DESSERTS FOR A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE
Guest post by Hemang and Ruchita Shah
Hey there, we are so excited to have an opportunity to share this post with all of Angie’s wonderful readers. At https://www.healthyvegetarianpregnancy.com we share a common goal with you: to follow a healthy lifestyle by eating wholesome, nutritious food.
Do you have a guilty feeling every time after having your favorite dessert?
The feeling is that of a sinking one because your mind is registering either a ton of calories or too much sugar or pure junk food. Most of the times eating a dessert at a fast food place or even a restaurant will really knock you off any calorie goals. More so, the quality of ingredients that are used in the desserts are just not of high quality.
Just as an example: have you tried making ice-cream or milkshake at home? If you had to estimate the price of your home-made ice-cream, I bet it must have cost you way more than the $1 McDonald’s or any fast food place is charging. Take a moment to think of how low your quality of ingredients would have to drop to make that same dessert for less than a buck. Even at that low price, the establishment is still making profit! At the end of the day, your guilty feeling is accompanied by junk calories – certainly not a combination for a healthy lifestyle.
I am not suggesting that you avoid desserts at all. A great way to be on track with your weight goals and have fun at the same time is to enjoy the same desserts which are prepared in a healthy way. Let me illustrate with a recipe for popsicles. Aren’t these a summer favorite for everyone? Strawberry popsicles purchased at your convenience stores are usually frozen sugary syrups with hardly any fruit in them. You could make the same popsicles at home with all natural ingredients.
STRAWBERRY POPSICLES
Ingredients
2 cups of fresh strawberries
1/4 cup frozen and thawed white grape juice concentrate
2 tablespoon full sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
3 tablespoons water
Recipe
To begin with, blend the strawberries, white grape concentrate, sugar, lemon juice and water until the mixture is smooth. Pour the mixture into 8 different popsicle molds, and freeze them till they are completely firm.
The entire process should take just about 5 minutes, especially if you have everything at hand. The recipe makes 8 servings.
As you can see the ingredients contain only two tablespoons of sugar, which is divided among 8 servings! You could totally substitute the sugar with Stevia or Spenda if you like. Most of all there are real strawberries in them!
The same principles apply for smoothies as well. You can find more recipes for desserts and smoothies in our eBook 30 Desserts and Smoothies for a Vegetarian Pregnancy. The “pregnant” part about the recipes is to ensure some details including the use of pasteurized sources, providing alcohol substitutes, and ensuring that all ingredients are wholesome and natural. Since our goal is to provide quality nutrition for pregnancy, the same principles and recipes work for watching calories also.
We also want to take the opportunity to announce that just for this weekend, Amazon is promoting our eBook for FREE! Take advantage of the opportunity and get it here: https://www.amazon.com/Desserts-Smoothies-Vegetarian-Pregnancy-ebook/dp/B00FNHUP8M. It will be really helpful if you could rate the book and give your feedback.
About the authors:
Hemang and Ruchita Shah started the blog https://www.healthyvegetarianpregnancy.com when Ruchita was pregnant with their son (now 18 months old). Their blog features tips, resources, and recipes for a healthy pregnancy. Recently, they published an eBook on Amazon.com called 30 Desserts and Smoothies for a Vegetarian Pregnancy.
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