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We all know the feeling of trying to stick to a healthy routine, while food cravings tug at our heartstrings and drag us towards a whole host of terrible diet choices. Milk chocolate, cake, ice cream, toffee, is there no way of avoiding these evil snares?
The worst is when these cravings strike at a party or event where we’re powerless to resist.
Fortunately enough there actually are various healthy treats that you enjoy guilt-free, and which can make all the difference in controlling your cravings when you’re trying to be healthy and conscientious about your food choices. And we’re not talking about Hunks the show, either.
Here are a few that you can serve when hosting a party.
High cocoa chocolate
Normal chocolate is usually a massively sugary, heavily processed mess which nonetheless tastes great and has a way of causing us to daydream about it at inappropriate times.
The key thing to understand and remember is that the darker the chocolate is, the lighter it is. Milk chocolate is a long way more sugary and suspect than dark chocolate, while white chocolate is likely the worst option out there.
That being said, cocoa itself is actually a very healthy delicacy in a lot of ways.
The higher the cocoa content of your chocolate, the healthier it will be. You can go all the way up to 99% cocoa brands, but many people have to work their way up to those as they have a distinctly bitter taste. Still, you’ll be on the right track if you buy dark chocolate with a cocoa content of at least 60%
Frozen fruit
Frozen treats, like lollies and ice cream, are perfect for a wide variety of occasions. When the weather’s good, when we’re lounging around on the weekend, when we’re thirsty, or when we’re down, these delicacies are always just what the doctor ordered.
Of course, most icy treats are completely saturated with sugar, not to mention dairy products which many people tolerate poorly.
A great alternative to turn to is frozen fruit, either in the form of frozen berries which will make delicious frosty bites all by themselves, or ice-cream substitutes made from things like frozen banana.
For an ice cream substitute to have the same consistency as real ice cream, you will need to add sugar — as that’s what gives it it’s creamy consistency. But at least you’ll be controlling the amount.
Iced tea
Soda is well known for being one of the worst things a human can put into their body. With toxic sugary additives such as high-fructose corn syrup, suspect preservatives, and often nuclear doses of caffeine, some researchers have gone so far at to accuse soda of almost singlehandedly causing the childhood obesity epidemic.
Tea, on the other hand, is known for being an extremely healthy beverage, enjoyed by mankind for centuries if not millennia. Store-bought iced tea will often be full of the same negative stuff as cans of Coca Cola or Pepsi, but making your own at home is as easy as brewing a pot of tea, squeezing in some juice from the fruit of your flavour, and refrigerating it.
If you have the right equipment, you could even carbonate it for the same great fizzy sensation.