The following suggestions can help you lower fat, salt, sugar and calories and increase fiber in your recipes.

All-purpose (plain) flour

• Whole-wheat flour for half of the called-for all-purpose flour in baked goods           Note: Whole-wheat pastry flour is less dense and works well in softer products like cakes and muffins.

Bacon

• Canadian bacon, turkey bacon, smoked turkey or lean prosciutto (Italian ham)

Butter, shortening or oil in baked goods

• Applesauce or prune puree for half of the called-for butter, shortening or oil              Note: To avoid dense, soggy or flat baked goods, don’t substitute oil for butter or shortening.

Butter, margarine, shortening or oil to prevent sticking

• Cooking spray or nonstick pans

Creamed soups

• Fat-free milk-based soups, mashed potato flakes, or pureed carrots, potatoes or tofu for thickening agents

Dry bread crumbs

• Rolled oats or crushed bran cereal

Eggs

• Two egg whites or 1/4 cup egg substitute for each whole egg

Enriched pasta

• Whole-wheat pasta

Evaporated milk

• Evaporated skim milk

Fruit canned in heavy syrup

• Fruit canned in its own juices or in water, or fresh fruit

Fruit-flavored yogurt

• Plain yogurt with fresh fruit slices

Full-fat cream cheese

• Fat-free or low-fat cream cheese, Neufchatel or low-fat cottage cheese pureed until smooth

Full-fat sour cream

• Fat-free or low-fat sour cream, plain fat-free or low-fat yogurt

Ground beef

• Extra-lean or lean ground beef, chicken or turkey breast (make sure no poultry skin has been added to the product)

Iceberg lettuce

• Arugula, chicory, collard greens, dandelion greens, kale, mustard greens, spinach or watercress

Margarine in baked goods

• Trans fat-free butter spreads or shortenings that are specially formulated for baking       Note: If ingredient lists include the term “partially hydrogenated,” it may have up to 0.5 grams of trans fat in one serving. To avoid dense, soggy or flat baked goods, don’t substitute diet, whipped or tub-style margarine for regular margarine.

Mayonnaise

• Reduced-calorie mayonnaise-type salad dressing or reduced-calorie, reduced-fat mayonnaise

Meat as the main ingredient

• Three times as many vegetables as the meat on pizzas or in casseroles, soups and stews

Oil-based marinades

• Wine, balsamic vinegar, fruit juice or fat-free broth

Salad dressing

• Fat-free or reduced-calorie dressing or flavored vinegars

Seasoning salt, such as garlic salt, celery salt or onion salt

• Herb-only seasonings, such as garlic powder, celery seed or onion flakes, or use finely chopped herbs or garlic, celery or onions

Soups, sauces, dressings, crackers, or canned meat, fish or vegetables

• Low-sodium or reduced-sodium versions

Soy sauce

• Sweet-and-sour sauce, hot mustard sauce or low-sodium soy sauce

Syrup

• Pureed fruit, such as applesauce, or low-calorie, sugar-free syrup

Table salt

• Herbs, spices, fruit juices or salt-free seasoning mixes or herb blends

White bread

• Whole-wheat bread

White rice

• Brown rice, wild rice, bulgur or pearl barley

Whole milk

• Reduced-fat or fat-free milk

Medications are toxic chemicals that suppress symptoms while damaging the body at a cellular level. Many of them damage the immune system. This is a foreign concept if you’ve taken a pill for every ache and pain for thirty years.

Instead of investing in disease with your time and money, why not invest in health? Instead of medical insurance and over the counter and prescription drugs, co-pays, and sick days, what if you invested your time into learning about the best supplements? What if you spent your money on healthy food? What if you spent time preparing food and truly being involved with what fuels and nourishes you? What if what went into your body to nourish and heal you was one of the most important things in your life?

Does it seem like a radical concept? It is for most people. But consider this – would you rather take the time to learn about nutrition now? To gain the knowledge and the appreciation of how our bodies actually work? Or would you like to spend even more energy later on in life learning about your new disease and all of the drugs and allergies that come along with it?

Eating right is simple, but it’s not easy. Not for most people. When I tell people what foods to avoid they say, “But that’s everything I eat!”

Yeah, and that’s exactly why you’re sick!

If you eat mostly raw, fresh organic vegetables and fruit and avoid refined foods, you will rid the body of nearly every disease. We need to stop thinking of disease as some bug that attacks us, some microscopic evil creature that comes into our bodies and takes over. A healthy body and a healthy immune system do not succumb to disease. Most of the diseases people fear these days are simply caused by the body breaking down. Microscopic organisms that prey on us are actually preying on decaying matter. Disease is a symptom of an unhealthy body, not the cause.

When you first start your 90 days of the P90X training program, you will also begin what is called Phase 1 or the Fat Shredder portion of the nutrition plan. The first phase will have you eating foods higher in protein so that you can start to lose fat and build muscle. If you want, you can get a body fat tester to help determine your percentage of body fat.

Phase 2 or the Energy Booster portion of the P90X nutrition plan is a more balanced mixture of carbohydrates and proteins with low fat. This is a phase you can stay in for as long as you want, and really it is the best way of how to eat healthy for life. Food is fuel and this mix of foods will give you just the right amount of energy to workout and live day to day.

The P90X nutrition plan next takes you to the Endurance Maximizer phase. This is the athletic diet you need to eat if you are really pushing yourself in your workouts or your chosen sport. It’s a higher carbohydrate diet needed for energy and endurance. It includes the kind of food selections that runners or cyclists need when they push themselves to go long distances. It’s when you’ve earned the right to eat all the pasta you want without anybody telling you to lay off the carbs.

You don’t have to figure out how to do anything but follow a step-by -step nutrition plan. Every amount of food from each food group is already assigned its number of calories and you just mix and match to get the right food groups and portion sizes. As with most healthy diets, you’ll learn that it is better to eat six small meals each day than two large ones.

Once you start following the P90X nutrition plan through its various phases you will find that you are building a foundation of knowledge about how to eat healthy for the rest of your life. Diets that eliminate food groups simply are not going to work, nor is trying to lose weight and keep it off without exercise. The P90X is a total body training program that took over a year to develop and so far it has helped over two million people meet their health and exercise goals.