Nutritionists advise eliminating red meat, sweets, fast food and other favorite but unhealthy foods from your diet. But how can you enjoy food in this case? We have some tips on how to painlessly replace harmful foods with healthy ones.
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“Use food as medicine. Otherwise, you will have to eat medicine like food,” said Steve Jobs. The famous businessman, unfortunately, learned from his bitter experience that these words were right. In order to live longer, it makes sense to give up a number of harmful (but delicious) foods. Fortunately, there is an alternative for each of them.
Breakfast cereals
Breakfast cereals and instant cereals have nothing to do with healthy eating and benefits. Their only advantage is the speed and ease of preparation.
Ready-made breakfasts contain a huge amount of sugar, food additives and flavorings, which do not have the best effect on your figure and overall health.
Any cereal that requires at least 10 minutes to cook will be a useful alternative to breakfast cereals.
An excellent option for breakfast is porridge: oatmeal or rice can be supplemented with a fruit or berry composition, while buckwheat goes well with vegetables.
Another alternative option is low-fat cottage cheese with added fruit.
This breakfast will give you energy for the whole day and replenish your supply of vitamins and minerals.
Chia Seeds vs Sesame
Photo: istockphoto.com
Chia seeds are often added to breakfasts and desserts to add “healthiness”. These grains are really beneficial because they contain plant acids, vitamins, fiber, kill harmful bacteria and lower blood sugar levels. But the “miracle product” costs 100 - 150 rubles per 100 grams.
PP breakfasts for weight loss. How to eat correctly and tasty
A good substitute for Chia seeds is sesame. They are often sprinkled on buns in stores. Sesame seeds are rich in healthy fats, vitamins and easily digestible proteins that will help build muscle mass. Along with chia, sesame lowers cholesterol and blood pressure. But you shouldn’t fry it, because this way you will get an exceptionally aromatic seasoning. To preserve all the beneficial properties, the seeds need to be crushed or soaked.
Yeast bread
Yeast bread can not only harm your figure, but also disrupt digestion, since yeast helps to intensify the fermentation process.
Of course, you can give preference to healthier yeast-free bread, but it is also quite high in calories (depending on the type of flour, 100 g of product will contain 180 - 225 kcal).
What to do?
It is enough to replace it with bran whole grain bread, which is no less tasty, but at the same time really healthy:
- Contains B vitamins.
- Cleanses the digestive tract of waste and toxins.
- Promotes rapid weight loss.
Maple syrup vs honey
Photo: istockphoto.com
Maple syrup is used for meat, fish, milkshakes, cereals, desserts and other dishes. But most often they replace sugar. It has become very fashionable and “correct” to pour pancakes or pancakes with maple syrup. Yes, it contains vitamins and beneficial microelements, but it is not cheap. The average price is from 350 rubles per 200 grams, if we talk about a real product that is really good for the body. By the way, maple syrup is often counterfeited, and instead of natural sugar we buy “something” with its flavor. So why take risks and overpay?
Honey is not only cheaper than maple syrup, but it is also time-tested. It is rich in all vitamins B, K, E, C, macro- and microelements. We have known about the beneficial properties of honey since childhood. You can buy it from a beekeeper so you don’t have to worry about whether it’s natural or not. But maple syrup is brought from Canada. Therefore, decide for yourself which product you should trust.
White sugar
Sugar is a high-calorie product, 100 g of which contains about 400 kcal.
White sugar has long been included in the list of harmful foods, since its excessive consumption negatively affects the figure, condition of the skin and hair, and the functioning of the nervous and cardiovascular systems.
If you cannot completely give up sweets, simply replace white sugar with brown sugar, which, although high in calories, is also a source of a complex of vitamins and minerals. It should be consumed in limited doses.
White sugar can also be replaced with honey (recommended daily dose for adults is 2.5 - 3 tbsp). If you want to lose weight, then it is better to reduce the amount of honey to 2 tsp. in a day.
