14 Things We Eat When We Deeply And Hormonally Crave Sugar But Want To Stay In A Calorie Deficit
Some, we eat daily.
by The Candidly Team
It sucks profusely that sugar is so atrocious for us. Even if our goal is entirely unrelated to weight loss, sugar is scientifically proven to take a toll on so many aspects of health.
So if a part of you cringed at reading the term “calorie deficit,” we sort of did too when typing it. As wellness writers, we’re constantly doing this dance between feeling disgusted by the dangerous incisions of diet culture into our 40+ years of life and wanting to get you the most honest information we can around health.
And the reality is that for some of us, losing or maintaining our weight is part of that. And so is cutting sugar.
And so, we’ve come up with some alternatives. They aren’t sad diet foods or chemical-riddled sweeteners. No Snackwells or sug-free jello to be found. They’re things that taste delicious and make us feel full, because instead of sugar, which can leave us feeling empty they have things like protein and fiber whcih are critical to feeling satiated.
They’re bright. They’re endorphin-releasing, and they’re actually good for us.
And here’s what they are:
1. The Divine Dessert Alternatives
Grilled Peach with Yogurt “Whipped Cream:” - Our Editor-in-Chief came up with this “dessert” last summer. It’s a heavenly grilled peach topped with a yogurt and vanilla paste combo that emulates a mascarpone whipped cream. A serving clocks in at around 100 calories, and it tastes like a peach melba. Go HERE for the full rec.
Baked Apple Crumble: Similarly, you can bake an apple with a dash of cinnamon. For many apple pie lovers, this can be enough, and is only about 95 calories, but if you need something that feels crumbly or crusty, sprinkle on THESE high protein, sweetener-free oats which will make it 175 but it will feel like a decadent dessert. (Yogurt “whipped cream” mentioned above is also optional.
Sweet Potato Pie Filling: Bake a sweet potato at 400 until a fork pokes through easily, add cinnamon, a dash of THIS vanilla. Mash the inside up with a fork or whip it with a mixer for a creamy texture. The sweetness of the potato might be enough but if you need more, drizzle in THIS honey. You can optionally Add THIS aformentioned granola or a splash of coconut milk. The calories vary with toppings but half the potato with honey included will be about 100 calories.
Healthy Banana Bread: There are a million and two recipes for this online, but THIS one will obliterate a sweet tooth with no added sugar.
The Perfect Cookie Alternative: Listen very carefully. There are 6 ingredients. You don’t have to bake anything, and they taste like chocolate chip peanut butter cookie dough balls. HERE is the recipe. We use manuka honey and dark chocolate chips. You get protein from the nut butter and fiber from the oats and happiness from the incredible flavor/ texture combination.
Chocolate Chia Pudding: For when we really, really must have chocolate, we’ve been known to make THIS chia pudding recipe. Calories will vary depending on the milk you use, but they have those amazing chia seeds that expand in the stomach and make you feel full, so you’re not going back for more and more and more.
2. The Fresh And Fruity Treats
Sliced Apples and Oranges: Let’s start reeeeally simple, did you know apples and oranges rank number 4 and 5 on the satiating foods index? Did you even know there was a Satiety Index? So if you’re looking for something quick to slice and section off and take with you on the go, this combo is a dream team for feeling full from it.
The Breakfast Yogurt Bowl That’s Rife With Protein: We make THIS exact bowl almost every day for breakfast. It has 30 grams of protein, 16 grams of fiber, and 387 calories that keep us completely and pleasantly not hungry until lunch.
Fro Yo Made from Fruit: There are fancy contraptions like THIS that turn your fruit into a dreamy, creamy fro-yo. We just use our blender or Cuisinart. We freeze bananas as a rich base and ice cream-like texture, add that same vanilla we keep screaming about, then any fruit we fancy. You can also add a fave milk base if you like. It’s so simple. We wonder why we ever forget to make this for dessert. You can use this same template for popsicles using THIS mold.
Frozen Whole Cherries: We mention cherries, specifically, because of all the frozen fruit we eat by itself, this one has the best flavor and texture and is packed with flavonoids that have incredible antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.
3. The Candy Substitutes
Gummies: The world is divided between candy people and non-candy people. If you’re a candy person and gummies are your go-to, there are new kinds of dried fruit that are genuinely sublime: mango, passionfruit, cherries.
Candy Bar: THIS protein tastes like candy (specifically the peanut butter cup and chocolate chip cookie dough. and bar is you must, must have candy. They have 5 grams of sugar where bars like Snickers have 23 grams. And while they have a similar number of calories (just over 200), Aloha bars of course have 14 whopping grams of protein and 10 grams of fiber to keep you feeling full which no candy known to man will ever do.
4. The Soda Swaps
It’s shocking how much havoc sodas can wreak in terms of adding calories and sugar to your diet. There are so many brands out there, trying to make more natural, less caloric soda, so we’re highlighting two of our favorites, which we chose for taste and their lack of artificial sweeteners that we don’t know wnough about to feel fully comfortable with.
Spindrift: Spindrift is made with real squeezed fruit and soda water so they’re very low in cals and sugar, and to us, the taste the most natural and refreshing. A nojito flavor with a squeeze of lime is a true treat on a hot day.
Something And Nothing: These are for people who really, really desperately want more of a soda than a flavored sparkling water. They’re utterly delicious, the cucumber and the hibiscus & rose taste like an hand-crafted cocktail. And though they have no added sugars, they are indeed sweetened by grape juice, so they do have about 40 calories per can and 9 grams of sugar, but compare this to a tradish sodas 39 grams of sugar and 140 calories and 39 grams of sugar, and you’re still making quite the improvement.
Ok, now it must, must be said that none of this could possibly fully appeal to your real and ravenous sweet tooth.
The absolute best way to solve it is with single serving products that make it feel silly to eat more than one. Like a bag of peppermint patties that are individually wrapped and only 50 cals each, or mochi which are only 90 cals each. Yes, it’s sugar, but it’s a defined amount unlike a pint of ice cream where, when left to our own devices, each “scoop” eventually becomes the entire tub.
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