Healthy sweets

quiksylver296 wrote: »

I honestly just make the things I want fit within my daily calories. If I want chocolate, and I try to substitute other things, they just don't do the trick. I end up eating the substitute, and then maybe another substitute, and then finally the chocolate. So, I end up eating MORE calories than I would have if I didn't have the substitutes in the first place.

I plan for my treat every evening. I have chocolate, candy or ice cream pretty much every night. It fits within my calories and I enjoy every bite.

I so agree, substitutes are never satisfying, plan so you can eat the real thing

Fruit. Or sweets I am happy to consume in moderation, which for me includes dark chocolate (I like the Chocolove 88% currently) or ice creams (or the vegan alternative). I don't find that most lower cal alternatives are satisfying and would rather have smaller portions of something or, with something I like larger portions of (like good pie), just have it less frequently.

There are muffins that don't have lots of sugar, but they are generally all going to be high cal, because of the flour and added fat (and nuts if you use them). The main way to make them lower cal is to make them small.

Here are some tips for reducing the calories in a muffin recipe from my collection of cookbooks: use egg whites instead of whole eggs; replace butter and oil with applesauce, mashed bananas, or prune baby food (the latter especially good with chocolate and other robust flavors); use cocoa powder to replace some of the chocolate chips; use fat free versions of dairy products; reduce the amount of high-calorie ingredients like nuts and coconut.

It won't taste exactly the same, but it can be close enough to satisfy your need for something sweet.

Try reducing the amount of sugar in the recipe by a quarter - you may not notice the difference. If you're not against them, use a stevia, monkfruit, and/or sucralose baking blend. There's even a lower calorie brown sugar.

Also, if you use your search engine to look for "healthy desserts" there are a lot of recipes out there. Frankly, I'd rather have a really good high-calorie treat once in a while rather than a low-calorie substitute more often - I'll have a dish of full fat ice cream or frozen custard every couple of weeks, but I'll go out for it and won't keep containers in my house - I don't trust myself. Or I'll get a single slice of cake or pie from the bakery. I find things like ice milk vile and not worth the calories.

What is your recipe for chocolate avocado pudding? In the past, I have made frozen cookie dough balls and just pulled out one or two at a time. Not really healthy but helped with moderation!

Dates are too calorie intense for my preferences and satiety. My go-to sweets are plain graham crackers (130 cals for two), sweetened cream cheese on rice cakes (add fruit if you want, prob 150 cals all in), small squares of dark chocolate (50-70 each). There's no magical low cal dessert that satisfies like something with a nice amount of fat and sugar. Just gotta figure how to build it in.

Date balls.

As a diabetic with pretty low tolerance for carbs I'm stuck with either small portions or "healthier" variations. My experience has been that cutting out added sugar completely for two weeks sort of resets my taste buds and then fruit and other natural sugars taste much sweeter, while sweetened foods taste really too sweet. Try eating fruit more often, and smaller muffins less often.

I sometimes make lower glycemic baked goods using bananas, canned pumpkin, or other fruits replacing part of the sugar. Grinding oats, seeds, or nuts into flour and replacing part of the flour also helps (although if your concern is calories, not carbs, it can be even higher calorie.) A smaller amount of honey or maple syrup gives more flavor than an equivalent amount of white sugar, and spices such as cinnamon or ginger can also make baked goods more flavorful with less sweetener. Low calorie add ins such as cranberries and dark chocolate also help. Some people use stevia, but unfortunately I don't like the taste or the way it reacts when baking as well.

On an everyday basis, my most common desserts are almond milk latte with cinnamon and dark chocolate (50 cal), Greek yogurt with berries, dark chocolate squares, or fresh fruit.

I actually have made many healthier versions of muffins that were pretty good. I am not a muffin fanatic, but they served a purpose for me. My sister loved them also. I just google healthy whatever I am looking for. Some were hits and some were not. Also if I want a cookie I will have a cookie. I just know I cannot have a whole sleeve like I used to eat, but normally a few cookies satiates my craving if that is what I want.