Healthier Options for Your Favorite Comfort Foods

There's no reason to ditch those favorite foods when you're embarking on your mission to lead a healthier lifestyle. Adapting the foods you love in new and healthy ways can be quite simple, and before long, I bet you'll end up liking your healthier version even more. These tricks help keep the flavors you love while also adding in more veggies and ditching the ingredients that typically cause bloat and digestive upset. So you'll still be getting the foods you love, without any of the discomforts that came with them. See? This healthy eating thing isn't so bad. It's even more enjoyable!

Here are a few ways to modify some common favorites into delicious, nutritious alternatives that leave you feeling energized and satisfied.

Swap noodles for veggie versions

Pasta dishes are one of the most beloved comfort foods around. If you miss spaghetti Bolognese, try making it with zucchini noodles (zoodles) using a food spiralizer. Lasagna can be made using zucchini ribbons, and mac n' cheese can be made with cauliflower. You'll soon realize it's the flavors we have grown to love so much, and the "pasta" part can be quite flexible without missing any enjoyment.

Change the way you eat burgers

You can't go to any American restaurant without a list of burgers. The bun often takes away from your patty and toppings anyway, leaving it messy and difficult to eat. Instead, wrap it up in crisp lettuce along with fresh tomato and onion slices, and you won't miss a thing!

Get creative with tacos and burritos

Generally, the fillings in your tacos and burritos are tasty and healthy. If you're craving something south of the border, lettuce comes to the rescue again, serving as the perfect vessel for these fillings. You can wrap your taco ingredients with a large leaf of lettuce, or deconstruct your tacos into a taco bowl with a rice, bean, and/or lettuce base. Riced cauliflower is another excellent option to add even more veggies to the mix.

Create healthier mashed potatoes and fries

Mashed potatoes are one of the most popular comfort foods around. If you've never tried to recreate mashed potatoes with cauliflower, give it a try. With the right seasonings, you can barely tell the difference. You can either blend it with a little potato or use all cauliflower. And for fries, you can bake up butternut squash or zucchini for the same incredible effect without the bloat. Parsnips and turnips also make for great fry alternatives.

Replace your rice

Are you missing your favorite burrito bowl? Cauliflower comes to the rescue again. It's so easy to turn it into rice with your food processor. If you don’t have a food processor you can use a cheese grater. You can also buy it ready-made in the freezer section of your grocery store and cut your prep time down fast.

Cauliflower saves the day with pizza, too

And finally, who doesn't love a slice of pizza every once in a while? Fortunately, you can make a cauliflower crust and solve your pizza problems in an instant. You can also find ready-made cauliflower crusts in the frozen section, but the best ones are homemade.

When you start thinking about healthier approaches to your favorite foods, you get the flavors you want without discomfort or excess starchy calories. That's exactly how life should be, and I'm here to assure you a healthy lifestyle is enjoyable, doable, and simple.

What are your favorite comfort foods, and how might you modify them to be healthier?

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