6 Kitchen Swaps You Need in Your Life

Last Updated on December 27, 2023 by Michelle

6 Simple Healthy Kitchen Swaps

Simple living can be a hard struggle some days. Some years… But just making one little swap at a time can make all the difference. Listen in, on this episode over on my Simple Doesn’t Mean Easy podcast, as I walk through this idea and these 6 simple swaps I’ve made in our kitchen over the years and read through the ideas below.

1. Avocado Oil

The first healthy kitchen swap I always recommend someone thinks about is the fats they’re adding to their food that they’re preparing.

I used to use canola oil for almost every thing. But this genetically modified oil is extracted from the seeds using hexane.

Hexane is a main component of gasoline, and guess how it’s made? By refining crude oil. Ummm, no thank you.

Avocado oil, on the other hand, is pressed from the flesh of avacados, and it offers a mild, nutty, even kinda buttery flavor.

I’m much happier with a heart-healthy oil, that’s high in oleic acid, which is a healthy unsaturated fat, that contains vitamin E and also helps the body absorb other vitamins. The good fat (monounsaturated fat) in avacado oil is said to reduce our LDL cholesterol (the bad one) and increase our HDL cholesterol (the good one). So that’s a bonus.

Another huge bonus… while avocado oil boasts many of the same benefits as extra virgin olive oil, it has a higher smoking point, which means it’s fantastic for sauteing or pan frying, when olive oil is out of the question.

Finally, avacado oil is an excellent source of lutein (sounds like “protein” but starts with “loo”). Lutein is a carotenoid, a type of vitamin found as the yellow, orange, and red pigments in certain plants which gives these fruits and vegetables their colors. Read more about this amazing carotenoid right here.

The average person who eats an average American diet is running low in this carotenoid, in addition to other important antioxidants of course. (More about why our diet makes us fat, sick, and tired here.)  

I thought I would notice the taste, but I don’t. In fact, not even Bill–my picky eater hubby–does, even when I drizzle it on his favorite snack: popcorn. More on that below.

Biggest downside I could find in my research about avocado oil? Its higher price point. So I buy it in bulk sizes at Azure Standard. Go here to see if Azure delivers in your area.

The only problem I could find in my research about avocado? Many options for this oil are adulterated. In a recent extensive study of commercial avocado oil quality and purity, researchers found that more than 8 out of 10 bottle of the oil that were tested were sub-par or adulterated.

2. Homemade Peanut Butter

Possibly my personal favorite healthy kitchen swap I’ve ever made? Peanut butter.

Freshly ground nut butters always top any other options. Because they contain no added ingredients (ie: hydrogenated oils, salt, sugar), they are simply ground nuts, guys. That’s it. One ingredient. Unless you want to add salt and a sweetener, of course.

Go here for my complete directions for making delicious homemade Maple Peanut Butter.

On the flip side, most peanut butters you purchase at the grocery story are made with hydrogenated oil, which is an unhealthy trans fat. You see, when hydrogenated oil is made, otherwise healthy fats are converted into a new type of fatty acid, or a “trans fat.”

It turns out trans fats are bad for your cardiovascular system. And they increase your LDL cholesterol (the bad one). This winds up clogging arteries and making them less flexible. It also also lowers your HDL cholesterol (the good one), and then reduces your ability to remove the cholesterol from your arteries. It’s bad all the way around.

Subtract all the bad things and add in amazing flavor and the ability to customize your homemade peanut butter to make it exactly the way your family loves it and it’s a no-brainer.

Go here for the simple, easy directions to start making peanut better at home. You’ll never look back.

3. Basmati Rice

Another super easy healthy kitchen swap that makes big waves at the dinner table? Believe it or not, rice.

I’ll admit it… We used to eat Minute Rice… instant rice that has been so processed it has no nutrition left to offer. Not only has virtually all the nutrition been stripped from instant rice, but it also has no flavor and offers a very sub-par texture. 

Minute rice was first used for the military where this sort of quick preparation makes practical sense, but trust me it’s totally worth a few extra minutes to put nutritious real rice on your dinner table. It’s every bit as easy as instant rice but probably 100 times better.

So a while ago I swapped my minute rice for basmati rice.

I get the 25-pound bag of basmati rice from Azure Standard. Go here to see if Azure delivers in your area.

“Basmati” in Hindi means “fragrant,” and it’s a perfect name. Not only does it offer a nice buttery, nutty smell and taste, but it’s much lower on the glycemic scale. (It’s glycemic index is between 50 and 58, compared to Minute Rice which sits at a high 85.), So if you have diabetes, you may find that basmati rice could be a part of your healthy diet.

Basmati rice also contains soluble fiber, so you may find switching to basmati rice helps your family with digestive issues and it leads to a healthier gut, which of course is always a very good thing.

Go here to find out another way I improve our family’s gut health on a daily basis, with homemade kombucha. Go here if you’d like my free book all about kombucha, including our favorite recipes.

4. Air-popped Popcorn

We are a popcorn-obsessed family. Always have been. Except we used to consume many bags of microwave popcorn every week. Sometimes many a day.

