Eat These The Next Time You Get The Munchies
I defy anyone who gets a case of the munchies to tell me that their willpower alone will be enough to ensure that they don't reach for the cookie jar or the potato chips when no one else is looking. And if you live alone? Come on. If there is no one else around to see your transgressions then you are going to binge on whatever you can get your hands on. That's just what we are - creatures of comfort food.
Maybe like me you avoid buying the things you love to eat. If I have something tasty and within reach, it is going to get eaten. I might be able to stave off for a day or two the desire to slice open a bag of cookies, but I give in eventually, as I am sure you do. So what are we supposed to do, if this kind of behavior is continually contributing to the number of inches around our waist?
One solution is to replace the "bad" snacks, which is practically every piece of junk food that is sold at your local convenience store, with healthy snack alternatives. But what to those look like? More importantly, what do they TASTE like? I have not-so-fond memories of "healthy" cookies that my mother used to make when the sugar and butter supplies in our household ran low. Thankfully broccoli cookies never appeared on the menu, but nor did anything healthy that also passed as a tasty snack.
is quite aware of this problem. But she was determined to find snack recipes that did away with the usual cast of bad characters: sugar, flour, butter, and replace these with healthy substitutes that she could live with as a bodybuilder looking to maintain a healthy diet during her preparations for physique contests. That was some years ago now, and today she is making the recipes she came up with during that period available to anyone who could benefit from being able to grab low-calorie snacks on the run that also taste great.
If you could see some of the photographs of the snacks and treats that she has come up with you would not hesitate to volunteer to be a guinea pig in her kitchen. Would you believe that you can make cheesecake alternatives that use no dairy, but look and taste delicious nonetheless? Apparently you can, and this is just one of the recipe types that litter her book.
For more information on this mouth-watering topic I recommend you get yourself across to her site at grab yourself a copy of the recipe book and put your blender to work. The nice thing about Carolyn's recipes? You don't even need a stove to prepare them - these are all no cook recipes made from natural ingredients that can go straight to your mouth!
What Makes These Sugarless Snacks Taste Great?
I have to admit that when I heard about snack recipes which featured no sugar I was a little sceptical about how the end product would taste. After all, sugar makes the world go around, or so you might think after spending most of you life scarfing down an endless supply of snack types made with processed sugar.
But there is an alternative to the use of sugar in snacks. At least, this is what Carolyn Hansen says in her book Nature has come up with some nifty alternatives that are actually quite healthy for us, and which can be used to impart all the sweetness you might otherwise miss in the absense of a dose of sugar.
Dates turn out to be a good way to naturally sweeten the recipes for snacks and treats that appear in Carolyn's book. Another alternative that most of us are familiar with is honey. Less known is agave nectar, which is also an excellent natural sweetener that appears in many of Carolyn's recipes, including those for tempting cheescake delights that you can eat without the least pang of guilt. Yes, that recipe for a pink Strawberry Fields Forever Cheesecake concoction is sure to become one of your favorites.
All done without sugar. Even without flour or butter. After all, who needs high-cholestrol butter in their diet when almond butter and coconut butter can be used instead?
Go check out Carolyn's site here now and tell me that those images of the Strawberry Fields Forever cheesecake and the Carob Fudge don't make your mouth water. The great thing about these recipes is that they are not just put together with ingredients that are good for you, but they are easy to make AND they do not require any cooking on your part. If you know how to use a blender, Carolyn says, you can easily follow her directions and churn out a plate full of yum yums in no time.
If this whole idea sounds like a treat to you (hee hee) then here's where you can go to find out more about Trust me, if you like to eat, this is something that is worth your time - especially if you would not mind losing a few pounds by eating stuff that tastes like it was designed to put on the pounds, not take them off!
When You Have A Blender, Who Needs A Stove?
I do not remember the last time that I used the stove. But I have a great excuse. The only thing I know how to heat up is a teabag. The downside? I eat out every day and the quality of the nutrition I put into my body is not nearly as good as I know it ought to be.
This is why Carolyn Hansen's book
Well, posioning might be too strong a word. Still, we all know that the sugar, butter, and other chemical additives that fill traditional snacks are doing none of us any favors. They all contribute in the long run to obsesity and other chronic diseases associated with poor nutrition. This is why when someone comes up with a set of healthy food alternatives we should all take notice, rather than continue to be lazy like I am. I am going to suffer the consequences of my actions, I have no doubt. But that does not mean that you need to do the same.
At least I hope you do not. At the very least, do me a favor and go have a look at the recipe book that Carolyn is offering on her site. If you take a glance at that Strawberry Fields Forever cheesecake alternative, or the Carob Fudge, and you still don't bite (ha ha) then I will know that I did my bit to help your ward off the coronary disease or the hypertension that likely will catch up with you one of these days. Assuming you eat as poorly as I do, that is. You don't, do you?
