Classic Comfort Foods You Can Still Have on a Diet

Do you crave comfort foods on a regular basis? Do you wish you could have it more often during the week? Comfort food is delicious, but it often has high calories and high levels of sugar or salt in it.

You can still enjoy comfort food on your diet with a few minor modifications:

1. French fries. French fries are a classic comfort food for many of us. However, they tend to be cooked in high-calorie fat or oils. Plus, they’re often too salty. In addition, regular potatoes have a lot of starch and carbohydrates. You can still enjoy this comfort food by making some changes:

• Try switching to sweet potatoes instead of regular potatoes, since they’re healthier.
• Bake them instead of frying them.
• Use herbs and spices instead of a large amount of salt.

2. Mashed potatoes. Mashed potatoes are warm and easy to eat. They’re also easy to dress up with sour cream, cheese, and other toppings. However, they tend to have a lot of fat if they’re made with butter and dairy. They’re also filled with starch and high carbohydrates.

• Instead of using traditional potatoes, you can mash cauliflower. You simply have to cook it until it’s soft and mash it into a delicious consistency. Mashed cauliflower is much healthier and can taste great this way.

3. Fried chicken. Fried chicken is unhealthy, but a delicious comfort food. One of the issues with fried chicken is that it tends to be greasy from being cooked in a frying pan with oil. It also usually has too much salt.

• Instead of frying, cook your chicken in the oven until it’s crispy. Crispy, oven-baked chicken tastes great, is healthier, and still feels like the comfort food you crave.

4. Chicken noodle soup. This classic comfort food isn’t just for colds. Chicken noodle soup can be a great way to get some protein into your diet. To keep it healthy and allowable for your diet:

• Avoid using bouillon cubes that have a lot of preservatives and salt in them. You also don’t want to simply heat up soup from a can because it has preservatives and salt in it too.
• Instead, you can make your own chicken noodle soup by cooking a fresh chicken and adding noodles. Use spices and herbs instead of salt for the soup’s flavoring.

5. Other favorite comfort foods. These foods can still be part of your life with some changes and simple adjustments. The key is to modify them, so they fit your diet right now.

• If they’re normally a fried food, try using the oven instead of frying them.
• Add flavor with herbs and spices instead of salt.
• In your recipes, substitute ingredients, so you get a similar texture with healthier items. Experiment with different ingredients until you find something that works for you.

Comfort food can be hard to resist because you associate it with warm memories of the past. However, you don’t have to let it destroy your diet. Instead, cook it in a different way with slightly different ingredients to make it healthier. Then, enjoy!