Healthy Swaps for Your Favorite Junk Foods

Craving pizza? Dying for chocolate? You don’t have to give up your favorite flavors to lose weight. You just need to be a little creative.

Here are healthy, low-calorie swaps for common junk food cravings.

1. Craving: Potato Chips

• The Swap: Air-Popped Popcorn or Kale Chips.
• Why: You get the salty crunch for a fraction of the calories and fat.

2. Craving: Pasta

• The Swap: Zucchini Noodles (Zoodles) or Spaghetti Squash.
• Why: A cup of pasta is 200 calories and 40g carbs. A cup of zoodles is 20 calories and 4g carbs.

3. Craving: Soda

• The Swap: Sparkling Water with a squeeze of lime or lemon.
• Why: You get the carbonated fizz without the 40g of sugar.

4. Craving: Ice Cream

• The Swap: “Nice Cream” (Frozen bananas blended until creamy).
• Why: It has the texture of soft serve but is made 100% from fruit.

5. Craving: Pizza

• The Swap: Portobello Mushroom Pizza or Cauliflower Crust Pizza.
• Why: Use a large mushroom cap as the crust. Top with sauce and cheese. You save hundreds of calories on the dough.

6. Craving: Chocolate Bar

• The Swap: A square of 85% Dark Chocolate.
• Why: It satisfies the chocolate craving with less sugar and more antioxidants.

7. Craving: French Fries

• The Swap: Baked Sweet Potato Wedges or Carrot Fries.
• Why: Baking uses far less oil than deep frying, and you get more vitamins.

Conclusion

Healthy eating doesn’t mean eating bland food. With these swaps, you can have your cake (or pizza) and eat it too!