{Guest Post} Simple Substitutions

Eating healthy seems to be the craze in today’s society. While low fat and low calorie foods fill every grocery store aisle and shelf, most of these options contain lots of processed chemicals that truly aren’t healthy for our bodies. The best ways to know that you’re eating healthy is to eat at home, make your meals from whole, natural foods and consume as little processed foods as possible. Eating foods in their most natural form, such as fresh fruits, veggies, complex carbs and lean proteins is how you eat clean.

The fact of life is that we are all very busy! Eating clean is not a diet, but a lifestyle change that does take time, patience and determination to maintain. Taking a recipe that your family loves and “cleaning” it up is a great way to still serve a crowd pleaser, while adding some additional nutritional value. Some simple substitutions for you to use in the kitchen while cooking include:

• Plain Greek yogurt for sour cream
• Plain, low fat or fat free yogurt instead of mayonnaise
• Frozen vegetables (frozen without salt) or frozen fruit for canned or not-in-season fruits and veggies
• Ground turkey or chicken for ground beef
• Agave nectar in place of honey, sugar or syrup
• Olive oil and canola oil for vegetable oil, butter or stick margarine
• Apple sauce instead of oil
• Egg whites for eggs
• Sea salt for regular table salt
• Whole grain rice, wild rice or whole grain pasta in place of white rice and white pasta
• Balsamic vinegar for salad dressing

While making the choice to eat clean is a decision that I personally encourage, it is also one that I recognize as taking time to adjust to. These substitutions are simple enough that they should be easy to incorporate into your daily cooking. They will increase the nutritional value of your recipes while allowing you to still enjoy great tasting food.

After reading Emily’s guest post, be sure to stop by her blog, Emily Eats Clean, for more helpful tips and tricks!