Should You Healthify Your Meals?
Sneaking veggies into dishes isn’t just for kids anymore!
It seems like every dish in the book has a “healthified” version of itself somewhere on the internet, in someone’s blog, or on Pinterest. Now, more than ever, we are trying to sneak in extra vegetables, swap out certain ingredients, and alter recipes we already know we love in an attempt to make them healthier.
There are a lot of great ways to add nutritious ingredients into dishes you already love. Think about it! Spiralized veggie “pastas,” cauliflower “mashed potatoes” or pizza crusts, faux meats, and switching out sweeteners are all very common ways that the wellness culture is inspiring us to healthify what we eat!
Now, I’m all for swapping out processed food ingredients, options for whole foods, and packing nutrient dense ingredients into your meals and snacks (hello, have you seen my recipes?!). Focusing on the nutritional quality of your food is never a bad thing, but it also shouldn’t come at the cost of enjoyment and love of that food. I think that there are times when healthify-ing is a great tool when building meals, but there are also times that swapping every ingredient, forsaking the taste and just trying to make something as low carb or low calorie as possible just isn’t a good idea!
Want to know if healthify-ing is right for you? Let’s talk about what that even means and why we would practice it! I’m also going to share with you my favorite ways to healthify your favorite dishes (in my own RD approved way), and help you figure out if this practice fits for you… or is more harmful than healthy
So, What Does Healthy-ing Mean?
Healthify-ing is simple altering the ingredients in a recipe, either by changing the amount or swapping out the ingredient entirely, in an attempt to make a seemingly “unhealthy” dish or dessert into a “healthier” one.
Seems like a great idea, right?! We’ll, it depends! There are a lot of amazing ways to slightly alter a recipe to include more vegetables, increase the nutritional content, or better accommodate a specific dietary need — but there are also a lot of ways that healthify-ing foods might not be the best option for you.
4 Reasons You Might Healthify
Health reasons. There are many chronic diseases that are largely affected by how we eat, such a diabetes, cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, or cancer. Having any one, or combination of these conditions could lead you to want to watch your blood sugars, cholesterol intake, saturated fat consumption, or carb count in a sitting. Having the ability to switch some things up in your go-to, favorite recipes, makes dietary changes for health concerns feel more manageable, realistic, and keeps your favorite dishes in your life.
Allergy needs. I run into this one a lot — Found a recipe online that sounds soooo dang good, but whoops, it uses whole wheat flour and you’ve got Celiac disease? Been there! Finding an alternative for the allergens that give you the most trouble is so liberating. Feeling like you can’t have so many of the foods you used to love because of a new found allergy — or even sharing recipes you love with someone else who has an allergy — can feel terrible. But adding your own spin, making a simple swap turns a meal from a gut-punch, into you new fave to have on hand!
Wanting a whole foods version. Trying to cut out processed foods? I get it! This is something I take pretty seriously in my own cooking. Fortunately, there are so many out there just like us — so finding these swaps (or Google searching an option) is at the tips of our fingers! Are there times that not every dish will be processed-product free? Sure! But having a mindset that trusts the work and effort you put into 90% of your meals and snacks, so that you can have that 10% that isn’t only eaten for the sake of health, is what’s key.
You like to get creative. Where are my amateur home cooks at?? Raising my hand SUPER hard at this one! I love using food and cooking as an outlet for creativity — and if you do too, you’ll get this one! Ditching the cookbook and making little changes to a recipe you’ve made 100 times is fun, therapeutic, and makes for a million more delicious dishes. Have some almond flour in your freezer you want to try grandma’s cake recipe with? Go for it! Food can be so fun, and this is a sure-fire way to improve your relationship with food.
RD-Approved Ways to Healthify
Add spiralized veggies noodles WITH your regular noodles. Don’t swap them out entirely! Make sure your body is getting the fuel it needs by finding a balance of a healthy starch like whole grain pasta, and adding nutrient rich vegetables. I love to do this with a marinara sauce, spaghetti, and zucchini noodles, or a peanut sauce rice noodle dish with spiralized zucchini and carrot!
Add veggies into mac & cheese. Cauliflower mac & cheese just doesn’t have the same comfort factor in my book. But adding in some veggies to my bowl of mac and cheese? That I can get on board with! Choose any kind of vegetables you like covered in cheese sauce (hello, all of them right?!) and toss those into your pot of mac & cheese! The bowl instantly looks brighter, more colorful, and it still tastes delicious!
Swap out the sweetener — but don’t totally skimp on it! If you want to skip out on refined sugar, that’s okay! Don’t cu the sweetener altogether though! Try adding maple syrup, monkfruit extract, coconut sugar, or dates into your desserts to bring a sweet factor to them! Desserts are allowed to be sweet, which is why I say don’t skip it entirely! Make sure what you’re making still brings the same comfort feeling you’re looking for, or you’ll keep looking for more!
Add a base of greens. Add of your favorites can be made on a bed of greens to get those extra veggies in! Think — burger salads, grain bowls with kale, taco Tuesday salad-style… The combinations are endless!
Change up your cooking oil. I’ve shared a little before about the different oils that are best for different cooking methods, and sometimes switching up the oil or fat source you are using can drastically change the health benefits. Try adding mono or poly-unsaturated fats like olive or avocado oil in for butter, lard, or even beloved coconut oil. A little more recipe tweaking might be needed depending on your swap, so read the recipe and research as needed!
4 Ways to Know Healthify-ing is Not For You
You can’t eat it the “regular” way. This is where mindset comes into play. Healthifying foods, wanting to eat healthier is amazing, but that doesn’t mean you need to fear/eliminate/skip all of the regulars too! Balance is key when practicing healthy eating habits. Making banana “nice cream” because you enjoy it is totally fin! But fearing the regular ice cream served at a birthday party, or skipping on splitting a sundae at girls night because it’s not that same “nice cream” is not. Remember that 90/10% practice I brought up earlier. There is room for foods simply for joy, socializing, and because you love it in a healthy, balanced diet.
You’re using it as a way to restrict. If you’re subbing out multiple ingredients in every single meal as a way to restrict your food group options, caloric intake, or specific nutrient intake (think carbs or fat), then healthifying might not be a healthy practice right now. This should be used as a way to enhance the meals/foods you are eating, rather than limit your intake.
You hate how it tastes. Some swaps compromise the taste. This means the dish you were trying to create might not have the same satisfaction factor that you were hoping for, which might lead to either eating way more than you typically would in order to satisfy that craving, or leave you looking for the real deal anyways! Maintaining the integrity of why you’re making something is important! Tastes terrible without the original ingredient mix? Then maybe leave that recipe alone when making it again!
It takes away from the joy of eating. Creating meals for nourishment should be an act of self care, not a dreaded practice. If cooking up a meal with a million rules around what ingredients are allowed and what isn’t strips the joy of cooking… then what’s the point! Remember, food can be both healthful AND enjoyable without needing to make it the lowest calorie version of itself.
At the end of the day — it all comes down to your mindset and approach for why you are healthifying. Wanting to create nutrient dense meals that support and fuel your body? Great! Get after it! Trying to restrict your food intake, feel guilt when you’re not making a meal as low-cal as possible, and can’t stand the idea of eating the real deal? Then maybe healthifying is not a healthy practice for right now, and that’s okay! Goals, habits, and motivations change as our life evolves. Navigating this can be tough — and if you’re struggling with this practice right now, reaching out to a dietitian can help! Not sure if you need it or not! Schedule a free call with me to check in around your goals and see if working with a dietitian can give you the food freedom approach you’re looking for!
xx,
mallory