Instead of that - use this: Part 2

In part one, we looked at few things to substitute in your kitchen and on the table to better your food intake, or satiate a replacement for an ingredient you don't care for. Let's continue now with Part 2.

Natural vs. USDA Organic

When you see the label "Natural" on a food item, it's time to beware. There is no regulation set down by the FDA when someone can use the term "Natural" on a food package.

There are however, firm regulations in place when the USDA Organic stamp can be utilized. If you're trying to keep Monsanto-poisoned corn, hormones, chemical additives, and other evils out of your diet, reach for the packages containing the USDA Organic logo.

Milk vs. Almond Milk

The human body was not designed to ingest cow's milk. But we crave and need all the good benefits it has to offer. Over the years, substitutes have come to the market using soy, hemp, and almonds.

We like Almond milk since its flavor is good without vanilla additives or other flavorings and has a lot of good stuff for you just like milk. Be advised, milk is fortified with calcium and so are non-organic versions of almond milk. If you want to go organic, you'll need to find your calcium somewhere else.

Butter vs. Ghee

Butter, as tasty as it is, has a bad reputation for amping up bad cholesterol. It's the milk fat solids carried over in the processing that cause this.

You could make your own clarified butter at home, skimming away the milk fat solids and leaving just the purity of the butter, but there's another solution. Sold as Ghee, you can purchase clarified butter made in a factory that is far more suitable than your kitchen for getting the purest clarified butter available. Dig a little deeper and you'll even find USDA Organic versions. You only need one teaspoon to sub out a tablespoon of butter, and you can hold it in your pantry or on the shelf for some time before it goes rancid.

EVOO vs. ELOO

Extra Virgin Olive Oil is everywhere and the recipes that call for it are endless. When used without heat for things such as salad dressings or bread dips, it's the best! But with a smoke-point of only 350 degrees, this is hardly what you want to add to anything you'll be placing in the pan or oven at a higher heat.

Instead, you can use Extra Light Olive Oil, which has a burn rate of 460 degrees, making is suitable in the sauté pan or on the barbeque.

Black Pepper vs. White Pepper

On the table, a shaker or cracker of black pepper is nice as a last minute addition to food.

But in the kitchen, consider keeping a grinder of white pepper handy to use while putting a recipe together. White pepper has a more intense, spicy flavor to it that will stand up to heat and not have its flavor diluted like most black pepper in the grocery. There are many, many types of black and other colored peppers that stand up to everything!

Teflon vs. Ceramic

The non-stick coating Teflon is now known to have several carcinogenic elements to it - PTFE and PFOA. When used at high heat it can emit an odor, which when ingested can cause a person to feel what is known as the "Teflon flu." Since the EPA is still trying to determine the full effects of these two compounds, why be a guinea pig caught in the middle?

Instead, you can switch to a set of non-stick pans that use a natural ceramic compound and avoid the hazards all together. While this is a good alternative, ceramic coatings aren't fond of high heat. For that reason, it's a good idea to keep a nice set of high quality stainless sauté pans around the house when a recipe calls for a high stove-top setting, or high baking temperature.

Tom Mehren/February 2017