Let’s all be honest with ourselves, we have cravings and it is hard to be on a healthier lifestyle when we deny ourselves these cravings that we have. I know that for myself many of these cravings come down to comfort foods that hold a special place in my life along with some bad habits that I have picked up along the way. If I say to myself, “Self, in order to be able to get to the right weight that you want to get to, you need to cut out ice cream, chips, potatoes, candy, and all other ‘bad’ foods from your diet” then I am setting myself up for disaster. Sure I may make some great strides for the first 30 or so days on said “diet” but that is going to be it. How can I say this for sure? Because I have done it for some many times in my life.
What I am coming to the realization with food is that I need to have a healthy relationship with it and find some healthy alternatives to those ever so often found “comfort” foods. It is safe to say that these “comfort” foods that I may have are not going to be the same for everyone out there, but many people have a sweet and a salty craving at some point and time during the change in their diet. It is when we go overboard that it becomes an issue. I will completely admit to buy that container of Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream with the sole intention of just having a few bites each night and making it last for at least two weeks, only to find myself sitting in front of the television and finishing it off in one sitting. (Don’t judge, you know you have done the same, at one point and time in your life.)
It is about finding something that can replace this pint of ice cream. That will still sedate that craving for the sweet and creamy goodness that it has but without all those empty calories that have no nutritional goodness for our body. It is not always easy to find something at the spur of the moment when those cravings hit, so instead we need to make sure to have these options available to us at all times. Some of them are things that do not hold up for a long period of time, so they do need to be eaten, which isn’t a bad thing, in a fairly short amount of time.
Here are some healthier options to replace some of those “craving” foods that many of us have:
• Craving something sweet, eat unflavored Greek yogurt with honey and some fresh or frozen fruit. Make sure that the frozen fruit does not have any added sugar to it. This is something that you cannot have sitting around for weeks on end because of the fact that the yogurt will have must eat by date on it. However, it is something that will curb that sweet tooth. Sometimes just eating the fresh or frozen fruit will put that sweet tooth away.
• Craving something salty, eat some nuts. Make sure that they are the low sodium nuts and only eat a handful of them. It is best to eat almonds as these are heart healthy as well. I have found that if I buy a container of the nuts, I am apt to eat the entire container. Therefore I will portion out the entire container when I first buy it so I know how much I can have in a single serving. This works really well for me.
• Craving some candy, eat frozen grapes. For some reason, the freezing of the grapes will heighten the sugar content in the grapes and make them ever sweeter and get the sugariness that candy will give you. If you feel like you need to have some chocolate, make sure that you get the darkest chocolate that you can find and only have a small square of it. The darker the chocolate, the better it is for you.
These are just a few suggestions. I am sure that many of you have other suggestions of healthier options that you have found to help you on your quest for a healthier you. Make sure that you share them in the comment section so we can help each other out. If you have a recipe idea, share that as well so we can all try them out.
Well said, Kelly! Especially about the frozen grapes. That’s the perfect sweet snack, especially when the weather heats up.
I really haven’t made any substitutes. I’m still eating the same foods that I love. I’m just eating less of them and less often.
I recently downloaded My Fitness Pal and so far I’m loving it. Over the years, I’ve tried various fad diets, eating regimens, prepared meals, pills, juices, shakes, etc. So far the only thing that’s worked for me is counting my calories combined with exercising.