Substitutions! Betrayal!

no lie:  margarine for butter is wildly unacceptable.  sweet 'n low for sugar, doubly so.  Are there any substitutions which are not so offensive?

 

What is sacred and what is not sacred in your food program?  And what secret substitutions have you found that make the choice between high-cal and lo-cal an easy one?

Hell would have to freeze over before you could convince me that 'string cheese' was a substitute for cheese.  And I'd be executing a flying toe-loop on the ice with Beelzebub himself before I'd accept 'non dairy creamer' as an alternative for milk.

The only replacements I think I've made are to exchange some meat dishes for more bean dishes and to swap glasses of wine for glasses of water.

I'm very picky about cheese too. I'll take low-fat cheese made from 2% milk, but none of this no-fat cheese. Cheese is supposed to melt!

Light breads I like, though. I can't tell much difference between 40 cal bread and 100 cal bread.

I won't give up wine for water all together, but  I don't drink it all the time anymore.  Light bread is a switch I've made.  I've also gone down to 1%milk from 2%... even though that is a small change.  I still use real butter, but I buy the unsalted kind now.  I also refuse to replace olive oil with Pam or any other cooking spray.

I will, under no circumstances whatsoever, give up whole milk, I make room for it, 2% is okay but skim taste like water, blech. And i completely argree, fat free cheese is just nasty, I like part skim mozzarella.

I don't have problems with that, I use a lot of 0 cal sweeteners like Splenda, and seriously I can't tell the difference. Diet coke tastes as sweet as normal coke for me, since I don't eat candy and that stuff. Toasted low cal bread with some tomato and garlic and low cal cheese tastes the same as pizza for me. You just get used to 'em...

No diet bread for me - it tastes like cardboard.  I like the whole-grain stuff with seeds etc.

I won't go to skim milk either or other dairy products either.  I like my 1% milk, yoghurt with 1% MF, and cheese that melts.

I can taste the difference between aspartame / Splenda and sugar, but I'll often make the substitution if it's not a critical part of the recipe.

I skip butter and mayo on all my sandwiches - that's one thing I really don't notice and don't miss.

i wont use fake sugars or margerine either, not so much because of the taste but because of how bad they are chemical wise.  i like soy milk better than milk actually so that was a good easy switch.  when i want scrambled eggs, with sausage and cheese, peppers and onions- i use tofu, soy sausage, low fat cheese and peppers and onions, taste amazing, almost no fat.... my boyfriend started switching to soy hot dogs over real ones because they taste good (Esp. when your covering them in stuff anyway) and they're 80 cals and like no fat... he did the same for sausage.... i think cheese is one thing i wont' let go... i LOVE all sorts of cheeses....

as for the butter..parkay has an awesome calorie free/fat free butter spray..bad side is its sodium is 5 mg per spray..but when in need of butter flavor for my veggies thats what i use..i only really just began this too.

No fake butter, mayo, or cheese.  Has to be the real thing.  I used to use the diet versions, but they suck and made me feel deprived, plus they're a lot more processed and bad for you.  Instead I use the real thing in small amounts now.

I am a Splenda junkie. It's in my coffee, hot chocolate & tea. I also like Crystal Lite lemonade. Low calorie mmmmixer!

I will NEVER, ever comprimise desserts. I refuse to buy any of the fake ****. It's just not gratifying. I'd much rather hold out for crepes almandine, a hand forged doughnut or a loaded ice cream sundae than eat some low carb bs. I am, however, a lite canned whipped cream junkie. I put it on cherry yoghurt with sprinkles... *drool*

Local organic whole milk all the way! Soymilk isn't much lower in calories than regular milk & totally unnatural (& unless "unsweetened" it's sugar laden).

 

I don't like most substitutes, I want the real deal but eat lesser portions and not as often as before. One thing I have found to substitute ice cream with that I find acceptable is frozen yogurt by Hood (Key Lime or Strawberry).

I also have switched from sweet cereals and fruity high fat yogurt in the morning to high fiber cereals and I add thawed frozen unsweetened fruit to plain low fat yogurt in the morning. It comes out like a treat and is double the amount of fibers and less sugar for breakfast.

It takes time to find the stuff that suits your own taste and still creates a balanced diet, hang in there!

Anette

Cheese/Mayo/chocolate I just make room for it or eat less of the real stuff, rather than lo/nonfat... can't stand the substitutes at all.

