I don't believe in dieting. The whole point of a diet is to do something temporarily for an end result, so why would we expect to keep the weight off?
I focus on adopting healthy and sustainable habits so I can keep eating the foods I love while maintaining the same weight. Life is all about balance, right?
Here are a few easy ways I make some of my foods a little healthier so I can eat them more often:
How to Make Your Favorite Foods Healthier
Making the foods you love to eat healthier can be as simple as swapping an ingredient or two or omitting one completely.
Load Up On Healthy Grains
I will never jump on the carb-hating bandwagon. I eat plenty of carbs, as they give me the energy and feeling of fullness I'm looking for with my meals.
The key is choosing your carbs a little more carefully. When I eat sandwiches, toast, bagels, pasta, or pizza, I try to almost always use wheat or multi-grain alternatives. Eating carbs isn't nearly as bad if you're at least getting some type of nutritional benefit out of them! Plus, these have way more fiber than empty carbs, which is great for maintaining or losing weight.
2. Add a Heaping Side of Veggies
One of the reasons some of our favorite foods are a no-go for us is because they're chock-full of calories. If you're bringing science into the equation, you can't argue with the fact that too many calories in vs out are going to make you gain weight!
So, when I eat dinner I fill up about 50-75% of my plate with veggies. I'll typically roast a bunch of veggies like sweet potatoes, broccoli, carrots, or Brussels sprouts and then put a bunch of them on my plate before I've touched the main course. I'll also have a salad with my dinner as well, so that way I'm getting tons of healthy nutrients while filling my stomach with foods that aren't as calorie-dense.
This method has allowed me to eat some super delicious food every night of the week without gaining weight.
3. Season, Season, Season
If you aren't seasoning your food, you may lean on heavy sauces or creams for a stronger flavor. While there's nothing wrong with this in moderation, these fatty sauces can add hundreds of calories to your meal. Plus, if you have a sensitive stomach like me, a heaping bowl of thick sauce is a one-way ticket to heartburn city.
So, instead of loading up on thick sauce for taste, I season the **** out of my food! With veggies, I use a little (I mean a very little) amount of olive oil and tons of seasoning. They turn out amazing every time!
If I've made a cream sauce for pasta, potatoes, or fish, I use a fair amount of seasoning on the top of my dish and a small amount of sauce. When you know which seasonings pair well with your food, it makes eating healthy so much easier. So, do some research and stock up your pantry!
I refuse to rely on a yoyo diet to maintain my weight. I think they're restrictive, ineffective, and downright hard. There's no reason to follow a diet that's so difficult that you feel you can't maintain it.
By making some small adjustments to your eating habits you'll have a lot more leeway to eat what you want!