20 healthy swaps

 

(source)

You know that whole “it’s not about dieting, it’s about changing your lifestyle” thing? Well, it’s 100% true if you’re looking for something long-lasting and sustainable.  A healthy clean diet goes hand-in-hand with sustainable and green living as it primarily cuts out the crap. The best way to approach this is to look at your current diet and find room for improvement, without completely shocking it. Baby steps. Here are my top 20 healthy swaps:

 

Swap this….	….for that!
1. Sugar	Xylitol, brown sugar, raw sugar or stevia
2. Salt	Try to cut down on salt in general, but if you must then go for something higher quality like Himalayan, Sea or Kalahari salts
3. Generic honey	Agave, High quality maple syrup or raw organic Honey. Most honeys off the shelf are not that great for you, so try to use sparingly in general
4. Milk Chocolate	Dark chocolate, 70% or higher
5. Cooking oils	Coconut oil or a pat of butter
6. Margarine or any oil-based spreads	Butter. Butter trumps any of that processed crap that they claim is “better” for you. Just use sparingly.
7. Cous Cous	Quinoa or Millet
8. Bread	Gluten free bread (read labels though, sometimes that stuff comes with processed nonsense) or lettuce/cabbage cups
9. White rice	Brown or Wild rice
10. Salad dressing	Balsamic, Raw Apple Cider vinegar, or lemon juice with a bit of olive oil
11. White potato	Sweet potato
12. Pasta	Gluten-free pastas (there are varieties, some are even made from brown rice) or spiralized vegetables like zucchini or sweet potato
13. Chips and salty snacks	air-popped popcorn
14. Cow’s milk and Soy milk	Nut/seed milks, rice milk, coconut milk or oat milk (just read labels carefully if store-bought)
15. Cream in warm dishes	Coconut cream
16. Mayonnaise	Mashed avocado
17. Cereal/Oatmeal	Steel-Cut, rolled, unprocessed oats
18. Ice Cream	blended frozen bananas
19. Chocolate sauce	Melt natural peanut butter with a bit of cocoa powder and raw honey, or melt cacao nibs with raw honey
20. Peanut Butter	Other nut butters (like almond or cashew) are better for you, but peanut butter is fine as long as it is natural. When buying a nut butter just check the label and make sure the nuts are the only ingredient aside from maybe a bit of salt.

 

*note: honey is not technically vegan, but I prefer raw honey to agave so it’s mentioned quite a bit here. If you are vegan, just replace raw honey with a good quality agave or high grade maple syrup.

Enjoy your Thursday and see you tomorrow for another Friday Delights post 🙂

 

xo,

Natalia