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10 Food Swaps For Sustainable Weight Loss & Better Blood Sugar Management

Hey Friend,

As we get ready to release our new (free!) Healthy & Whole A1C Recovery Course tomorrow, I wanted to share 10 of my go-to swaps that pull out unnecessary carbs and calories while boosting protein—so your food still tastes awesome and supports results.

These aren’t “diet foods.” They’re smarter defaults that make everyday eating easier, more filling, and more blood-sugar friendly—without feeling restrictive.

If you want to jump on the wait list for free access to the A1c Recovery Course when we release it and / or you want to jump on the wait list for our A1c Recovery Intensive Coaching Program, you can sign up for those waitlists here.

Alright, with that said, let’s dive in 👇

Zero-Calorie / Low-Calorie Beverages

In terms of both weight loss and improving blood sugars, probably the biggest thing we can do right away is to remove unnecessary calories and carbs/sugars from our beverages.

Obviously, the healthiest thing would be to drink clean water with electrolytes all day, every day, getting in somewhere between 75 and 128 ounces a day of electrolyte-infused water.

And for some, that is all they desire to do.

But for the rest of us, we like to drink a soda or energy drink here or there ;)

So, the first big swap is to swap high-calorie and high-carb beverages like regular soda, sweet tea, full-fat milk, etc. for diet/zero sugar/zero-calorie soda, sugar-free sweet tea, sugar-free energy drinks, etc.

The sugar-free versions are usually zero-calorie or very low-calorie (40 calories or less per serving), and, just by doing this one swap alone, many can eliminate hundreds of unnecessary calories and tons of unneeded carbohydrate/sugar per day.

Zero-Carb Bread + Tortillas

My next favorite thing to swap is going to be swapping any regular breads, buns, tortillas, etc. in my daily eating for zero-carb or very low-carb versions.

The low-carb/zero-carb bread and tortilla options have vastly improved over the years, going from hard and dry to much more like regular bread and tortillas.

Food companies have now figured out how to remove the carbohydrate from bread and tortillas and to replace it with fiber that our bodies do not absorb, and additional protein.

This means we can kill three birds with one stone.

1. We can eliminate carbohydrate and calories that we don’t need

2. We can increase fiber and protein content

3. We can still enjoy bread and tortillas

My favorites right now are Lewis Keto Hawaiian Bread, La Banderita Carb Counter Tortillas, and Aunt Millie’s Live Carb Smart Buns.

Sugar-Free / Low-Cal Condiments + Dressings

Another great place to remove unnecessary carbohydrate and calories is going to be in your sauces and dressings.

We all love to use sauces and dressings to fancy up our food, adding tons of flavor to the experience, but so many regular dressings and sauces add MASSIVE calories.

I recommend swapping full-fat dressings for low-fat or fat-free dressings, and swapping most of your condiments for sugar-free versions as well.

At Healthy & Whole, we recommend finding dressings and sauces that have no more than 50 calories per serving, and to stick to the serving size for a meal.

The best options on the market are as low as 15 or fewer calories per serving, and some of them taste REALLY good.

My favorites right now include G Hughes Sugar Free Sweet Chili Sauce, G Hughes Sugar Free Honey Mustard, and Frank’s RedHot Buffalo Sauce.

Fat-Free Cheeses

Cheese is not typically a source of carbohydrate/sugars, so swapping these will not necessarily have a large impact on blood sugar regulation, but since cheese is typically MOSTLY a fat, it tends to be very high-calorie.

So by swapping full-fat cheeses out for low-fat or, ideally, fat-free versions, we are able to drastically reduce the calorie content and increase the protein content.

To put this into perspective, here is how regular full-fat shredded cheddar compares to fat-free shredded cheddar nutritionally:

In full transparency, fat-free cheese does not taste as good as regular cheese, but the calorie difference is so high that once you see it, it is hard to justify!

Heck, you can have almost 3x the amount of fat-free cheese for the same calories as regular cheese in this example 🤯

My favorites are Great Value Fat Free Shredded Cheddar or Mozzarella, and Great Value Fat Free American Cheese Singles.

Pro Tip: Fat-Free Shredded Cheese needs a little bit of moisture in order to melt when it is cooked. If you try to make a pizza with fat-free mozzarella, for instance, the cheese can burn and get very hard. BUT…if you spray the top of the cheese lightly with cooking spray, it will melt just like regular cheese 🧀

High-Protein Cereals

I literally did an entire video on high-protein cereals which you can see here on my YouTube channel. It outlines all of the best options on the market currently for high-protein, lower-carb cereals.

If you choose the right cereal and pair it with the right milk, you can have a nice big bowl of cereal that tastes great, is very high in protein, and lower in carbohydrate and sugar than typical cereals.

