10 Ways To Make Your Favorite Foods Healthier

Approximately 1.5 years ago I started seeing a nutritionist along with an Endocrinologist. I had been diagnosed with PCOS in the past and wanted to finally take the steps to work with a specialist to try to alleviate my symptoms and do whatever I could to keep my health in check. Unfortunately one of the many effects of PCOS is weight gain and the inability to get rid of the weight.

 

I am still not convinced that PCOS is what I actually have but I do know that I have a terrible hormonal problem and I most certainly know it was the main cause of a slow yet steady weight gain over the years that suddenly decided to spike and cause me to gain 40lbs in one year. After such a large weight gain I was ready to take control of my diet and my body and get my life back.

 

Although I did learn quite a bit from the nutritionist what really happened was that I got back to my roots. Everything you learn in school is almost all you need to succeed in changing your habits, exercising regularly and eating right.

 

I’d like to share with you 10 tips that helped me shed that initial 40lbs and then after my son was born helped me once again to get rid of some of the baby weight (I was in the process of losing it when I got pregnant again). Most of these things I do/use every day or intend to get back to once this new baby is born.

 

 

• Bake It – Don’t Fry It – Lots of foods taste just as good baked as they do fried. For instance, potatoes. One of my favorite foods ever. If you use high heat such as 475 and very thin slices they crisp up just as well and they’re still delicious enough to fool yourself into thinking you’re eating them fried.

 

• Non-Stick Cooking Sprays – There are non-fat and low fat versions that you can find that have NO calories but even the traditional Pam has only 7 calories per 1 second spray. I use it for spraying on those delicious mock fried potatoes above and many many other things such as fish or baked chicken.

 

• I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter Spray – I rarely use butter unless I absolutely know a recipe has to have it in order to work or if I’m cooking a traditional meal that calls for it and it’s mainly for other people in the family.  After I found the I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter Spray I was ecstatic. I use it on homemade garlic bread for spaghetti night, I use it on bagels, I sometimes “cheat” just a little and use it on things like hash browns (which is a treat for me).

 

• High Fiber Breads Instead Of White – I love white bread, let me tell you and yes I do still eat it BUT if I want toast in the morning I will now choose something high in fiber. There are breads out there that have 15 grams of fiber per serving. Fiber really does help fill you up. It does take some getting used to for certain things but in the end I actually found for toast and certain things I love the high fiber bread even more than white. You just have to actually give something a chance before deciding you don’t like it.

 

 

 

• High Fiber Cereals – If you must eat cereal there are many choices out there that will help you get the amount of fiber you need each day. What’s amazing about most of these cereals is that they don’t taste horrible like you’d think they would, you end up eating the correct serving size (not a full bowl!) and because it is so crunchy and takes so much work to eat, it actually makes you feel like you’ve had a workout lol. You end up getting full instead of looking for the next bowl… which when I’m eating my favorite sugary cereals that’s what I’m going for. I don’t think there’s ever been a day I’ve sat down and ate 1 serving of ANY sugary cereal. So get yourself out of that habit and reach for the high fiber stuff. Kashi has a great selection.

 

• Replace Eggs With Egg Substitute – Long gone are the days that Egg Substitute tastes bland and disgusting. Products such as Egg Beaters, which are actually made from real eggs are a great substitute for things that call for whole eggs. They have several varieties also, like southwestern which taste great as an omelet.  High cholesterol is an epidemic in this country just like obesity and it’s something that you have to work at fixing or keeping under control. Eggs have a ton of cholesterol in them and they’re about 90 calories a piece. Egg beaters have no cholesterol and about 30 calories per serving if memory serves me right.

