13 Hacks That Let You Enjoy Your Favourite Sweets Without Feeling Guilty!

Want to know how to control sugar intake so you can eat sweets without guilt? Take a look at these 13 hacks that tell you how to do that!

Ever wondered how our grandmothers used to make so many laddoos for family snacks and still everyone was in shape? Sugar was actually used in particular items called sweets, but not in every idly, dosa, rice, vegetable, dal etc, unless they fell into a special category like a sweet dosa, which is anyway a delicacy.

Now we have cereals, white bread, jams, jellies, chocolate-hazelnut spreads, energy drinks and all that junk! There is something in the ready-to-eat category for every meal time, which come with loads and loads of sugar. Nutrition has seriously gone for a toss and many have hardly time to give it a minute’s thought.

Have a look at this video to face the reality!

For people who have a sweet tooth, cravings are not so easy to deal with. Unfortunately (or fortunately rather! when I see the quotes – Life is too short not to eat a sweet/an ice cream etc) I fall into the same category.

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When I look at tips like replace your after meal sweets with fruit etc I always wonder how can someone give such kind of alternatives! Really, how can anyone replace a sweet with fruit and have the same satiating experience?

Sugars might not be that bad when taken in moderate amounts, but we can make sure to savour a sweet when you earn it and not because you want to have it. Let me put the same thing in simple points here for a better understanding.

Reward yourself!

Let us have something with high sugars set aside as a reward. If you behave like a good girl by eating healthy foods, compliment yourself by indulging in a dessert during weekend. By alternating with nutrition and indulgence, the feeling of guilt is reduced and you would enjoy your ice cream better!

Stop browsing at supermarkets

If you would have observed, you need to pass through racks of sugar loaded artificial foods to reach the vegetable/fruits/healthy section of a super market. Next time when you want to buy just vegetables, go straight till the end of the store without stopping anywhere in between to handle the urge to buy something fancy!

Write down what, and how much you may eat

Trust me this works as a wonder! When you put it down, it is like telling someone about what and how much you ate and you would wonder why you were snacking on too much junk and reduce it consciously from next time.

Tackle that weakness!

I usually feel like snacking when I am at home doing nothing! But when I am engrossed in doing something, hours pass by hunger free! Do your favorite activity during your sweet tooth time of the day to tackle that weakness.

Chew Like A Cow!

You read it right! When you take time to chew food slowly, it is a way of telling your mind that you have had enough. Hence eating slowly would make sure you eat till you just satisfied your hunger. Otherwise gulping down would usually end up in having more than what is required. So, eat slowly,

Eat only when you are hungry

This is what even Ayurveda says! Rather than 1pm lunch, 1.15 pm sweet kind of schedule, it is ok to eat at 12:45pm or 1:15pm when you actually feel hungry. Do make sure you don’t push your meal time too much though! Postponing the time till you just can’t wait to eat something, again doesn’t serve the purpose.

Plan, plan and plan

Planning goes a long way in maintaining a nutritious diet as a daily routine! Spare some time to write down a checklist for the items you need to buy in the market. If you prefer the ‘browse everything and see what you want to buy’  kind of shopping, chances are that you would end up wasting time, spending more, buying lot of junk food that is only pleasing to eyes!

Try alternatives

It might be hard to change the lifestyle or forget sweets/sugars overnight. Hence for starters, try with alternatives like jaggery based sweets for sugar loaded sweets, honey on bread instead of jam etc. Slowly and steadily you would start eating healthy.

Eat a light and early dinner

Try to finish the sugary snacks before 4-5 pm and have a light and early dinner. This will make sure you have enough gap between your dinner time and bedtime, which will avoid the unnecessary fat building. Make it a point that you order in or eat out only occasionally.

Want to teach your kids about conscious eating?

Be an example. Boycott eating chips, bakery foods, ready-to-eat food etc. at home. If it’s difficult in the beginning, at least try eating them when your kid is not around to start with. Slowly you will not feel good about this for having denied the opportunity to your own child and you might give up completely too! Make meal times a family time, sit together and eat together healthy food, and as you know, kids learn mostly by observation and imitation.

Snacks in your bag

Always carry fresh fruits or dry fruits or nuts in your bag. We all have those extended work timings to meet project deliverable etc and many start to snack upon biscuits and more biscuits.

Portion Sizes

Even today, the size of coffee glasses at my parents and in-laws place are just one fourth of what they serve in coffee shops and cafes these days. Also, breakfast cereals usually come in bigger packets and for this reason, many are tempted to have this for breakfast on most of the days. Time to think and decide about how much we actually need for one serving!

Too much self-discipline will only make you a dull and unhappy person. Instead of stacking up too much junk and making a resolve that you will eat only a bit on occasions, it is better not to buy so much in the first place! Once bought, easy access to such things only makes things worse!

Making conscious choices like above will make sure you cut down on those invisible sugars going inside and you would feel more free to eat sweets, knowing they contain sugar in them.

End of the day, monotonous, age old nutritious home cooked food is more suitable for health, than pleasing your eyes and taste buds with variety or trendy or non-messy ready-made options.

Image source: mix mithai by Shutterstock.

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