The most useful alternative to sugar is fructose, which has lower calorie content and does not increase blood glucose levels, making it suitable for people with diabetes.
Popcorn alternative
If you can’t imagine going to the movies without a bucket of popcorn, you can replace it with a new healthy treat - corners.
An interesting snack is offered by the manufacturer Dr.Korner. Corners of the same name are mini-breads made from natural products without dyes or flavor enhancers. The line offers a wide selection - from fruit to vegetable.
And most importantly, the bread has a low calorie content - 90 kcal. for one pack. As they say, eat and don’t worry about your figure!
Candies
Sweets are the same sugar and a source of fast carbohydrates, which slow down metabolic processes and, when consumed in large quantities, lead to excess body weight. In addition, they contain a huge amount of flavors, dyes and preservatives that destroy human health.
A nutritious, tasty and healthy alternative to candy will be:
- berries (raspberries, strawberries, currants, blueberries);
- dried fruits (dried apricots, raisins, dates, prunes).
They contain fructose, as well as a huge amount of vitamins and minerals that the human body needs.
If you cannot completely give up sweets, you can occasionally treat yourself to a small piece of good dark chocolate. This will certainly improve your mood and have a positive effect on the activity of the central nervous system.
But remember that the basis of high-quality dark chocolate are:
- grated cocoa;
- cocoa butter;
- cocoa powder;
- whole cocoa beans.
The higher the percentage of cocoa in chocolate, the more natural and healthy it is: choose chocolate that contains 85, or better yet, 99% cocoa.
But there should be no palm oil in real dark chocolate.
Are refined foods harmful?
Refining of food products, as a result of the development of food processing technologies, is used to increase the shelf life of products, improve their taste and give them a more marketable appearance. That is, such a marketing ploy.
But the fact is that only natural, unprocessed foods rich in fiber, vitamins and microelements are truly beneficial for our body. Therefore, during the refining process, useful products turn into useless and even harmful. Flour, rice, sugar and vegetable oils are refined.
Let's look at the properties of each of these products.
- Refined premium flour, pasta and all baked goods made from it.
After refining, such flour does not retain any nutritional value of the original grains, because they lost 24 nutrients, which technologists unfairly called “ballast substances.” The most valuable of these losses is fiber, without which it is impossible to ensure normal digestion. Regular bread made from refined flour is almost completely devoid of ingredients necessary for normal metabolism. From a nutritional point of view, it is useless, although the carbohydrates it contains in the form of starch provide our body with some energy. Whole bread (bread made from whole grain flour), bread made from wholemeal flour, wholemeal rye flour or with added bran is more acceptable because it contains fibre. That is, the higher the grade of flour, the less healthy it is. Remember this when choosing bread. If you are preparing pancakes, add buckwheat, corn, and barley to the wheat flour. For home baking, I recommend unsweetened oatmeal cookies. In general, eat more grains and legumes! - Refined (polished) rice , like refined flour, devoid of the most valuable thing - the germ and grain shell, is essentially an easily digestible pure carbohydrate. Instead of such rice, it is better to use brown/brown or wild rice.
- Refined sugar is a very dangerous product, especially for people at risk. Stripped of its vitality, vitamins and minerals, it is pure refined carbohydrate. Refined sugar can be replaced with honey, brown/unrefined sugar, and sweet fruits. For those who cannot live without sweets, an excellent alternative to sugar is Stevia NSP , which is recognized not only as the safest sweetener, but also has medicinal properties.
- Refined vegetable oils , from which all useful substances are removed during a very stringent purification process, are biologically inactive. They have no value for the health of the human body and are only suitable for lubricating rusted mechanisms. The most beneficial are unrefined, cold-pressed vegetable oils. They retain the vitamins, antioxidants and other nutrients contained in the original product. They are not used for frying! They are used for dressing salads and other ready-made dishes. To avoid an imbalance in unsaturated fatty acids Omega-3, Omega-6 and Omega-9, vegetable oils should be consumed in an assortment. That is, for example, you must add flaxseed to olive and sunflower. It is very important to store oils correctly!
