When you are trying to diet and lose weight, it is necessary for you to change not only the way you eat, but what you eat as well. You need to cut down on the foods that are causing you to gain, and increase the type of foods you eat that will help you lose weight. The trick is that the foods you need to eat should also be appealing to you so that it is easier for you to stick to your diet.

Of course, the most obvious foods that you need to cut down on are in the carbohydrate family, like potatoes, breads, and pastas, or snack foods like chips and cookies. Everyone knows that eating too many of those types of food will cause you to gain weight. But, it is difficult to give up all those yummy foods without replacing them with other food alternatives that may be just as appealing.

One way to enable you to give up the satisfying potatoes or rice at supper time is to eat some other type of hot food that is lower in calories and carbohydrates as a replacement. Instead of a serving of mashed potatoes, how about replacing it with mashed turnips? A serving of 125 ml. of mashed potatoes (made with 2% milk and butter) is about 124 calories, while a serving of 125 ml. of mashed turnips is only 15 calories. You would still get the warm, satisfying feeling of having the mashed potatoes while cutting down drastically on the calories—and mashed turnips are GOOD. Try them!

There are other hot vegetables you can have to replace potatoes or rice for a calorie reduced dinner menu. You could have cauliflower, broccoli or even hot cooked beets. All of these are lower in calories than potatoes or rice, but adding them to your supper plate will give you the feeling of a hot, comforting meal that a cold, crisp salad cannot provide.

If you love spaghetti and want an alternative, instead of using pasta or spaghetti noodles, try serving the meat sauce on a bed of sautéed bean sprouts. Simply sauté the bean sprouts with salt and pepper, plus a bit of soy sauce to soften them a bit. When you add the sauce on top, it looks almost like spaghetti, but has a lot fewer calories. The little bit of crunch that the bean sprouts give the dish is very nice. Again, with this alternative you won’t feel like you are missing out on what the rest of your family may be eating.

It is often harder to come up with alternatives for snacks and sweets that are diet friendly. One tip is to eat popcorn instead of those calorie-laden potato chips—and instead of butter, use different spices to give the popcorn more flavor. You can simply add a little melted margarine (only about a teaspoon is needed) stirred into the popcorn, and then experiment with different spices for flavoring. Don’t you think adding chili powder to your popcorn sounds tasty?

If you have a sweet tooth, then giving up all those desserts are difficult when you are trying to lose weight. Why not try making your desserts with sweeteners instead of real sugar to cut down on calories. You still may not be able to eat a lot of desserts if you want to lose weight, but having the occasional calorie-reduced version of dessert may help you stick to your diet plan better.

When you are dieting, if you are willing to experiment a bit with your food choices you can come up with many alternative foods to help you lose weight. It is all about changing what you eat and accepting a different way of eating that can gain you dieting success.