5 easy changes you can make in your kitchen and grocery shopping to be healthier and lose weight

Many of us are looking to make our lives just a little bit healthier, but changing our ways can seem incredibly daunting. Who wants to go from eating the food you like to a salad every night? Fortunately, you can be a little less extreme in your actions and make a handful of changes that can put you on the right track.

1. Skim Milk: While this may seem like an obvious thing to switch, it’s something that many of us still choose not to buy. Skim milk has a much different appearance from its 2% counterpart - it looks watered down and not nearly as appealing. But beyond the look of it, the switch to skim is a very easy transition to make. The difference in taste is hardly noticeable and it’s an easy way to cut some extra fat from your diet.
2. Whole Wheat Flour: Having whole wheat flour on hand allows you to substitute this for all purpose flour in different situations. In many cookie, brownie and pancake recipes, you can substitute half or all of the required flour with whole wheat flour, resulting in both heartier and healthier baked goods.
3. Whole Wheat Pasta: Keeping with the whole wheat trend, switching while pasta for whole wheat pasta is an easy change. While whole wheat pasta isn’t as soft as the pasta you’re used to eating, once you make the switch you’ll adjust very easily. There is more nutritional value to be found in whole wheat pasta, however, read the label to make sure you’re not buying a product containing “enriched whole wheat flour.”
4. Part-Skim Cheese: Cheese contains a lot of fat, but cutting it out of your diet completely is not the answer. You’ll see in the grocery store a lot of “fat free cheese.” While it might be tempting to purchase this, thinking you’re making a healthy choice, stop yourself. Not only will the texture of this cheese be unappetizing in many instanFactoidz › Editces, it will contain a lot of additives that you simply don’t need. Instead, opt for part-skim cheese, a much healthier alternative.
5. Sparkling Water: Many of us reach for a can of soda simply because we want something different to drink beyond water. However, soda is just not a healthy alternative. Sparkling water offers the bubbles you might crave, but without all of the sugar. A variety of flavored options are out there, most of which are naturally added flavors, although check the label to make sure they haven’t added anything extra. This is a low calorie, low sugar way to have something a little more exciting than a plain glass of water.

While there is something to be said for switching to a healthy salad every evening for dinner, and other healthy options, there are still a lot of opportunities for eating healthier with little fuss. Once you make these easy switches, you’ll not only find yourself easily adjusting to this new lifestyle, you’ll beging identifying other things in your diet that could use a healthy “makeover.”