Won't go any lower than 1% milk, generally drink 2%.  Skim just is not an option.

One trick I've found for my tuna salad is I use just a little bit of mayo and make up the difference in moisture with some dijon mustard.  Makes it nice and tangy too.

Tricks for cheese rather than adding it directly in the recipe if it can be avoided, (like in a burrito) and I just sprinkle a little on top before serving.  I taste it more and end up using less.

Margarine I don't mind.  I do use some things artificial sweetners but I think I've found they end up stimulating my appetite so I've gone back to real sugars, once again just less.

For some things (mexican food!) I need my sour cream (but a lot less than the restaurants pile on!), but normally am ok substituting yogurt on potatoes/in recipes, etc.

I seem to be on a mexican kick, but non-fat refried beans are about my favorite thing in the world right now.  Sodium is high luckily it's not something I have too worry much about at this point, but I make a lot of neat quick dishes with them.  Throw in a can of diced tomatoes, some frozen corn and spices.  Top with some crunched up taco shells or in tortillas, Yummy!

The more "real" food I eat the better I'm able to keep up eating healthy.  When I tried to go too low fat I was miserable and then evetually sabotaged myself with a binge.

I f you read the ingredients on diet cola vs regular you will find you are substituting less sugar for more salt, plus other ingredients.

I do substitute turkey bacon for pork, because it tastes good and is a LOT lower in sodium!

I am trying to keep to the real things as much as possible to avoid additives though.

I changed from making brownies from the mix to using the black bean recipe...it's actually very good, a lot better than some brownies that I've had.

Soy milk in my coffee instead of real milk.  It tastes fine so I'm good with it and I'll sometimes use a vanilla protein powder to make it a bit sweeter.

I weaned myself from 2% milk to 1% (I have NO interest in 'skim'!) and switched DH to 2% instead of regular...

We already used Nature's Balance instead of butter, so I switched to the light one (real butter is used for my rare baking sessions though - you just can't bake with Nature's Balance!)

I switched to Daisy reduced fat sour cream (tastes just the same as the regular kind) and to reduced fat cheese and grated cheese (again, never EVEFR 'fat-free')...

My latest substitution was to try Hellman's Light mayonnaise and find that it tastes pretty good, with half the calories of the full-fat kind (the 'reduced fat' one is disgusting though because it's gone too far...)

ALWAYS whole wheat bread instead of white, and whole-grain kangaroo pockets for the extra fiber kick.

Instead of two whole eggs, one whole egg plus two egg-whites.

And lastly, Fiber One cereals for breakfast instead of less-fiber-filled varieties.

What WON'T I eat? I've tried two different flavours of 'diet' yoghurt and they were both VILE! They tasted like skim milk, artificial sweetener, and vegetable gum... icky icky ick ick! No artificial sweeteners for this kittycat (I make an exception for the Fiber One because you can't really taste it in small amounts.) No diet sodas/drinks, 'sugar-free' desserts, or other fake food for me please!

Well, I do like Boca burgers, but I must say, they are no substitute for meat. So if I really was a meat lover, then I would not eat them. But I can eat them because I don't really think of them as meat.

i am a splenda and coke light junkie... although recently i have turned to coke zero. i dont find the taste offensive, in fact i drink it in order to skip unnecessary snacks.... BUT.... having said that, one question remains in my head that makes me lose sleep at night: how sure am i the diet cola in those fountains they have at fast food chains (yes, i still go to them but only to get my uber large diet cola fix) is really DIET?? hmmmm....

it really disturbs me how many people on this site consume splenda like it's a miracle diet drug. it's a composition of chemicals that we have no longitudinal studies for the effects on the human body. i highly recommend giving stevia a try. it is directly plant derived (no added chemicals!) and has no calories. the taste works better in some foods and beverages than others. overall, i think the best thing people can do for themselves is try to put a cap on sweet cravings instead exacerbating the monster with substitutes.

Not sure if it had been mentioned, but i think the only acceptable substitute is Egg Beaters.  I love the taste, scrambles eggs end up being very yellow and pretty with this and tasty.  Plus is pretty mush egg whites.   Its nice to have a nice scrambles eggs without passing your daily cholesterol and all that fat that normal eggs have.

I only eat normal eggs now once in a while when i want a boiled egg

wickedsis -- the diet soda fountains in restaurants are really diet;  diabetics rely on that.