30 Healthy Replacements for Cravings

Posted by on Nov 3, 2013 in Clean eating, Healthy Recipes | 0 comments

One challenge of eating clean is avoiding cravings. Several years ago when I was tracking what I ate I listened to my body and started noticing my cravings were usually distinctly sweet or salty. I wanted a cookie, but a little oatmeal did the job. Or Doritos sounded like just what I wanted but somehow a bowl of veggies with some salt and spices was almost more fulfilling. As I paid attention more and more I could tell when my body wanted something I could replace versus directly craving one specific food. After all, sometimes your body really wants a nutrient and you might stuff your face more “eating around” it than just giving in.

So after a few years of experimenting, I have found a list of replacement foods for various cravings. I’ll divide them by sweet and salty/savory since that’s how I tend to crave. But my overall rule of thumb for replacement success is to match both the sweet/salt craving with ingredients in them. For example, cookie may mean I’m craving sweet plus carbs. Ice cream, sweet plus dairy. Hamburger = salt + protein. Chips I may want salty and crunchy. Most of my suggestions are fast since most of the things you’re combatting are too. Gotta make these quick if you want to talk yourself out of them, right?

Have something you crave? Tell me and I will try to come up with a replacement!

Sweet

Fruit
Yogurt
Oatmeal (add a little brown sugar, semi-sweet chocolate chips, nuts, fruit or dried fruit if it needs a kick)
Fruit dipped in semi-sweet chocolate
Whole grain cereal
Fruit and veggie smoothie
Tea with honey
Coffee
Whole grain raisin bread (sparingly, but better than some desserts)
Banana with peanut butter
Green smoothie (good when I’m craving a shake!)
Healthy banana bread
Mints or gum
Frozen fruit eaten like a Popsicle
Chai latte

Salty/Savory

Bowl of cooked veggies with salt (just pop frozen vegetables of choice in the microwave)
Fresh vegetables with or without dip
Popcorn (air popped with a tiny olive oil and salt)
Eggs (hard boiled, scrambled, however you prefer)
Salad
Whole wheat toast
Slices of lunch meat
Low fat string cheese
Cottage cheese
Whole wheat crackers and salsa
Rotisserie chicken
Tortilla with avocado, salt and pepper
Sliced tomatoes with salt
V8 or similar juice
Black bean burrito

Banana Peanut Butter Protein Shake

Posted by on May 4, 2013 in Breakfast, Drinks, Healthy Recipes, Lunch, Recipes | 0 comments

Sometimes No, let’s not lie — I always crave something sweet. But dessert isn’t always in the cards for eating healthy so this banana peanut butter shake always does the trick for satisfying my cravings. Not only is it great for tricking my taste buds, it’s also my go to recipe for a hearty after workout shake. If you want to get really healthy, trade the peanut butter for 1/3 cup of raw peanuts and mix until smooth. Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients

1 banana
1 tablespoon peanut butter
1 tablespoon protein powder
1/2 cup milk (dairy, almond, soy…I used almond)
1/2 cup ice

Directions

Add all ingredients into blender and blend until smooth. I prefer using my Magic Bullet. Works perfect!

Whole Wheat Blueberry Pancakes

Posted by on Jan 14, 2012 in Breakfast, Health & Fitness, Healthy Recipes, Recipes | 0 comments

Can I just say lazy Saturday mornings are the best? Especially those where there’s nothing to pull me or my husband out of bed early and I get to cozy up between my favorite furry girl and my favorite guy. Pure bliss! Only problem is eventually I just can’t sleep in anymore due to that stupid internal clock. So I make it a habit of running downstairs to make breakfast in bed while my husband is still sleeping. Yeah, I’m that nice of a wife. So this morning we had some blueberries that were begging to be eaten, so I tweaked a recipe I had and whipped up some healthy whole wheat pancakes with blueberries. Yum!

Ingredients

Serves 4

1 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup milk
1 egg
1 tsp sugar
1/2 cup blueberries
1 Tbsp butter 

Directions

Add flour and baking powder in a bowl and stir. Add in milk, egg, and sugar and whisk together until smooth. Stir in blueberries. Heat up a skillet to medium heat, melt butter in pan and pour in batter. Once the edges of the pancake start to cook and come a little off the pan, flip and cook other side until done.

You can find this and other Angie’s Nest recipes on My Fitness Pal. Search “Angie’s Nest – Whole Wheat Blueberry Pancakes” in the food search. 

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup is Good for the Soul

Posted by on Jan 6, 2012 in Dinner, Healthy Recipes, Lunch, Recipes | 3 comments

I don’t know about you, but everyone and their dog seems to be sick right now. Pneumonia. Cold. Stomach flu. You name it. Ew. So when I woke up yesterday with a swollen right tonsil, I feared what might be coming. I’ve been drinking plenty of water and tea with lemon and honey, but nothing gets the job done quite like some homemade chicken noodle soup. The saltiness of the broth and the yummy veggies, chicken and noodles — mmm. Might be enough to make me feel like new again. Even better, it’s easy peasy to make and freezes like a charm if you want to make a large batch and have it on hand. I love freezing it in cubes and then bringing it to work on a cold day.

Chicken Noodle Soup

1 tablespoon butter
1/2 an onion, chopped
8 cups chicken broth
1-1 1/2 cups cooked chicken, sliced/shredded 
1 1/2 cups noodles (I really like these fusili noodles, but you can also use egg noodles)
1 cup carrots, sliced
1 cup chopped celery
1 teaspoon rosemary
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon celery salt
1/2 teaspoon savory spice 
salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter in a pot over medium heat and cook onion and celery until tender. Add chicken broth, chicken, carrots, noodles and spices. Boil then reduce to a simmer for about 20 minutes.

You can find this and other Angie’s Nest recipes on My Fitness Pal. Search “Angie’s Nest – Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup” in the food search.