6 Healthy Food Swaps That Are Actually Delicious And Not Deeply Disgusting Like Most Swaps
by The Candidly Team
Nothing depresses us like someone cheerily telling us how some flavorless, nonfat thing is gonna make us stop craving heaping bowls of spaghetti and triple-stacked sandwiches.
And yet, there’s nothing we love more than discovering that something good for us can be equally desirable and satiating as its less healthy counterpart.
There are 5 highly specific healthy food swaps that we now actively crave in daily life. Some of them might sound familiar, but keep in mind, it’s not always as much about knowing what to swap as knowing how to swap them that makes all the difference to our taste and satisfaction levels.
That said, everything we’re talking about today is easy breezy and realistic. Especially for people who don’t have copious hours to devote to meal prep (uch, meal prep) but who want to get more good stuff into their bodies.
And all of it is really, truly, genuinely delicious.
Ok, let’s do this.
SWAP #1: COTTAGE CHEESE INSTEAD OF BUTTER & CREAM IN PASTA SAUCES
WHY: Cottage Cheese has a fraction of the fat and calories of heavy cream or butter, loads more protein, and a good dose of calcium.
Let’s do a little 1-to-1 comparison, shall we?
1/2 Cup Butter (1 Stick)
Calories: 814
Protein: 3g
Fat: 92g
Calcium: 27mg
1/2 Cup Heavy Cream
Calories: 404 Calories
Protein: 3g
Fat: 43g
Calcium: 77mg
1/2 Cup Low Fat Cottage Cheese
Calories: 80 Calories
Protein: 13g
Fat: 2.5g
Calcium: 70mg
That’s right. 1/10 of the calories in butter, a tiny fraction of the fat, and almost 4x the protein.
We’re not saying you’re gonna use a whole stick of butter in most recipes or that you’ll always be doing a one-to-one swap of cottage cheese to cream. But in the case of pasta sauce, you can make a pretty even trade and achieve the same delish results.
HERE’S HOW:
Alfredo Sauce:
Toss a heaping scoop of cottage cheese (we like THIS one) into your mixing device (Vitamix, Cuisinart, immersion blender). Blending sh-tuff up is about the easiest way to imbue things with flavor and an extra onslaught of nutrients.
Add water, fresh garlic, salt, and nutritional yeast (for some honest to God cheesiness) or just use parmesan and blend it all into oblivion.
Pour it over pasta and we swear, your kid won’t even be able to tell the difference.
Tomato Sauce
The lazy way: Take a tub of the divine Rao’s tomato sauce and puree it with that mound of cc.
The chefy (but still lazy) way:
Fill a baking sheet or sheet pan with a bunch of fresh tomatoes (cherry, grape, that half an heirloom leftover from lunch), a messily chopped onion, 1-2 cloves of peeled garlic. Drizzle them in olive oil and bake at 400 until they’re soft and roasty (about 15 - 20 minutes). You can also do this on the stovetop, cooking until they onions and garlic are golden brown.
Once roasted, blend in a tub of cottage cheese until the sauce is creamy and smooth. Add fresh basil. Done.
You can also make this into a creamy tomato soup version by blending your tub of cottage cheese with some bone broth while the veggies are roasting and blending it all together once cooked. Salt and pepper to taste, naturally.
NOTE: Like other cheese products, cottage cheese can run high in fat and sodium, so it’s still good to use moderation. You can also choose low-fat or no sodium added versions.
SWAP #2: AVOCADO INSTEAD OF MAYO
WHY: Mayo offers very little re nutrition. It’s 94 calories for a tablespoon, and flavorwise, it adds more richness and tang than anything irreplaceable. Avocados, on the other hand have heart-healthy fats, fiber, folate, and more potassium than a banana. We actually wrote a whole thing about the benefits of eating a whole avocado a day HERE.
Here’s a little rundown of 1/4 cup of mayo versus 1/4 cup of pureed avocado.
1/4 Cup Mayo
Calories: 374
Fat: 41g
Fiber: 0g
Potassium: 11mg
1/4 Cup Pureed Avocado
Calories: 92
Fat: 8.5g
Fiber: 4g
Potassium: 279mg
There’s a slew of other nutrients in avocados that mayo just doesn’t touch. And avocados can also give that richness and tang.
HERE’S HOW:
Use it in tuna: for the creamiest freaking tuna sandwich on earth. Pro tip: Use a cuisinart to blend. You’ll die.
Ditto egg salad: This time mashed up with a fork with mustard, salt, and pepper.
Blend it into spreads: Try it with a couple dashes of tajin or Trader Joe's Everything Bagel seasoning and a splash of olive oil.
Or throw it in the mixer with basil, tarragon, a spoonful of greek yogurt for creaminess, a bit of white wine vinegar or lemon juice, and a swirl of honey, and you’ll make a Green Goddess that will give you the delusion you’re a chef.
All of this can go on sandwiches and toasts in lieu of other junky, sugar-laden sauces.
