Food swap calculator

The expensive part of a diet is usually not giving food up — it's choosing the heavier version of the same food. Pick a food and a portion below; you'll see every alternative at the same weight, what each one saves, and what that saving is worth over a year.

What you're eating now

Portion (grams)

Changing the food sets the portion to that food's typical amount; you can type over it.

Suggested swap

Potato chips → Popcorn — air-popped

−45kcal

At the same portion — 30 g

What you're eating now161 kcal
After the swap116 kcal
Every day for a year16,315 kcal
In kilos — at most2.1 kg

Track what you eat with FitDex

In FitDex you scan a barcode and save the product's own label — the real package values instead of the generic averages on this page.

Alternatives at the same portion

Sorted by calories, lowest first, so the top row saves the most. The marked rows cut calories without cutting protein or fibre per 100 calories — the swaps you pay nothing for.

Food	At this portion	Difference	Protein	Fibre
Strained yogurt — fat-free	18 kcal	—	3.1 g	0.0 g
Yogurt — whole milk	18 kcal	—	1.1 g	0.0 g
Curd cheese	24 kcal	—	3.3 g	0.0 g
Egg — boiled	47 kcal	—	3.8 g	0.0 g
White cheese (feta type)	79 kcal	—	4.3 g	0.0 g
Cream cheese	105 kcal	—	1.9 g	0.0 g
Cheddar cheese	121 kcal	—	6.9 g	0.0 g
Wholemeal bread	74 kcal	—	3.9 g	2.1 g
Rye bread	78 kcal	—	2.5 g	1.7 g
White bread	80 kcal	—	2.7 g	0.8 g
Corn flakes	107 kcal	—	2.3 g	1.0 g
Rolled oats — dry	117 kcal	—	5.1 g	3.2 g
Bulgur pilaf — cooked	25 kcal	—	0.9 g	1.3 g
Potato — boiled	26 kcal	—	0.6 g	0.5 g
Quinoa — cooked	36 kcal	—	1.3 g	0.8 g
Brown rice — cooked	37 kcal	—	0.8 g	0.5 g
Wholemeal pasta — cooked	37 kcal	—	1.6 g	1.3 g
White rice — cooked	39 kcal	—	0.8 g	0.1 g
Pasta — cooked	47 kcal	—	1.7 g	0.5 g
French fries	94 kcal	—	1.0 g	1.1 g
Tofu	23 kcal	—	2.4 g	0.1 g
Shrimp — cooked	30 kcal	—	7.2 g	0.0 g
Lentils — cooked	35 kcal	—	2.7 g	2.4 g
Tuna — in water	35 kcal	—	7.8 g	0.0 g
Anchovy	39 kcal	—	6.1 g	0.0 g
Turkey breast — cooked	41 kcal	—	9.0 g	0.0 g
White beans — cooked	42 kcal	—	2.9 g	1.9 g
Chickpeas — cooked	49 kcal	—	2.7 g	2.3 g
Chicken breast — skinless, cooked	50 kcal	—	9.3 g	0.0 g
Salmon — cooked	62 kcal	—	6.6 g	0.0 g
Chicken thigh — skinless, cooked	63 kcal	—	7.8 g	0.0 g
Ground beef — 10% fat, cooked	65 kcal	—	7.8 g	0.0 g
Ground beef — 20% fat, cooked	76 kcal	—	7.7 g	0.0 g
Cucumber	5 kcal	—	0.2 g	0.1 g
Tomato	5 kcal	—	0.3 g	0.4 g
Spinach — boiled	7 kcal	—	0.9 g	0.7 g
Watermelon	9 kcal	—	0.2 g	0.1 g
Strawberry	10 kcal	—	0.2 g	0.6 g
Broccoli — boiled	11 kcal	—	0.7 g	1.0 g
Carrot	12 kcal	—	0.3 g	0.8 g
Orange	14 kcal	—	0.3 g	0.7 g
Apple	16 kcal	—	0.1 g	0.7 g
Grapes	21 kcal	—	0.2 g	0.3 g
Banana	27 kcal	—	0.3 g	0.8 g
Avocado	48 kcal	—	0.6 g	2.0 g
Vanilla ice cream	62 kcal	−99	1.1 g	0.2 g
Dried dates	85 kcal	−76	0.8 g	2.4 g
Raisins	90 kcal	−71	0.9 g	1.1 g
Popcorn — air-popped	116 kcal	−45	3.9 g	4.5 g
Sweet biscuits	144 kcal	−17	1.6 g	0.4 g
Milk chocolate	161 kcal	−0	2.3 g	1.0 g
Potato chips	161 kcal	—	2.1 g	1.4 g
Almonds	174 kcal	+13	6.3 g	3.8 g
Peanuts — salted	176 kcal	+15	7.2 g	2.4 g
Dark chocolate — 70% and above	179 kcal	+19	2.3 g	3.3 g
Hazelnuts	188 kcal	+28	4.5 g	2.9 g
Walnuts	196 kcal	+35	4.5 g	2.0 g
Water	0 kcal	—	0.0 g	0.0 g
Cola — sugar-free	0 kcal	—	0.0 g	0.0 g
Tea — unsweetened	0 kcal	—	0.0 g	0.0 g
Turkish coffee — unsweetened	1 kcal	—	0.0 g	0.0 g
Almond milk — unsweetened	5 kcal	—	0.2 g	0.1 g
Milk — skimmed	10 kcal	—	1.0 g	0.0 g
Ayran (salted yogurt drink)	11 kcal	—	0.5 g	0.0 g
Cola	13 kcal	—	0.0 g	0.0 g
Beer	13 kcal	—	0.1 g	0.0 g
Orange juice	14 kcal	—	0.2 g	0.1 g
Milk — semi-skimmed (2%)	15 kcal	—	1.0 g	0.0 g
Milk — whole	18 kcal	—	1.0 g	0.0 g
Red wine — dry	26 kcal	—	0.0 g	0.0 g
Mustard	20 kcal	—	1.3 g	1.0 g
Ketchup	30 kcal	—	0.4 g	0.1 g
Jam	83 kcal	—	0.1 g	0.3 g
Honey	91 kcal	—	0.1 g	0.1 g
Granulated sugar	116 kcal	—	0.0 g	0.0 g
Tahini	179 kcal	—	5.1 g	2.8 g
Mayonnaise	204 kcal	—	0.3 g	0.0 g
Butter	215 kcal	—	0.3 g	0.0 g
Olive oil	265 kcal	—	0.0 g	0.0 g
Sunflower oil	265 kcal	—	0.0 g	0.0 g

