Sweets?

[mo093]

any advice for sweets (cookies, etc)?

[lilleo13]

The best way is not to have them in the house.  But if sweets are around, try to make it a reward for after having intense activity.  If you have an ounce of chocolate after intense exercise, your body burns it off and it's not a bad cheat.  

[LCHFmom]

I agree with the last poster -- keep items out of the house. 

However, I cannot always practice what i preach.  I have sweets cravings from time to time.  I eat LCHF so my "sweets" tend to be quite savory and I dont bake often.  When I do, I go sugar-free and low carb, so the impact to my body is less shock than that traditional baked goodie. 

[runnergirl318]

I find that after a few days of no sugar the craving go away completely.  That being said--If I'm going to indulge I make sure its something GOOD!  I don't waste my indulgences on something like Oreos. If I'm eating cookies they will be the best cookies EVER--something special.  

[PaleoBonnie]

I make my own gluten-free cookies with almond flour and substitute half the sugar for splenda.

[tallson]

I don't eat sugars, refined grains, starches and liquid carbohydrates. I try to replace my restricted carbs with fats to balance appetite. Snacks of nuts, seeds, cheeses, nut butters, avocados and such make it not such a burden.

[Natalie]

living in a house with 3 kids and my husband, means tempation is always around me.  I try not to deny my cravings but do limit them as best as possible.

I usually have a cup of hot chocolate, made on water and skim milk a couple of nights a week - low fat and curbs the sugar craving.

I also believe in quality not quantity in a snack, if I am going to have a piece of chocolate, I make sure it is the best (for me lindt chocoate balls)

Everyone is different dealing with tempation.  You just have to work our your weakness and put in place a strategy which will work for you, for some people it is total denial for others small amounts in moderation

[tkillion]

Allow yourself some flexibility.  This way you will still feel successful at the end of the holiday season.  Set a day and time that you are going to treat yourself to that goodie you really want.  Get lots of activity in. 

Also, I have found after 2 weeks, my sugar cravings generally go away.  So once those goodies are out of the house, give yourself 2 weeks committed to getting back on track.

[SpiceChicken]

Two things that help me are portion control and insisting on quality.  My weaknesses include dark chocolate and pumpkin pie, so I'll limit serving sizes to an ounce of the former and a reasonable slice of the latter instead of the gargantuan piece I think I want.  And I make my own pie, which tastes better than store bought.  If you take the time to really taste treats, some of them just aren't that good.  Some friends brought over a huge bag of holiday cookies, and we ended up throwing them out because they were kinda yucky: waxy chocolate, grainy fudge, tasteless cookies.

[Trazina]

I agree with Natalie. Everybody is different. For me, I have to stay away from sweets completely. I am addicted to sugar so I tend to be all or nothing. If that is not your issues indulge in the best of whatever you prefer, be it cookies, chocolate or what not. A food diary helps as well, then you can go back and see how often you've indulged.

[Trazina]

Another thing I just thought of. Take a small amount of chocolate and drizzle it on fruit. It goes further, you get your fruit, satisfy your craving and gives you the benefit of healthy fruit

[mo093]

thank you everyone for your input! im excited to try these new ideas (especially the chocolate drizzeled fruit 🙂 )

[Jayboy]

Dark chocholate covered almonds and walnuts are my sweet tooth comfort food.

Good nutients with minimal sugar and nice and chewy.

Eat well!

Jay

[inaj]

When I just have to have something sweet to eat I have TicTac's.  The calorie content is minimal.  When I crave chocolate I have a couple of Dark Chocolate Hershey Kisses.  The chocolate satisfies the craving and again, the calorie content is minimal.

[lulu_grbt]

I am the worst! i crave it all the time. I learned to do small things first. for every cookie or goodie i eat i try to follow it with a veggie... after a while your gonna get full and only half of it was bad fr you. Then bump it up to2 veggies, and pass on just 1 craving ....small steps helpweed it out. And in the summer freeze grapes and they r sweet and have a lil crunch to help satisfiy! good luck

[badminton]

You can use the Oatmeal cookie recipe on Quaker Oats Old Fashioned, but increase the spices and replace ALL the sugar with a low sugar/all natural peanut butter- and - mashed bannana mix (I tend to use more peanut butter and less bananna, but some people might prefer more bannana and less peanut butter). I just mix it in and taste it -- so I don't have great measurements to go by.  You get a cookie that tastes a bit more like a granola bar.

[badminton]

I have kid as well - and he has friends. So, the temptations are around. If I have a treat, I walk more. The bigger the treat, the longer I have to walk. The other night I was walking at 11:15PM inside the house because I had had a couple thumbprint cookies and I was over on my calories. So I walked until I was back in the green zone. 

I also keep Cocoa in the house, and make hot cocoa out of 2% milk, the Cocoa, and a LITTLE honey. Much less sugar than the regular kind, and I actually liked the taste a lot more than I thought I would! It gave packaged hot chocolate mix a run for its money.

[scoobie57]

Don' t really crave them.  However, I keep some dark chocolate handy to help satisfy or top off the end of a meal.  Buy it in the bars that can be broken into little squares Then just have 1 or 2 squares of very dark chocolate which has nutritional value as well.  Helps curb anymore  hunger since it's so strong of a taste.  Also, vinegar will salad dressings will do same to curb hunger further. 

[steff]

Real ice cream, is actually a very good choice for a sweet treat.  It has fat, protein and is surprisingly low in sugar.  Use unsweetend fruit for toppings or melt some dark chocolate or stir it all up into a smoothie. 

[brokendownangel]

I have a really sweet tooth so I struggle with no sweets, but having an addictive personality I can't stop at one so I make sugar free jellies.  I just make up sugar free jelly but with only half the water, leave to set then cut into shapes.

It isn't the same as a sweet but it fools me sometimes