5 Healthy Dessert Ideas that Won’t Wreck Your Diet
I have a sweet tooth but I want to eat healthily, so I always research healthy dessert ideas. I find this a challenge to satisfy both my sugar craving and my caloric intake. In my quest for sugar and health (I’ve tried the ingredient substitutions and don’t always have the best luck), I’ve found 5 snacks that count as desserts without being too sugary:
1. Chocolate Covered Banana
Sometimes I have cravings for a Reese’s peanut butter cup (Really, anything frozen and chocolate). So I melt dark chocolate chips (60% cacao) and drizzle it over a drop of peanut butter and a slice of banana. Then I set them in the freezer for at least an hour. For a tablespoon serving, these are only 126 calories and have 4 grams of protein.
2. Baked Apples
One of my favorite things to make in the fall and winter is baked apples. I’m a ‘crunched for time’ cook, so I slice up some apples, throw them in the crockpot, sprinkle them with cinnamon, then leave. But I’ve seen more difficult recipes on Pinterest, including baking them and making dried chips. No matter how you slice it (cheesy pun. I love it), this snack is less than 100 calories and only uses natural sugars. Fantastic!
3. Frozen Yogurt Bites
As you may have noticed from my other articles, I love ice cream. However, ice cream isn’t a healthy snack so I shouldn’t eat it all of the time. Instead of ruining my diet, I can freeze fruit dipped in Greek yogurt. I love to use blueberries because they’re delicious and are packed with health benefits (I’ve also read a few articles that says blueberries eat your belly fat, which I’m all for) and Greek yogurt because of the protein. Just be careful to read the label, because yogurt can be full of sugar!
4. Fruit Over Whipped Cream
Another treat that’s similar to ice cream is whipped cream. For a cup, this is less than 200 calories and can be packed with tons of health benefits depending on the fruit you choose. Tyra Banks said this was her favorite dessert when she was a Victoria’s Secret model, so I figured it was a pretty good idea. Just try not to go overboard with the amount you eat due to the fat content.
5. Energy Bites
This is a very versatile snack. There are recipes to make it sweet using chocolate, fruit, or cinnamon. There are also ways to bulk up the protein using a nut butter (My favorite being peanut butter). This is the recipe that I love to make and they come in around 100 calories per ball. But feel free to get creative or Google for more ideas.
For more ideas, you can read my article on healthy snacks to bring to work or visit my Pinterest board for tons of other options.