Healthy Food Swaps + 10 Quick Snack Ideas

Hey y’all! Today I’m talking about the best thing ever, F-O-O-D! I’ve been really into fitness and health since January 2015, which is so crazy that has been almost 2.5 years ago. 🙂 I’ve come such a long way from where I was in college, and I am still not perfect. And that’s totally okay! I know a lot of times people are scared to make that leap to become healthier because they’re confused. You don’t know what to do or what to eat. In a world that seems to be centered around food, its really hard sometimes to know what is good versus what isn’t so good. A lot of times when I was starting off, I was eating things that I thought were good! But, they are actually not good for you at all! lol.

I’m not saying I don’t treat myself, I totally do. But, it’s all about moderation. If I have pancakes for breakfast on a Saturday, I know I can really “cheat” the rest of the day and I need to keep it clean. I know food can be so confusing and a touchy subject. So hopefully, my little chart on healthy food swaps will be of some help. 🙂

Healthy Foods Swaps – Quick & Easy

Orange Juice → Fruit-Infused Water
23g sugar // 210 cal → 0 sugar // 0 cals

Starbucks Grande Vanilla Latte → Coffee w/ 1 TBSP Natural Creamer
35g sugar // 250 cal → 5 sugar // 30 cals

1 Slice White Bread → 1 Slice Ezekiel Bread
2g protein // 0g fiber // 70 cal → 4g protein // 3g fiber // 80 cal

1 Small Bag Lays Potato Chips → 1 Small Bag Skinny Pop
10g fat // 160 cal → 6g fat // 100 cal

1 Snickers Bar → 1 Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Kind Bar
20g sugar // 3g protein // 0f fiber // 215 cal → 9g sugar // 8g protein // 2.5g fiber // 200 cal

1 TBSP Regular Mayo → 1 TBSP Olive Oil Mayo
11g fat // 100 cal → 5g fat // 50 cal

1TBSP Butter → 1 TBSP Smart Balance Light Flaxseed
12g fat // 100 cal → 5g fat // 50 cal

3 whole eggs → 3 egg whites
234 cal // 18g protein // 15g fat // 630mg cholesterol → 51 cal // 12g protein // 0g fat // 0g cholesterol

»small changes make the biggest difference«

The key to all of my healthy food swaps are increasing protein, increasing fiber, and reducing sugars. All sugars aren’t bad, they’re actually good for you! Just in moderation, like everything else. A good goal to have is to consume the same amount of protein in grams as your body weight. Meaning, if you weigh 140 lbs, you should consume at least 140g of protein each day! Protein helps build lean muscle and allows your muscles to recover more quickly. You will not bulk up my increasing your protein. You will bulk up of you’re eating 4,000 cals a day, but that’s totally different! Eating ample fiber is so important too, because fiber helps you stay full longer! 🙂

Small changes Make the biggest difference. Try swapping your morning OJ for some fruit-infused water and start using egg whites instead of whole eggs. I believe in you, you can do it! 🙂 As always, please reach out to me with any questions. 🙂

Here are my fave 10 healthy snack options :

1-2 slices Ezekiel Raisin Bread – toasted and topped with 1 TBSP Natural Peanut Butter (please do NOT buy the regular kind!!)
Greek Yogurt – Sugar >10g and the protein>10g. My favorites: Chobani 100 flips, Ellie Quark (actually cheese lol but so yummy & tastes like yogurt), and the Yoplait Greek 100s.
Kind Bars & Lara Bars – I love the Chocolate PB Kind Bars, they’re packed full of protein and fiber to help keep you full. Tastes so yummy too, which is the best part! Lara Bars are 100% clean and always on sale. My favorites are peanut butter chocolate chip, banana bread, cherry pie, cookie dough, and pecan pie.
1 Serving Cottage Cheese – topped with berries. Cottage cheese is a great form of casein protein, which aids in muscle repair and recovery, especially at nighttime.
1 cup of berries – blackberries and strawberries are my fave. Berries are low in sugar and high in fiber, which help curb your sweet tooth and the fiber helps you stay full! 🙂
1 serving of Kashi Go Lean – I love the “Cinnamon Crisp.” It’s full of fiber and protein, I love eating it dry in a ziplock. This is a super easy on-the-go snack!
Homemade smoothie – I want to do a post on my fave smoothies, but I am loving just 2 servings of frozen mangowith 1 cup spinach and water to blend.
Protein Shake – Boring, but I’ll link my faves! My all time FAVE protein is this one in chocolate. It tastes like Nesquik! This one isn’t as tasty (I’ve only tried vanilla – it’s okay, pretty sweet), but the chocolate cake batter seems to have really good reviews! This protein is plant based and actually tastes pretty good. I like the chocolate best! 🙂 It doesn’t have that fake-sweet taste, which is a deal break for me!
Boom Chicka Pop – Lightly sweetened popcorn – a yummy “TV” snack
Yasso Frozen Greek Yogurt Bars – These are perfect subs for ice-cream. My FAVE is the chocolate chip cookie dough. The cookie dough pieces are DIVINE! 🙂