Healthy desserts to help you satisfy your sweet tooth
Don’t want to ruin your summer bod, but craving a healthy dessert sweet treat? Believe it or not, you can make satisfying and healthy desserts with only nuts, seeds, natural sweeteners and fruit. There are many lower-sugar and vegan alternatives to a chocolate bar or chocolate cake. You can create or find a variety of desserts that are made with solely raw and organic ingredients. Here are some examples of sweet indulgences without the guilt:
1. Chocolate Avocado Pudding
Not only does this completely natural, no-sugar-added pudding taste amazing, but it is also extremely creamy from the avocado. Use raw cacao powder as it will give the pudding a rich chocolate flavor and be rich in antioxidants. I recommend using Giddy Yoyo raw cacao powder, as it is vegan, organic and fair trade.
2. Non-dairy ice cream
Ice cream in summer months doesn’t need to be off bounds for someone who ditches dairy. There are plenty of non-dairy alternative ice creams. Look for rice, hemp, soy, almond, or coconut milk ice cream in the grocery store or health-food store. These non-dairy ice creams are similar to your old favorites as they come in many flavors including chocolate, vanilla, strawberry and fancy ones with caramel swirls. You won’t be missing your ice cream with a little scoop of one of these!
I highly recommend Luna and Larry’s Coconut Bliss Ice Cream coconut ice cream topped with wild blueberries and goji berries.
If you prefer to make your own, a homemade ice cream option is to blend frozen bananas until they are a thick softserve consistency. You can add superfoods like cacao, nut butters, coconut flakes, and other fruits to make it even more delicious!
3. Dark chocolate
You only need a square or two of dark chocolate to end of a meal with sweet satisfaction. Choose dark chocolate that is at least 70-85% cocoa. Dark chocolate is nutritious as it is rich in iron, magnesium, copper and manganese.
4. Protein balls
Make protein-filled two bite snack balls for an afternoon snack. They are great fuel for on-the-go and can be customized any way you like. Use dates to help them stick together and then put in your choice of nuts, seeds, goji berries, coconut flakes, fruit, or cacao. You can even whip together chocolate chip cookie dough protein balls made from rolled oats, dates, vanilla protein powder, natural peanut butter, unsweetened almond milk and mini dark chocolate chips. They will taste just like raw cookie dough!
5. Sorbet
Try making a sorbet that contains only three ingredients: fruit, natural sweetener (honey, maple syrup or coconut nectar), and lime juice. You can also use these ingredients and pour the mixture into a tray for a popsicle form.
There you have it, healthier easy treats that are completely vegan, plant-based and filled with vitamins and minerals.