What you get per 100 calories

This ratio does not depend on the portion: numerator and denominator scale by the same factor, so it is identical at 30 grams and at 300. This is where you see whether a swap is genuinely worth it.

Food	Protein / 100 kcal	Fibre / 100 kcal
Shrimp — cooked	24.2 g	0.0 g
Tuna — in water	22.4 g	0.0 g
Turkey breast — cooked	22.2 g	0.0 g
Chicken breast — skinless, cooked	18.8 g	0.0 g
Strained yogurt — fat-free	17.3 g	0.0 g
Anchovy	15.6 g	0.0 g
Curd cheese	13.6 g	0.0 g
Spinach — boiled	13.0 g	10.4 g
Chicken thigh — skinless, cooked	12.4 g	0.0 g
Ground beef — 10% fat, cooked	12.0 g	0.0 g
Salmon — cooked	10.7 g	0.0 g
Tofu	10.7 g	0.4 g
Ground beef — 20% fat, cooked	10.2 g	0.0 g
Milk — skimmed	10.0 g	0.0 g
Egg — boiled	8.1 g	0.0 g

How is it calculated?

All values are composition figures per 100 grams, scaled in proportion to the weight you enter. A 40-gram slice of feta is therefore 264 × 0.40 = 106 kcal.

The comparison runs on the SAME WEIGHT, not on 100 grams. This is the first thing that separates the table from its competitors: at 100 grams there are 614 calories between mayonnaise and mustard, but nobody eats 100 grams of mayonnaise. At a real 15-gram serving the gap falls to 92 calories — still worth knowing, but now the right size.

