SWAPS AND SUBSTITUTIONS
You don’t have to give up some of your favorite foods to get lean and fit! Here at the X Gym, we have found substitutions for you so your lifestyle can continue with minimal changes.
- Yogurt: Trader Joe’s plain Greek yogurt (or Chobani, Fage or Oiko’s brands) with a dozen organic blueberries and a few drops of liquid Stevia tastes even better than full-sugar yogurt.
- Chocolate bars: PJ’s fitness chocolate recipe baby! It only takes 10 minutes and all you need is a blender and fridge!
- Noodles: Check out these shirataki noodles and these black bean noodles to get back on the pasta wagon without the guilt. And for spaghetti, try zucchini noodles (AKA Zoodles). Simply use a vegetable peeler to make zucchini resemble spaghetti noodles, or use this spiralizer. Heat the strips in a skillet with olive oil and you’ll have a fresh pasta replacement that gives you a huge boost of vitamins A, C, and potassium.
- For jam and many other amazing sugar-free products, check out this website.
- To replace peanut butter, use peanut flour and just add water to make it peanut butter. Why this swap? Because the type of fat in peanuts can be inflammatory and the process of making peanut flour takes out most of the fat, so you get all the taste of peanut butter without the inflammation!
- Bread: We encourage people to phase out bread completely as soon as they can because modern wheat and gluten aren’t the same as they used to be (even as recently as 50 years ago). Back then, wheat offered some health benefits but even the cleanest organic wheat from Europe isn’t a very healthy option anymore. If you MUST have bread, go with a grain-free recipe that is also considered “paleo.” Just Google it and you’ll find plenty, most of which are usually almond meal based. And to make your own bread at home, there are several amazing recipes on this very site! Just type the word bread in the search box to find them. Another option found at some stores are these yummy sandwich thins.
- Ranch dressing “Follow Your Heart” brand rocks. PCC and Whole Foods usually carry it.
- For mayo, try this avocado-based mayo. Several health food stores (and even some Costco stores) carry it too.
- Swap rice for “riced” cauliflower. You can finely chop or “pulse” fresh cauliflower in a food processor and it will resemble rice. Then you can steam or sauté it and enjoy it just like you would any kind of rice. Or you can find riced cauliflower at Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods or Costco. Amazon.com also has a shirataki rice.
- For tortillas, try these.
- For crackers, try jilz brand crackers.
- For chips, try these resistant starch chips (up to 1 serving per day): Wai Lana and Siete.
- More ideas below in the infographic, featuring the top 7 addictive foods, as determined by a bunch of really smart scientists.
- For another nice crunch option, try these.
- Got soft pretzels? If not, make the ones on this site!
