The swap: Sour cream versus yogurt

Runners are always looking for healthy eating tips or ways to boost the nutrition value of a meal or snack. A hard effort day or reaching a new distance on a long run feels great. Why spoil it by then eating unhealthy later?

This season, we’ve been bringing you tips to increase health benefits of meals by swapping not-so-good food items out and replacing them with a similar, more nutritious substitutes. Here’s a new one for you: instead of picking up sour cream at the grocery store, buy a plain yogurt instead to knock down the fat content but keeping the taste nearly identical. Many runners have special place in their lives for Greek yogurt thanks to its protein content.

Greek yogurt or just plain yogurt also has the benefit of being an extremely versatile food. Use it as you would use sour cream and with the leftovers, try one of these recipes:

Peach frozen yogurt

This recipe is way simple. There’s no added sugar in this one and it literally takes five minutes to whip up. Enjoy dessert guilt-free!

Greek tzatziki

Sometimes that tub of yogurt kicks around or finds a place hiding at the back of the fridge. Not if you make it into tzatziki dip! The bonus is that now you have a way to jazz up carrots, peppers and celery if you’re a person who has trouble getting in the veggies.

Honey yogurt popsicles

It’s summer, don’t we all want to reach for a sweet treat to eat outdoors? This recipe swaps white sugar for honey. Get an all-natural one from a farmer’s market or health food store to make sure you’re getting the best product and not an artificial one.

Cilantro lime dressing

This salad dressing will add punch to any green salad. Plus home made dressings have the perk of you actually knowing which ingredients are involved!