Smart Diet Swaps

Hidden calories and fat can sneak into the meals of even the most diet-conscious. Here we
show you creative ways to shave calories and fat from your
favorite foods.

Soup Savvy
Abandon heavy, cream-based soups -- they can saddle you with 240 calories per cup. Stick with broth-based varieties, at roughly 150 calories a cup,and thicken them up by cracking a small egg into the soup while it's heating and swirl it throughout the pot. The egg makes the soup smooth and offers healthy protein while adding only 60 calories. You'll save about 30 calories, and about whopping 15 grams of fat per serving over the creamy soups.

Squash Calories
Spaghetti can cost you 200 calories per cup -- and that's before you top it with sauce. For pasta lovers, spaghetti squash is a vibrant alternative. When cooked, the squash flesh becomes thread-like, resembling spaghetti. Atonly 75 calories per cup and no fat, it makes for a healthy and tasty stand-in.

Slimmer Cocoa
A store-bought hot cocoa mix made with low-fat milk can add up to 250 calories per cup. Shave off about 115 calories, and some unwanted sugar, with this flavorful hot milk beverage: Heat 8 ounces of low-fat or non-fat milk with a cinnamon stick. Pour it into your mug and stir in one tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder and one teaspoon of vanilla extract.

Tuna with a Twist
It's easy to overdo it with mayo in tuna salad. At 103 calories per tablespoon, you could easily add 300-plus calories to your dish. A lighter, tangy alternative to mayo? Toss canned tuna packed in water with lemon juice, onion, and capers and save yourself upwards of 100 calories. For an extra peppery flavor, add chopped watercress.

It's a Wrap
Put a new spin on the sandwich by doing away with the bread. Even two slices of the most dietetic versions can add 70 calories per slice. Place sandwich ingredients in buttery-soft bibb lettuce or the long leaves of romaine and wrap them up for a crunchier and much lighter meal.

Hold the Mayo
If bread is a must for a sandwich, skip the fatty mayo and use lower-in-calories pickles or relish to moisten it. If it's a sandwich with cheese, use only one slice, then skip the condiment altogether and heat the sandwich in the toaster oven to melt the cheese. It adds the moisture that the condiments would. Both tricks can save up to 40 calories per sandwich, and will spare you the 11 grams of fat per tablespoon of mayo.

Better Beef
Reduce your fat content and boost fiber by swapping cooked, ground lentils for some of the ground beef in a recipe. Ounce for ounce, lentils and ground beef have a similar calorie count. But 3.5 ounces of ground beef racks up 20grams of fat, while the same amount of lentils carries only 0.8.

Muffin Tips
Lighten up dense morning muffins. Trade whole wheat flour for half of the white flour in the recipe, and use unsweetened applesauce or pureed bananas for up to half of the oil. Both swaps can save you as much as 500 calories.

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5 Slim Down Strategies You Can Count On

1. Weigh yourself one time per day
Why It Works: Weekly weigh-ins are a staple of many popular diet programs, but studies now show that daily weighing is the key to lasting loss. When researchers at the University of Minnesota monitored the scale habits of 1,800 dieting adults, they found that those who stepped on every day lost an average of 12 pounds over 2 years (weekly scale watchers lost only 6) and were less likely to regain lost weight. The reason: "The more often you monitor your results, the quicker you can catch the behavioral slip that causes weight gain," says Jakicic.
Who It Helped: Heidi Hurtz, 29, of Los Angeles: "I was in denial about my size, so I never used a scale. When I started weighing daily, I lost 7 pounds in 2 weeks. I loved the immediate gratification, and eventually lost 77 pounds."
Add It In: Step on the scale first thing every morning, when you weigh the least. Expect small day-to-day fluctuations because of bloating or dehydration, but if your weight creeps up by 2 percent (that's just 3 pounds if you weigh 150), it's time to pass up the bread.

2. Watch no more than 2 hours of TV a day
Why It Works: TV junkies miss out on calorie-burning activities like backyard tag with the kids; instead, they become sitting ducks for junk-food ads. One recent study found that adults who watch more than 2 hours of TV per day take in 7 percent more calories and consume more sugary snacks than those who watch less than an hour a day.
Who It Helped: Christy Taylor, 27, of Sylacauga, Ala: "TV was one reason I weighed 220 pounds. I watched it constantly. My blood pressure skyrocketed during pregnancy, and when it didn't come down after my son was born, I decided to try to limit myself to one show a day. That was 10 months ago, and I've since lost 32 pounds."
Add It In: Wean yourself off the tube by introducing other activities into your life. Eliminate the temptation to watch between-show filler by recording your must-see programs so you can fast-forward through the ads. Or subscribe to a mail order DVD service like Netflix, and make a movie the only thing you watch all day.

