We have already talked in this article about alternatives to pasta, not only with shirataki, for those who want to lose weight by choosing low-calorie products. In this article we will instead look at 10 carbohydrate substitutes for weight loss, managing to cut calories and at the same time make a healthier diet.
Duty premise on carbohydrate substitutes (which you can skip by going directly to the list).
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Carbohydrates by themselves do not make you fat.
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Eating too much or eating in a disorderly way increases the risk of losing weight.
There is nothing wrong with gaining weight if it doesn’t put our health at risk. We must not all have the same weight or all the same size. The important thing is not to get hurt either by overeating at the table or by eating too little.
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On Dcomedieta carbohydrates are not demonized, like any other food.
With a view to a varied and balanced diet, we can afford any food if we know how to moderate ourselves.
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So why write an article on carbohydrate substitutes?
Because maybe we would like to eat more vegetables, reduce flour-based products, vary with unusual and low-calorie alternatives, or simply stay on a diet and would like to make it less monotonous. This point in particular is fundamental for me.
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Staying on a diet should not be synonymous with a mortifying cuisine, nor with dishes that are always the same.
Many people, if the ingredients do not include oil, butter, cream, pasta, biscuits, cured meats and sheets, lose their imagination in the kitchen.
The result is that when they are on a diet they only eat chicken breast and salad.
Yet you can make a cheesecake without a biscuit base, a cake without butter or oil and even a lasagna without egg noodles or a pizza without flour.
In short, far from demonizing the ingredients I mentioned above, knowing how to vary with less caloric alternatives does not mean giving up those foods. In short, we try not to make a bundle of all the grass. -
Trying lighter products doesn’t mean saying goodbye to more caloric ones!
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Same thing when you tell me: ah, but this is not the Mediterranean diet !!!
But perhaps the Mediterranean diet is not even snacks for breakfast, have you ever thought about it? And the best Mediterranean diet in the world is not the Italian one for scientists, or rather, it is no longer. The gold standard is the Cretan one. In short, the times of Ancel Keys have passed.
The same scientist, putative father of the Mediterranean diet, in recent years complained that in Italy things had changed a lot since he had lived in Cilento. Keys was not in favor of fat, he was not in favor of pizza, he would have turned up his nose at a parmigiana with fried eggplant and a tiramisu. He was not in favor of many things that are part of our country’s tradition for us.
This does not mean that traditional dishes are not healthy or should be excluded, if you eat a cannoli nothing happens to you, nor are you necessarily betraying the Mediterranean diet. But being a “purist” of the Mediterranean diet and eating Italian are things that don’t always go hand in hand.
Now that I’ve clarified all these things, based on your objections to articles similar to this one, let’s finally see 10 carbohydrate substitutes for weight loss. Some of these contain carbohydrates, but to a much lesser extent.
10 CARBOHYDRATE SUBSTITUTES FOR SLIMMING
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Low calorie tortillas and wraps
The wraps with their oil and flour content are generally more caloric than bread. They are very popular, because they allow quick lunches and dinners, but often a portion exceeds 300 calories. Those of Natoo instead have a thin sheet and fewer carbohydrates, in a pack there are 24 and each piadina has less than 150 calories. The coconut wraps, on the other hand, are tortillas made with coconut flour and pulp, with negligible calories. You can buy them on the Body & Fit website or on the Biovea website. We can also save money by making them at home and using this recipe. Even fewer calories and more savings?
We use long lettuce leaves to make rolled tortillas.
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Low calorie and low carbohydrate pasta and pasta.
First of all, for the carbohydrate-free options, I recommend reading this article, where we talk about konjac-based products but not only for a really low-calorie pasta dish. Here instead we will see other options. For example, Rivalta pasta has 120 calories less than normal pasta every 100 grams and only 9 grams of carbohydrates. No “strange” ingredients: it is made from wheat.
Slendier’s soy fettuccine, on the other hand, allows us to eat a 100-gram plate of fettuccine at one third of the calories. They only have two ingredients, soy beans and water. 6x Slendier Organic Soy Fettuccine -
Cauliflower rice, broccoli bread, cauliflower pizza.
