research from the University of Scranton shows coffee is the greatest source of antioxidants in the American diet. Even if you can't stand black coffee, a splash of low-fat milk, drizzle of honey, or dash of good-for-you cinnamon can still help you save hundreds of calories over a latte, which gets its extra calories from steamed milk and added sugar.
Iceberg salad
Replace with: Spinach
Health benefit: Sure, it's sort of green, but iceberg lettuce really doesn't have much nutrition to call its own. Spinach, however, is full of iron, magnesium, folate, and vitamins A and C, which your body needs to keep your metabolism in tip-top shape.
Standard Steak
Replace with: Grass-fed steak
Health benefit: Grass-fed steak cuts have 92 fewer calories and up to a third less fat per serving, and the fat they do have is higher in omega-3s and more similar to that found in seafood.
Mashed potatoes
Replace with: Mashed cauliflower
Health benefit: The skinny starch delivers almost a day's worth of vitamin C for the small price of 27 calories per cup. (Compare that to potatoes, which clock in at 116 calories per cup.)
Snack bar
Replace with: Handful of almonds
Health benefit: Far too many bars (snack bars, protein bars, meal-replacement bars) contain high-fructose corn syrup. And even the ones that don't are generally high in sugar and binding additives. For protein without all of the fillers, a handful of almonds will do the trick. A recent Harvard study found a daily dose of nuts can lengthen your lifespan by cutting your risk of conditions including heart disease, diabetes, and obesity.
Ice cream
Replace with: Frozen banana
Health benefit: Replacing a huge splurge with fruit is a win-win. You not only sidestep tons of sugar, but you score plenty of potassium, folate, and vitamin C. If you have a few minutes, you can even throw the banana in the food processor to give it the same creamy, spoon-able texture as your favourite soft serve.
So stay healthy and enjoy these delicious treats and combine them with some ballet exercise to take your body to the next level!
See you in our classes!
Source : health.com