Next stop, Fit: I want a treat

I want a treat

Cold Turkey

Eating cleanly all day everyday can be extremely difficult and I for one know how hard it is to resist the temptations of ice-cream, chocolate, biscuits etc. When people think about going on a health kick or diet, they seem to feel the need to totally cut out any 'unhealthy' snack and go completely cold turkey. In my opinion this is not the way to go. If you constantly deprive yourself of that little pick me up, there is a huge chance it will lead to a binge, where you gorge upon everything you have been craving. As long as 80% of your daily food intake is good, a chocolate biscuit or two, making up the other 20%, isn't going to do any harm.

Making the choice

When chosing your little daily treat, my advice is to think natural. In my family, we tend to enjoy our breakfast/cereal bars eg. Go Ahead Bars or Belvita Breakfast biscuits. These are all extremely high in refined sugar and additives and quite frankly, not worth the calories. Yet, we continue to eat them because we have no substitute, want a treat and they are pretty more-ish. It is hard to cut out something you have been enjoying for a while, so the better option is to find an alternative.

You chose the ingredients

The best way to know exactly what is going into your snacks, is to make them yourself. We have recently started making our own version of the Cocoa Nakd bar and our own nutty chocolate flapjacks which we call Harris Bars. These are the perfect snack to satisfy our cravings. As well as knowing exactly what is in them, they are actually much nicer than the shop bought versions.

Cocoa Nakd bars- (makes 5)

Blend ingredients together and leave to set in fridge. No cooking required
85g pitted dates
50g unsalted cashew nuts
30g raisins

10g cocoa powder

Harris Bars- (makes 10)

Mix together all ingredients and bake for 15min on 150 degrees fan oven

55g butter
3 table spoons of honey
45g toasted mixed nuts
60g cranberries
85g oats
For all you chocolate lovers, add a layer of melted dark chocolate ontop once the mixture has been cooked and cooled

Extra advice

I know I would always feel guilty about having more than one Mars Bar or KitKat. For me, this is because the action of opening a second wrapper and having to throw it in the bin for everyone to see is enough to put me off. However, when making your own treats, the wrapper issue does not occur. I can quite happily keep picking away at my tray bake, evening up the sides until I might as well have taken two or three slices. My golden advice to avoid this is to wrap your own treats. I would love to have a vacuum sealer to actually create my own wrappers, but unfortunately this isn't really feasable. I find that tin foil works just as well and means that I have my one treat and feel good for the rest of the day, knowing my cravings are satisfied!

What are your favourite treats and recipes? Get in touch and let me know