1. Potatoes. Most folks love to fry their potatoes or otherwise eat them with large amounts of things like butter, cheese, bacon, and sour cream. While still not the most nutritious veggie in terms of vitamins and minerals, a simple plain baked potato is under 200 calories and is fantastic for helping big eaters feel fuller with smaller meals.

2. Popcorn! A lot of people think it can’t be good unless it’s drenched in butter, but there are so many healthy popcorn toppings to add to home-popped popcorn.

Ranch: dried dill, dried chives, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper.

Dorito: Nutritional yeast, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, paprika, chili powder, salt.

Churro: Powdered sugar, cinnamon.

BBQ: Paprika, chili powder, brown sugar, garlic powder, onion powder.

You can pre-mix them and keep them to sprinkle on popcorn. A little goes a long way, a tablespoon of the seasoning mix is more than enough for like 4 cups of popcorn (except for the churro one, you need like 2 tablespoons of sugar to taste it).

3. Dietetics and nutrition student/intern here… And my pick is frozen vegetables. There are many people who say fresh produce is the way to go, but many times they are picked before they are ripe to be shipped to the grocery store. Frozen vegetables, on the other hand, are picked at peak ripeness so they tend to have higher concentrations of antioxidants and other micronutrients (other than those that are destroyed by heat when thawed) that would be found in less amounts in fresh produce. So if you can’t get your produce locally, frozen vegetables are a great option and they last a long time! Always check labels for added ingredients but most of the time it’s just the vegetable!

4. Eggs. they are high in nutrients and protein. Many people are convinced they are bad for you because they contain quite a bit of cholesterol, but they raise HDL, the good type of cholesterol. The bad cholesterol, LDL, is found in butter (and other foods.) Not all types of cholesterol are bad and some people don’t know that.

5. Burgers. McDonalds may be pure poison, but if you make them at home, there’s a lot of healthy ingredients in it.

6. Chocolate. Not milk chocolate, the dark stuff. It has a ton of good properties, and can help quite a bit with periods and other hormonal issues.

7. Peanut butter. Fair source of fats but really good source of proteins.

8. Mac and cheese. I always saw it as the absolute unhealthiest of unhealthy food but my dietician told me it’s actually fine for you, in moderate amounts of course. It gives you carbs, protein, fats, and tastes good too. I like to mix in some peas and cubed chicken with mine too and that makes it even better for you.

9. Chili! Especially if you make a vegetarian chili, they’re super healthy, flavorful, nutritious, and easy to make.

10. Pork Rinds. Good source of protein and lower fat content than you would think and 0 carbs. Safe for the keto folk.

11. Crepes. The crepes alone are actually healthier than pancakes, it’s what you put on them that makes them unhealthy.

12. MSG is the best shit ever. It’s umami salt. Basically makes shit taste savory.

I enjoy watching people clutch their pearls when I say I add MSG to some things, like I put a drop of poison on my food. It’s in tons of stuff besides Chinese food, including foods where it occurs naturally without being added. Crazy how some dumb racism and a vaguely chemical name turned so many people against a great ingredient.

13. Pizza can actually be rather healthy if you make it from scratch yourself rather than buy it. If you add toppings like chicken or vegetables can help as well.

14. Beans are one of the most versatile foods on the planet mate. Heinz Baked beans not withstanding.

15. Macadamia nuts, in moderate amounts they’re a great type of nutrition.

16. Avocados. Were demonized for years.

17. Chips and salsa is considered “junk food” by many. But really it’s just the chips that are usually unhealthy. Salsa is usually really healthy. Especially homemade because it usually has no sugar.

18. Shawarma. People this, that shawarma is unhealthy, but real it’s one of healthiest fast foods. In shawarma are many vegetables and some meat (if you want meat). It is more healthy than hot dogs or hamburgers or French fries.

19. Basmati rice. For a white rice it has a glycemic index of 50-58 (for whole grain rice). For comparison, brown rice has glycemic index of 68.

20. Coffee. It’s generally what (and how much) you put in it that makes it unhealthy.