How to indulge your sweet tooth safely explains healthy ways to satisfy your sugar cravings such as chocolates, fruits creamy sweets, and doughnuts. Almost all of us have a weak spot for some sweet indulgence. Whether it is chocolate, ice cream, cookies, cake, or doughnuts, life would be pretty boring without a treat from time to time. And the truth is that chewing a baby carrot can’t replace the taste and indulgence of a creamy chocolate bar.
So, the first advice you should follow is to shun fat-free or low-fat desserts. Because, ounce for ounce, most fat-free desserts are just as calorie-rich as the higher-fat version. And even if they are low-calorie, you are not helping yourself by eating a whole box.
Chocolate
For many of us, temptation means chocolate, despite its calories and tendency to trigger heartburn. Hence, the solution for both your diet, and your heartburn, is to think of a small piece, but delicious and satisfying.
Therefore, nothing but chocolate will do if it’s chocolate you’re craving. A healthy alternative chocolate option is to cut up fruits like – apples, strawberries, bananas, pineapples, and melons. And then dip the pieces in chocolate syrup. Dipping in, rather than pouring on, helps you keep a handle on the calories. This gives you the chocolate taste you want with the nutritional value of the fruit.
You can also indulge your chocolate fantasies, with a mug of hot chocolate (made from high-quality cocoa or chocolate bars, not the powdered instant variety), or a couple of choc-chip cookies. Or try a square or two of creamy dark (as opposed to milk) chocolate, which is satisfying, nutritious, and rich in antioxidants.
Fruit and creamy sweets
If you want something creamy, flavored yogurt or plain yogurt mixed with honey and fruit will do the trick. Likewise, small portions of pudding, like the small dessert cups you pack in your child’s lunchbox are ideal. However, if it’s ice cream you want, skip the scoop-yourself containers and buy single-serving novelty treats or even chocolate-covered ice cream bars. You are more likely to limit your portions if they come in a single serving.
Fruit is a great sweet nutritious treat. To make fruit seem more like dessert and less like something you should be eating, find below these suggestions:
- Drizzle a bit of honey over mixed melon balls.
- Blend bananas and mango, freeze them into cubes, and eat like ice cream.
- Sauté or bake 1/2 banana, drizzle with honey, and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of chopped nuts.
- Take three of your favorite kinds of berries; cook half with just enough water to prevent burning.
- Cool and stir in the remaining berries. Serve a 1/2 cup of the berry compote with 1 tablespoon of your favorite vanilla ice cream.
Doughnuts
Doughnuts and coffee in the morning are most people’s breakfasts. Either you pick on your way to work. Or heat cold leftover doughnuts with a glass of OJ and dash out.
According to nutritionists, added sugars should not exceed 10 percent of your daily calorie intake. There are 387 calories in 100 grams of sugar. So, eating just one doughnut is unlikely to cause any harm. Besides, even an occasional doughnut, like a doughnut once a week is not considered bad. The goal is to avoid regularly overconsuming sugary doughnuts.
However, the trouble is do you stop at one donut? The solution is to look for a good substitute for doughnut cravings. The healthy alternative is baked sweet potatoes. So, okay it’s not a “sugary treat”, but it’s tasty and rich in natural sugars. They are full of fiber so they help satiate your cravings better than empty refined sugars.
What nutritionists say
Many nutritionists agree that when it comes to sweet treats, it is not really what you eat, but how much and how often. Small indulgences, even once a day, are fine. Size is what counts. You will consume many calories if you tempt yourself and buy five cookies or five chocolate squares. A pound has 3,500 calories. And a mere candy bar a day at 250 calories beyond what your body needs to stay at your current weight means an additional 26 pounds by the end of the year.
Knowing how to indulge your sweet tooth safely means being able to eat the “real thing” if you want. However instead of “supersizing,” try “downsizing”. You can limit your calories but still treat your taste buds.
