Tips for Stirring Up Diet Versions of Your Favorite Fattening Foods

Anyone on a diet knows the biggest challenge: dealing with comfort food cravings. I know that at times, I want to toss the scale out the window and bring on the macaroni and cheese! With chocolate ice cream for dessert, macaroni and cheese is my idea of the perfect comfort food. With stuffed potatoes on the side, of course - can you tell I'm a carb addict?

Here's what you need to know to "Fake It When You Make It:"

1. Read the ingredient list and food label carefully! When you read food labels, you may want to consider the following, particularly if your health care provider has told you that you are diabetic, obese, or have another
condition:
a) Note the serving size. Take a can of soda, for example. If you look closely at the label, you might discover that while some cans of soda contain one serving per can, other brands of soda actually contains three servings per can, which means three times as many calories and three times as much sugar!
b) Ignore the marketing blurbs. Advertisements and product labels may be misleading when it comes to the marketing blurbs. Terms such as "light," "sugar-free," "fat-free," or "diet" does not necessarily mean it is "safe" for someone on a special diet or with a health condition.

2. How to fake it for macaroni and cheese, for example:
a) Use low-carb or lower-calorie pastas. As noted above, be sure to read the nutritional label carefully.
b) Experiment! Try mixing fat-free or low-fat cottage cheese or ricotta cheese with shredded low-fat or fat-free cheese, such as mozarella. You get the full "melted cheese" pleasure with fewer calories. You may even want to use steamed cauliflower to expand the servings without adding calories.

3. How to fake it for chocolate ice cream:
Mix low-fat or fat-free chocolate ice cream with non-fat Greek yogurt and sugar-free diet cocoa, then freeze until the perfect "soft ice cream" consistency.