Hi, FitFam! I am currently trapped under a very entitled (and purring) orange feline. So since I’m here until his Highness decides to move, I thought I’d share some more food substitutions that can help cut some calories from your diet:
One. Lower fat dairy – Check out the nutrition label on your milk carton. If you’re drinking full fat milk, you’ve got wiggle room for cutting some calories. Grab 1% or Fat Free milk. You still get the taste and texture of milk with less of a caloric load.
Two. Ground turkey – Swap out your ground beef for ground turkey. It makes good spaghetti or tacos, and has less fat than beef. Learn to season it the way you like it.
Three. Turkey bacon – Turkey bacon is pretty good. Give it a shot. You cook it just like you would regular bacon, and it packs enough salty punch to make you think you’re eating something bacon-ish. Would I prefer real bacon? Well, pssh-yeah. But turkey bacon will do.
Four. Turkey pepperoni – This is a fun snack or homemade pizza topping. In Part 1 I talked about the Sugar Free Marinara sauce. This is a natural companion!
Five. Pb2 vs peanut butter – If you love peanut butter, but don’t want all the fat and sugar that comes with it then PB2 is your new love. Use it anywhere you want peanut butter flavor. I like to mix sugar free jelly and PB2 in Greek yogurt. It tastes like PB&J yogurt and I feel full from the protein in the yogurt.
There you go. Five more food substitutions that can shave some calories off of your diet. Are any of these better than the “real thing”? Nope.
But here’s the thing: it doesn’t have to be “as good as”; it only has to be “good enough.” And you’ll find that, given enough time, you’ll get used to the dietary switch ups. When you splurge every now and then and try real bacon, you’ll still like it, but you’ll also realize how easy it is to switch back to healthier substitutions.
Happy sweating!
Meghan
