22 Delicious, Low-Sugar ways to curb your sweet tooth! Some of these 21 Day Fix sweet treats and desserts are SO easy, they don’t even need a recipe.
Hey guys! Sorry I’ve been kind of absent lately! Hope all is well with all of you fab food-lovers, I’ve missed chatting you up 🙂
Well, we’re officially three weeks away from our moving date and it is coming at me quick! For those of you who are new around here, my family and I are moving from Louisville, KY to Alaska, I know, it’s so crazy! I have our road trip all booked and planned out (so glad that’s done!), so right now the big thing is just finishing up going through all of our stuff so we can try to make some kind of yard sale happen this weekend. Super-fun, right? I just hate, hate taking stuff to the next place that we don’t use or need. I’m like an anti-hoarder.
So let’s talk about sugar, baby. You want it, I want it (I mean waaaant it), but we need to turn it down a notch right? I know I’ve mentioned this before, but every time I think about it it still kind of blows my mind – the average American consumes 22 teaspoons of sugar EVERY DAY. That’s nuts! If you’re wondering what’s recommended, it’s no more than 4-6 teaspoons a day. That’s a huge difference. Now I’m not talking about naturally occurring sugars in fruits and things like that. I’m talking about the extra sugar that we add into our diets via sugary drinks and processed foods or even when we put it in our coffee in the morning.
I try to make sugar-counting easy here at The Foodie and The Fix by always including it in the container counts that I list for recipes, but when you’re using your own recipes, you have to remember to add it in yourself. On the spreadsheet that I use for meal-planning (which you can find here), I have a column for counting sugar, so I never forget, but it would be an easy thing to do since it isn’t an actual container.
Of course the problem that we all face is that craving, that need, that “I can’t make it through the next millisecond without something sweet” feeling… especially at first. I pinky-swear, it gets easier. Anyway, even though that’s true, nobody wants to feel deprived, and believe me, if you do feel that way it will be nearly impossible to make a real lifestyle change… SO! Without further ado, I’m here to help out my peeps! Check out all of these AWESOME ways to keep your sugar monster at bay:
First, a few no-recipe recipes that I make on a regular basis (especially the first one, OMG I eat that deliciousness almost every day – go on, skeptic, give it a shot!) 🙂
- Ricotta Dessert – 3/4 cup of part skim ricotta, 1/2 – 1 cup of chopped strawberries, drizzle a teaspoon of honey over everything – aaand maybe even a smidge of coarse salt on top… trust me. (1 Red, 1/2 – 1 Purple)
- Apple “Nachos” – 1 tsp PB mixed with 1 tsp honey and drizzled over 1 sliced apple. You can top this with coconut flakes, nuts or chocolate chips, just be sure to count those! Without the toppings, this is 1 Purple, 1 Tsp
- Banana Pancakes – I know, this sounds like breakfast and of course it can be, but these are so sweet and just all around fantastic, that I make them on the regular as dessert 🙂 Mix together 1/2 of a banana and 1 egg (it’s ok if the batter is a little chunky), cook like you would regular pancakes, just be gentle when flipping. (1 Purple, 1/2 Red)
- Green Smoothies – Blend together 1/4 cup spinach with 1/2 unsweetened vanilla almond milk until thoroughly blended (should look like green milk), add to the blender 1/4 of a banana and 1/2 cup of frozen fruit (any kind!) and blend! The BEST smoothies eva. (1/4 Green, 1 Purple, 1/4 Yellow)
- Chopped fruit mixed with unsweetened coconut flakes – something about the coconut makes fruit feel more dessert-y. (1 Purple, 1 Orange)
***Bonus*** Ok, so it’s not really a bonus, and I’m sure you know all about it by now, but I forgot to add in when I first wrote this – One-Ingredient Banana Ice Cream! You literally put frozen bananas into a food processor (or high powered blender) and process for a while until it turns into ice cream. It’s magical.
