FAQ Friday: What Are Some Healthier Snacks For Someone With a Sweet Tooth?

Whenever I get asked this question I smile, because I've been working on creating healthier, lighter, and satisfying "Sweet-Tooth Snacks" my entire life.  I've had a sweet tooth since I was young. I can still remember going to Buckeye Football parties with my parents, and eating about 10 candy buckeyes at a time (no joke).  If you're not sure what a buckeye is, see the picture below.  They are the giant balls of peanut butter, dipped in chocolate towards the bottom of the photo.

I've created some healthier buckeyes in the past, with less sugar and dark chocolate instead of milk, but they're still pretty sugar-loaded.  Today, instead of talking about sugary desserts, I want to talk to you about the importance of appreciating fruit as a dessert.......  NOT!  Don't you just hate it when people suggest fruit as a dessert?   I'm sorry, but fruit just never cuts it for me, unless it's something like strawberries dipped in chocolate (great idea, by the way.)

Try large strawberries dipped in melted dark chocolate squares (I use 2 pieces of 85% dark chocolate, with about 50 calories each).  This dessert contains about 150 calories, if I eat about 6 large strawberries and use two pieces of dark chocolate. Not bad!

Or this lovely concoction.....

Pistachio and honey-stuffed dates .  Let's say this together.....AMAZING!

This is plain greek yogurt with unsweetened cocoa powder mixed in.  I then dipped a sugar-free fudge pop in it.  SO TASTY!

There's nothing like some Tofu Chocolate Mousse to kick that chocolate craving!

Have you ever had an urge to just BAKE?! I get those urges sometimes, and I always make sure to make something that is at least somewhat healthy, since whatever I bake will likely be around for several days.  One day I made these Pumpkin Oat Cookies,which turned out to be so good that Nick still requests them to this day.

I like late-night snacks, and this is one of my favorites; a smoothie with 1/2 cup frozen blueberries and 3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk, with some drops of vanilla and your favorite non-calorie sweetener.  After I blend it and get it smooth, I add either whipped cream or Greek yogurt (plain). Heavenly.

Dessert Hummus.  Beware, this is amazing. 

I have an obsession with popsicles.  Can you tell? I like sugar-free popsicles dipped in Greek yogurt and whipped cream.  I also like making my own popsicles, like this one that is literally frozen mango juice!

This is something you can make and freeze (so you always have them!).  They are Chocolate, Almond, and Dried Plum No-Bake Cookie Bites

 I'll end with one of my new favorites; large strawberries with light cool whip.  Oh so good!

Need some lighter dessert ideas?  I think this cookbook is pretty great.  It's not necessarily for quick dessert/snack ideas, but if you're throwing a party or going to a party, the lighter ideas in here are very tasty.

Another option is to buy lower fat chocolate, which is made with fruit juice to replace the fat (what?!).  Coming soon to a grocery store near you??

QUESTION:  What's your favorite healthier indulgence?

Thanks for reading!

The Candid Rd

Dark Chocolate Sorbet on a Hot Spring Day

Happy Hump Day everyone (although it still feels like Tuesday to me!). I hope everyone is having a nice week so far. My week has been relaxing, yet nerve-racking at the same time. Relaxing because I don't have many responsibilities, and nerve-racking because I will find out if I got my "DREAM JOB" this week! Thanks for all of your kind comments and positive support.


I forgot that moving into a new home meant house warming gifts galore! Here is one of our favorite gifts so far:


Not only did we get some dark chocolate sorbet mix, but included was a fantastic new ice cream scoop! I know what you're thinking, "An ice cream scoop, what's so cool about that?!". Let me explain. This is no ordinary ice cream scoop. This thing cuts through even the coldest, hardest ice cream (or in our case, frozen yogurt) because it has antifreeze inside! If you shake it you can hear the antifreeze. And let me tell you, this baby works.




We followed the simple directions for the Dark Chocolate Sorbet.....




And I even put some of the sorbet (prior to freezing it) into a popsicle mold and made a fudge pop. I wish I would have filled all of the molds, but I only filled one as a "tester". This thing was amazing. Better than any store bought fudge pop.




