Food Swaps for Healthier Eating - Desserts with Benefits

Food Swaps For Healthier Eating

Welcome to the Food Swaps page — a list of easy food swaps for healthier eating!

Here you will find a list of typical unhealthy ingredients and some healthy replacement options listed right below them.

 

Click on the links below to skip to its location on this page:

1.  Butter, Margarine, Shortening & Oil Swaps

2.  Candy Bar Swaps

3.  Chocolate Swaps

4.  Cream Cheese Swaps

5.  Dried Fruit Swaps

6.  Egg Swaps

7.  Flour Swaps

8.  Food Coloring/Food Dye Swaps

9.  Heavy Cream & Milk Swaps

10.  Peanut Butter Swaps

11.  Sugar Swaps

For Savory Food Swaps, click here!

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1.  Butter, Margarine, Shortening & Oil

Any of the replacements below + Natural Butter Flavoring

Coconut Oil or Coconut Butter
• Non-Hydrogenated Shortening (I use Spectrum Organics)
• Natural Butter Substitutes (like Earth Balance)
• Organic Silken Tofu, pureed
Unsweetened Applesauce, 100% Pure Pumpkin Puree (canned), 100% Pure Sweet Potato Puree (canned), Baby Food (carrots, peaches, blueberries, etc.), Mashed Avocado, Mashed Bananas
• Plain Yogurt or Plain Greek Yogurt

Click here to see my opinion on butter.

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2.  Candy Bars

Homemade Snickerz
Homemade Milky Wayz
Homemade 3 Musketeerz
Homemade Take 5z
Homemade PayDayz
• Clif Builders Bars
• Luna Bars
Pure Fit Bars
Simply Bars

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3.  Chocolate

Homemade Dark Chocolate
Homemade Milk Chocolate
Homemade White Chocolate
CocoaWell Chocolate Bars

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4.  Cream Cheese

• Organic Cream Cheese (1/3 less fat or Neufchâtel)
• Plain Nonfat Greek Yogurt, strained through a cheesecloth
• Organic Cottage Cheese, pureed

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5.  Dried Fruits

• No Sugar Added Dried Fruits
• Dried Fruit Sweetened with Fruit Juice

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6.  Eggs*

• Egg Whites
Ener-G Egg Replacer
• Mashed Banana, Unsweetened Applesauce, 100% Canned Pumpkin Puree (in baked recipes, you will most likely need to increase the leavening used… I usually add 1 tsp of Double-Acting Baking Powder for every 1/4 cup of puree used)
Chia Egg or Flax Egg (1 tbs chia/flax + 2-3 tbs warm water, stir together and let sit for 5 minutes until gelled)
• Organic Silken Tofu, pureed
• Plain Nonfat Greek Yogurt

*Eggs are perfectly healthy in moderation, but vegans or those with high cholesterol may choose to avoid eggs.

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7.  Flour (All-Purpose, Bleached)

Whole Wheat Pastry Flour or Whole Wheat Flour
• Whole Grain Spelt Flour
• Whole Grain Gluten Free Flours:  Oat FlourBrown Rice FlourSorghum FlourQuinoa FlourBuckwheat FlourCoconut Flour
• Nut Flours (basically ground up nuts):  Almond FlourAlmond MealHazelnut FlourPeanut Flour

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8.  Food Coloring (Artificial Food Dye)

Natural Food Coloring

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9.  Heavy Cream & Milk

• Organic Evaporated Fat Free Milk
• Organic Skim/Low-Fat Milk mixed with Organic Dried Nonfat Milk
• Organic/Grass-Fed Half-and-Half
• Canned Light Coconut Milk or Full Fat Coconut Milk
• Unsweetened Almond Milk
• Cashew Cream

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10.  Peanut Butter (Skippy, JIF, etc.)

Homemade Peanut Butter or other Homemade Nut/Seed Butters (Almond, Cashew, Hazelnut, Pecan, Sunflower Seed, MacadamiaWalnut, Pistachio, Tahini, etc.)
Homemade Dark Chocolate Almond Butter
• Natural Peanut Butter (read the ingredients and avoid hydrogenated oils at all costs!) or other Natural Nut/Seed Butters (Almond, Cashew, Hazelnut, Pecan, Sunflower Seed, Tahini, Walnut, etc.)