 

 

• Eat Your Veggies – And no I’m not talking about starchy potatoes. I’m talking about delicious colorful veggies like broccoli, carrots, and leafy greens. You can use clever tactics to hide them. When making that omelet I was talking about in the prior tip add a cup of broccoli. No salt needed either because broccoli tends to be very salty and has tons of flavor. You’ll get a serving of veggies and protein first thing in the morning and you’ll have plenty of energy for the day. Trade your iceberg lettuce salad for baby greens or even make cauliflower puree instead of mashed potatoes. Don’t have time to cook cabbage? Try brussel sprouts. They’re delicious, full of iron, really flavorful and filling.  You have to get creative but you can do it!

 

• Eat Fresh, Not Canned and Cut Out The Salt – I know there are some things that we have to or need to eat that is canned but there are a lot of things that we don’t, a good example would be sloppy joes. Most of us love them. Why don’t you go ahead and check that can for the sodium content. WOW right? You can easily make that recipe at home and have about 1/10th the salt and most of that will just come from some of the ingredients you are adding, not actual table salt.  Canned veggies? Yuck. They taste so much better fresh or even frozen with no salt added or at least where YOU are able to control the salt content. If you’re buying stock in a can make sure you go for low sodium stock instead of full flavor. You won’t notice the difference, trust me. It’s just a matter of getting used to it.

 

• Naturally Low Fat– Popcorn!  – Yum. I love it. I go through stages with it where I could eat a bag a day… well, guess what? You can. It’s a healthy snack so long as you’re not adding extra butter or buying the move theatre version.. and most of all what I found was you do NOT have to buy the single bag servings. Make sure you check the back of both boxes, regular size and single serving size. You’ll see something funny. Most of the time you’ll have less calories if you eat a full bag of regular popcorn than if you eat the single serving size. My personal favorite? Salty and sweet kettle corn. It satisfies all my cravings in one and guess what? Popcorn has fiber!  Last but not least, check your bag of popcorn against a single serving size bag of chips. 150 calories for that little bag of chips and tons of sodium.. it’s an easy choice.

 

• Portion Control/Servings/Food Pyramid– This is probably the biggest hurdle you’ll need to cross when trying to get healthier because when you first start out you tend to really feel hungry. You need to realize that you don’t have to have tiny servings all the time, although it is better to eat small meals a few times a day than just 3 big meals.  Once you start measuring out your veggies you’ll see how much you’ve actually been denying yourself of the right foods. Consult the food pyramid (which we all learned in school) and use that as a guide for your fruit and veggie intake. Less fruit, less juice, more veggies, correct portions of meat. It’s all laid out for you and it can be your best friend.

 

 

To sum things up. You don’t need a nutritionist to tell you how to make correct choices because in reality that’s what they’re getting paid for. Mine literally made $200/hr and all she did was give me a printed out food pyramid and a lot of suggestions for snacks such as lara bars, atkins bars.. well… mostly bars! lol. She didn’t plan meals for me or come up with recipes she simple gave me a few hints here and there like switching out regular yogurt for Greek yogurt in order to get more protein. I do that on occasion but what I really do is I follow the food pyramid and I go back to what I learned in school as a kid.

 

Somewhere in time I got lost and distracted by all the commercials and peer pressure of eating fast. Why cook when you can get a full meal in 5 minutes for $5?? Seems like a good choice until you start packing on the pounds.

 

My final piece of advice. Don’t deny yourself. Everything in moderation. You don’t have to give up fast food or desserts or anything else delicious.. Get control of your diet, your exercise routine and your health and you can still indulge on occasion.  Good luck and I hope these tips help.

 

This post was inspired by Twittermoms and Weightwatchers Smart Ones.

 

 

 

About Heinz WeightWatchers SmartOnes:

From breakfast to lunch, dinner, desserts and snacks, Weight Watchers® Smart Ones® has a variety of great tasting, good-for-you meal options to help you manage your weight. So start eating smart, today.

 

Disclaimer: I wrote this blog post while participating in the TwitterMoms and WeightWatchers SmartOnes blogging program, making me eligible to get a $50 gift card. For more information on how you can participate, click here