Packaged juices
By abandoning sugary sparkling water in favor of packaged juices, we are doing ourselves a disservice, since they contain no less sugar than soda, not to mention preservatives and all sorts of additives designed to enhance the taste and improve the color of the juice.
If you like juices, make your own from fresh fruits. To ensure your body gets the maximum benefit, drink the juice immediately after preparing it.
Sugar replacement
Every third person dreams of reducing their cravings for sweets. Still don't know what to replace sugar with? We would like to offer a good option - stevia. This is a plant whose leaves have a sweet taste. It is because of this property that stevia began to be used as a natural sweetener.
The main advantage of the product is its zero calorie content. Add powder to tea, coffee and baked goods.
We also want to share a useful life hack. If you notice that you are addicted to sweets and cannot live even a couple of hours without sweets, drink mint tea. This drink helps you forget about unhealthy sweets for at least 2 hours.
White rice
This product has a high glycemic index and therefore increases blood glucose levels.
Replace white rice with brown rice, the shell of which contains a lot of vitamins and nutrients. In addition, brown rice takes longer to be absorbed by the body, and therefore saturates the body with energy for a long time.
An excellent alternative to white rice will also be quinoa, a cereal crop that contains 9 types of amino acids and a large amount of fiber. Its only drawback is its high cost.
Smoked meats
Kiosks with smoked sausages are always full of customers. The alluring smell not only envelops the space of the entire kiosk, but also extends beyond its boundaries, attracting passing people.
Sausages, ham, sausages and sausages contain nitrates, which interfere with the absorption of sugar, increasing its level in the blood, and cause not only diabetes, but also disorders of the digestive system. Often, uncontrolled additions of seasonings and salt disrupt the functions of the cardiac system.
You can replace these products with meat.
When buying chicken, turkey, or beef fillet, a person knows that he will be eating meat, and not a powder mixture flavored with streaks, seasonings and pieces of fat. And if you boil beef tongue with spices and cut it into slices - why not sausage? And mind you, it consists entirely of meat.
Butter
Despite the fact that butter contains a complex of healthy fatty acids, excessive consumption of this product can lead to the accumulation of harmful cholesterol in the blood in the body, which increases the risk of developing atherosclerosis.
Diversify your diet: alternate between eating butter and avocado paste. To prepare the paste, simply peel the avocado and grind its pulp using a blender. If desired, you can add a small amount of salt, spices and herbs to the resulting mass.
Avocado also contains a complex of essential fatty acids, vitamins and minerals, so it will only bring benefits to your body.
Olive oil instead of butter
Butter is a harmful product. It promotes the growth of bad cholesterol, which leads to heart disease and obesity. Therefore, spreads based on olive oil are healthier than butter, as they contain unsaturated fats. It is also better to use olive oil for frying. It, unlike sunflower, does not oxidize when heated. This means that it does not emit harmful substances.
Olive oil is “liquid gold”. Photo: pixabay
Mayonnaise and sour cream
Ready-made sauces, sour cream and mayonnaise are very high in calories, and they also contain artificial flavors, dyes and starch, which will definitely not benefit your health.
If you like salads with creamy dressings, just use Greek yogurt. It contains a minimum of calories and maximum benefits. To improve the taste, you can add some herbs and your favorite spices to the yogurt.
Ice cream
In terms of nutritional value, ice cream can be compared to candy. It contains a huge amount of sugar, as well as a variety of “food chemicals” for every taste and color. Such a dessert will certainly make itself felt over time with excess fat deposits in problem areas.
Fruit sorbet will be a healthy and at the same time very tasty alternative to ice cream. Despite the unfamiliar name, this dessert is very simple to prepare. All you have to do is take frozen fruit (any fruit you like) and puree it in a blender. Fruit sorbet is ready!
If you don’t have time to prepare sorbet and you buy this delicacy in a store, be sure to study its composition. Sorbet will not be beneficial if it contains refined sugar, flavorings and dyes.
