Summer Swaps: 5 ways to give your pantry a healthy makeover
Summer is all about beach days, bbq’s, traveling and fun in the sun. Since the kids are around summer is the perfect time to gather them around as a family and make some healthy swaps to continue the whole year round! Take the kids and while doing grocery shopping make these healthier choices for the whole family to enjoy!
Swap your pasta for versions made from chickpeas or black beans. They’re higher in protein and lower in carbs than regular pasta. Better yet, invest in a good spiralizer and make your own zoodles from fresh zucchini. But don’t stop there. You can spiralize all kinds of vegetables — try broccoli stems, carrots, or sweet potatoes. Or use thin slices of eggplant to make lasagna-style noodles.
Try cauliflower rice instead of rice. You can grate a head yourself or buy it prepared in the produce section of the grocery store. Some recipes call for adding water to the cauliflower rice, but I find that makes it mushy.
more fruit, drink less juice. Juice is a better choice than soda, because it contains vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients, whereas soda has none. But juice also concentrates the sugar in fruit while removing the fiber, and that can cause your blood sugar to spike. Whole fruit doesn’t have the same effect because the natural sugar it contains comes bundled with fiber, which slows its absorption. If you looking to give the little ones alot more fruit, give them gummies
Make your own salad dressing. Many of the salad dressings you buy in the supermarket have a surprising amount of sugar, or worse, high-fructose corn syrup. When you make your own salad dressing, you control exactly what goes into it. Chances are, when you’re whisking some olive oil, vinegar, and fresh herbs together, you won’t be dumping a bunch of sugar into it. For me, the key is to use high-quality fresh-pressed extra-virgin olive oil and an aged balsamic vinegar, which is naturally sweet.
Stock up on produce. If you’ve slipped out of the habit of filling half your plate with fruits and vegetables, spring is a great time to get back into that routine. (Or start it, if you’ve never tried.) After all, there are few things as tempting as the first fresh, local strawberries of the year. Summer produce like Apricots, Plums, Cherries, Blackberries, Nectarines, Radishes, Rhubarb is in season now. Some of these fruits and vegetables are available year ‘round, but others you can only get in the summer. So visit your local farmers’ market and try something new.
Let me know in the comments which swap your going to make!