Alternatives only come from the same GROUP. Replacing bread with cucumber is arithmetically a saving and nutritionally meaningless as a meal; for a swap to work, the replacement has to do the same job.

Marked rows clear an extra bar: they are lower in calories than the reference AND their protein and fibre per 100 calories has not dropped. That ratio is independent of portion, since numerator and denominator scale by the same factor. A swap that cuts calories by halving protein does not get the mark.

The annual effect is the daily saving times 365. The weight equivalent uses the 7,700 kcal = 1 kg shortcut, and it is an UPPER BOUND: as weight falls, so does your daily need, so the real loss stays under that figure. The actual curve lives in the weight-loss timeline tool.

Values come from standard composition tables such as USDA SR Legacy, not from branded products. A 10-15% spread between two products with the same name is normal; cooking method and added fat easily double it. The table points you in a direction — it doesn't replace reading a label.

How to read your result

Small, repeated swaps beat large, one-off ones. Dropping the 20 grams of sugar beside one daily coffee is 28,000 calories a year; one skipped dinner a month is nothing. That's why the table shows the annual figure. The size of a decision lives in its repetition, not in the single instance.

The savings order doesn't change with portion — only its scale does. Which food inside a group is lighter depends on the per-100-gram value, and because that value is fixed, enlarging the portion enlarges every row by the same factor and leaves the answer to "which should I pick" exactly where it was. The answer to "how much does it matter" moves.

An unmarked row isn't bad. It just isn't free. Choosing tofu over chicken breast saves 107 calories at a 120-gram portion while dropping protein per 100 calories from 18.8 grams to 10.7, which means anyone making that swap has to find the missing protein somewhere else in the day. The mark tells you which swaps cost you nothing in return.

The drinks group behaves unlike the others, and the biggest win is there. With solid food, cutting calories usually means giving something up; with liquids satiety is close to zero anyway, so replacing a 330 ml cola with water erases 139 calories a day at no loss of fullness.

Fats and sauces produce big numbers at small weights, and that's where the illusion lives. Ten grams of olive oil is 88 calories — the amount actually drizzled "lightly" over a salad is usually 30 grams, so 265 calories, more than the salad itself. In this group, measuring pays better than swapping.

Frequently asked questions

Why do I enter my own portion instead of using 100 grams?

Because 100 grams isn't the amount you decide about. At 100 grams there are 783 calories between olive oil and ketchup; the number is correct and useless, since nobody pours 100 grams of olive oil. At real portions (10 grams of oil, 20 of ketchup) the gap falls to 68 calories and the decision changes completely. The whole table recalculates from the weight you enter.

What do the marked rows mean?

Swaps that cut calories without cutting protein and fibre density. The test is grams per 100 calories: in white bread 100 calories carry 3.4 grams of protein and 1.0 gram of fibre, in wholemeal bread 5.3 and 2.8 — fewer calories and denser, so it's marked. Tofu instead of chicken breast, by contrast, cuts calories but nearly halves protein density, so it gets no mark.

Why is the annual weight figure labelled "at most"?

Because the 7,700 kcal = 1 kg shortcut is day-one arithmetic. As weight falls you carry less mass, so the calorie cost of living the same day falls too; the gap narrows, the loss slows and eventually stops. A 100-calorie daily swap is worth not 4.7 kilos after a year but something close to it and below it. The full curve is computed in the weight-loss timeline tool.

Why isn't the brand I'm looking for in the list?

Deliberately. Brand values differ by country and even by batch, and recipes change without notice; a brand figure written into a fixed list is wrong six months later. The 80 entries here are generic foods from standard composition tables — categories like "white bread" or "whole milk". The label on the packet in your hand is always more accurate, and the barcode scanner in the FitDex app exists for exactly that.

Related tools

This tool is for information only and is not a substitute for medical diagnosis or treatment. Talk to a healthcare professional before making a lasting change to how you eat.