How to substitute unhealthy ingredients with healthy ingredients

The way I make healthy recipes is pretty simple. I pick nutrient dense and low glycemic index substitutes for standard ingredients. I ensure carbohyrdrates are eaten with protein, fat, and fiber. Doing this will prevent blood sugar spikes, which will in turn prevent you from snacking between meals, which will reduce your caloric intake, which will result in weight loss. If you want to lose weight, eat less calories--the human body operates on thermogenesis, it's just the laws of thermodynamics. Things like keto can be a useful tool for providing satiety, but ultimately weight loss comes down to eating less food. Follow these simple steps to make your recipes healthier

Substitute wheat flour with einkorn flour

I make an extremely simple 3 ingredient flatbread--3 parts einkorn flour, 2 parts kefir, 1/4 tsp of baking soda for every ounce of einkorn flour. This flatbread can be used to make burgers, wraps, flatbread pizza, or other things. Pretty much anything that requires bread, I replace with einkorn flour flatbread. Removing the baking soda results in two-ingredient tortillas which I also use. Einkorn flour is the healthiest flour there is, it's loaded with vitamins, minerals, and protein. And it even tastes better than regular flour. I even have a simple einkorn flour/blackstrap molasses cookie recipe for dessert. Speaking of which...

Substitute sugar with blackstrap molasses

While a bit of an acquired taste, blackstrap molasses can be used to add sweetness to many dishes. It's great for teriyaki sauce, cookies, and chia seed pudding. Blackstrap molasses is loaded with vitamins and minerals, including the recently discovered fulvic acid(no need to eat that nasty shilajit resin). While agave syrup does have a lower glycemic index, it lacks the nutrients of blackstrap molasses.

Substitute potatoes with celery root(or rutabaga if you can't get celery root, or turnips if you can't get either of those)

Celery root is great for air-fried French Fries, potato hash, soups, or any recipe that requires potatoes, really. It can basically be used as a one to one substitute. It contains less calories, and more nutrients. Technically it's a vegetable and not a starch. Rutabagas and turnips can be used if you can't get or afford celery root, but celery root is superior in taste.

Substitute wheat pasta with chickpea pasta

Chickpea pasta has more nutrients and protein than any other pasta, and a low glycemic index. You can purchase all kinds of chickpea pasta now, and use it as a substitute for any pasta. You can also make cloud noodles with egg white, which are super low in calories, for things like pizza, lasagna, or ravioli

Substitute white rice with ancient black rice or cauliflower rice

Rice actually used to be healthy and it was black, until all the nutrients and fiber were removed from it. You can now buy ancient black rice online. For an even lower calorie vegetable substitute, cauliflower rice can be used as well.

Use organic blue corn instead of yellow corn

Yellow corn is extremely bad for your blood sugar. Blue corn has more nutrients, antioxidants, and a lower glycemic index. You can also buy ancient corn, but I don't use corn enough to worry about it. You can buy popcorn, cornmeal, grits, and masa harina in the blue variety

Use black lentils and chickpeas instead of other dried legumes

These are the healthiest dried legumes, and the ones you should be eating. You can make chili with chickpeas, beef, and celery root. You can use black lentils and chickpeas to make a variety of soups.

Use pasture-raised eggs instead of regular eggs

Pasture-raised eggs have high levels of Vitamin K2, a nutrient with few other sources. If you get all your nutrients you'll have more energy, which means you'll move around more, which means you'll burn more calories. And since the chickens are not literally being tortured, there is less chance of the eggs having cortisol(the stress hormone) in them, which causes overeating

Use 100% grass-fed(pasture-raised) dairy instead of regular

Pasture-raised dairy has higher levels of pentadecanoic acid in it, which will give you energy, which means burning more calories, and pentadecanoic acid has a bunch of other benefits. Also, no cortisol or growth hormones in the milk, both of which encourage overeating.

I would say eating organic meat is less important, but again, growth hormones and cortisol might make you hungry when you eat the meat. Eating organic fruits and vegetables is less important. Just focus on the substitutions I mentioned and eat smaller portion sizes and do NOT snack between meals. If eating dinner an hour before bed keeps you from going to bed hungry, then go for it. For some people it works, for some people it causes insomnia. I personally do this, and I still lost weight.

I honestly can't think of recipe you can't do without just using these as a substitution. Cook all your meals, and don't eat ultra-processed food, and try to get as much protein as you can. That's it.