Cooking in Our Cave explains why better eating shouldn’t be about substituting foods. Here’s the opening:

When people begin a new way of eating, they often look to ‘substitute’ for foods they used to eat that may have been less than ideal. For example, a person might ‘substitute’ a bowl of oatmeal for the danish they used to eat in the morning. The ‘substitute’ is supposed to be an improvement on the usual item consumed.

Here’s why I don’t like the term ‘substitute.’ It somehow implies to me that what you’re eating is merely standing in for what you WANT to eat. You are will to accept something other than what you really want for whatever reason (typically because the new food is in some way a better fit with your new style of eating) but by calling it a ‘substitute’ you are implicitly acknowledging that item’s second class status in your mind.

I agree wholeheartedly. I don’t substitute foods: I choose to eat healthy, delicious real foods rather than highly processed junk. It’s simple — and oh-so-very satisfying.