Smart Substitutions

Heart Month is still going strong! What commitments have you made to decrease your risk of heart disease? If you have opted to make healthier choices when it comes to food, here are some smart substitutions recommended by the American Heart Association to help you on your journey to better heart health! Enjoy!

Smart Substitutions for Healthy Cooking

Smart Substitutions for Recipes 

You can make many of your favorite recipes healthier by using lower-fat or no-fat ingredients.  These healthy substitutions can help you cut down on saturated fats, trans fats and cholesterol, while noticing little, if any, difference in taste.

When recipe calls for  . . .	Use this instead  …
Whole milk (1 cup)	1 cup fat-free or low-fat milk, plus one tablespoon of liquid vegetable oil
Heavy cream (1 cup)	1 cup evaporated skim milk or 1/2 cup low-fat yogurt and 1/2 cup plain low-fat unsalted cottage cheese
Sour cream	Low-fat unsalted cottage cheese plus low-fat or fat-free yogurt; or just use fat-free sour cream
Cream cheese	4 tablespoons soft margarine (low in saturated fat and 0 grams trans fat) blended with 1 cup dry, unsalted low-fat cottage cheese; add a small amount of fat-free milk if needed
Butter (1 tablespoon)	1 tablespoon soft margarine (low in saturated fat and 0 grams trans fat) or 3/4 tablespoon liquid vegetable oil
Egg (1)	2 egg whites; or choose a commercially made, cholesterol-free egg substitute (1/4 cup)
Unsweetened baking chocolate (1 ounce)	3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder or carob powder plus 1 tablespoon vegetable oil or soft margarine; since carob is sweeter than cocoa, reduce the sugar in the recipe by 25%

Smart Substitutions for Snacks 

You can snack healthier by substituting snacks that are high in  saturated fats and/or trans fats with these sensible snacks:

Instead of  . . .	Enjoy …
Fried tortilla chips	Baked tortilla chips (reduced sodium version)
Regular potato or corn chips	Pretzels or low-fat potato chips (reduced sodium version)
High-fat cookies and crackers	Fat-free or low-fat cookies, crackers (such as graham crackers, rice cakes, fig and other fruit bars, ginger snaps and molasses cookies)
Regular baked goods	Baked goods, such as cookies, cakes and pies, and pie crusts made with unsaturated oil or soft margarines, egg whites or egg substitutes, and fat-free milk
Devil’s food cake	Angel food cake
Ice cream bars	Frozen fruit bars
Pudding made with whole milk	Pudding made with fat-free or low-fat milk
Ice cream	Sherbet, ice milk or frozen, fat-free or low-fat yogurt
Doughnut	Bagel or toast

Original article and more substitutions for restaurants and fast food items can be found here.