The sorbet (sorry, I didn't take a picture of any scoops!) had 60 calories in 1/2 cup. I wanted to march over to that Gelato shop and say to the lady "This has 60 calories in 1/2 cup, NOT your gelato!!" haha

Today's Trivia
(Source: Why Does Popcorn Pop? By Don Voorhees)

Ice cream, by law, must not contain any less than 10% butterfat, 2.7% protein, and 20% milk solids, and must not contain more than 50% air, per gallon. Most commercially sold ice creams have about 15% sugar and 0.3% vegetable gum stabilizers as well (sounds enticing). Sorbet (also called sherbet, sorbetto, or Italian ice) is made from pasteurized fruit pulp, fruit juice, and sugar syrup. In this case there was no fruit, just chocolate and sugar.

More Trivia

Can you guess the number one selling ice cream? Breyers! Breyers uses all natural ingredients, with no preservatives or stabilizers. But soon the best selling ice cream will be GINA'S! ;)

Flashback Wednesday..........

Check out this dark chocolate sorbet recipe I posted last summer! It's homemade, not from a box. It definitely took longer than the one from Crate and Barrel, but I really think they both taste similar. There are pros and cons of both.

Coming Up

Tomorrow I will be posting some garden updates. We've been busy! Soon I'll have pumpkins so I can make my own pumpkin puree. Yeah, I'm that desperate.

Thanks for reading everyone, and have a fabulous day!

Agave vs. Honey, Carob vs. Dark Chocolate

We did it! We signed the papers and made an offer.....

but it was counter-offered by the owners last night :( What are we doing? Making another counter-offer of course! We'll hear back tonight. What an ordeal.

Last night, after hearing that our offer was declined, Nick and I watched the movie 2012. Do you want to spend 2.5 hours watching the most ridiculous movie ever made? Go ahead and rent it yourself! It was so lame. I laughed pretty hard throughout the movie, just making fun of it.

Q & A

About a month ago Kristen of Change of Pace asked me about Agave Nectar vs. Honey, and Carob Chips vs. Dark chocolate. Here is some information.

AGAVE

I recently did a post about HFCS and Agave nectar on our new workplace wellness blog. To read the post, click here. For a brief overview, dietitians really aren't recommending agave nectar as an alternative, "healthier" sweetener. While it may be "slightly less processed", it is actually 84% fructose! This is much higher than high fructose corn syrup. What's wrong with fructose? Nothing, really, especially in the form of fruit, but too much can cause major health issues. Fructose is not used for energy quite as readily as glucose, and most of it is taken up by the liver and turned to glycogen or stored as fat. THIS IS ONLY A PROBLEM IF YOU CONSUME TOO MUCH OF IT! Since sweeteners such as HFCS are found in so many foods, it's no wonder it gets the blame for all the chronic disease and the obesity epidemic. In comparison, honey is 50% fructose, 44% glucose, and 1% sucrose (fructose and glucose combined).

My opinion? I'd choose honey over agave nectar in a heartbeat. If you want the less processed honey, choose organic.

CAROB CHIPS

It's hard to compare carob chips to dark chocolate because it really depends on what kind of dark chocolate you buy. Some brands are much better than others. For example, if you buy "Dark Chocolate Chips", chances are they are just darkened chocolate, and are not much different than milk chocolate chips. If you buy Ghirardelli 85% dark chocolate, or Lindt's 85% dark chocolate, they actually provide many benefits. The same might be true with the different brands of carob chips, but I really don't know enough about carob chips to be sure. Overall, here are some nutritional differences between the two:

• Carob chips are said to be free of oxalate; Oxalate binds many minerals, such as calcium and iron, and may impede their absorption. It's ok to get some oxalates in your diet, just not too many. Dark chocolate has a good amount of oxalate. So does spinach.
  

• Dark chocolate is packed with heart healthy and chemoprotective (cancer preventative) phytonutrients! Carob chips? Not so much.

• Carob chips have more calories than dark chocolate, but this probably depends on the brand.

