The Skinny on Your Favorite Fried Foods- Did You Even Know They Were Fried?

We all LOVE our fried food. I mean it tastes so delicious why wouldn't we? Well before you pick up your next piece of fried chicken, french fry,or even banana chip think about what it exactly is. I am going to remind you that frying consists of submerging food in either hot oil, fat, or lard (these are trans fats we are supposed to stay away from). On top of that the calories added during frying are astonishing (A 7 oz. baked potato contains about 220 calories and 0.2 gram of fat. That same baked potato turned into French fries contains 697 calories and 34 grams of fat).Many foods we don't even realize are fried can sneak up on us. Be careful to not eat these too often and only on certain occasions or a "treat" or "cheat" meal. I definitely enjoy some of these from time to time, but realize I said from time to time:)

List of fried foods
- Refried Beans (Yes, they are deep fried in LARD)
- Chips
- Fries (even sweet potato fries are FRIED)
- Banana chips/ veggie chips
- Calamari
- Bacon
- Chicken
- Potato Skins (Yes they are fried)
- Chinese food chicken (lemon chicken, orange chicken, kung pao chicken, etc.)
- Onion rings
- Tacos
The list goes on...

The best thing about seeing this list, is that after writing it I realized each and every one of these things can be enjoyed just as much in a healthier way.

- Beans (if you like the texture of refried, take a potato masher and mash cooked whole beans)
- Chips ( buy corn tortilla chips baked, or cut up your own whole wheat tortillas and bake in oven)
- Fries ( cut up sweet potatoes, yams, or red potatoes add olive oil and herbs and bake in oven)
- Banana/ veggie chips ( bake in oven)
- Calamari (dip in egg whites, then dip in a mixture of cornmeal, flaxseed meal, and wheat germ then bake)
- Chicken ( dip in egg whites, then dip in a mixture of cornmeal, flaxseed meal, and wheat germ then bake)
- Bacon (get turkey bacon instead and bake)
- Potato skins (simply bake, they taste the same!)
- Chinese food (just grill or bake chicken, it is the sauce that makes it tasty anyways)
- Onion rings (dip in egg whites, then dip in bowl of crushed fiber one cereal then bake)
- Tacos (take whole wheat tortilla or corn tortilla and bake)

Hope you enjoy the healthy substitution as much as I do! I make chicken strips all the time with sugar free ketchup and it honestly tastes better than fried chicken strips (also without the guilt and calories).