Sunday, July 29, 2007

Tips for preparing diet-friendly deserts

I am always, constant dieting. And because i really like sweets and i enjoy treating myself from time to time with homemade delicious deserts, here are some tips i learn:

1. Sweeteners
Well, the first one is obvious. In order to have calorie and carbohydrates in a controlled amount, the simplest thing to do is choose artificial sweetener instead of the biggest enemy of a silhouette: sugar.
But be careful in choosing the sweetener to use: some of those artificial products are not very healthy and others are specially made of diabetic persons and they still contain a lot of carbohydrates and calories.

2. Whole flour
When baking cookies, cakes, biscuits usually the main ingredient is flour. Switching to whole flour (any time of cereal you like) is a good decision for your body and health. Whole flour (that means that it is gray and not white) contains lots of fibers, that your body and digestive system needs in order to function at their optimal, and also has a smaller amount of carbohydrates and calories. Indeed your cakes will not look that delicious white we are used too, but they will still be delicious in taste, and delicious for your health.

3. Dark chocolate
Whenever you are preparing chocolate based deserts, opt for dark chocolate with a minimum of 60% cocoa mass instead of the traditional milk type. A bigger percentage of cocoa means a smaller amount of sugar, and that can't harm you!

4. Cocoa powder



If you're main ingredient is not chocolate, but cocoa powder, check the box to be sure it's not sweetened. Some of the companies producing cocoa powder have the bad habit of adding extra sugar, so it will taste better and attract more consumers.

5. Honey



Although the traditional believe is that honey is better for your heart, using honey instead of sugar in your desert will not be more good for your silhouette, because honey contains the same amount of carbohydrates and calories as sugar does.
For healthy considerings, eat a spoon of honey per day, between meals.

6. Low fat milk and yogurt
If you want to incorporate milk or yogurt in your desert recipe, choose the low-fat products. No need to tell you why this is better, am i right?

7. Fresh fruits
Always (if possible) choose fresh fruits instead of dried. Fresh fruits have more vitamins and less calories, considering that dried fruits most of the time contains added sugar.

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