Amazing carb swaps

Boost health and stay satisfied with these amazing carb swaps

If you’re looking to shed excess weight, cutting down your carb intake can be an effective strategy in helping you reach your goals while revving up your energy levels, clearing up skin problems and making you feel healthier overall. Let’s get things straight – in moderation, carbohydrates form an important part of a balanced diet, (think complex carbs like sweet potato, brown rice and oats over white bread, pasta and pizza) but overdoing it on the carb front can leave you tired, grumpy and bloated. ‘The science seems to be stacking up that many of us eat too much carbohydrates, and could do with reigning in our intake a little, replacing some of it with lean protein, more vegetables and healthy unsaturated fats,’ says registered nutritionist Dr Carina Norris.

When you start the day with a simple carb-loaded breakfast like white toast and jam, the morning can be a bit of a blur. Fluctuating blood glucose levels make you plummet into a food coma, more likely to reach for a pick-me-up in the form of sugar or caffeine in a bid to get energy levels back on track. Sadly this just sets in motion bad food choices for the day ahead. To ensure you make healthier choices all day long, we’ve put a creative twist on common kitchen ingredients, (minus the carbs) to help you get the most out of every meal.

1 Swap traditional flour pancakes for nut-based pancakes

You don’t have to pass on pancakes if you’re cutting carbs from your diet. Rustle up a batch of wheat-free pancakes by swapping white flour for ground almonds and flaxseeds for a healthy morning treat. Eating a high-protein breakfast in the morning will do your body good, fueling you up with tons of energy without the bloating effects of white flour. Sounds good to us!