Sadly, the steam that floats out of one of those bags as you excitedly, hungrily pull it open is loaded with about four dozen chemicals—the sources include the buttery flavorings and the ink and glue on the bags—according to a the EPA Environmental Protection Agency.  

Switching to air popped popcorn requires zero extra effort, you just need a good air popper and a bowl. Well, and the popcorn of course.

This is my favorite popcorn because it’s so pretty (I keep it in a mason jar on my counter) and it’s loaded with antioxidants. Win-win.

Go here to see if Azure delivers this amazingness in your area. (I save money by buying it in bulk–the 25-lb bag–and storing my popcorn in a 5-gallon bucket with this smart lid, so it keeps well, but it’s super easy to get into.

The really crazy thing about this particular popcorn?

It has 2.5 times as many antioxidants as standard popcorn, because it’s multi-colored (It pops regular color, but the kernels are so pretty). The red and purple varieties have anthocyanins (a polyphenol found in plants that is a powerful antioxidant). This scientific journal explains that the “intake of anthocyanin-rich food as a part of a diet is very important for prevention of lifestyle-related diseases.”

Wow. All from a bowl of delicious popcorn.

And this is my air popper that we use probably 5 days out of 7, every week.

5. Real Salt 

Once I learned about Redmond Real Salt, I don’t use any other salt. Ever. Why would I when I can add 60+ trace minerals and support healthy bones just by switching over to this amazing real salt?

Just like any minimally-processed food, Redmond Salt is healthier than other salts because of what we don’t take out of it. Redmond Salt is 98% sodium chloride and 2% trace minerals, and it’s these 60+ trace minerals that make Redmond Salt real.

The medical community recognized silica as an essential trace element in the early 1970’s, and studies since then show it can perform two important tasks in our bodies. Like calcium, it’s necessary for bone formation and maintenance, which means it could help stave off osteoporosis. It can also prevent aluminum from building up in the body, and high aluminum levels are a potential risk factor for Alzheimer’s. In other words, silica is just another of the beneficial trace minerals that Real Salt users love for their health benefits (and flavor too!).

Use my code–SOULYRESTED and save $$ off your entire order any time. All the time!

6. Nutritional Yeast

Parmesan cheese—According to the FDA, Parmesan cheese is being cut more and more often with a variety of things that aren’t Parmesan cheese, namely other cheeses and…wood pulp. 

I had an idea of what wood pulp was, but I wasn’t entirely sure, so I googled it. Turns out, it’s exactly what you would expect it to be: pieces of wood ground down so finely that it becomes pulpy. In order to make maximum profits using minimum resources, several companies (both proven guilty and allegedly guilty) used the pulp replacement to save on ingredients.

The parmesan cheese I used to use has Potassium Sorbate.

Potassium sorbate has been linked to migraines, skin irritations, and (this is the biggie!) increased immune deficiency. I’ve also read that it may slightly contribute to DNA damage. So if I can avoid it, all the better.

I started swapping out parmesan cheese for nutritional yeast and have been loving the results.

Nutritional yeast is great for people with food sensitivities, but its nutritional content is great for every diet.

These golden flakes are made with yeast similar to the strain used in brewing and baking and it’s a great source of vitamins and minerals. It also contains all 9 essential amino acids, making it a complete protein. Pretty cool, yes?

Adding nutritional yeast to your family’s diet may help with heart health and immune system support, as well as giving everyone more energy. 

Plus, nutritional yeast is high in B12, an important vitamin that many of us are deficient in. This vitamin plays an essential role in nerve function, and a shortfall of B12 is associated with depression, dementia, decreased cognitive function, and anemia. Yikes.

Nutritional yeast can be pricey though, so I buy it in bulk right here. Go here to see if Azure delivers this amazingness in your area.

A few ways I love using nutritional yeast? Sprinkled over any Italian dish or on pizza, added to soups, on tossed salads, sprinkled over cooked veggies, added to mashed potatoes, generously added to air-popped popcorn. Or, if you want an option even closer to the old processed cheese, this is a healthy version that is great for making cheesy air-popped popcorn.

“For he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.” Psalm 107:9

---

Other Recipes & Tips You’ll Love:

How to Bake with Maple Syrup (seriously. You need to know this!)

Make Your Own Taco Seasoning (including a recipe for making it in bulk!)

Make Your Own Kombucha (for amazing gut health)

All my Favorite Tools in my Farmhouse Kitchen (the things I wouldn’t want to live without)

The Ingredients You Need in Your Pantry

Talk to me!

If you have any questions, leave a comment below. And please tag me on ig to show me your real food swap @souly.rested.

 

Pin this for later!

Click on the image below to pin this post.

 

Find out why SoulyRested was considered to be one of the Top 20 Must-Read Homesteading Blogs of 2018 and then one of the Top Homesteading Blogs of 2019 as well.

 

I’d love to connect!

To find me in some other neck of the woods, just click any (or every!) icon below:

Want Some Amazing Recipes?

Sign up for my weekly-ish encouragement in your inbox and I have some of my favorite recipes waiting for you to download instantly. It will take you one hot second and those recipes will be on their way to you… Just type in your email right here –>