My Must Haves to Save Hundreds of Calories

My Must Haves to Save Hundreds of Calories

Non Fat Greek Yogurt:

1.       Use in place of sour cream- add a tsp of taco seasoning and lime juice or hot sauce for a yummy Mexican dip

2.       Use in your breakfast smoothies for added protein

3.       For breakfast- top with berries, almonds, flax seeds, and cinnamon

4.       Use in place of mayo or to reduce the amount of mayo used in a recipe- i.e., chicken salad

5.       Use as a sandwich spread  (mix with garlic, ground olives and feta, or a dash of ground mustard and honey for various sandwich flavors)

6.       Use in place of heavy cream to make sauces or cream based soups

Salad Mixers:

My favorites are baby spinach leaves, cucumbers, carrots, tomato, onions, olives, chickpeas, Craisins, almonds, and goat or feta cheese. Always try to have these items on hand so you are never without a lunch or dinner option. On Sunday you can premix the ingredients in individual servings so you can grab lunch while walking out the door all week long. Plus- for me if I have it in the fridge and I paid for it- it kills me to watch it go bad and knowing that I wasted money.  So I am forced to eat well during the week when I otherwise might be tempted to order out. Add lunch meat, shredded chicken, or steak slices for added protein.

While we are talking salads- don’t kill yours by drenching it in a bath of creamy dressing! Let the lettuce breathe for goodness sake! Stick to vinaigrettes or even make your own! PUT DOWN the Ranch/Thousand Island/Caesar dressing and nobody gets hurt.

Guacamole or fresh Avocados:

These tasty treats are nutrient dense and a healthy power food. You can substitute guac or avocados in place of mayo on a sandwich, in place of sour cream on tacos, or use as a healthy dip with pita chips or crackers. Yes, they are high in “fat” but it is unsaturated fat which is a good fat. Avocados are  SO yummy, but more than that they’re  just so much better for you than mayonnaise or sour cream. For real.

Easy Breakfast Idea: 1 whole wheat english muffin- spread with 2tsp guac and topped with 1 fried egg, lime juice, and pepper

Easy lunch idea: 1 whole wheat pita topped with fresh sliced avocados, grilled chicken breast, sliced onion, lettuce, and a pinch of taco seasoning and/or hot sauce.

If you’ve never made homemade guacamole and need a step by step tutorial you can check out this video recipe.

High Protein Cereal:

As much as we all love cereals like captain crunch, cinnamon toast crunch, and frosted flakes- they just don’t have a place in a healthful diet. Do you just love your high sugar cereal too much to give up completely? Give yourself a dessert once a week and indulge in it but my point is that it is not something to incorporate into your daily routine. Honestly I think there are too many great other options for breakfast to eat cereal BUT let’s be honest- Monday through Friday is a crazy ass mess sometimes. Just surviving the workweek is enough to deserve a gold medal- so I get it that you want an easy cereal and milk option for breakfast (all while feeding the dog, making coffee, packing the kids lunches, and trying to get your shoes on)..Anyway, if cereal is your thing there are great options for you.

 Ideally you want a cereal with less than 120 calories, less than 10 grams of sugar, and more than 3 grams of fiber per serving.

My favs:

1.       The Special K line is great- we all know how much I love the Chocolate Almond ( if you missed it, I blogged solely about this cereal and my love for it- you can click here for the link to that blog) but all the other flavors are great as well. (Red Berries, Blueberry, Cinnamon Pecan, etc)- Sidenote- most cereals have about 2-3g of protein but the Special K Protein cereal has 10grams! Can you say full till lunch??

2.       Kashi-I specifically like the Go Lean Crunch and Go Lean Crisp cereals. The Crisp comes in a cinnamon flavor as well as a berry flavor which are equally delish.

Be careful when selecting a cereal. It may be in a box labeled high protein or healthy but if the calories and sugar contents are higher than listed above- beware!

And here’s the deal with cereal: you can doctor the crap out of it for minimal calories and make it ahh-mazing. Try adding any of the following for the yum effect:  chocolate or vanilla protein powder, berries, PB2 powder, cinnamon or nutmeg.

Frozen Vegetables:

Now before I get hate mail saying that frozen foods are not healthy-baaacckkk up for a second and hear me out. For the most part I do not endorse eating foods from the “middle of the grocery store” BUT there are crazy days where I get home from work, go to the gym, get home and it’s 8 o’clock and I haven’t even started dinner yet- On those days I need easy solutions to keep me on track and these little boxes of frozen veggies do it for me. I particularly like the sweet baby peas in butter sauce ( 80 cal/serving) and the Simply Steam garden vegetable medley (60 cal/serving). They are a easy side dish- but let’s be honest- if Adam is out of town I will eat the whole box as my entire dinner and I’m ok with that. Hey- the alternative is picking up takeout on the way home!

SO this is a quick list of what helps me out from day to day- obviously there are many more things I love that I will be blogging about in the upcoming weeks including two new favorite finds!

Be well and much love-B