Healthy Tricks: 6 Hacks To Keep Your Favourite Foods

Is it the training? The motivation? The change in social life (click here for tips on this)? No, it’s not being able to eat your favourite foods anymore because “they’re not good for you.” I compiled this list from my own experiences and some tips from my own clients who have had success keeping on track AND enjoying the foods they love. Here’s 6 healthy tricks to continue eating your favourite foods (and still lose weight):

1. Get creative in the kitchen

Believe it or not, most of your favourite foods can be ‘redesigned’ using healthier alternatives. For example…pizza.

One of my favourite pizza recipes is a ‘healthier alternative’ that I experimented with when I was dropping the body fat. I changed out a standard pizza base with a high-protein, lower carb base, normal mozzarella cheese with light tasty cheese, pepperoni for shredded chicken and spinach, and finally I added balsamic glaze and chopped onions.

And voila! A 2,478 calorie Dominos Pepperoni pizza turns into a homemade, 843 calorie, high protein pizza.

2. Air Frying instead of oil frying

This might seem obvious but oil frying foods, or deep fried foods, usually are much worse than other forms of cooking methods. This is because the oils in which the foods are fried in contain a source of ‘bad fats’ (trans fats) and high calories, which can lead to serious health issues such as obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart problems.

But what isn’t obvious is the benefits of Air Frying your foods! The air frying cooking method allows for your foods to crisp evenly around it by raising them in a cooking tray. It also uses similar heating techniques as oven baking and requires no extra oils to cook (unlike deep frying which requires litres!), meaning no extra oils absorbed into your foods.

One final note on Air Frying and whether it is ‘healthy’ is that it depends on what food you are cooking. In comparison to deep frying, it will always be healthier. BUT air frying white fish is going to be ‘healthier’ than air frying fried chicken.

3. Smaller portions

We’ve all heard the saying ‘Everything in moderation’, and it is a piece of advice I will always back. You want to be able to enjoy your favourite foods or drinks and avoid creating a bad relationship to nutrition. But you do need to consider consuming smaller portions of those foods/drinks if you find yourself ‘overeating’. And if you are creating a meal with multiple components to it (eg. roast dinner), start by reducing the ‘unhealthier’ options first (eg. gravy or pork crackle).

4. Protein first → veggies → leftovers

Follow this pathway to help fill yourself up quicker before you get to the ‘unhealthier’, lower nutritional valued foods.

5. Fasting

Now I don’t recommend fasting for everyone because it can create bad eating habits and relationships with food, but it can be a good way to ‘make up’ for meals that you have no control over. For example, going to a wedding with a set dinner plan might be a bit hard to change just for your dietary demands (the bride would probably hate you for making her day harder). But if you skip breakfast just for that day (or even reduce your meal down), you’ll find you have an extra 300-800 calories for dinner and cake.

6. Do your grocery shopping on a full stomach

Have you ever been to the grocers hungry? It NEVER ends well. Everything sounds delicious and tempting. You walk in to grab bread and walk out with a woolies mud cake. Or you walk in to grab shaving cream and walk out with whipped cream. It’s because when your’e hungry, you want to eat EVERYTHING.

The best tip my partner and I use for preventing this is doing our weekly shop on a full stomach. When your’e full, that mud cake doesn’t sound as appealing.

These are my 6 hacks that will help you continue along your fitness journey, keep you on track while also allowing you to continue eating foods you love.