• Carob chips have more calcium, but dark chocolate has more iron (again, this depends on the brand).

• Carob chips have about the same amount of fiber, but more protein than dark chocolate (again, this depends on the brand).
  

• The author of one of my favorite books, Dr. Steven Pratt, tweeted the other day that a serving of dark chocolate a day (60% or above) may have a beneficial effect on metabolism!

Bottom Line: There are benefits of both. I'm sticking to my dark chocolate :)

Coming Up

I'm really not sure what's coming up in future CandidRD posts. Obviously I will keep you updated on out quest to buy a house, but as for topics, I'm not sure. I guess you'll have to be surprised!

Have a great day everyone. Thanks for reading!

Gina's "Superfoods" (Last 5 of 10)

I enjoyed reading everyone's own list of whole grain and fruit/vegetable "superfoods"! I realize I didn't put any fruits on my list, likely because I just don't eat much fruit. Of the fruits I do eat, frozen blueberries and blackberries are my favorite. Apples used to be my favorite, until I realized they cause me to get bloated, so sad :(

Today's list consists of my favorite sources of dairy, fat, and a sweet indulgences (starting with one more vegetable!):

6) Spaghetti Squash

When you can't eat wheat, foods like this are just what the doctor ordered. Heck, even if I could eat wheat I would still eat this daily! It's a non-starchy vegetable (right Sophia??) that is the perfect replacement for pasta (well, maybe not perfect, but close). While it doesn't provide as much protein as pasta, nor does it provide the phytonutrients found in whole grain pasta, it is lower in calories, and provides more vitamins and minerals.

7) Kefir

Come on, who doesn't like fermented milk products?! haha. Yeah, if you're anything like my boyfriend, Nick, you'll despise this stuff. I love it. If you don't have a Trader Joe's near you, try Lifeway Kefir, it's just as good. I like to buy the plain variety and add Truvia and unsweetened cocoa powder. This is how I get my daily dose of probiotics (although I don't really think the amount I consume provides me with the appropriate amount for clinical purposes). It also contains inulin (a prebiotic that is the food for the probiotics), vitamin D, 11 grams of protein, and of course calcium.


8) Greek yogurt

I don't necessarily prefer Oikos, in fact I think Chobani is the creamiest. I like to eat Greek yogurt right before bed, after my popcorn. The casein in Greek yogurt is a "slow protein", which means it's absorbed slowly and studies have shown it continuously provides the muscles with energy to repair and rebuild through the night. Of course it's also good to eat on top of soup, tacos, or potatoes as a replacement for sour cream.


9) Peanut butter!

Seriously, do I have to explain? When I was anorexic I didn't eat peanut butter. Three years of my life, three years worth of peanut butter consumption, down the drain. What the heck?! Yeah it's got a lot of fat, but it's healthy fat, and when eaten in moderation (which in my opinion is about 4 T per day, and depends on how much other fat you are consuming) it's just fine! The Smart Balance brand has flaxseed oil in it for added Omega-3.


10) Lindt's 85% dark chocolate

Another one of my favorite night time snacks. I eat 2 squares of this stuff every night. Since it's 85% cacao, I'm fairly certain this dark chocolate is providing me with a decent amount of polyphenols (a phytonutrient that may benefit the heart). When it comes to dark chocolate, don't be fooled, as their is no legal definition of dark chocolate so companies can write it on their labels either way. One taste of this stuff (Lindt's 85%) and it's pretty clear that it is actually dark chocolate, and not just chocolate that has been made darker.....Isn't it great what food companies can make you believe?!

Question: What are your top five favorite sources of dairy, healthy fat, and sweet indulgences?

Coming Up

Tomorrow I will be posting my Biggest Loser review (did you watch?!) and also a "Nutrition Tidbit" regarding flaxseed. On Friday, or later next week, I will provide my list of favorite supplements and sweeteners. Now I'm off to finish the Bachelor. We stopped half way through on Monday because we were both really tired. I can't believe we managed to wait this long to finish!!

Thanks for reading, and have a great night/day!