If you want to eat a little healthier this fall, it doesn’t require completely eliminating your faves. You can just make a few substitutions with the foods you already enjoy, and foods that are tasty and nutritious. Here are some healthy food swaps that use some of my favorite fall superfoods. Try taking something healthier to your family holiday meal 🙂
Use Pumpkin in Cake Mixes
Oneof the easiest healthy food swaps you can do with your fall superfoods is to add pumpkin puree in your cake mix. This turns your cake or cupcakes into just 2 ingredients, including the cake mix of your choice and pumpkin puree. The pumpkin replaces all other ingredients you would have mixed in with the cake mix! This is often done with a spiced cake mix that goes well with pumpkin, but don’t be afraid to experiment with vanilla and chocolate cake mixes as well. I like to make mine homemade with gluten free flour blends OR you can make it simple and use a gluten free cake mix 🙂
Sweet Potatoes Instead of White Potatoes
YUM!!!! I love sweet potatoes!
Many people enjoy potatoes, especially in the fall when you want more savory dishes,but they tend to be high in carbs and fat, and not very nutritious. Instead of having traditional white potatoes in your dishes, try sweet potatoes. These area superfood, so they are filled with nutrients, and are amazing to enjoy during the fall when they are in season. You can have stuffed sweet potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, or even sweet potato soup!
Use Cauliflower for Low-Carb Options
If you are on a low-carb diet, then you should become familiar with cauliflower. there are only 5 carbs in a cup of cauliflower. It also has a long harvest season, available between September and June. There is vitamin C in cauliflower, plus it can help lower your cholesterol. It is great for substituting potatoes or rice in your low-carb meals. It is perfect as a substitute for many of the carb-rich foods you can no longer have. You can use it to make mashed cauliflower instead of potatoes, make lots of types of rice with it, pizza crust AND you can make cauliflower steaks. Be creative and find different ways to substitute your higher-carb ingredients with cauliflower.
Quinoa Instead of Rice
Another great substitution you can make for a healthier superfood-rich meal is toreplace your rice with quinoa. Most types of rice, including white rice andbrown rice, are okay in moderation, but they lack the nutrition you need for awell-balanced meal. Quinoa is considered a superfood, so it is the perfectalternative when you want to have a rice dish. You can make a harvest quinoaside dish with squash, pumpkin, and spices, which is simple to make and very good for you with all the superfoods included.
Parsnips
Theseare about moderate in their carb amounts, which is why you should pay closeattention to the quantity you have. However, as far as fall vegetable superfoodsgo, parsnips can definitely be added to your rotation if you are on a low-carbdiet. The great thing about parsnips is that their flavor resembles potatoes,so you can make parsnip chips or fries and have a lower-carb version than withregular white potatoes. For a cup of sliced parsnip, it is about 17 net carbsafter the fiber content.
Kale
Asfar as greens go, most of them are going to be low-carb and are appropriate forany low-carb or Keto diet. Kale is in season during the fall and is also considereda superfood, you should try to add it to your diet whenever you can. It isn’t the lowest carb green, but there are only 6 carbs in a cup of kale, so it’s not bad when putting together a salad or adding a cup to your morning smoothie.
Cranberries
If you are looking for a fruit you can have in the fall that is also on the low-carb side, try cranberries. These are a very popular fruit to have as a superfood, and since it is a berry, it is going to be lower in carbs than most other fruits. For a cup of cranberries, there are 10 carbs, but you can enjoy a lower amount and reduce that quite a bit. Try ¼ cup of cranberries on your salad, adding just 2.5 carbs.
Butternut Squash
Thissquash is a little sweet and tastes great with various fall flavors and spices.It is often combined with pumpkin or fruits like apples and pears. It is a goodsource of omega-3 fatty acids, and is about 10 carbs for a cup. I love butternut squash soup!
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Have a blessed week!
Healthy Blessings,
Ritcha
Living Nurtured, LLC 