5 Easy Food Swaps to Start Eating Healthier Today
Health should feel good and taste good too. While it’s important to treat ourselves every so often, it’s also important to fuel the body with nutrient-dense meals that taste good too. Food swaps are a great way to increase nutrition without decreasing taste.
Here are 5 easy food swaps that add nutritional value to your daily meals without sacrificing taste! Swapping some foods for others can increase minerals, vitamins, protein, and fiber to boost health exponentially.
5 Food Swaps to Eat Better
Here are 5 simple food swaps that can help you eat healthier today! Try them out and see for yourself how good health can taste. These food swaps are focused on adding more nutritional value to a meal to make sure it is filling and healthy!
1. Pasta
Pasta is one of my favorite foods in the world. It’s filling, it’s saucy, it’s delicious. If I could eat pasta 24/7, well, I would.
Good swaps for pasta include any lentil, chickpea, or edamame pasta for added protein and lowered carbs. These subs are also very high in minerals and vitamins as well since they are bean-based. Another swap you can use is zucchini noodles as well since zucchini is high in vitamins, fiber, and minerals.
2. Wraps
Wraps are a great meal that can be topped with a lot of tasty ingredients. A good substitute for wraps is, well, lettuce. No really. You can pack lettuce with ground beef, tomatoes, sour cream, cheese, and salsa for tacos, you can make a ham and cheese lettuce wrap or any other combo.
Another swap can be low-carb tortillas, which are easily found at many grocery stores! They taste like tortillas with a fraction of the carbs.
3. Rice
Cauliflower is a great substitute for rice! It looks like rice, no doubt about it, and adds important nutrients to your food.
Does it taste like rice? No! But the taste is passable for delicious if you add enough seasoning. Add salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, paprika, garlic powder, or onion powder.
4. Heavy Cream
Heavy cream can be substituted for its low-calorie buddy, greek yogurt! The taste is neutral, but it adds a good amount of creaminess that adds depth to any meal!
Plus, greek yogurt is full of protein, vitamins, and minerals that add a lot of nutrients to any meal!
5. Red Meat
Studies show that replacing one or two meat meals a week can have a positive effect on heart health. One swap you can do instead of red meat is mushrooms! They are higher in protein and fiber and will keep you full for longer without causing digestive issues!
Even try swapping red meat for legumes like black beans, or tofu as well for high protein meals.
Quick Tips for Swaps
Here are some quick tips to make the most of the food swaps to make sure your food is still as tasty as possible.
- Start slow – start slow and work your way up to more and more food swaps!
- Combine them with their original – mix and match healthy food swaps with original treats! Try the wraps and use real rice, or use zoodles with a homemade Greek Yogurt alfredo!
- Add, don’t subtract – to any of the meals, add protein, healthy fats, and good carbs to make sure your meals are well-rounded!
- Treat yourself – swaps are great for adding nutrition to your meals, but remember to treat yourself! You can still have rice, pasta, and all your other favorites, just swap and add nutrients.
The Takeaway
Your health is your wealth. When you feel healthy, you make better choices and can go through life in a happier state.
Use these food swaps to increase the nutritional value of any recipe. Food swaps are like fun ways to hide health into your regular meals. Wrap some wraps for low-carb tortillas or lettuce, swap rice for cauliflower, and swap heavy cream for greek yogurt! Enjoy pasta by substituting normal pasta with legume pasta like chickpea or red lentil. You can even make zoodles
Wellness and fitness are journeys that take time. Wellbeing is a full-body experience that encompasses many aspects. Take care of your mental health, physical fitness, and emotional wellbeing daily. Use mental health habits like meditation, breathing exercises, and yoga daily. Work on your physical fitness with daily workouts to increase heart health, strength, and flexibility. Use self-care for emotional stability.
Remember gut health as well! Microbiota gut health affects your metabolism, physical fitness, skin health, and even mental wellbeing!
