It is natural to like sweets. And it is okay to enjoy them as an occasional treat But it is vital to keep consumption to a minimum. Refined sugar is one of the bad carbs mentioned above. Not only does it cause problems with our blood sugar level, but it also uses up stored resources within our body (such as minerals and enzymes) in order to process the sugar. In addition there are many negative health effects that sugar contributes to including: hypoglycemia, suppression of the immune system, arthritis, diabetes, osteoporosis, headaches, and depression.

Choose sweet treats that are home made or have naturally occurring sugar, such as fruits. Try making your favorite dessert with half or one-third less sugar than usual. Make dessert a special event once a week. Many foods have naturally occurring sugars, such as fruits, vegetables, grains and beans. Incorporate naturally sweet foods into your diet to help crowd out unhealthy sweets. Strawberries, apples, sweet potatoes or winter squash are all great options.

Avoid or severely limit sugary drinks – they are an easy way to pack calories and chemicals into your diet without even noticing it. One 12-oz soda has about 10 teaspoons of sugar in it! And just because a soda is sugar-free doesn’t make it healthy. Recent studies have shown that the artificial sugar substitutes used in soft drinks may interfere with your body’s natural regulation system and result in your overindulging in other sweet foods and beverages. Try water with a squeeze of lemon or water with a splash of 100% fruit juice.

Desserts are the symbol of high-calorie and high-fat meals. But have you ever thought about how healthy they can be, which ones are quite healthy and how you could make the others healthier ?

Everything that contains lots of fruit, little fat (like cream or mascarpone) and sugar is already healthy. For the not yet healthy recipes that you don’t want to do without, try the following tips!

Add some fruit

Fruit is one of the healthiest food groups you can get. Experts recommend that we should eat at least five portions of fruit or vegetables every day. You can, for example, make a fruit salad. Choose fruits of different colors so that you get a nice colorful mix, add a bit of pure fruit juice (non-sweetened, 100% fruit juice), maybe a few raisins, arrange it in a pretty dessert plate, sprinkle some chopped nuts or almond flakes over it – and in a short time you have the healthiest dessert possible. If you include apples, bananas and oranges, you have already done something excellent for your attempt to lose weight because all of them are great fat and calorie burners.

Reduce Fat

Yes, many desserts contain quite a bit of fat in form of cream or high fat cheese types like mascarpone. Never mind, you can solve that problem quite easily. Simply use low-fat or fat free milk instead of full cream milk for your vanilla sauce or cream, and replace the fatty cheese with low-fat smooth cottage cheese or ricotta. It will still taste great. In many baking recipes you can use margarine instead of butter. It still contains quite a bit of fat but vegetable fats are healthier than animal fats. Check on the bucket if the margarine is suitable for baking. Yoghurt mixed with fresh fruit or home made jam also makes a nice dessert. Just make sure you use low-fat yoghurt and that it’s not sweetened. A great basis for fruit shakes is buttermilk which is also low in fat compared to other dairy products.

Reduce Sugar

As long as the sugar is not an essential part of the recipe, you can just simply reduce the amount of sugar. A good alternative is to use natural sweeteners like fructose, honey or maple syrup. They are not necessarily very nutritious but still contain more nutrients than white sugar which is just “empty calories”. Adding dried fruit like raisins or even fresh fruit is certainly the best way to reduce sugar. Many fruits are naturally sweet and you don’t need to add extra sugar.

You see, it’s really easy! Eating healthy does by no means mean that you need to sacrifice the joys of an intriguing dessert every now and then. If you just have a mascarpone trifle every now and then for a special occasion, that most definitely won’t harm your health, so don’t stress too much about it if you don’t need to closely watch your weight. But if you can make it healthy, why should you not?