With beach season approaching, you are probably dreading the thought of putting

yourself through yet another diet fad that will not leave your craving satisfied. While watching

what you eat, you can still eat many of your favorite foods while “dieting” by swapping out the

commonly used ingredients for healthier ones.

Here are some suggestions that have nutritional value and will not leave you craving

those high caloric foods that you think you love so much:

Swap your regular go-to ground beef for meatloaf, burgers, and tacos for lean ground

turkey or a lower fat content ground beef. Livestrong.com says that a three and a half ounce

serving of 93% lean turkey has as much saturated fat as the same amount of 95% lean beef.

If your favorite brown bagged lunch is a sandwich, forget the usual mayo (which you can

often find yourself slathering a bit too much on…admit it) and spread squashed avocado onto the

bread instead.

Two tablespoons of mayo has 115 calories and 9.8 grams of fat, whereas ¼ of an avocado

has only 80 calories and 7.4 grams of fat. The avocado not only packs wonderful flavor, but a

vibrant color as well.

You can also forget about the mayo in such recipes as parmesan chicken and pasta salad;

try using plain Greek yogurt as a substitute.

“Even light mayonnaise still has over three times the calories and eleven times the fat of

Greek yogurt,” says Allyou.com

When you are looking for the perfect side dish for dinner, try mashed cauliflower instead

of mashed potatoes, which is said to taste close to the real thing. A recipe for mashed cauliflower

on wholefoodsmarket.com says that one serving of this veggie dish is 110 calories, while a

recipe for “classic mashed potatoes” is 190 calories.

By switching it up with the cauliflower, you will also be receiving some more of your

daily vegetable requirements than you normally would because carb-y potatoes barely count as a

vegetable, anyway.

If you keep hearing about spaghetti squash, it is for a great reason; spaghetti squash

makes a delicious and healthy alternative to regular pasta.

The Livestrong website says, “1-cup serving of cooked spaghetti squash has 42 calories,

while 1 cup of cooked pasta has 221 calories.”

Do not be intimidated by the preparation this meal because it is actually very simple. All

you need to do is cut the spaghetti squash in half, take out the seeds, and bake it in an oven for

about thirty minutes on 450 degrees. Then, let it cool before getting the squash strands out with a

spoon, and enjoy this “hacked” version of spaghetti.

It is also important to sneak fruits into your everyday diet, especially if you are not hitting

the recommended requirement. You can take Carol’s cue from the popular AMC television series

The Walking Dead by using applesauce inside of cookies rather than eggs; about one cup should

do the trick for a batch!

Happy swapping!