Clean Up Your Diet: Replace Mayo with Hummus!

If you are in process of re-examining and re-balancing your diet, you must be looking for the ways to remove foods that are not nutritious and replace them with better choices. At some point you realize that the traditional sandwich ingredient mayonnaise is not your friend. After carefully examining labels you probably decide that the calories in mayonnaise – 90 calories per 1 Tablespoon, all from fat - are not worth having! Armed with the new resolve fueled by the knowledge of what is good for your health and conducive to weight loss, you decided that Mayo is not something you want to spend your calories on! Saturated fat, sugar and other fillings are not something you want to put in your body! But you still want your natural turkey sandwich on whole grain bread! What can you use to substitute mayo?

To replace mayo I suggest using hummus!

Hummus is a middle-eastern dip loaded with goodness. I love making my own hummus because it is like a child play (you children may want to make it, if they are old enough to use a food processor) and prep time is really short. I use organic canned chick peas, tahini, fresh garlic and lemons. I go easy on salt, but otherwise I follow Tosca Reno's recipe:

2 15-ounce cans of chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained
1/3 cup tahini (sesame paste)
1/4 cup lemon juice (or juice from two fresh lemons)
4 garlic cloves
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Place chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, and garlic into food processor. Blend until smooth.
2. Add small amounts of water (while blending) if mixture is too thick.
3. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Nutritional value per 1 Tablespoon: 35 calories (compare to 90 in Mayo!) , 15 calories from fat (compare to 90!!), 1 g protein, 4 g of carbs, 0.7 g of fiber, 0 g of sugar (yes!)
You can also use hummus as a snack - using celery or cherry tomatoes instead of chips! Enjoy the wholesome nutrition of hummus!

Bring it in the kitchen as well as on the mat!