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11.  Sugar

Homemade Brown Sugar
Granulated Erythritol and Powdered Erythritol
Coconut Sugar or Powdered Coconut Sugar
Date Sugar
Maple Sugar
Sucanat
• Organic Agave Nectar
Brown Rice Syrup
• Honey
• Pure Maple Syrup
• Coconut Nectar
• Yacon Syrup
Molasses
Organic Stevia Extract
Truvia
• 100% Fruit Juice or Fruit Purees

Frostings/Icings:  White Icing (see all my healthy frostings/icings/glazes here!)

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Savory Food Swaps:

1.  Bread Products (sliced bread, tortillas)

Loaves of Bread:
• Whole Wheat Bread
• Whole Grain Gluten Free Bread

Tortillas:
• Whole Grain Corn Tortillas (without lard!)
• 100% Whole Wheat Tortillas
• Whole Grain Gluten Free Tortillas

Bread Crumbs:
• Crumbled/Ground Nuts (Almonds, Cashews, Hazelnuts, Peanuts, Pecans, Walnuts, etc.)
• Whole Wheat Bread Crumbs, Whole Wheat Panko
• Brown Rice Bread Crumbs
• Coarsely Ground Old Fashioned Rolled Oats

• Coarsely Ground Crispy Brown Rice Cereal
• Any of the above with Ground Flaxseeds

2.  Cheese/Cottage Cheese

• Reduced Fat, Low Fat and Fat Free Varieties
• Daiya Vegan Cheese, Lisanatti Almond Cheese

3.  Chips (fried)

Baked Chips
• Beanitos, Lentil Chips, Soy Crisps

4.  French Fries

Baked Potato
Baked:  Potato Sticks, Sweet Potato Sticks, Parsnip Sticks, Zucchini Sticks (many veggies work here!)

5.  Mashed Potatoes

• Mashed Organic Cauliflower
• Mashed Organic Sweet Potatoes

6.  Mayonnaise, Sour Cream

• Mashed Avocado
• Organic Hummus
• Plain Nonfat Yogurt or Plain Nonfat Greek Yogurt

7.  Pasta

• Organic Bean Sprouts, Julienned Carrots or Zucchini
• Spaghetti Squash
• 100% Whole Grain Pasta (whole wheat, brown rice, quinoa, etc.)

8.  Popcorn

• Natural, Whole Grain Popcorn (avoid butter and hydrogenated oils at all costs!)
• Rice Cakes, Soy Crisps
• Roasted Chickpeas, Roasted Edamame
• Puffed Quinoa, Puffed Amaranth

9.  Refried Beans

• Natural Refried Beans (avoid lard!)
• Mashed Black Beans

10.  White Rice

• Brown Rice
• Cauliflower Rice
• Whole Wheat Couscous
• Quinoa

 

If you have any additions to the list, just leave me a comment!

 

5 comments on “Food Swaps For Healthier Eating”

  1. How do I substitute coconut oil for the spectrum organics butter shortening that your dessert recipes call for? What are the equivalent measurements? Do I add butter extract with the coconut oil? And will it affect the desserts in any way if I subdtitute it?
    I was also wondering if it was necessary to use the sunwarrior chocolste/vanilla powder for the icing or if I can leave it or sub it?

    • dessertswithbenefits

      Coconut oil should replace the shortening just fine in the majority of recipes. You can replace it at a 1:1 ratio. You can replace 4 tbs of shortening with 4 tbs of coconut oil + 1/4 tsp butter extract.
      The SunWarrior protein powder in frosting is an important ingredient. It absorbs a lot of liquid and reduces the amount of powdered sugar/erythritol needed to thicken the frosting. It also provides nutritional balance in the recipe. You can try using other protein powders (like soy, hemp, etc… if you were thinking about whey protein you would have to test that out)

  2. Your recipes all look amazing! I’m new to the site and haven’t tried any of them out yet, but plan to soon.

    I was just wondering about the erythritol and if I could substitute it for plain granulated sugar. Is that possible? Would I need to adjust the amount? Thanks!

    • dessertswithbenefits

      Erythritol measures cup-for-cup like sugar so you won’t need to adjust the amount. However regular white sugar isn’t healthy so I would recommend using sucanat, coconut sugar, date sugar, xylitol, evaporated cane juice… Whatever is natural and processed less than white sugar 🙂

  3. Thanks! I usually use Whole Foods brand organic cane sugar.. I’ll comment on whatever recipe I decide to use after my first venture! 😉

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