First things first, I hosted dinner at my poker last night and brought dessert that I added to yesterday's chocolate list. Black bean brownies. Sounds gross, tastes like chocolate heaven. I also made baked macaroni and cheese, which was pretty great.
But today I wanted to mention some of the other snack foods I keep around that are of the sweet variety before heading into the saltier stuff tomorrow. This list will be shorter because I pretty much stick to chocolate...
1) Fruit Experimentation. One week awhile back at my WW meeting, our little goal for the week was to try a new kind of fruit or vegetable. I went for fruit because I was at a local grocery store that had a display of exotic melons [insert boob joke here]. I have learned to love cantaloupe over the years, so I decided to try a couple kinds of these new ones. They were great! So now I've made an effort to try a different fruit each week. Most are things I've had before, but it breaks me out of the habit of just eating apples and bananas. I also try to look for whatever is seasonal because that's when it's best, obviously.
And don't be afraid of canned fruit...but only if it's packed in water or its own juices. Don't get that crap they pack in syrup, obviously. I take those little cans of mandarin oranges to school for lunches, and I eat pineapple that way, too. I do make several servings of the pineapple, though, as a whole can is too much. Look for anything that doesn't have a bunch of added stuff in the ingredients list. Fruit, water. Done.
2) Frozen fruit. I buy frozen blueberries and raspberries and keep them to add to yogurt. When they thaw, they give off a little juice to add to the yogurt's sweetness and they add substance and health to the whole affair. The blueberries are also great with the steel-cut oats that I'll talk about later.
I also buy regular grapes (red is my preference but green would work, too), put 6-oz. in each baggie, put all those baggies in a freezer-safe baggie and stick them in the freezer. Frozen grapes. They're so good, and it's a better alternative than ice cream when you want something cold and sweet.
3) Homemade smoothie. I don't know why places have to jack up smoothies and give them a bad name in the calorie-conscious world. A simple smoothie is awesome, low-pt breakfast. I use a banana, a 120-gram serving of plain yogurt, whatever other fruit I want (berries work great, but so do mangoes, kiwis, pineapple, peaches...ANYTHING in most any variety that sounds good), and ice cubes (four or five). Blend the crap out of it, and it's a smoothie. No need for added sugar or juice. Why make it less healthy? I just don't get that.
4) Yogurt. When I started WW, I mostly bought fat-free plain because it was lowest point. Most flavored yogurts are jam-packed with sugar and hence useless calories. They basically make healthy food unhealthy. Plain yogurt is an acquired taste, though, so I started out adding that frozen fruit and stirring up that juice to sweeten it, plus I would add a packet of Splenda. After awhile, I cut to half a packet of Splenda, then cut it off completely when I grew to love the taste of the yogurt. Now that I'm done losing weight, I've shifted to low-fat yogurt because I think it tastes better than non-fat. You have to make that decision for yourself, though, of course.
I found a brand from Iowa (thanks to Sara, Hope's mom!) that is low-sugar (!!!!) and flavored (vanilla), so that's become a new obsession. It's called Cultural Revolution, and it is basically like the yogurt in Europe: thinner consistency and it separates more easily. You have to stir it up more, but it's so much better flavor. American yogurt has additives to prevent separation, but that affects flavor. Yuck. You might look for Cultural Revolution or another European-style, low-sugar kind of yogurt near you. I eat the vanilla 3% fat version and it's the same point value as the fat-free plain of regular American yogurt!
5) Creamed honey. I got this at Trader Joe's. It's like butter and honey put together. On a bagel thin or sandwich thin (those will be discussed later), it's a sweet but decent snack. I also dip it with multi-grain crackers for salty/sweet combined.
Going along with this one is peanut butter, the food that gets a bum rap. I buy the kind that isn't loaded up with sugar (basically just ground up peanuts), and it makes a nice protein-based snack on some kind of bread or cracker. Top it with some raspberries, banana, or the next item on the list, and it's also a medium for fruit intake!
6) There's a lady in Iowa who sells fruit spreads that are just fruit and pectin (to set it up more like jelly). It's like eating jam but instead just fruit! You could easily make it at home. Buy pectin (in the jello aisle), follow the directions for how much you add to whatever portion of pureed fruit you're dealing with (maybe a cup or two??) blend, put in a jar. Done. It's so much better for you than regular jelly or jam. Spread it on toast, add it to yogurt, whatever.
7) At my local co-op, I bought a bottle of Stevia, which is a plant-based sweetener that's also used for Truvia sweetened-things (as I understand anyway). I'm not 100% convinced this is truly healthier than any other sweetener, but until they prove otherwise, I'm using Stevia at moderate levels. I mostly use it to sweeten tea (which I'm trying to learn to love), but I've also sweetened plain yogurt with it. It just takes 3 or 4 drops for most things and it's pretty good. You could add it to anything, really.
That's all that pops into my head right now, but I'm sure I'll end up adding stuff to this as I go.
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