Satisfying a sweet tooth!

If you enjoy sweet foods, it can be a challenge to find a way to eat your favourite desserts and snacks and still meet your health goals. Fear not! - there are loads of ways to enjoy sweeter options without limiting your progress!

Here are some examples of meals and snacks designed to be filling, nutritious, delicious and sweet!

Meal ideas

• Yogurt parfait - Take 1 cup of 0% Greek yogurt, ½ cup frozen berries, and 4 tbsp granola and layer to form your breakfast parfait. You can also top the parfait with 1 tbsp chopped nuts for a delicious crunch. Nutrition: 419 calories, 25g protein, 13g fat, 53g carbohydrates, 7g fiber
  (If you find natural Greek yogurt too tart, mix in a sweetener of your choice, see below for further details). For a lighter meal, try using unsweetened muesli in place of granola.
• Protein pancakes or waffles - Pancakes can be transformed into a high protein and filling breakfast! These can be made with Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, ricotta, protein powder, beans, or even as a pre-made mix (see here and here). For homemade recipes, check out the Recipes section in the app. To boost the protein and fiber and make this a truly satisfying mea,l experiment with serving with yogurt and a fruit compote, or even mix flax or chia seeds into your batter. Calories will vary depending on recipe and serving size.
• Baked oatmeal - Baked oatmeal is one of our meal prep favourites, and a great way to start the day! Recipes can be adapted depending on your preference - check out the app for some of our favorites like the carrot cake baked oatmeal and the baked oatmeal casserole!
• Smoothies - Blend, fruit, a protein source (Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, or protein powder) and a dash of water or milk for an on-the-go meal. To build this into a more filling meal, consider adding some oats, chia seeds or even a tbsp of nut butter.
• Cottage cheese bowls - 1 cup of cottage cheese, 1 cup of canned peaches and a dash of cinnamon with 2 tbsp of granola makes a super quick meal. Nutrition: 397 calories. 28g protein,13g fat, 44g carbohydrates, 5 g fiber

Sweet snack ideas

• Protein popsicles: Mix Greek yogurt with frozen fruit and freeze in popsicle molds.
• Cheesecake two ways!
  1. Crush 5 graham crackers and mix with 2 tbsp of melted butter or flavorless oil. Then evenly distribute the mix across an ice cube tray (a little goes a long way, this should cover ~ 24 ice cube molds). Then mix 1 cup of low fat cream cheese with ½ cup Greek yogurt, 1 tsp vanilla, ½ tbsp lemon juice and the zest of 1 lemon, and 2 tbsp honey or sweetener of your choice. Distribute this across the molds and top with your favorite fruits. Freeze and enjoy! ~50 calories per serving
  2. Skyr cheese cake - in this recipe you can even substitute cream cheese for silken tofu for an extra protein boost
• Tofu pudding: Blend silken tofu with cocoa powder and a sweetener of choice, portion size and sweetener option will impact nutrition content.
• Chia pudding: Mix frozen fruit, Greek or Icelandic yogurt with 1 tbsp of chia, and a sweetener of your choice for a high fiber and high protein sweet snack!
• Protein balls: Recipes in the Constant Health app!
• Protein bars: If you are looking for recommendations please let me know!
• High protein hot chocolate: Add your milk of choice to a sauce pan on medium heat, and whisk in your favourite chocolate protein powder, and some cocoa for added flavour. If the beverage isn’t sweet enough, add in sweetener of choice. Whisk until heated thoroughly, but don’t let it boil!
• Smoothies: Add a source of protein to smoothies to help to feel fuller for longer.
• Yogurt parfait: See above.
• Protein muffins: Reach out if you want to learn how to adapt your own muffin recipes!
• Apple nachos: Slice an apple and drizzle with 1 tbsp of peanut butter or even a PB2 sauce = ~ 200 calories, top with 1 tbsp chocolate chips or a sprinkle of granola for another ~ 80 calories.
• DIY trail mix - Lighten up trail mix by adding whole grain Cheerios, this increases the fiber and lowers the calorie density per portion.

Low calorie sweet snack ideas

• Frozen yogurt - 80 - 100 calories per 1 bar
• Oreos - 54 calories per cookie
• Low sugar hot chocolate - 40 calories per serving
• Sugar free Jello - 5 calories per serving
• Sugar free hard candy - 8 calories
• Smart sweets - 130 calories per 50g bag

Finding the right balance with high sugar foods

Sugar is often labeled as "empty calories" because, apart from providing energy, it lacks any other nutritional benefits. However, if you enjoy sweet foods, there's no need to cut them out entirely—our food choices can be guided by pleasure as well as nutrition! Instead, think about the least amount of sweet food you need to satisfy you. This doesn’t mean the least possible! It’s important to plan indulgences, for many of us a smaller portion of a favorite treat rather than opting for a larger serving of a modified, lower-calorie version if far more satisfying! Overly restricting the foods you love can backfire, leading to increased cravings and making it harder to stick to your goals. If you want to enjoy desserts while maintaining your weight in the future, it’s essential to practice savoring them now, even during your weight loss journey!

Sugar guidance

To minimize any health risks associated with a higher sugar diet guidance from Health Canada is to aim to keep our sugar intake below 10% of total daily intake from added sugars (this does not include whole fruit), ideally <5%.

For example this would equate to 50g or 25g sugar per day for a 2000 calorie diet and 38g or 19 g sugar per day if you were to eat 1500 calories.

For reference:

1 medium speciality coffee contains ~35g sugar

8 fl oz orange juice contains 23g sugar

1 can of Coke contains 36g sugar

1 tsp sugar = 4 g

Sugar Free Sweeteners:

The systematic reviews and meta-analyses published in the last 15 years are inconclusive on any positive or negative health impacts with the use of sugar substitutes. They can be a great tool for many people working to reduce their sugar intake, as they are calorie free and have no impact on blood sugar readings. If you have any questions or concerns about sugar free alternatives, please let me know and we can review the data together.

If you have any questions about sweet foods or want to explore this topic more please reach out to your Constant Health Dietitian.

Happy snacking!!!