What have you learned to subsitute without sacrificing flavor or taste? (Whole foods people might cringe.) If there's anything on this list that's glaringly unhealthy, feel free to comment. I know some think real butter is better, but I like the convenience of the butter spray.

-No Calorie butter spray instead of real butter
-Olive oil in a spray pump instead of butter or vegetable oil for cooking
-Spray salad dressing instead of pour-top salad dressing
-Sugar free Jello instead of icecream
-Stone ground bread instead of whole wheat or white bread
-Whole wheat pasta instead of plain pasta
-Brown rice instead of white rice
-Green leafy lettuce instead of iceberg lettuce
-nutmeg or cinnamon instead of sugar or sugar subsitute
-Japanese sushi rolls instead of Chinese food
-Wendy's small chili instead of a cheeseburger
-grilled or baked chicken at home instead of prepackaged or fast food chicken nuggets/fingers/sandwiches
-baked potato instead of french fries
-low fat shredded Cheddar cheese intead of sliced cheese
-almonds instead of high carb energy bar

Also, the thread on hummus reminded me of what I subsitute for appetizers:

-hummus and pita bread instead of chips and salsa

Speaking of Mexican food, when I eat out:

-grilled fajita or small pork chili instead of a cheesy chicken enchilada

hummus instead of mayo
sweet potato instead of white potato
barilla plus pasta instead of regular

I can't seem to get rid of the white potato craving, even though I will eat a sweet potato once a week, also.

Is the Barilla Plus pasta the brand with the added protein and Omega-3? Is that better than whole wheat? I've had it before and thought it was good. If you use the Barilla Plus, do you still include a lean protein with your meal?

Oh yeah, I use it in place of white pasta mostly because the texture of whole wheat pasta turns off dh, and it has actually more good stuff than alot of the ww pastas. But I still treat it as a starch, which means in small quantities as a side dish.

I've found that for me 1 oz of pasta is a good serving size. The recommended 2 oz seems ENORMOUS to me.

I've never really liked potatoes much anyway.

lets see....turkey bacon and pepperoni instead of regular

• turkey sausage instead of pork sausage
• veggie burger instead of beef burger
• deli sandwiches instead of hot dogs or sausages at the ball park (we buy sandwiches before we leave for the park and bring them with us)
• NF cream cheese instead of butter on potatoes, toast, etc.
• NF greek yogurt instead of sour cream
• soy milk instead of 2%
• dijon mustard instead of mayo
• balsamic vinegar instead of oil and vinegar on salads
• laughing cow cheese wedge instead of regular cheese on sandwiches
• low cal pudding instead of higher calorie desserts
• salad with lunch instead of chips
• diet soda instead of regular
• water instead of diet soda
• restaurants that have nutritional info available instead of those that don't (not always, but sometimes this is a deciding factor for me)

Now that I've started eating sweet potatoes, I don't think I can ever go back to white potatoes--they just seem so plain now. I can't believe I went my whole life eating them. But 1 oz of pasta would never be enough for me; 2 oz seems small to me!

I dont know why, but i'd much rather eat the real thing in smaller servings. I like beef burgers, pork sausages and real oil. I can't stand the spray stuff!!!

I like, however, making small things to substitute for take-out dishes..

- a 1/2 of a whole wheat pita with 2 tbsp of part skim ricotta and 1 tbsp of tomato sauce instead of the regular giant calzone at the pizzeria
- 1/4 cup of Tuna salad (with a lot of celery in it, more than the tuna itself!) and 1 tsp miracle whip on 1 slice of whole wheat bread than you normal deli tuna salad

• quinoa, bulgur, brown rice, wild rice, etc. instead of white rice
• tofu or tvp crumbles instead of ground beef (I'm still experimenting with this ... shredded tofu in a chili is good, but a much different dish than a pork or ground-beef chili)
• green or black tea instead of soda (bonus - tea is free at work, where soda isn't)
• 1% milk in my coffee instead of cream
• baked tortilla wedges (with chili pepper on them) instead of tortilla chips
• olive oil or even real butter instead of margarine or trans-fat stuff
• spaghetti sauce served over thinly sliced green peppers with pasta as a garnish
• bread, pasta with a 15:2 ratio of carb:fiber instead of refined and "enriched" or "fortified" stuff
• just about any leafy green instead of iceberg lettuce (romaine, arugula, spinach)

I, too, often prefer "the real thing", but I save 'the real thing' for special occasions and make my everyday food with as many healthy substitutions as I can while still preserving flavor.

Good tip about the phosphoric acid!

I like your cranberry-juice idea. I'd probably not go through a thing of cranberry juice fast enough, so I would probably freeze them in an ice cube tray and add them to water that way. Nummy, I bet that's refreshing in hot weather.

The olive oil is the real thing. I just pour it in a spray pump and then I don't use as much.

I think I'm the last person on earth who doesn't think the poor ol' potato is the antichrist.

I think white potatoes are awesome! They are full of vitamins and minerals, espaecially if you eat the skin. I could never give them up.

I agree. I know sweet potatoes are "better than" white potatoes for you, but sometimes the "better for you thans" get out of hand. Some food guru convinces us that a potato (a small, innocent, cute potato) is really demon-spawn-comfort food from Satan's kitchen, bent on world domination and destruction (insert evil Saturday morning cartoon laugh here).

It's like all those women's magazine substitution lists - "Instead of batter coated twice fried french fries, substitute 2 celery sticks." Sweet potato "better than" becomes eat a potato and die. Taken to extremes or out of context good advice is twisted into stupid "DIET LAW # 237"