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Healthy Food Swaps to Lighten Your Favorite Recipes

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Looking for some healthy food swaps? I’ve got a guest post for you from my friend Stu Lieberman – thanks Stu! I use these swaps and they make a big difference in my clean eating lifestyle. It’s all about eating well and feeling amazing without deprivation.

With some quick and easy modifications, you can turn just about any recipe into one that’s healthy and nutritious. Here are a few food swaps to trim the fat, cut calories, and make your favorite recipes even healthier.

If your recipe calls for…

Canola or Vegetable Oil: Swap out the oil for unsweetened applesauce to cut calories and fat. A ½ cup of vegetable oil carries 960 calories and 112 grams of fat. Compare that to natural, unsweetened applesauce, which delivers about 50 calories and 0 grams of fat per ½ cup serving. When you use applesauce in place of oil in baking, it’s a 1:1 ratio.

Sugar: Swap out the sugar for stevia. Stevia is a very sweet herb from the leaf of the stevia rebaudiana plant. This natural sweetener has a very low Glycemic Index and does not spike your blood sugar like regular sugar does. Stevia has also been found to support healthy blood pressure and dental health, and reduce incidences of candidiasis. The sweetener is calorie free. Compare that to one cup of refined sugar which contains over 770 calories. Due to stevia’s high sweetness (it’s actually sweeter than sugar), when you use powdered stevia in place of sugar, it’s a ¾:1 ratio. That means for every cup of sugar your recipe calls for, use ¾ of a cup of stevia.

Spaghetti: Swap out the spaghetti for spaghetti squash. Spaghetti squash is a hard winter squash that ranges in color from pale yellow to orangey-yellow. The more orange the squash, the more beta carotene it contains. When you cook the squash, the flesh develops threads that resemble spaghetti. The taste is somewhat mild, so it’s perfect the perfect partner to a ragu sauce. If you’re looking for a low carb alternative to spaghetti, this is the way to go. 1 cup of spaghetti squash has just 7 grams of carbs, vs 43 grams for a cup of spaghetti. And, a cup of spaghetti squash delivers just 30 calories, whereas the spaghetti gives you 220.

Milk Chocolate: Swap out the milk variety for dark chocolate containing at least 70% cocoa. Dark chocolate is loaded with antioxidants and has been shown to support healthy blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Dark chocolate also promotes satiety, so you feel fuller longer. When you use dark chocolate in place of milk chocolate, it is a 1:1 ratio.

One last tip. If you’re really craving ice cream, make your own ice cream with a banana. That’s right. Just one ripe, sweet banana. Peel the banana and cut it into evenly-sized slices. Put the slices in a freezer bag and freeze for at least 2 hours (overnight is better). Blend your frozen banana pieces until you have a creamy, custard-like texture. Eat the banana then, or re-freeze to firm it up. Enjoy the fat-free, sweet tasty treat with about a third the calories of premium ice cream.

This article is written by  + Stu Lieberman the writer for Nutri-Health.com, an online High Quality Supplements such as PQQ.  Assisting people and helping them find quality natural health supplements online is what Stu has been doing for over 3 years.  Nutri-Health.com carries Digestive Supplements to Probiotics to Joint Health.

Eating Healthy When You’re Busy

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Healthy eating can seem like a big challenge when you are super busy. Check out these practical tips from my friend and guest post contributor, Stu Lieberman. Thanks Stu!

When you’re constantly on the go and mealtimes are a series of take-outs and drive-thru’s, eating healthy can be a challenge. But just because your life is hectic doesn’t mean you need to sacrifice your health. Here are some simple steps you can take to eat healthier, even when your life is crazy busy.

1. Eat Breakfast. No, not just coffee. Eat something that will keep you satisfied until lunch so that you don’t run out at noon starving and overeat. A morning meal of eggs and fruit can be a smart choice and quick to prepare. Plus, when you start your morning with a healthy breakfast, you’re more likely to make healthful choices throughout the rest of the day.

2. Pack Your Own Lunch. Packing your lunch does require some planning, but it can pay off big with less calories consumed, and fewer dollars spent. Set aside about 10 minutes on the weekend and pack lunches for the coming week. Sandwiches with lean meat on whole grain bread are quick and easy to prepare. Throw in a fruit and some veggies, and you’ve got a good, balanced, nutritious meal.

