How to Turn a Blender into Your Diet Partner

When I was in college, my roommate and I invested in a blender. We whipped up blissful concoctions to get us through finals week, such as rich chocolate milkshakes topped with whipped cream. To celebrate special occasions, such as the end of a finals week or a friend's birthday, we created fancy drinks, such as pina coladas. Yummmy...and fattening. It's not surprising that we both gained weight during our college years.

If you're on a diet, though, all those high-calorie blenderized drinks can slow down your weight loss considerably. In addition, studies have shown that when we drink our calories, we tend to "forget" to add them into our day's total. If your blender is weighing down your weight loss success (literally!), it's time to make it an advocate in achieving your goals.

Here's How to Use a Blender as a Diet Buddy

1. Put your salad dressing on a diet.

Commercial salad dressings can pack as many as 200 calories into one tiny serving. And because most of us want much more than the pitiful two tablespoons of salad dressing that manufacturers call a serving, your salad dressing can add up to more calories than your entire salad without dressing!

Slim down your salad dressing by purchasing your favorite store brand. Pour half of it into a blender. If it's a creamy variety such as Ranch salad dressing, buttermilk salad dressing, or Thousand island dressing, add an equal amount of buttermilk, non-fat plain yogurt, or fat-free sour cream -- or try a mixture of one of those additions. Your dressing becomes lower in calories and fat, and you probably won't even notice the change.

If you prefer Italian salad dressing or oil and vinegar, pour half of the bottle into a blender. Then add an equal amount of Balsamic vinegar, garlic wine vinegar, and/or apple cider vinegar. You lower the fat and calories without losing the flavor.

2.Whip up a low-calorie blender drink to substitute for those fattening milkshakes!

You can experiment with all sorts of amazingly delicious concoctions when it comes to blender drinks. Craving chocolate? Put half a tray of ice cubes into your blender, and sprinkle in two servings of sugar-free cocoa mix powder. Add two tablespoons of non-fat vanilla yogurt, and a small amount of non-fat milk, depending on the desired consistency. Whirl it up, and taste. Bliss!

When fresh strawberries, peaches, and melon are in season, try making fruit smoothies by putting chunks of fresh fruit into the blender with some ice cubes and a dash of sugar-free vanilla syrup, such as sugar-free vanilla Torani or DaVinci syrup.

Tip: I recommend investing in a good brand of blender or similar gadget once you get used to mixing up these diet substitutes. I've had so many inexpensive blenders fail to work after a short amount of time that now I know paying more up front saves money and frustration in the long-term. For example, I currently have a HealthMaster all-in-one device that I can use to make substitutes such as those described above as well as soups, puddings, and other delights.