In a healthy diet, you most likely need to steer away from your favorite foods including pasta and ice cream. Is there a way to still indulge without feeling guilty? You bet! Here are my top four substitutes that will convince you that they’re the real thing!
You no longer have to stare at pictures of ice cream.
Luna and Larry’s Organic Coconut Bliss Ice Cream
Ingredients: Coconut Milk (Water, Coconut, Guar Gum), Agave Syrup, Coconut Cream, Dried Coconut, Coconut Extract, Vanilla Extract.
Personal Trainer Wisdom: Why I like it: It’s a non-dairy product with all of its fat coming from coconuts. While you still need to be mindful of your serving size since it has 22g of fat and 16g of sugar, it will satisfy your craving for a milk-based product (which is more inflammatory). Alternative to the alternative: Any all-fruit sorbet with no added sugar.
RedHot!
Frank’s RedHot Buffalo Wing Sauce
Ingredients: Distilled Vinegar, Aged Cayenne Red Peppers, Salt, Water, Canola Oil, Paprika, Xanthan Gum, Natural Butter Type Flavor And Garlic Powder.
Personal Trainer Wisdom: I love buffalo sauce but it’s typically 1 part butter, 1 part hot sauce….a no, no for an ideal diet. Frank’s Buffalo Wing Sauce is the best tasting alternative on the market. You can add it to anything. Be mindful of your amount. It packs 460mg of sodium per serving. That’s a big chunk of the recommended 1500 mg of sodium per day in a healthy diet. Photo Credit: Live kindly. co
Bringing pasta back to the healthy table!
Banza Elbows Made From Chickpeas
Ingredients: Chickpeas, Tapioca, Pea Protein, Xanthan Gum.
Personal Trainer Wisdom: No way around it: All pasta is highly processed and loses some of its nutritional value through the heating process. The Banza pasta noodles give you a higher dose of the valuable fiber and protein (14g) than the white AND wheat noodle options. It also contains only four ingredients and avoids toxic additives and preservatives in other boxed foods. Cooking tip: Boil the noodles until they’re al dente and then quickly rinse them under cold water to stop the cooking process (otherwise they’ll soften too much).
Time for sausage!
Beyond Meat Beyond Sausage
Ingredients: Water, Pea Protein Isolate, Refined Coconut Oil, Sunflower Oil, Natural Flavor, Contains 2% or less of: Rice Protein, Faba Bean Protein, Potato Starch, Salt, Fruit Juice (For Color), Vegetable Juice (For Color), Apple Fiber, Methylcellulose, Citrus Extract (To Protect Quality), Calcium Alginate Casing.
Personal Trainer Wisdom: My Lithuanian and German ancestors may scoff at the idea of a sausage substitute but Beyond Meat has magically found the recipe to convince you it could be the real thing. If your focus is a diet with less inflammation and cholesterol, this may still satisfy part of your sausage craving. Disclaimer: Like the pasta recommendation, it’s still a highly processed product, and it contains 500mg of sodium and 12g of fat. Photo Credit: The Happy Pear on Twitter
