SIX ideas to help reduce sugar and TWENTY-FIVE angelic sweet treats!

You want to stay on track with healthy eating but sometimes when the afternoon snack attack hits, you want something sweet – sweets, cookies, those brownies at the school bake sale that just had to be on, kids leftover Halloween treats etc. A little planning and you can take control. When it comes to how to quit sugar, being consistent is much easier said than done! Kind of like 6am January runs or that 7pm spin session.

This blog post is about ways to help reduce sugar but also for those sweet ideas to treat yourself because yes you can be good but you also have to live and to live is to eat food!

When faced with the temptation of chocolate bars, biscuits and sugar laden soft drinks, it’s hard, even for the strongest of will powers, not to cave in to sugar and that’s before you take into account all those accidental slip ups and think the foods where sugar is secretly hidden, including tomato ketchup, sliced chicken and bread – 7 ideas to avoid excess sugar are:

1. BE PREPARED – clear house from temptation. 

2. AVOID BLOOD SUGAR CRASHES – To avoid this, include high-fibre wholegrains such as wholemeal bread, wholemeal pasta, quinoa, wholemeal couscous, and wholegrain rice and oats into your diet as these release their energy more slowly

3. EXPLORE ALTERNATIVE FLAVOURS – A handful of crunchy nuts and seeds sprinkled with chilli powder will stimulate your taste buds in a way that chocolate can’t.

4. DITCH THE DIET DRINKS

5. ALWAYS CHECK THE LABELS – Identify the times of the day when you tend to crave things most and put a strategy in place

6. HAVE A BACK-UP PLAN – healthy snacks saved just in case!

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25 ‘ANGELIC’ SWEET TREATS!

1. Chocolate Avocado Pudding

2. Smoothies.

3. Yoghurt (which you can get from any supermarket!)

4. Marshmallows.

5. Choco popcorn – pop a small bag of natural popcorn and top with 1 tablespoon melted peanut butter and a dusting of cocoa powder. Crunchy and the perfect amount of sweetness!

6. Rice cakes – can get these from Aldi or Lidl.

7. Nakd bars my children and I love – especially coco orange (vegetarian, gluten free)

8. Yoghurt coated raisins 

9. Mango, grapes, oranges, watermelon, blueberries etc 

10. Dairy free, grain free gluten free fudge cake

11. Herbal tea

12. Frozen Chocolate Banana – this is the perfect frozen sweet treat with some extra nutritional punch! Bananas are a great source of vitamins C and B6, and are also packed with fiber and potassium. Peel a banana, cut into two equal halves, and freeze. Once solid, take out and roll in melted dark chocolate. While the chocolate’s still melty, roll in whichever crunchy topping you like—sprinkles, nuts, and granola all work well! Return to the freezer until the chocolate is set (at least an hour).

 

13.  Yogurt Parfait – top 1 cup Greek yogurt (plain or vanilla) with your choice of toppings: crumbled graham crackers or granola, nuts, and fruit are all healthy choices. (Add some shaved chocolate if you must!)

14. All fruit Popsicle – there’s no added sugar in these sweet and cool treats. Simply puree watermelon chunks and some lime juice, freeze, and enjoy. If it’s not watermelon season, try any other juicy fruit: Pears, peaches, or berries with a touch of apple juice for base will all make great pops.

16. Sugar free Gummy Sweets

17. Plain cereal and milk – you can make this one as healthy or unhealthy as you like. Opt for a high-fiber, whole-grain cereal if you’re going the healthy route and sweeten with a bit of honey or cinnamon.

18.  Sweet sushi from BBC Good Food

19. Brittle

20. Strawberry smoothie bowl

21. Banana Nutella Milkshake

22.  Apricot Coconut Energy Balls

23. Kiwi Cucumber Smoothie

24. Homemade Chewy Granola Bar

25. Chocolate Chip Macaroons

 

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Further reading on the blog:

Pro’s of Cheat Baking! (Shhh!) For Naughty bakes!

Some meal ideas for kiddywinks!! (Including both savoury and sweet!)