How To Make Sweets Part Of A Healthy Diet
Eating healthy makes a difference in your body’s immune system, weight, and overall health. A healthy diet is more of a lifestyle choice than a fad. Just because you want to eat healthily does not mean that you can not have sweets.
Everyone loves to have sweet treats every now and then, and the key to having sweets as a part of your diet is to eat them in moderation and choose healthier options.
It is practically impossible to eliminate sugar from your diet, especially because so many things today have added sugar, but you can learn to incorporate healthy eating into your life. You have so many options today that can satisfy the craving for sweets.
Sweet Options for a Healthy Diet
Sweet treats can be healthy and delicious at the same time. Fruit is naturally sweet and yummy on ice cream, cake, or yoghurt, and both fresh and frozen fruits add natural sweetness. Be careful about store-bought dehydrated fruit as it often contains added sugars.
Dark chocolate is an excellent choice, as it also has added health benefits because it contains higher amounts of cacao.
Several vegetables are also naturally sweet, such as beets, sweet potatoes, yams, carrots, and winter squash. Training your body and mind to recognise these naturally sweet and healthier options will help you adjust your eating habits.
Spices such as nutmeg, clove and cinnamon on apples, toast or added to coffee will also satisfy sweet cravings and are an excellent alternative to commercially produced sugar-filled syrups.
There are also extracts that will add flavour to drinks, ice cream, and healthy baked goods like almond, mint, vanilla and hazelnut.
Tips For Success
You can do a few things to set yourself up for success when including sweets in your healthy way of eating. Knowing yourself and developing a system that works for you is essential.
- Frequency and timing make a difference when it comes to eating sweets. It is best to eat your sweets with a meal because it will not impact your blood sugar levels as much as eating sweets by themselves.
Frequent snacking impacts dental health because the bacteria in your mouth consume simple carbs and sugars when you eat. The acid produced from this can harm your teeth if you are consistently eating sweets and drinking sugary beverages—people who frequently snack will have more tooth decay challenges than those who eat sweets with their meals.
- Learn to read your food labels and know what you put into your body. Many foods have multiple sources of sugar listed as such ingredients as inverted sugar, fructose, corn syrup, corn syrup solids, molasses, cane juice, and so many others.
Ensuring that you develop an understanding of different ways that sugar is labelled is essential to choosing when and what sweets you eat.
- Make changes slowly and not all at once. By decreasing your sugar intake a little bit and breaking down the changes into smaller, manageable chunks, you are more likely to stick to your healthy choices.
- Eating smaller portions is helpful. For example, eat two cookies instead of four, eat ice cream from a small cup instead of a bowl, or cut smaller pieces for pie and cake.
- Choose sweet treats that have less sugar. Chocolate is a great choice, especially dark chocolate, which contains more than 70% of cocoa, and has added health benefits.
- Incorporate more fruit, whether it is fresh or frozen fruit, you can add it to your cereal, oatmeal or yoghurt (watch out for added sugar) to reduce your sugar intake.
- Reduce or eliminate sugary drinks. Beverages like soda, juice with added sugars, and beverages with sugary syrups can contain more sugar than a large dessert.
- Utilise extracts, spices, and coconut or almond milk. Use alternatives to sweeten your beverages instead of flavoured creamers or syrups.
As you switch over to naturally sweet foods, you will notice that your taste buds adapt quickly, and after a while, foods with a lot of added sugars will begin to taste overwhelmingly sweet. Your body will naturally start to crave more of these deliciously sweet, healthy treats.
Pick And Mix Your Favorite Sweet Treats
You can find something for everyone at the Sweet Factory. We even offer halal, vegan, and vegetarian treats, so there will be the perfect sweet for you (and your body!).
Check out our whole list of sweets here — we’re sure to have something to satisfy any sweet tooth and deliver high-quality treats right to your door!
