Are there any healthy sweets?
Very many people are constantly looking for the best and healthiest sweets. Actually, the question is not whether healthy sweets exist, but rather which sweets are the least unhealthy. In short, sweets containing sugar are always unhealthy. Of course, there are gradations in this; there are sweets with little sugar and sweets with a lot of sugar. But that is not the only thing that determines whether sweets are good or bad.
For instance, these days there are many alternatives to sugar, think of various artificial sweeteners, but also natural sweeteners such as stevia. Stevia is an herb that naturally gives off a sweet taste, without the bad qualities of sugar. The taste does take a bit of getting used to for most people, making it not really suitable for common sweets, it is mainly used to sweeten tea. Other alternatives to sugar also have different advantages and disadvantages. For instance, you can also use honey, but that too contains sugars naturally.
There are much better alternatives to traditional sweets on the market today. Sometimes we ourselves no longer realise how bad these actually are for our health, because they have been eaten almost daily since our childhood, for example, or because they are part of a daily habit. A few sweets can’t hurt, of course, but it can still be useful to look for a healthier alternative. Here, sometimes organic sweets or natural sweets, for example, are a bit better than artificially produced sweets.
Don’t be too tempted in the supermarket or guided by advertisements. They often cleverly give the impression that sweets are less unhealthy than you think. This is done, for example, with texts such as: 25% less sugar. That doesn’t actually say much at all, as it can still mean that there is an awful lot of sugar in a product. Even sweets with vegetables or fruit in them can usually be pretty quickly debunked as healthy alternatives. Always read the ingredients on the packaging and take a look at the nutrition chart that should be obligatory on it. That way, you know exactly what’s in the product!
Instead of looking for healthy sweets, it might be better to accept that sweets are simply not healthy and to be as moderate as possible. This will help you learn to enjoy the moments you eat a sweet instead of wanting to eat larger quantities that are bad for you and probably don’t add that much at all. You will probably eat these quantities more out of habit than because you still really like each sweet.
You can also actually look for a healthy alternative to snacking, because it does exist! Before you expect too much now, this is about a different kind of food as an alternative to sweets. Sugar is relatively easy to wean off, if you were never to eat sugar again you would not miss it at all after a relatively short period of time. So that way, you can switch to nuts, dried fruits or raw peanuts, for example. These are much healthier and just as tasty as sugary sweets, if you give yourself a chance to get used to them. Just be aware that these are still high in calories, so it is wise to still be moderate when eating these.
However, there are types of sweets that do not really qualify as candy, that can be considered healthy snacks. These include salty popcorn, puffed rice or corn waffles. These contain no or little sugars and can therefore be considered a responsible snack in small quantities. Also, if you love a bowl of cottage cheese or yoghurt with dried fruits or raw cocoa, this can be a delicious moment that feels like full-blown snacking.
The bottom line is that, as with most topics when it comes to nutrition, it is important to keep thinking logically. Of course, a little bit of candy on occasion is not a bad thing at all. Eating too much of something is usually not good. Keep in mind that you will be tempted in many ways in the supermarket and try not to go to the shop hungry. This will prevent you from coming home with all kinds of sweets and biscuits that you end up being unable to resist in a weak moment. Enjoy yourself responsibly and take good care of yourself!