6. No Bake Peanut Butter Coconut Bites (Vegan, Gluten Free) – Beaming Baker
Makes 24 bites – Either count each bite as: 1 1/2 tsp, 1/2 tsp sugar, 1/2 orange and 1/12 yellow (I wouldn’t count the yellow unless you had several of these) OR count 2 bites as 1 yellow treat swap
7. Tropical Mango Sundae
8. 21 Day Fix Approved Pumpkin Cheesecake – Mixing In The Kitchen With Michelle
9. Cocoa-Banana Oat Bars
10. 21 Day Fix Cherry Crisp
11. Slow-Cooker Pecan Stuffed Apples with Cinnamon-Peanut Butter Sauce
12. 21 Day Fix Peanut Butter Cookies – From Forks to Fitness
13. Apple-Blackberry Cheesecake Tart
14. 21 Day Fix Fruit Salsa and Cinnamon Chips – Resolution Slim Down
15. 21 Day Fix Secret Ingredient Brownies {No Beans!}
16. Banana Split “Pudding”
17. 21 Day Fix No-Bake Cookies – Stephanie Brijbag (Pearls & Push-Ups)
18. {Flourless} Pumpkin Custard Bars
19. 21 Day Fix Snickerdoodle Bars – Adventures of a Shrinking Princess
I hope you guys love these and they really help you kill those cravings! Here’s another good tip for ya – If you crave sweets at a certain time of the day (me: at night, EVERY. NIGHT.), make sure you plan to eat your treat at that time. It makes such a huge difference!
Do you guys have a favorite low-sugar treat that helps you get through? I’d love to hear about it!
Enjoy!
As always, if you try any of these recipes, I want to hear about it! Better yet, lemme see ’em! Snap a pic and tag me @thefoodieandthefix on Instagram so I can check it out! It makes me ridiculously happy to see what you guys are making 🙂
Sorry, just finished 2nd week.
Just started 2nd week of 21 day fix (10 pounds lighter!) and craving something sweet. I just made the banana pancakes and topped with a tsp of peanut butter. Delicious! Thank you for a quick easy “recipe” that leaves me feeling completely satisfied.
I’m so glad, Angela! By the way, I hadn’t made those in a while and after reading your comment, I immediately made some! They ARE so good! I love that they only take two ingredients that I ALWAYS have on hand 🙂
Hi there,
Do you have a recipe for the fruit salsa and cinnamon chips?
thanks!
Hi Kate! If you click on the title of the fruit salsa with cinnamon chips, it’ll bring you to the recipe 🙂
Thanks so much for including my recipe and picture for coffee ice cream 🙂
You’re welcome! Thanks for the great recipe, Becca!!
Hey Steph! Alway so happy to see a super shiny new post. 😉
My goodness, that move date sure did sneak up on us (lol… I feel like I’m moving too!) Good luck on the yard sale!. I am ALL for the idea of getting rid of stuff. Anti-hoarders unite! 😉
Meanwhile, thank you for creating this awesome sweets roundup. I completely feel you on this: I’ve got a sweet tooth the size of… geez, what’s something big? Alaska! Lol. Love that you rounded up some many great ideas to get that sweet fix without going super unhealthy. 🙂
Thanks so much for including me, Steph! I’m humbled (and also hungry now). Also loving the list of no-recipes at the top too. The banana pancakes, the green smoothies… okay, the whole list sounds amazing! And nice cream is the BEST! P.S. I can’t wait to try your flourless pumpkin custard bars once fall rolls around.
Good luck with the move, my dear! Bog hogs. xo
Thanks, Demeter! How could I possibly make a list of treats without including one of your vegan/GF masterpieces?! Also, let me just say that you, my friend, may be the ultimate anti-hoarder, I bow before you 🙂 There’s nothing better than a no-recipe recipe, especially when you need to kill a craving RIGHT NOW – and seriously, one ingredient ice cream? It doesn’t get any simpler than that, AND I have yet to meet a single soul who doesn’t love it. SO GOOD!! Bog Hogs, D! <3 <3 <3
Hehe. You are SERIOUSLY the best!! 🙂 🙂 I’m an anti-hoarder? Old hoarding me would be so proud to hear it (over the piles of junk, of course.) So true! I feel like we have to whisper this bc we’re food bloggers, but sometimes you just need to make something without instructions! Lol. Big, big BOG hogs to you, Steph. <3 xoxoxoxo
If eating dessert is wrong, I don’t want to be right. All the recipe mentioned above are simply amazing. Perfect holiday treat.
Haha… me either, Rahul! Thank you!