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.

Visit us at http://www.allthewhey.com/ for all of your dieting needs!