3. Contact a friend (or us!) three times per week
Why It Works: "Long-term weight loss requires support," says Marion Franz, RD, a nutrition consultant in Minneapolis. Her study review found that people who met regularly with a dietitian or attended groups like Weight Watchers were more likely to maintain their losses than those who didn't.
Who It Helped: Maggie Ramos, 39, of Houston: "When I plateaued for months, my friend Nancy stepped in and cheered me on until I lost it all."
Add It In: If you can't attend group meetings, announce your weight loss intentions so friends can support you, says Franz. And add a dieter pal to your regular call or e-mail list, too.

4. Eat four grams of fiber in every meal or snack
Why It Works: A high-fiber diet can lower your caloric intake without making you feel deprived. In a recent Tufts University study, women who ate 13 g of fiber or less per day were five times as likely to be overweight as those who ate more fiber. Experts see a number of mechanisms through which fiber promotes weight loss: It may slow down eating because it requires more chewing, speed the passage of food through the digestive tract, and boost satiety hormones. Who It Helped: Monique Hester, 41, of North Richland Hills, Texas. "I started a diet that had me consuming more than 25 grams of fiber daily, and before I knew it, I'd lost 23 pounds. I don't even like white bread anymore. I want something I can crunch and chew."
Add It In: To get 25 grams of fiber a day, make sure you eat six meals or snacks, each of which contains about 4 grams of fiber. For instance, Hester started her day with grapes (1 cup = 1.4 grams of fiber) and cracked wheat toast (two slices = 6 grams) or oatmeal (1 cup = 4 grams). She often had a cup of black bean soup for lunch (4.4 grams) with a slice of cracked wheat bread. One good trick: For to-go snacks, buy fruit; it's handier than vegetables, so it's an easy way to up your fiber intake. For instance, one large apple has just as much fiber (5 grams) as a cup of raw broccoli.

5. Take five (thousand) extra steps a day:
Why It Works: A typical person takes about 5,000 steps per day between going to work, running errands, and doing chores around the house. Doubling that number can have significant health benefits: higher "good" HDL cholesterol levels, lower blood pressure, improved glucose control, and yes, a lower number on the scale. Walking more steps per day also leads to a lower percentage of body fat and slimmer waists and hips, reports a recent University of Tennessee study of 80 women. An earlier University of South Carolina study of 109 people showed that those who took fewer than 5,000 steps per day were, on average, heavier than people who took more than 9,000.
Who It Helped: Joanna Webb, 34, of Queen Creek, Ariz.: "I started walking when my daughter was 2 months old. I couldn't even make it around the block without stopping. I kept at it until I could walk 6 nights a week with my husband, our 5-year-old, and the baby. Now I've lost 35 pounds."
Add It In: Wear a pedometer to make sure you log your 5,000 extra steps, or aim for about 50 minutes of extra walking (2 1/2 miles) per day. In the Tennessee study, "Some of the women walked with friends; others increased their steps by taking the stairs and parking farther away," says lead researcher Dixie Thompson, PhD.

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Some Tips for Maintaining Portion Control

All foods can be part of a healthy diet, if you eat them in the right amounts.

But many of us don't know how big a single serving is — and the rest of us still "super size" it instead of sticking to a reasonable portion. How often is your chicken dish just 3 ounces (the size of a deck of cards) or your cereal bowl filled with just 1 cup?

Try these tips to get servings down to size:
-Measure out proper portions for one week to learn what the serving size looks like.
-Dish out meals and snacks in single serve containers before storing them in the pantry, fridge or freezer.
-Spend a little extra on pre-measured foods if that technique helps you eat less; it won't cost more in the end because you'd have finished the box faster the old way.
-At restaurants, when the mega-plate arrives, immediately cut it in half and ask the waiter to bring a second plate, and put it aside, or better yet have the waiter put it in a doggie bag at the start of the meal, so you're not tempted by it.