Seven Sinful Foods and Their Savory Substitutes

 

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Instead, we reach for artery-cloggers – processed cheese that squirts from a can or frosted pastries filled with sugary jam and anything deep-fried.

But you don’t have to say no to them – that’ll only derail your healthy efforts. Instead, get to know the worst choices and their savory substitutes:

1. Chips
One ounce of potato chips has 152 calories and 10 grams of fat (three grams saturated). If you eat just three ounces a week, in one year you'll have consumed 23,400 calories and added about seven pounds to your waistline. That’s from just a couple handfuls – much less than most of us snack on at a time.

Substitute: Rice and popcorn cakes are no longer Styrofoam-like snacks. Now they’re available in many flavors, so you can satisfy a salty craving without hitting the chips. Try Quaker’s Quakes Rice Snacks or Orville Redenbacher’s Popcorn Cakes instead – both have less than 100 calories per serving.

2. Doughnuts
White flour, vegetable shortening, white sugar… and deep-fried to boot. One glazed Krispy Kreme packs 200 calories and 12 grams of fat, including heart-stopping saturated fat, trans fat and cholesterol. An old-fashioned cake doughnut has 300 calories, 28 grams of carbohydrates and a whopping 19 grams of fat, including five grams of saturated fat and four grams of trans fat. Only 30% of our calories should come from fat, says the American Heart Association. That’s about 65 grams in a 2,000-calorie daily diet. Nosh on a couple doughnuts with your coffee, and you’ve reached your daily fat quota.

Substitute: Keep down the carbs with whole-grain bagels. Half a Pepperidge Farm multi-grain bagel has 125 calories, just three grams of fat and less than four grams of cholesterol-lowering fiber.

3. Fettuccine Alfredo
Strips of pasta drenched with butter, cream and parmesan cheese – what’s not to love? Its fat and calories! A three-ounce serving (about the size of your fist) has 543 calories and 33 grams of fat (19 of which are saturated).

Substitute: Request whole-wheat fettuccine with marinara sauce. One cup of whole-wheat pasta has 197 calories and almost four grams of fiber. And half a cup of marinara sauce has just 92 calories. If whole-wheat pasta isn’t available, ask for spinach pasta instead – it's popular and nutrition-rich.

4. Sausages
Whether you fry them for breakfast or boil 'em in beer for the big game, sausages are a health hazard. A single pork link packs 217 calories and 19.5 grams of fat.

Substitute: Chicken or turkey sausage. Five links of Aidell’s chicken apple sausage have only 100 calories and eight grams of fat (2.5 saturated). Or go vegetarian: Boca Italian sausage made from soy protein contains 130 calories in each 2.5-ounce serving, six grams of fat and 13 grams of lean protein.
Fried Chicken

5. Imitation Cheese in a Can
Some people love this stuff. But they ignore their protesting hearts: Two tablespoons – about the amount you’d put on two crackers – packs 276 calories and 21 grams of fat, 13 grams of which are saturated.

Substitute: Go for the real thing. Soft cheeses like brie have about 100 calories an ounce. Goat cheese is even better: One ounce has 76 calories and five grams of protein.

6. French Fries
One large order (six ounces) of fast-food fries contains 570 calories, half of which are from fat (That's probably why we love them.) If your restaurant order includes a hamburger (such as Burger King’s Whopper), tack on 670 calories and 39 grams of fat.

Substitute: Order kid-size fries instead, which have only 230 calories and 13 grams of fat. At home, try sautéed tempeh, a fermented rice and soy mixture found in the refrigerated health-food section of your grocery store. Just slice, sprinkle with soy sauce, and sauté in a little olive oil until brown. A half cup – about three or four half-inch slices – has 197 calories, is loaded with protein and offers a good source of iron, magnesium, zinc and vitamin B6.

7. Soft White Bread
You may as well have a candy bar. A slice of white bread offers little more than 65 calories of white flour, a simple and rapidly digested carbohydrate that causes your blood sugar to rise and crash, like any simple sugar.

Substitute: For the same number of calories, a slice of whole-wheat bread offers nutty flavor, two grams of heart-healthy fiber, protein and nutrients like selenium, magnesium and potassium.