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If you are hoping to lose weight but don’t want to cut out all of your favorite dishes, opting for some simple recipe swaps can make a huge difference. Specifically, looking out for healthier ingredient options can turn any dish more diet-friendly and can help you achieve a flatter stomach.
With that in mind, keep reading for the 4 life-changing recipe swaps you should try this week for weight loss.
Vegetable Noodles Instead Of Pasta
Vegetable noodles like zoodles or spaghetti squash are popular low calorie and low carb substitutes for a diet-friendly version of your favorite pasta dishes. Sweet potato noodles are another good option.
According to Livestrong, which takes spaghetti squash as an example, "Although spaghetti squash has a different taste and texture from regular flour-based pasta, it's nutrient-rich, gluten-free and has a tasty, nutty flavor. Two cups of cooked spaghetti squash has just 84 calories and 20 grams of carbs as well as potassium and vitamin A. A similar portion of cooked (flour-based) pasta weighs in at 442 calories and 86 grams of carbs."
Switch In Cauliflower
Cauliflower is a popular ingredient swap for those hoping to lose weight. Cauliflower rice, cauliflower pizza, and buffalo cauliflower wings are just a few examples of healthy alternatives to some of your favorite dishes without sacrificing some of your favorite tastes.
Medical News Today explains the benefits of eating cauliflower: "Cauliflower is a cruciferous vegetable that is naturally high in fiber and B-vitamins. It provides antioxidants and phytonutrients that can protect against cancer. It also contains fiber to enhance weight loss and digestion, choline that is essential for learning and memory, and many other important nutrients."
Coconut Flour For Flour
If you are trying your hand at baking, opting for coconut flour could be a more diet-friendly alternative.
According to Eat This, Not That!, "Adding coconut flour into the mix will not only lower the total carbohydrate count, but it will boost the fiber content as well, making your sweets a bit more satisfying."
Maple Syrup/Honey For White Sugar
Opting for more natural sweeteners when baking can be a beneficial swap for your diet. Maple syrup and honey both contain more nutrients than white sugar, which is a refined carb.
Eat This, Not That! explains, "Maple syrup provides added minerals to the mix and has a less dramatic effect on blood sugar when compared to regular, more refined sugars."
The article continues, "Honey is rich in vitamins and minerals and has an anti-inflammatory effect on the body... Honey doesn't send your blood sugar levels in a tailspin the way that white sugar does, so you'll experience less wacky cravings and shifts in energy levels."
