6 Simple Swaps to Cut Calories

7 SIMPLE SWAPS TO CUT CALORIES - followPhyllis Many women believe that to lose weight they basically need to starve. You do need to cut your calorie intake if your goal is to shed pounds and this can be difficult. But there are some simple swaps you can make to help cut calories while still enjoying the tastes you crave. The trick is to substitute current calorie laden food choices with healthier, lower calorie options.

Doing a total reset of your diet can be overwhelming for most, so making these simple swaps is a great way to start the weight loss process. Making small food changes is a lot easier than trying to adhere to a strict diet, which can help in meeting your weight loss goals.

follow along with me...

We all like different foods. I’m a bread and chips lover but many women love ice cream. The trick here is to replace your must-have with a swap that satisfies your craving. Here are the substitutions I suggest:

Bread. Instead of choosing white processed bread, first try whole wheat bread. If you want to choose an even healthier option there are many, including Ezekiel bread. But why not be brave and cut the bread out all together and replace with vegetables. Lettuce leaves make a tasty sandwich wrap. You can also toast sweet potato slices and use them to replace bread. To toast sweet potatoes slice the long way into 1/4″ slices. Put in toaster at high and toast for at least two cycles. Great topped with natural peanut butter and banana or smashed avocado.
Chips. If you aren’t ready to completely swap out these fried bags of deliciousness, pick out chips that are baked. Even though they are still chips, you will end up consuming less calories. When you are ready to fully rid your diet of these diet busters, try nuts such as almonds, pistachios, peanuts, or cashews. Or make my trail mix which uses popcorn as the main ingredient. My trail mix: 2 cups air-popped popcorn + 2 tablespoons natural nuts + 1 tablespoon mini chocolate chips + 1 tablespoon raisins.
Ice cream. I might be a chip lover but I also love ice cream. Luckily, there are many healthy, lower calorie swaps for ice cream. Sorbet and ices are great and readily available. If you need the creamy feel, add a dollop of real whipped cream. The net calories will still be much lower than ice cream. I like to freeze fruit and use that as an icy cold treat. Bananas, grapes and berries freeze well and are a great substitute for ice cream
Salad dressing. Not using a healthy salad dressing can make your salad so fattening you might as well eat a big greasy cheeseburger. Instead choose healthier swaps like oil and vinegar, or an avocado or yogurt based dressing. Remember to stay away from fat free dressing as they usually contain a lot of sugar. Check the labels to help in choosing a low calorie, healthy salad dressing. My video READING NUTRITION LABELS SHOULDN’T BE COMPLICATED explains how to do this easily.
Pasta. This is a carb-lover’s dream but we all know eating a lot of pasta is not good for us. A tasty way to still enjoy your spaghetti is to mix it half and half with spiralized vegetables like zucchini, squash, carrot or cucumber. Or better yet replace all of your pasta with spaghetti squash. So good and unbelievable topped with healthy meatballs. If you love this combo my video HOW TO EAT SPAGHETTI AND MEATBALLS WITHOUT THE GUILT is a must watch!
Breakfast cereals: Most women believe that breakfast cereals marketed as healthy are good for them. The truth is many of these products are actually high carb and high sugar. The worst culprit is granola. I cannot figure out why this product has passed as healthy for so many years. The best swap for all these cold cereals is oatmeal. I prefer the slow cooking steel cut oatmeal but it does require time to prepare. You can now buy ready to prepare oatmeal in cups. When choosing look for the plain unsalted variety and then add some fresh fruit like blueberries.

Losing weight is challenging, especially for women over fifty. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed so instead of attempting a complete makeover, I suggest making some small changes. These 6 simple food swaps are a great way to start your weight loss journey. Add a short walk and you are on your way!