How to replace ice cream
It has been proven that a strong craving for ice cream indicates a deficiency of calcium and tryptophan in the human body.
Try replacing unhealthy “want” foods with seafood and turkey, which contain essential amino acids and vitamins. After some time, your taste preferences should change, and it will become easier to eliminate sweets from your diet.
And in the evening you can enjoy real fruit ice cream. We're talking about banana dessert. All you need is a couple of ripe fruits and low-fat cream (or yogurt).
- So, first, break the bananas into pieces and put them in the freezer.
- Afterwards, beat the frozen slices together with the cream in a blender.
- Serve the dish with honey or sprinkled with nuts.
Instead of bananas, you can use any fruit you like.
Pasta from soft wheat varieties
A huge plus of pasta is that it can be prepared very easily and quickly. However, pasta made from soft wheat varieties (groups B and C) is very high in calories and contains a heavy dose of fast carbohydrates.
Choose pasta made from durum wheat that says “group A” on the packaging.
In addition, you can replace pasta with low-calorie and fortified zucchini or zucchini paste, which can be easily prepared at home.
To do this, you need to cut the zucchini or zucchini into thin strips (you can grate them on a Korean carrot grater), and then boil them in salted water for 2 to 3 minutes. The finished pasta can be supplemented with a sauce of grated tomatoes, spices and herbs.
Jus de boeuf
Literally - meat juice, or juice from beef. Throw a piece of meat into a hot frying pan, and after a couple of minutes these same juices will appear on its sides (and then drain into the frying pan and caramelize). From a chemical point of view, jus de boeuf is a mixture of blood, intercellular fluid and fat. From a gastronomic point of view, it is a concentrate of all the delicious things that are in meat.
For what. First of all, of course, for preparing sauces, both classic and homemade, as well as the most avant-garde. If you have a package of jus de boeuf on your household, cooking, say, ragu Bolognese turns from a multi-hour meditation into a 20-minute impromptu. The same can be said about all the other numerous stews, as well as about a much faster dish known as "beef Stroganoff" - oh no, it won't be faster, but it will be a hundred times tastier. Where to get. After frying a large piece of beef in a frying pan before baking, then fill the frying pan with hot broth with the addition of one or two tablespoons of dry white wine and heat over medium heat, carefully scraping off anything stuck with a spatula. After 10-11 minutes, strain this unsightly liquid through a sieve into a clean pan, cool and refrigerate. After an hour, carefully remove the frozen fat with a slotted spoon, and pour the finished juice into a glass bottle and seal it. Store in the refrigerator.
Coffee
Who among us doesn’t love coffee, because it perfectly tones and gives energy. However, it is worth remembering that the caffeine present in the drink removes a large amount of fluid from the body.
In addition, excessive coffee consumption increases the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases.
You can replace coffee with a healthier and at the same time affordable drink made from chicory, which does not contain caffeine, but at the same time has a mild tonic effect on the central nervous system, invigorates and helps restore strength.
Portioned coffee creamer
To give the cream a milky tint, titanium dioxide is added to it. Not all manufacturers will write about this in large letters on the composition label.
Scientists have found that this component destroys the liver in experimental mice. Hydrogenated oils and trans fats, which are part of cream, negatively affect memory and increase cholesterol levels.
You can replace this harmful product, which is similar in composition to sunscreen, with very healthy milk.
Skim milk is sold in the same department as the cream portions. Milk does not taste as attractive as cream, but if you drink it with coffee several times, your taste buds will gradually get used to it, and more nutrients will enter your body.
Chips and popcorn
In the production of chips, various snacks and popcorn, large amounts of salt, food additives, trans fats and flavorings are used, which together can trigger the development of a malignant tumor in the body. And this is not to mention the high calorie content of these products.
