10 tips for healthy cooking and baking alternatives

Healthy cooking can seem overwhelming sometimes, especially on the weeknights, but often, it’s easy to make a recipe healthier just by substituting one ingredient for another. These small revisions won’t alter the flavor of the end result, but will make a difference in the nutritional value of the dish.

Dr. Luis Rustveld, assistant professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, offers 10 tips for healthy cooking and baking alternatives.

If the recipe calls for….

1. Cream: Use fat-free half and half or evaporated skim milk instead.
2. Butter, margarine, shortening or oil in baked products: Use applesauce or prune juice for half the amount of the butter, shortening or oil.
3. White bread: Substitute with whole grain bread.
4. Eggs: Use two egg whites or ¼ cup egg substitute for each whole egg.
5. Fruit canned in heavy syrup: Use fruit canned in its own juice or in water, or use fresh fruit instead.
6. All purpose white flour: Use whole wheat flour for half of the required amount of white flour in baked products.
7. White pasta: Use whole wheat pasta instead.
8. White rice: Substitute brown rice.
9. Bread crumbs: Use rolled oats or crushed bran cereal.
10. Sugar: Instead of the full amount of sugar required in a recipe, reduce the amount of sugar by half, add vanilla, nutmeg or cinnamon for added flavor.

More resources on healthy cooking and living

Want more resources like this? Check out:

• Recipes from Momentum
• The Sugar, Heart and Life program
• The Create-a-Plate game
• Nutrition and wellness posts

-By Jordan Magaziner