A healthy food substitute is where it tastes the same or better as the food you’re used to eating, but has better ingredients which offer better benefits to your body. Finding healthy substitutes is a good place to start when switching to clean eating. You usually have those go to foods that you really enjoy, or find easy to make on the fly, and those are the foods you want to start with. If you’ve proven to yourself that the foods you love can taste the same if not better with a healthier substitute, then it will be easier to replace all of your food with a healthier version.

A couple tips to keep in mind when shopping for healthier food:

• You want the least amount of ingredients possible.
• You want to buy foods that don’t contain salt or sugar, so you can add those in if you want. A good example is peanut butter. I love peanut butter and I always look to see that the ingredients are just peanuts and not salt, sugar or anything else.
• You want to know what all the ingredients are on the label. If you don’t know what the ingredient is, chances are you don’t want to put it into your body.
• Stay away from processed foods. These are usually your convenience foods. The ones that have a long shelf life like cereals, flours, and certain types of bread.
• Stick to whole foods like fruits, vegetables, beans, eggs, nuts and seeds, chicken breast or lean meats. These items are usually found in the perimeter of the grocery store. The middle aisles are where you will find more of the processed foods.

Some healthy food substitutes I switched to first:

• Instead of pasta noodles I switch to veggie noodles, zucchini or spaghetti squash (my favorite!).
• Instead of canola oil/vegetable oil I switched to avocado oil, Olive oil, or coconut oil.
• Instead of soda or juice I switched to fruit water, cucumber water, or herb water.
• Instead of Sugar I switched to honey, stevia, or swerve.
• If I buy bread I usually buy Ezekiel bread, or sprouted wheat bread because it’s made in a way that allows it have more natural nutrients than traditional bread.