Replacing a food industry product with truly healthy chips is not difficult. You can prepare them yourself, using any fruits or vegetables - for example, bananas, apples, pears, carrots, beets, zucchini. Simply cut them into thin slices and dry them in the oven. Vegetables can be salted and spices added if desired. A tasty and healthy snack is ready.
You can also replace the chips with unsalted nuts.
Natural chips
Both children and adults love to crunch on chips. However, such a snack has a negative impact on health and well-being.
But what to do if you want to “crunch” while watching a movie, but your favorite but harmful chips and crackers are now banned? First of all, don’t be sad! You won't be left without some goodies, because we've found an excellent alternative.
So, we present a chip substitute - apple chips. This simple but delicious snack is a good substitute for fried potatoes. Dried fruits can be found in the store.
And for housewives, the following option is suitable: thinly slice the apples and bake them in the oven, sprinkle the dessert with cinnamon to add flavor. There is also a hearty recipe in which vegetables become the basis for chips. The cooking principle is the same: cut and bake.
If you don’t like apples, then look for chips made from other fruits, such as banana or pear, at the store.
Salt
Let us immediately note that you should not completely give up salt, because it contains sodium, which is necessary for the full functioning of the heart and the body as a whole. It is enough to limit its consumption to 3–5 g per day.
When preparing dishes, instead of salt, use various spices at your discretion - pepper, curry, turmeric, ginger, etc. This will make your favorite dishes even more aromatic and healthy.
Cream of tartar
Sediment that forms at the bottom of a bottle during long-term storage of wine. Abroad it is sold in any decent baking department. For what. There is no better catalyst for whipping egg whites and for rising sponge dough. In addition, cream of tartar is necessarily added to classic natural lemonade. Where to get. In Russia, cream of tartar can be found in pharmacies. There it is sold under its chemical name "potassium hydrogen tartrate" - as a non-hormonal contraceptive.
Mashed potatoes
Potatoes themselves are a harmless vegetable, but when mashed they contain a large amount of starch. In addition, the dish is high in calories, so it can prevent your figure from becoming slim.
You can replace it with cauliflower puree. This vegetable contains half the calories, cooks quickly and is also a source of a complex of minerals and vitamins.
To prepare the puree, boil the cauliflower, disassembled into inflorescences, in boiling salted water for 10 - 15 minutes, then drain the water, and mash the inflorescences with a press or beat with a submersible blender until a puree of a uniform consistency is formed. Herbs and all kinds of spices will perfectly complement the taste of puree.
Build your diet using the right foods to bring exceptional benefits to your body!
Masa harina
Mexican corn flour, white and fine, like Soviet washing powder. It is used in three quarters of Mexican dishes, as well as in all Tex-Mex dishes. For what. It is necessary to make your own corn tortillas and everything that can be prepared from these same tortillas - chips, fajitas, burritos, and so on. Sure, you can buy ready-made tortillas, ready-made chips, and even ready-made fajitas, but it is masa harina that moves Mexican cuisine from the category of not particularly desirable curiosities to the realm of everyday food. Yes, and besides, by making tortillas yourself, you can modify their taste as you like - by adding, for example, dried oregano or ground cumin. Where to get. You can try replacing it with Georgian corn flour by negotiating at the market with stern women selling dragon beans, sour tkemali lavash and, under the counter, homemade Georgian wine. This flour will have a slightly coarser grind, and the taste will not be as anemic as Mexican flour, but you can make tortillas from it. The ingredients are simple: 2.5 cups of corn flour, 1 teaspoon of salt and 1.25 cups of warm water. Pour the flour and salt into a large bowl, and then, continuously stirring with a spatula, pour in water in a thin stream. Then knead the dough a little more with your hands, cover with film and leave for about an hour. After this, you need to divide the dough into 12 equal parts and roll them into balls. Cover the table with film, place one ball in the center, cover with another piece of film and roll out with a rolling pin into a circle with a diameter of about 15-16 cm. Place the rolled tortilla on a hot dry frying pan, turn it over after a minute and fry for a minute. Place the finished tortillas on a large plate, lined with film or baking paper.
