Getting Your Sweet Fix

One of the strongest taste preferences is sweet. If you have wondered why you like those sweets so much that's why. It's instinctual fueled by our choices. In other words we strengthen the natural preference for sweets by our choices.

That's the bad news. The good news is that we can easily control the calories we take in from sweet foods by keeping in mind a couple simple guidelines. The first one is that nature provides the best choice for sweet food choices in a most convenient form - FRUIT. This time of year the strawberry takes the cake - so to speak. In many places locally grown strawberries are readily available and very sweet. Cut them up for cereal, cottage cheese or yogurt. Eat whole with crackers and low fat cheese or spread as a snack or simply eat solo like you would grapes. And speaking of grapes, they are available from local sources come fall but thanks to modern transportation grapes are in most grocery stores year round. Bananas are also imported year round and an economical choice.

The second guideline is to choose your calories by the company they keep. Many foods we think of as sweet are also very high in fat. This would include things like pastries, cookies, muffins, premium ice cream, pie and cake. Choosing these foods less often AND in smaller portions is one way to go. Another technique is to select forms of these foods that limit the amount of fat and therefore calories. I often have a cup of tea and a couple graham crackers in the evening to satisfy my 'sweet tooth'. Graham crackers are sweet but low in fat. Angel food cake is another good choice. Just watch the amount you choose, half the size is half the calories. Don't be afraid to feed your sweet tooth just be aware of how.

Healthy Eating!
Marcia