Cauliflower rice is nothing more than cauliflower boiled al dente and coarsely chopped in a blender. It can then be sautéed in a pan with sauce or other vegetables. We can of course do this at home. A tasty alternative that we can also combine with shrimp tails or chopped tofu or with a ladle of boiled chickpeas. You can make broccoli bread at home using this recipe. The cauliflower pizza is another delicious recipe: the cauliflower must be dried well before mixing it with the other ingredients to obtain the pizza base. Follow this recipe and for a more crunchy result you can add a tablespoon of wholemeal or buckwheat flour to the dough.
4. Fiber pancakes.
They are pancakes that have about 20 calories per piece, obtained from a dough of buckwheat, egg white, skim milk and konjac fiber. Clean Foods makes them and you can buy them here.
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Low-carbohydrate ice cream and slush.
There are various alternatives, this one that I propose is based on egg white, fiber, tapioca, sweetener and cocoa. The result is a creamy, scooped ice cream with less than 100 calories per serving. Here.
Alternatively, Clean Foods ice cream, also based on glucomannan: only 4 calories per serving, here. But there are also sugar-free slushes: the ingredients list is less attractive, in my opinion, the result is a slush that has only 17 calories per serving. It’s here. -
Functional bread and carbohydrate-free bread.
Also here on the net you will find many recipes and many products. While some are perfect for those who follow the ketogenic diet, for those who want to eat a healthy, moderate calorie diet, the calories are the same, sometimes even more, in low-carb bread compared to traditional bread. Instead, let’s look at alternatives that have both fewer calories and fewer carbohydrates than regular bread.
One is the functional bread Salus by Ruggeri, a bread that has less than 200 calories (the normal one has about 260) but is also rich in fiber, naturally more protein. You can buy it here. If, on the other hand, we want to prepare it ourselves, we will have even fewer calories by giving up flour (or almost): for example with cloud bread. Another top example is the Pane di Rivalta: 60 calories less than normal bread, small sizes of 50 calories per piece, only 6 grams of carbohydrates per 100 grams, the only ingredient is wheat. Finally, the Slim Bread by Clean Foods: based on glucomannan, buckwheat and egg white, with about 80 calories per 100 grams and few carbohydrates, here.
Another idea is the mushroom bun, if you find some champignons with a large cap, you can use two of them to make a sandwich, just grill them. If this option makes you turn up your nose, know that in US pubs and clubs, the mushroom burger has been used for a long time. -
Pizza light ed extralight.
The best in terms of calories remains the Pizza Rima, which adds fiber and protein and has only 154 calories per 100 grams (a base has about 300).
With a nice spoonful of sauce, 50 grams of mozzarella and a teaspoon of oil you get to 500 calories of pizza margherita. Light option to do at home, in addition to the cauliflower pizza already mentioned is the pizza with egg whites. -
Shortcrust pastry base without carbohydrates and light. Biscuit base.
We can make a light shortcrust pastry, also ideal for making biscuits, simply by using degreased coconut flour, which has high absorbency and almost zero carbohydrates. Here is the recipe (you can replace the butter or oil with the same 100 grams of whole Greek yogurt).
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Low calorie sweet creams without many carbohydrates.
Although sweet spreads have more fat than carbohydrates, so they are very caloric even in the zero-carbohydrate versions, Paranà’s Mou light cream has only 196 calories per 100 grams, less than half, and 9 grams of sugars out of 64 of carbohydrates. Clean ingredient list, this Mou cream is perfect for filling a cake, biscuit dough roll or spread on bread. Parana ‘Crema Mou Light Parana’ – Pack of 3 Pieces.
Alternatively, the Pr-ou protein puddings, based on egg white, which you can find in this store.
Finally, my favorites are Ehrmann’s creamy puddings, with 76 calories per 100 grams and only 5 grams of carbohydrates. Ehrmann High Protein Chocolate Pudding 16 pcs. x 200g
Finally we can make a sweet cream, like a pastry, thanks to the egg whites. Just use 250 ml of skimmed milk, vegetable without sugar or water, sweetener of your choice and bitter cocoa, mixing the mixture with 250 ml of pasteurized egg whites. Cook, stirring constantly until the cream thickens, but don’t get to the boiling point.
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