Make the best dressing ever: Blend with lemon, garlic, water, and salt. You’re done
SWAP #3: THESE EXACT BEANS INSTEAD OF PASTA
WHY: One of the common dietary trends of people who live in Blue Zones (pockets of the world where people most commonly live to be 100) is eating beans and legumes. Beans are also packed with fiber and protein, have good-for-you minerals, and are low in fat.
By comparison, 1 cup of elbow macaroni has about 8g of protein, whereas 1 cup of these beans has about 15g.
And the amazing thing is we found a bean that doesn’t make us sad that’s served like lasagna and tastes better than gnocchi.
HERE’S HOW:
So this not very well known bean is native to Greece (but avail on Amazon). It’s giant and creamy and is the only whole food that really feels as indulgent as pasta but you’re not hungry again an hour after eating it.
How to make it: You have to do the usual bean things like rinse them and leave them soaking overnight before you boil them. Not a lot of trouble. Just a bit of waiting.
Once boiled, you can bake them into a lasagna-like casserole with loads of other veggies, your favorite sauce, layer on mozzarella and parmesan, and you with really and truly not miss the noodles. We swear. More people need to know about this bean.
SWAP #4: SPROUTED BREAD INSTEAD OF REGULAR BREAD
WHY: Might sound the dumbest of all, but what better swap is there than replacing bread with better-for-you bread? Sprouted grains can provide more nutrients to our body.
Ezekiel bread specifically has both fiber and protein along with all 9 essential amino acids and is considered a “complete protein.” Moreover, it still feels like just eating bread.
HERE’S HOW:
Avocado toast on Ezekiel doesn’t feel like a punishment. It’s chewy and dense and filling. It’s amazing as toast with whipped cream cheese (another swap that has almost 1/3 of the calories of butter!) and a small blob of jam. Be sure to store it in the freezer, because it has a very short shelf life due to it having zero preservatives or additives to keep it fresh. Aka HEALTH.
SWAP #5: GREEK YOGURT INSTEAD OF SOUR CREAM
WHY: Lots more protein with less fat and calories. Plus, there’s the B12, calcium, probiotics, and iodine. Greek yogurt is thought to help support bone, gut health, boost metabolism, and, unlike other dairy products, possibly reduce risk of Type 2 diabetes.
1/2 Cup Sour Cream
Calories: 246
Fat: 24g
Protein: 3.5g
1/2 Cup Greek Yogurt
Calories: 80
Fat: 2.25g
Protein: 11g
Here’s the bottom line: when other spices are involved, Greek yogurt is pretty much undetectably different from sour cream.
HERE’S HOW:
Use it in dips: Sub in the exact ratio listed on the instructions of a packet of ranch or French onion dip (maybe even, adding a scoop or two of cottage cheese), instead of sour cream or mayo, and we swear it’s as good. And this is coming from someone who lists sour cream as her favorite food. In either case, you'll eat 37x more of the veggies you dip as a result.
Make it a sauce for Mexican food: Mix in either taco seasoning or a few shakes of chili powder, paprika, and a dash of lime for the freshest, creamiest sauce for tacos, quesadillas etc.
Make it dessert: When we want something sweet, we mix in cinnamon, vanilla (an optional swirl of honey) and dip fresh fruit in it. Also, makes a very fun dessert board for kids.
See? Nothing too obnoxious, right? (we say through gritted teeth). But we urge you to try at least one this week. And if you have your own revelatory way to make avocado into a mind-blowing sauce, please share.
SWAP #5: THIS PROTEIN BAR INSTEAD OF A CANDY BAR
WHY: Bars, generally, make us sad, and it’s for 3 main reasons.
They don’t fill us up at all. If anything, we’re hungrier after we eat them.
They’re packaged, processed, and many have lots of sugar, so it feels like we’re being tricked into thinking we’re eating healthy when we’re not.
They taste bad - like someone took the joy out of an already stale, boxed cookie.
But here’s the thing, if we’re in a rush and craving something junkie like candy that we’re gonna eat anyway, we at least, wanted to find a bar that stood out from the depressing crowd. And well, we did.
It’s called an Aloha bar. And bottom line, these bars are delicious. They satisfy a sweet tooth, but they do it with 14g of protein, about 10g of fiber, and less sugar than many of their bar and candy counterparts.
And maybe most surprisingly, like no other bar before them, they fill us up … for hours. Let’s glance at a little nutritional side-by-side of a Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip bar next to a Snickers:
Aloha Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Protein Bar
Protein: 14g
Fiber: 10g
Calories: 240
Sugars: 5g
Snickers Full Size Candy Bar
Protein: 4g
Fiber: 1g
Calories: 250
Sugars: 28g
They’re vegan, organic, gluten-free, have no stevia, or soy. And one semi-silly but honest plus is that they’re chewy, so it takes a long time to eat/ enjoy. Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough was our fav of the ones we tried, but all the ones we’ve tried have been genuinely delightful.
HERE’S HOW: Just unwrap and eat. Isn’t that the beauty of it all? Oh, and you can order them HERE.
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