11. Ice Cream – Frozen Banana
We all love ice cream, right? There’s even a song about ice cream! But it truly can be one of the worst foods you can consume in regards to the negative effects it has on your body. Ice cream is loaded with inflammatory sugars and more fat than the average person needs in one day, let alone in one sitting.
Using a frozen banana is not only healthy food swap, but also one of the closest to the original in regards to texture and taste. Put a frozen banana in a blender with real cacao powder and a bit of stevia – you’ll swear you’re eating chocolate ice cream! While bananas do contain quite a bit of sugar, it’s still a lot less than what you’d get if you were eating conventional ice cream.
Bananas are an incredible source of potassium and vitamin C, making this food swap an excellent option if you’re not feeling well and craving some ice cream (face it, most of us want ice cream when we’re sick). Potassium is important for keeping your body hydrated, managing blood pressure, and preventing heart disease.
12. Cake/Cookies – Fresh Fruit with Cacao Nibs and Coconut Milk
It really is important to allow yourself a treat every now and then, if only for the mental health aspect of not depriving yourself. However, when you can substitute a healthy treat for a not-so-healthy treat, do it! Cake and cookies are essentially gluten-covered in sugar and fats with virtually no nutritional value beyond providing calories.
You might be surprised how satisfying fresh fruit can be when you’re craving something sweet. Add some cacao nibs for chocolate flavor and coconut or almond milk and you’ve got yourself a guilt-free treat that you can enjoy literally every day! Dark berries such a blueberries, strawberries, or cherries are particularly high in antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and fiber, as well as low in fats and cholesterol.
13. Milk/White Chocolate – Dark Chocolate
Chocolates are renowned for their healthful benefits, but these benefits are limited to dark chocolate only (70% or more cacao). Milk and white chocolates are mostly sugar and milk with a bit of cacao flavoring. The average milk chocolate bar has twice as much sugar and half as much fiber, vitamins, and minerals as a true dark chocolate bar.
Dark chocolate also has respectable amounts of iron, zinc, and naturally occurring antioxidants to help support a healthy immune system. People who eat dark chocolate at least once a week report a healthier body composition, less depression, and a lower risk of heart disease.
Noting that this is a correlation and not a cause, this relationship is likely due to the fact that those who eat dark chocolate are more health conscious and more likely to allow themselves a sanity-saving treat from time to time rather than binging on sugar when they can’t resist anymore.
14. Canola Oil – Coconut Oil
Canola oil comes from the rapeseed plant, which is now one of the most genetically modified food crops around the world. It used to be called rapeseed oil, but the name has since changed with the genetic modifications that removed some of the bitter taste from the oil. And even though it is a very cheap and easy crop to grow, the processing required to make oil from rapeseeds is anything but.
Coconut oil, on the other hand, is rarely genetically modified and requires minimal processing. It’s naturally high in medium chain triglycerides (MCTs), and unlike other oils does not change in flavor when heated up. Coconut oil has natural antibacterial and antiviral properties, and helps promote healthy cholesterol levels.
15. Regular Dairy – Kefir
Dairy companies like to fortify milk with synthetic vitamins and minerals, and give a dose of added sugar for flavoring. Organic kefir, on the other hand, is a great alternative with a wealth of nutritional value.
Kefir is essentially drinkable yogurt. Like milk, it is rich in calcium and vitamin D. Like regular yogurt, kefir is also full of probiotic bacteria. Probiotics are healthy gut bacteria proven to support the immune system and aid in proper digestion. Also of note: between 85-95% of your body’s total serotonin (happy molecules) are produced in your gut – so make sure you take care of it!
If you’re lactose intolerant, no worries! Kefir also contains yeast, which combine with the probiotics to give you a dose of lactase – the enzyme your body needs to digest lactose. Vegetarian or vegan? Kefir can be made from any animal or plant-based milk!