Healthy eating is important and the more I’ve tried to cook healthy meals, I feel better. It’s not always easy because cravings happen. As a vegetarian, I miss some meals, and just as a normal person I sometimes feel like cheating on my healthy diet. So after lots of research, here is a list of ideas to replace old favorites with healthier options that take just as great. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner, even snacks and deserts are covered in this article, so keep reading and all of my favorite brands are pictured.

Swap milk and cereal for almond milk and granola.

If your go-to breakfast is usually a bowl of processed, sugary cereal then granola is a better replacement. Also, switch the milk that has growth hormones for a plant-based option, like almond milk.

Beef burgers to veggie black bean burgers

Hamburger meat has a lot of fat in it, it’s pretty obvious that burgers aren't healthy. But if you try a veggie burger made from black beans, the texture and color will feel so similar you might not mind or even realize the difference.

Peanut butter- the less ingredients the better

Peanut butter is my weakness, and its good for you (its full of protein), but most brands contain a lot of oils and preservatives that are gross. Look at the ingredients list and the less weird names it has the better. (The one pictured is my favorite because it only has ONE ingredient: peanuts!)

Ice cream to Halo Top.

Having a sweet tooth combined with a love of late-night snacking can be a bad duo, but not when you find a low cal and low fat ice cream, like Halo Top!

Hot wings: baked buffalo cauliflower bites.

As a vegetarian, I miss hot wings. Or should I say missed, until I found this recipe. They are so good and easy, who needs chicken when cauliflower buffalo bites is a thing?

Mozzarella sticks/anything fried to baked zucchini fries.

We all love cheating on diets and stuffing our face with appetizers from time to time, but you can recreate greasy fried snacks by replacing cheese with zucchini and baking it in the oven. Yum!

Sweet potato fries alexia waffle fries.

Skip the drive through and buy frozen sweet potato fries. They take virtually no time and they go great with those veggie burgers I mentioned.

chips- kettle cooked chips

Snacking on chips goes hand in hand with watching Netflix, so choose kettle cooked chips because they are less saturated in fat than regular chips.

pasta - quinoa

There’s no comparison as good as pasta, I’ll admit it, but once in a while cook yourself quinoa instead of pasta. You’ll be trading in lots of carbs for protein and vitamins.