3. Cut up Veggies and Fruits and Store in Single-Serving Containers. How often have you purchased some fruit or vegetables at the store, only to have them go bad in your fridge because you never got around to eating them? When healthy food choices are readily available to you, you’re more likely to grab them. So, the next time you go to the grocery store, cut up those fruits and veggies and put them in single-serving containers as soon as you get home. That way when you want a quick snack, a healthy option is right there waiting for you.

4. When Eating Out, View Menus Online and Order First. It’s hard to avoid eating out. When you have plans to visit a restaurant, look at the restaurant’s menu online and select something that is healthy and nutritious. And, when you get to the restaurant, order first so that you aren’t tempted by what your dining companions are ordering.

5. Don’t Drink Your Calories. Calories from beverages, particularly alcohol, can quickly add up. Try to limit alcohol consumption to one or two drinks per week. And, quench your thirst with clean, refreshing, calorie-free water. If plain water bores you, try seltzer water. Mix in some fruit or fruit juice to spice it up a little.

6. Brush Your Teeth After Meals. Brushing will not only help to keep your teeth healthy and your breath fresh. When you’re teeth are newly-brushed, you’re less likely to give into quick temptations that may surround you.

Lack of time doesn’t have to mean unhealthy eating. With a little preparation, and determination, you can make healthy eating work, even with a hectic life.

This article is written by  + Stu Lieberman the writer for Nutri-Health.com, an online High Quality Supplement and Health Store.  Assisting people and helping them find quality natural supplements and health products online is what Stu has been doing for over 2 years.  Nutri-health.com carries Digestive Supplements to Probiotics to Joint Health.

Supplementing with Probiotics

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You may have heard about probiotics before and aren’t sure if you need to supplement or not. Here’s a few great tips to help enrich your understanding of probiotics.

This amazing guest post was written by my friend + Stu Lieberman the writer for Nutri-Health.com, an online High Quality Supplement and Health Store. Thanks for the great info Stuart!!

For thousands of years, people all over the world have consumed food rich in live friendly bacteria such as kefir, buttermilk, sauerkraut, kim chee, miso, and other foods. Our ancestors knew what modern medicine is rediscovering—that friendly bacteria—also known as probiotics—are of vital importance to maintaining good health and providing relief for digestive problems.

By the time we are two years old, we have a unique colony of bacteria established that’s meant to last our whole lifetime. The problem is that colony of probiotics is being destroyed by our modern lifestyles and medicines, causing an imbalance in our intestinal flora. The result is a host of digestive problems, including gas, diarrhea, and constipation.

Supplementing with probiotics is one of the best natural remedies for constipation and other digestive issues. Taking a probiotics each day helps restore healthy balance to your digestive system and keep it running smoothly. But, with so many options on the market, it’s difficult to know which is the best probiotic supplement to tackle your digestive problems.

When selecting probiotics, here are some things to consider:

Acid and Bile Resistance: To be effective, probiotics must transit the acid and bile of the stomach and reach the small and large intestine. Probiotic supplements use several techniques to accomplish this. Some products are specially coated to protect the live bacteria inside. Be aware, however, that some types of coating are applied at high heat, which may damage the bacteria. Other products use strains that have been developed to be naturally resistant to the acid and bile of the stomach.

Dosage: The potency of probiotics is measured in colony forming units (CFU) or cell count, not by milligrams or weight. There is no published recommended daily dosage for probiotics, though some experts say for digestive health maintenance, eight to 30 billion CFU daily is a good dosage.

Refrigeration: In the past, the best probiotic supplements required refrigeration. However, advances in probiotic encapsulation have led to the development of new technology that surround each cell with a protective coating that keeps the probiotics from deteriorating. These new processes help to keep probiotics self stable up to two years, making refrigeration unnecessary.

Single or multiple strains: Most of the research on probiotics has been with single strains. However, the normal state of our intestinal flora is to have several hundred strains of many types or species of bacteria. Supplementing with multiple strains and types of probiotics more closely duplicates the normal condition of the intestinal tract. In addition, a comparison review of the effectiveness of probiotic supplements concluded that multi-strain and multi-type were more effective than single strain formulas.

This article is written by + Stu Lieberman the writer for Nutri-Health.com, an online High Quality Supplement and Health Store.  Assisting people and helping them find quality supplements and health products online is what Stu has been doing for over 2 years.  Nutri-Health.com carries Digestive Supplements to Probiotics to Joint Health.