Quick Tips for Healthier Desserts

When you are watching your weight, it can sometimes be difficult to totally abstain from having sweets. Unless you have a compelling medical reason to completely ban sweets from your diet, there are ways to cut down on calories and fats and still have dessert. By substituting high-calorie and high-fat snacks with desserts and snacks that are are lower in calories and fat without sacrificing flavor, you can still satisfy that sugar craving.

What you should not substitute high calorie and high fat snacks with is snacks which replace low-fat for higher sugar content. Also not included on the list are products with sugar substitutes, including Spelnda, NutraSweet or Saccharin. A small amount of natural sugar can be more satiating to the palette than artificially-created sweeteners.

These substitutes are not meant for diabetics, as they are not necessarily low in sugar or sugar-free.

1. Swap Cheesecake for Cheesecake flavored pudding. Cheesecake is a popular restaurant dessert choice, and one that is incredibly decadent. A small slice of cheesecake (80g) can contain 257 calories, 18 grams of fat, with 62% of the calories coming from fat. For a lower-calorie and lower-fat alternative, try making Jello’s Cheesecake flavored pudding (160 calories). You could even make a mock cheesecake using this non-cook pudding and a low-fat graham cracker crust.

2. Swap a Dunkin’ Donuts Vanilla Chai for a cup of home-brewed Stash Tea’s Chai Spice. The calories in those daily or bi-weekly coffeehouse drinks add up quickly. Why drink a Dunkin’ Donuts Vanilla Chai with 240 calories and eight grams of fat when you can brew a guilt-free cup at home. Chai Spice tea made by Stash is one of many tasty teas that are calorie and fat-free. The only added calories and fat will come from the milk and sweeteners you add yourself. A warm cup of flavored tea may satisfy that sugar craving in place of dessert.

3. Swap apple pie for a baked apple. A slice of apple pie (1/8 of a 9″ pie, or 155g) can contain about 410 calories and have 19g of fat. A baked apple, on the other hand, like the one in the following recipe, has about 70 calories and less than one gram of fat. Apple pie gets its high calories and high fat content from the crust, not the apples. Instead of apple pie, bake a whole, cored and unpeeled apple stuffed with half of a banana, a pinch of cinnamon or nutmeg, one teaspoon sugar (optional) and a few drops of lemon juice. For added flavor pour 1/8 of a cup of orange juice over the apple before baking for 20 minutes at 400 degrees.

With any dessert, snacks and treats, eat them in moderation and savor each bite (or sip).