Three Alternatives to Not So Healthy Foodie Favorites

* This is a guest post by Barbara Jolie

No doubt, one of the most difficult aspects of committing to a healthier lifestyle is sticking to a healthy diet. With so many deliciously tempting snacks available, finding a way to resist urges for greasy potato chips, sugary candies, and fatty treats can be quite the challenge.

All too often, people trying to lead a healthier lifestyle commit to denial rather than compromise. In other words, rather than tell ourselves that we can never have any snacks that are sugary or fatty, we should try to find healthier substitutes for these alluring treats. Try these three healthy and delicious substitutes for three guilty pleasure snacks that are hard to shake cold turkey.

Apple Chips

There is no better diet breaker than the ever tempting potato chip. Full of fat and carbohydrates, potato chips have little to offer other than a tasty and greasy snack. A great alternative to snacking on greasy potato chips is eating apple chips instead. Apple chips have fewer calories and significantly less saturated fat.

Now obviously, you can’t base your diet off of eating apple chips all day, but if you get a snacking craving, rather than reach for the fatty bag of potato chips, try munching on some apple chips instead. While these apple chips can be a bit hard to come by in your local grocery store and can be significantly more expensive than traditional chips, they can be made at home fairly easily.

With just a few ingredients and a couple apples of your choice, you can make this healthy snack at in your own kitchen.

Dried Fruit

Obviously sugary candies are not dieting material. However, the second I start dieting, candy is typically the first thing I begin craving. Rather than denying yourself all sweets, try substituting your sweet tooth for processed sugar and high fructose corn syrup with a taste for dried fruits.

Dried fruit can be a great substitute for sugary candy because it still has a delicious sweet taste and it somewhat resembles candy in texture and appearance. In many way, eating dried fruit as candy can trick your mind and body into thinking that it is satisfying its craving for sweets.

While some dried fruits can still have relatively high levels of calories, all dried fruit has the better fats and sugars that your body needs. Buy dried fruits such as dates, figs, and plums at your local grocery store for a snack that has less than half the amount of calories fruit mimicking candies do.

Replace that bag of skittles at 250 calories with a whopping handful of dried plums at 110 calories. While this substitution can take some getting used to, dried fruit is a healthy alternative to super sugary candies and treats.

Almond Nut Butter

Many of us may not know just how fattening peanut butter can be. With generally just under 200 calories (per average serving) and almost 70% saturated fat, peanut butter can be a huge setback for many dieters. Almond butter can act as a great substitute for peanut butter.

Now, many think that almond butter is just as fattening as peanut butter because it too contains high levels of fat. However, the fat in almond butter is unsaturated, which is heart healthy, rather than saturated like peanut butter. This means, that while you are ingesting just as many grams of fat, the fat in almond butter is good for your health and heart.

Almond nut butter also contains a substantial amount of protein, Omega-3 fatty acids, and can help lower your cholesterol. Again, almond butter can be more expensive than a generic jar of peanut butter, but it is most certainly worth it.

By-line:
This guest post is contributed by Barbara Jolie, who writes for online classes. She welcomes your comments at her email Id: barbara.jolie876@gmail.com.

Image by FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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