Healthy Alternatives For Junk Food Cravings

Is junk food getting in the way of your wellness goals? These 3 healthy alternatives could help you on your way to better health.

1. Are you always craving ice-cream?

 

You've probably heard that bananas are full of vitamins and minerals. They are packed with vitamin B6, vitamin C, manganese, and potassium. They also contain magnesium, vitamin A, protein, copper, phosphorus, riboflavin, folate, fiber, and iron—all for about 110 calories per banana.

How about some Banana Ice-cream?
Here is how it’s done:

Cut up and freeze a few ripe bananas. Place the frozen bananas in a blender and blend away. At first the bananas will spin around and stay icy. Keep stopping the machine and use a wooden spoon to loosen the mixture if it stops moving. At some point, the bananas will suddenly turn creamy, like soft-serve ice cream. If they do not, add a little milk and blend again. Serve right away or freeze in a lidded container. For the adventurous, add nutmeg or cinnamon immediately before serving.

2. Are cookies you weakness?

An apple a day keeps the doctor away, right? I'm not talking about putting down the cookies and picking up an apple, I'm talking about a Frankenstein hybrid of the two—lets combine the best of both worlds. Take the vitamins found in apples (vitamin A, C, B1, B2, B6, folate, niacin, etc...), add the American greatness of a cookie, and you have a great product!


The applesauce substitute!
Here is how it's done:

This is a perfect sleight of hand trick that you can do to replace butter with applesauce. The ratio of applesauce to butter is one to one: if a recipe calls for 1/2 cup of butter, simply substitute with 1/2 cup of applesauce. You can also replace a large egg with ¼ cup of applesauce.

3. Are chips crunching your style?

Do you find yourself craving salty, deep-fried potato chips? If you open a bag, you’ll likely devour half! Chips contain a lot of calories and fat—about 150 calories per ounce.

Try air-popped popcorn! Popcorn is crunchy, salty, and awesome! If you go light on the butter (try substituting with lime juice) and salt, air-popped popcorn can be a very healthy alternative with only 30 calories per cup.







Sources:
http://vitamins.lovetoknow.com/What_Vitamins_and_Minerals_Are_in_Bananas
http://www.fitsugar.com/How-Substitute-Applesauce-Butter-Eggs-25207483
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/10/07/healthy-food-substitutes/
http://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/food-dining/2013/05/21/recipe-for-one-ingredient-banana-ice-cream/Ncl8QvvRWu5PPmkqAhVRDP/story.html