In fact, I shared my favorite recipe for a nice big bowl of cereal in a previous newsletter:

• 2 cups Ghost PB Cereal (tastes like PB Cap’n Crunch)

• 8 oz Kroger Carbmaster Fat-Free Vanilla Milk (or Fairlife Fat Free)

The result? A giant bowl of cereal for under 400 calories and close to 50% protein.

For our diabetics out there, the lowest-carb option is this Special K Zero Cinnamon Puff cereal, which only has 2 grams of net carbohydrate! And I noticed that the Walmart website is now showing that they have just released a Strawberry Cream version of this as well 🍓

PB2 / PB Fit + Sugar-Free Jelly

Next up on my list of great swaps for reducing calorie and carbohydrate intake is going to be swapping out your regular PB and jelly for a powdered peanut butter option and sugar-free jelly options.

Powdered peanut butter options will help you reduce the calories from a serving of peanut butter down from around 190–210 calories per 2 tablespoons, to as low as 50–60 calories per 2 tablespoons. That’s a 66% to 75% reduction in calories!

And there are now some decent sugar-free jelly and jam options on the market as well that greatly reduce calories and sugars.

My favorites right now are Great Value Powdered Peanut Butter, Cocoa PB Fit Powdered Peanut Butter, and Good Good Grape Jelly.

Egg Beaters

This one is pretty straightforward, and a great way to reduce fat calories and sharply increase protein calories.

Essentially, a whole egg is going to be roughly 70% fat, and roughly 30% protein.

This is not bad by any means, but a lot of people struggle to get enough protein on a daily basis, and the fat calories can add up if you eat several eggs in a day/week.

Egg Beaters and the Great Value version called Egg Makers are essentially cartons of liquid egg whites (pure protein) that have been flavored to taste more like whole egg.

These are an incredible swap because you can use these in virtually ANY recipe that calls for whole eggs to greatly reduce the calories and increase the protein of the recipe without much of a taste difference (if any).

Protein Shakes

Ready-to-drink protein shakes, such as Premier Protein Shakes, are kind of a Swiss Army knife — they can be used in all kinds of different ways to increase protein and reduce unnecessary carb and fat calories.

You can use them as creamer in your hot coffee ☕️ or as a flavoring for iced coffee.

You can use them for a sweet protein snack.

You can use them to make protein ice cream with a Ninja Creami if you use our recipe here.

You can use them for amazing smoothies like the one I share here.

And you can pair them with something else like a piece of fruit to make a very convenient gas station meal if you are out and about.

We recommend finding protein shake options that are 200 calories or less per shake and have a minimum of 30 grams of protein in them.

Protein Bars / Protein Chips

Speaking of convenient options, there are a lot of great protein chip and protein bar options on the market now that taste great and have great nutrition content.

The protein bar and chip market is one you have to be careful about because while there are great options available, there are still a LOT of options that are marketed as healthy, but have a ton of unnecessary calories.

So it is important to know what to look for.

Generally, we recommend bars or chips that have no more than 200 calories per serving and that are at least 40% protein.

The quick rule of thumb is that if a snack product is 140 calories, it should have at least 14g of protein; 150 calories should have 15g; 160 calories should have 16g; and so on.

My favorites include Built Bars, Pure Protein Bars, Quest Chips, and Legendary Popped Chips.

Real Good Chicken Tenders

Last, but not least, is a great alternative for chicken nuggets and tenders.

I’ve analyzed literally every other readily available chicken tender and chicken nugget option on the market, and nothing else comes close nutritionally to these Real Good Brand options.

These come in at only 130 calories per 4 oz. serving and still have 23 grams of protein, putting them at 70% protein with only 3 grams of net carbohydrate per serving.

Compared to their biggest competitor, Just Bare Chicken—which comes in at 160 calories for only 3 oz.—it has only 16 grams of protein, and 9 grams of carbohydrate.

To put that into perspective, you can have 5 oz. of the Real Good Brand chicken for the same calories that you only get 3 oz. of the Just Bare chicken.

So the Real Good Brand is a great product that you can also use in lots of recipes just like we do in our cookbook, such as the Sweetfire Chicken recipe that I shared here.

The Bottom Line

These swaps make it easier to hit protein targets, lower carbs, and trim calories—without sacrificing flavor or variety. The real superpower is learning to spot these patterns on your own out in the wild so you can build a menu you genuinely enjoy and can live with long-term.

Be a student of nutrition. Keep experimenting. Your future self will thank you.

— Coach Matt

When you're ready, here's how I can help:

If you're looking to lose weight sustainably while building a flexible lifestyle that you enjoy, I can help.   Apply for coaching here in the Healthy & Whole Mentorship Program.  

Disclaimer: This email is provided for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute providing medical advice or professional services. The information provided should not be used for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, and those seeking personal medical advice should consult with a licensed physician.