Everyone is familiar with the classics like baking chicken instead of frying it and replacing salt with herbs and seasonings for flavor, but what about other ways to make the otherwise unhealthy foods we love better for us? If only to feel less guilty or to try and live a healthier lifestyle, here are some new recipes for you to try at home to make your eating habits a bit better for your body!
This first tip may already be somewhat familiar to those of you who’ve gone on semi-healthy food kicks: baking your own chips. We all know that chips are basically empty calories that are loaded with sodium and oil. It can also be really annoying whenever you open the bag only to find it a third of the way full.
All you have to do is pick what you want to bake (you can use any kind of potato from russet to sweet to purple, kale, carrots, or even beets), slice them up however thickly or thinly you prefer, and bake them! You can even season them with things like cinnamon, lemon pepper, or rosemary to add more variety.
Who’s a fan of tuna salad? It’s a great snack food or meal that is incredibly easy and quick! Now who’s a fan of all that mayonnaise? Yeah, didn’t think there’d be as many of you. A nifty way to cut the fat from this equation is to use Greek yogurt and a pinch of ranch instead of mayonnaise.
The yogurt provides the thickness for texture and the ranch adds the classic tang some people love about traditional tuna salad. You can even add diced celery, cilantro, and tomatoes. Put all of that on some seven grain bread and you have a delicious and lower calorie meal!
Now, no matter how good of a baker you think you are, you might not be aware of the best kept secret to baking brownies: replace the oil with applesauce. You can replace vegetable oil with canola oil to cut some of the saturated fat, but by using unsweetened applesauce, you make it even better! You can use regular brownie mix, ¼ cup of water, ⅔ cup of applesauce, and 2 eggs.
This will make a cakier texture, but if you want it to be fudgier, you can just use 1 egg. If you’re feeling REALLY adventurous, you can try canned pumpkin or prune puree…
We can’t completely cut out sugars and oils from our diets (nor should we!), but we can take simple and easy steps to making the foods we eat better for us. Try some of these tips. Your body will thank you!