10 Ways to Makeover Your Meal: A Guide with Ideas on How to Give Your Favorite Meals A Healthy Makeover!

Coming out of long weekend of burger, beers and fireworks, it’s hard to switch gears from excess back to moderation. On the Beer Fit Club on Facebook (Join here if interested), we talked about our most epic binges over the weekend. I had my own epic eating binge after getting intoxicated. Too much alcohol removes the angel from your shoulders the little devil calls the shots.

Now that the weekend is over we wish to still be eating burgers, dogs and potato salad. 

What if there were a way to eat what you love without as many calories?!

How do we make our favorite foods healthy enough to enjoy often?!

This week’s challenge is 10 Ways to Makeover Your Meal! It is not a specific recipe, but instead tips I have learned over the years to empower you to makeover your favorite meals yourself! (Way better than a recipe any day) I will provide recipe examples and ever how to put these tips into action. So let’s get started!

1- Make it yourself!

This is the simplest tip of all and pretty self explanatory. If you go to a restaurant and order food, you have no fucking idea what they put in that shit, LOL. You order a burger, they could add some additional fat for flavor. Order mac and cheese and it could actually have cream in it. Did you know that when you order a steak at any restaurant, they actually cook it in butter?! Yup, that’s a thing! So if you want to make something you love healthier, you really gotta do it yourself. You know what is going in and how much… a control freak’s (like me) dream!

2- Cut the Carbs

Carbs are not evil, they aren’t the enemy, but you definitely don’t need many of them. You see the old food pyramid In any meal if you cut out some of the carbs you can lose lots of calories and none of the nutrition you need for the day. Here are some ways you can do it!

Skip the Bun for your Burger- Try a lettuce wrap
Skip rice, potato or pasta – Try some vegetables on the side
Skip rice – Try riced cauliflower
Skip spaghetti – Try spaghetti squash
Skip the taco shell- Try a lettuce wrap

Here are some recipes that follow this rule:
Santa Fe Lettuce Wraps
Cilantro Lime Cauliflower Rice
Creamy Cauliflower Mash with Kale

3- Bulk it up with Veggies 

What is better than subtracting food, ADDING food! YES! This is by far one of my favorite ways to make a meal healthier. I add lots of vegetables to my meals to make it more filling, but I am super clever about it. For example, when making my meatballs, they are never just meat and cheese and egg and bread crumbs…. NO, they are much tastier, moister and healthier. With a pound of ground beef I will add about a cup of baby bella mushrooms, 1/2 cup carrots and onion ground up from the food processor. When I make tacos I will add a shit ton of ground mushrooms and HOT DAMN they add some good flavor and really mesh well with the texture of ground beef. Season it with taco seasoning and there you go! Mac and cheese is a whole lotta empty calories, so I love to add a shit ton of fresh spinach into my mac and cheese, broccoli too!Making a stir fry… add extra veggies. Always ask yourself when making a meal. “Can I add more veggies?” Why yes, yes you can ALWAYS! 

Here are some recipes that use this rule: 
Magic Tacos
Eggplant Lasagna
Autumn Shepherd’s Pie

4- Swap dairy fat for  nonfat or 2% Greek yogurt

If you are a frequent flier in Pinterest, I am sure you have seen this popular infographic. It shows you the various way you can use Greek yogurt in place of other higher fat dairy or even oil. Not all of these things work as they would like you to think, but they updated the graphic to not be a full yogurt substitute. So there is some real hope here.

From my experience Greek yogurt works very well in place of sour cream and mayonnaise. Though when using Greek Yogurt note that for baking you will most likely have best results with the full fat deal… but we are trying to cut some fat. Using 2% is a nice Goldilocks approach. So I like to use 2%. When using it in a salad dressing, note that it can separate a bit. When eating tacos, I don’t ever both buying sour cream, Greek-yo ALLLLL the way baby.

In cookies, you will NEVER get a crunchy cookie with lowfat. Been there, tried that. It was like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. Don’t waste you time!

In cake it is an AWESOME substitute! It will also have the added bonus of making a nice moist cake- hell to the yes! So please swap away!

Here are some recipes that use this rule:
French-Inspired Egg Salad Sandwiches
Greek Yogurt Cake
A whole list by Buzzfeed 

5- Swap in some whole grains 

This may not decrease calories or fat, but it will add more fiber to your diet and keep you full longer! So mad props to whole grains and slow carbs. Since they take longer to digest they will not cause a spike and surge in your blood sugar, which could make you cranky and will make you reach for yet MORE carbs. So do your digestive system a favor and swap in some whole grains.

Instead of regular bread… choose whole grain bread.
Instead of rice… try quinoa or barley.
Instead of regular pasta… Get the 100% whole wheat variety.

6- Try something new

Moving outside your comfort zone is necessary in making any sort of progress in your life. So I am inviting you to take an adventure with me! Try a new way of eating your favorite foods and discover new ones you love. Open your mind to the food possibilities and to a whole new world. When I started on my healthy journey and when I learned to love food more than ever! I discovered new fruits and new vegetables I loved and I became curious about different cuisines. Food can really bring the world together! I know there is a whole new experience out there for you! Follow your curiosity and find a new favorite.
Discover a new way to eat tacos with a lettuce wrap, try spaghetti squash or the Tofu Shiritaki Noodles. Try tofu! Don’t let your preconceived notions guide you. Let curiosity be your guide!

Here are some recipes that follow this rule:
Sausage Stuffed Spaghetti Squash Parmesan
Chicken Zoodle Lo Main
Spaghetti Squash Lasagna Boats
Spaghetti Squash with Meat Ragu
Zoodles and Meatballs

7- Make a Reduced Fat Swap 

This is another simple no-brainer. When preparing any meal or recipe, simply swap in a reduced fat version of a full fat product. There are reduced fat versions of most anything you make! Any dairy product has a reduced fat version. For every meat there is another meat that contains less fat. Simply swap out the higher fat ingredient for a lower fat one. Easy!

8- Change the cooking method

Frying- it makes anything taste amazing, but also is the worst for the ole ticker. There are ways to make something traditionally fried taste almost is not as good as the fried version. A high heat roast in the oven can compensate. Now some ever refer to it as oven frying and it is pretty damn amazing.

Some things to remember:

• Vegetables should go into the oven dry of all water for best results.
• Coating in a little cornstarch will make them have a little crispy skin.
• Don’t be afraid of a 450º oven, I was, but it works and well! 

Recipe Examples:
The Best Damn Oven Fries 
Best Baked Fried Chicken
Southern Oven Fried Chicken  

9- Don’t Spill it, Spray it 

Reduce the fat you use the simplest way possible, instead of pouring your oil into a pan or baking sheet, spray it. You get better coverage and you always wind up using less fat! Another easy way to makeover your meal!

I used to have one of the “Olio” air sprayers. LOVED it til it inevitably got clogged and stopped working. Now-a-days I am using Trader Joe’s Olive Oil Spray. It just works better.

10- When All Else Fails,  Eat Half

We have talked about all the ways you can make your meal healthier by altering it in some way. Well this tip is different, it’s about your actions and it is a serious exercise in self control. Eat slowly and use some self control to eat half of the meal or less. Eating slowly allows the stomach the time it needs to send the brain signals that it is full. You would be surprised to see how little you can eat when you are eating slowly.

This strategy works best when eating out since you don’t know how the meal is prepared. When I eat out I am always taking half home and better yet, I even get another meal or two out of it!