Looking for Substitutes for Sweets

On the whole I agree that the more sugar and refined carbs that are in your diet, the more you will crave them. But I also believe that if you totally deny yourself any indulgence that you will fail in the long run and not be able to maintain weight loss (it's best to train yourself to eat sweets in appropriate amounts in a controlled and mindful manner). With that said, if you're going to eat or drink sweet things know that things taste sweeter when warm rather than cold. For whatever reason adding freshly ground nutmeg to recipes makes them taste MUCH sweeter to me. Lastly, rather than baking with tons of sugar in something try sprinkling some on the top, because the sugar is the first thing to hit your mouth I use way less and get the same sensation as it containing a lot of sugar. I bake small thin sugar cookies for special treats and freeze them in a ziplock baggie, I can eat 4 for a total of 99 calories. They don't have a lot of sugar in them but I brushed them with butter and sprinkled sugar on top. In order to eat them I have to take them from the freezer and allow them to come to room temperature, the act of doing so creates a mindful eating habit. If they were within arms reach and easily accessible in a cookie jar on the counter I would burn through them. Alternately, wrapping them in 100 cal servings also seems to work for me psychologically in setting a "unit" measure in my mind--the snack has a delineated and visual beginning and end and as an added bonus is really easy to log!

There's a bunch of artificial sweeteners, take your pick.

http://cleanfoodcrush.com/chocolate-pb-muffins/ give this recipe a try, very yummy!

I use overripe bananas when baking or making a mug cake. It's sugar in another form, but gives some potassium. When you have a craving try eating a small portion of nuts--sometimes that's do it, or chew a piece of sugarless gum.

Zero carb, zero sugar, low cal, high protein gummy bears are my go to.
I have attached a pic (I made only raspberry ones as that's all I had in) They're super easy to make:


The recipe is assuming you're UK based. If in the US the proportions may differ as we have different jelly/jello.


Ingredients:
1x sachet of sugar free jelly any flavour-I used hartley's raspberry sugar free jelly as I had it already.
2x sachets of Dr Oetker gelatine powder (2x 12g sachets)
125ml boiling water

Put boiling water in a mug, add the gelatine and jelly and stir like crazy until it's all dissolved and pippet into gummy bear moulds and place in the freezer for 20mins. Then pop them out of the mould and eat. Or put in a zippy bag and keep in the fridge/freezer.

I haven't tried keeping them out of the fridge/freezer. Other people have said they're fine and go a bit softer which they like. I personally like them hard

It won't let me add in the link for the gummy bear moulds but a pack of 3 with the pipettes are on amazon prime for £7.99

If you can wean yourself off foods high in sugar and refined carbohydrates your cravings will decrease by 90%. That's my experience anyway but heard the same from a lot of others too. Fresh or frozen fruit are a healthy alternative. Try freezing some grapes or get frozen bing cherries. You can also find a tasty protein shake that taste almost like a treat, add fruit or rum that ought to help.

Dessert-
I like fresh berries topped with Reddi-Whip (can of whipped cream). The berries are a little sweet themselves, and adding 2 tablespoons of cream doesn't add many calories or a ton of sugar.

Chocolate chip clouds:
http://www.skinnytaste.com/black-and-white-chocolate-chip-clouds/

Chewing a piece of gum or bubblegum might be a good option. You have the sweet sensation going for a long time, and it's fun to blow giant bubbles.


Snack -
High fiber English muffin (or toast or crackers) topped with a little cream cheese + a little jam.


Breakfast -
I'm not really a pumpkin fan, but these were pretty tasty and a little sweet from the maple and pumpkin. I froze some and re-heated them in the toaster:
http://www.skinnytaste.com/whole-wheat-pumpkin-pecan-pancakes/

http://www.skinnytaste.com/chewy-chocolate-chip-oatmeal-breakfast/


Lunch/Dinner-
Roast Brussels sprouts with a maple glaze or balsamic vinegar. Toss in toasted walnuts and dried cranberries to when they come out of the oven.

Lower calorie General Tso's:
http://damndelicious.net/2014/05/23/lighter-general-tsos-chicken/

jennice23 wrote: »

I would recommend a grapefruit. Not the red one. If eaten at night after a good workout it's will burn some fat off. But u must get a big one. Cut it in half. And use a grapefruit spoon to eat it so u don't eat the skin where it's bitter.

How does grapefruit eaten at nighttime after a good workout burn some fat off? Is it the good workout or the grapefruit that burns the fat off?

I've noticed that when I stop eating so much sweet food, I stop craving it as much. However, here are a few of my favorite sweet snacks.

Light Cool Whip mixed with PB2 Powder (its like a PB Mousse)
Dark Chocolate with Chili (Aldi's Moser Roth Bars are the perfect size)
Hot Tea with Stevia or Splenda (some teas, such as chai or raspberry herbal tea, are naturally sweet as well)

When I was doing the Whole 30, I discovered Dried Mango (no added sugar!!! ... I got it at Sprouts, Target and Trader Joes). It is very sweet, packed with vitamins and you can keep a bag stashed in your purse for those must have cravings. It is like eating a fruit roll up or bag of fruit snacks but healthy. Mmmm!

I make energy balls. These are with healthy ingredients like while rolled oats peanut butter chia seeds or flax honey and a few chocolate chips. About 80 calories each. Found tons of recipes on pintrest and it fixed my sweet tooth!

jtintx wrote: »

becky10rp wrote: »

I don't know if this will help you - but I freeze grapes (red or green - doesn't matter) - and eat them as a snack after dinner. You get the sweetness - but not the guilt - as you're eating fruit.

Why do you freeze them?

When they're frozen it makes them crunchy and taste more like Candy

I have had good luck in my baked goods by replacing white sugar with Stevia, brown sugar with the Splenda Blend, oils with apple sauce or bananas.

I make a pumpkin muffin and an oatmeal/peanut butter muffin that is really good.

If a recipe calls for peanut butter I sometimes will replace part of it with PB2 to help reduce the calories. I can eat 2 muffins for around 300 calories.

I just take regular recipes and start replacing things. The only ones that I didn't like at all were the low carb muffins made with coconut flour...they were edible...but barely.

I do my cookies the same way...just start replacing stuff. I even used the Stevia in my mini cheesecakes.