There are days when we decide: everything, bread and rolls are locked up, a fight with cakes, a war with cakes from a neighboring pastry shop. But a few hours pass, and the resolve melts before our eyes, like ice cream if something goes wrong. Forbidden fruit and all that, and you yourself know how it works. Maybe it’s better to loosen the reins and allow yourself a little tea? And so that it goes through with the least losses, we asked experts to make a rating of the “safest” sweets.
Fruits
Yes, yes – they are also considered a dessert. However, despite their usefulness, they should not be abused.
This is a source of fiber, so it should always be on our menu,” says nutritionist Oksana Vida. – But you need to remember that, in addition to useful components, fruits contain fructose – one of the most common monosaccharides along with glucose, which serves as a source of energy for the body. However, in contrast, fructose is almost completely absorbed by liver cells and converted into free fatty acids, which can lead to obesity and the development of cardiovascular diseases.
Three different fruits a day are considered normal for an adult. You can use them not only in their pure form. For example, there is a healthy dessert based on banana: peel, cut, freeze the banana; blend in a blender with coconut milk; add nuts, cocoa or berries to taste.
Chia pudding
I can recommend chia puddings for fashionable ones. Chia seeds are a source of healthy fats, protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals. As a rule, dessert with them is made in combination with coconut milk; you can prepare it yourself. Stir and put in the refrigerator overnight. You can add fruits, berries to taste. This dessert has a minimum of sugars,” says nutritionist Yana Fry.
Sports bars
Often you can find palm oil, trans fats, preservatives and flavorings – we do not take these. A good composition is considered to contain protein (this is what promotes saturation), fiber and healthy fats. For example, vegetable oils or nuts, all this can be supplemented with vitamins and a sweetener; safe ones include erythritol, inulin or stevia. In fact, many of these bars usually contain, in addition to an abundance of sugar, an extremely low protein content. By the way, we once talked in detail about what the manufacturers of fitness bars are hiding and which low-fat products will only make things worse for you.
Chocolate
Real chocolate contains only cocoa powder, cocoa butter, sweetener and milk powder if the chocolate is milk. But when you see thickeners in the composition, “eshki” is something similar to chocolate, but is not chocolate.
With chocolate, everything is not so simple at all. High-quality dark chocolate bars with a high cocoa content contain antioxidant flavonoids, which normalize blood pressure, protect blood vessels from atherosclerosis and prevent heart attacks and strokes; Thanks to caffeine, chocolate stimulates brain activity; magnesium and potassium normalize the functioning of the central nervous system and muscles.
But the less cocoa in chocolate and the more sugar and fillers, the sooner all its benefits tend to zero. Flavorings, stabilizers and dyes increase, for example, the risk of cancer and pathologies of internal organs. In addition, a large amount of (even high-quality) chocolate threatens the immune system and increases blood glucose levels.
“Over time, the body’s sensitivity to insulin decreases; there is so much glucose in the blood that it is not absorbed and does not enter the cell, which begins to starve. In response to this, a person eats even more sweets, says gastroenterologist Galina Bartashevich. — Carbohydrate metabolism is disrupted.
a lack of microelements appears, such as chromium, and for dessert there is also psychological dependence due to the fact that sweets lead to the production of the pleasure hormone – serotonin. Excessive consumption of sweets leads not only to carbohydrate addiction, but also to obesity and diabetes.
You shouldn’t give up sweets completely either. The main thing is to control yourself. For example, WHO recommends consuming a maximum of 50 grams of pure sugar per day (preferably less): this is a half-liter bottle of cola, a bag of nut-fruit mixture, five teaspoons of chocolate paste or 1.3 kilos of pasta.
Paste
The more natural its composition, the better. Pastille is easy to make at home. Place parchment paper greased with vegetable oil on a baking sheet. Smear a hot mass over it with a thin layer, dry in a moderately heated oven (60 degrees). Twist the dried marshmallow into a roll and store in tightly closed glass jars.
Marmalade
Marmalade is considered to be one of the most harmless sweets, and if it is also apple, then you have the right to even count on some benefit. The search for healthy marmalade takes us back to the times of the Soviet Union, when the products were natural, they were proudly exported. Then the marmalade was not on agar-agar or gelatin – it was on pectin, and pectin is apples.
You will be surprised, but the Kolomna marshmallow at one time became the progenitor of the French marshmallow. Only with us it was denser, with the addition of berry syrups, and the French began to beat it with egg white, and a light dessert product turned out. But due to the calorie content, it was difficult to call it dietary.
Finding real marmalade in a store today is a feat. It is easy to detect dyes in it and much more difficult to detect pectin. By the way, Roskontrol specialists recently conducted an examination of products of popular brands and told how to distinguish healthy marmalade from harmful ones.
Dried fruits
They differ from fruits in that they have no water and less fiber. But dried fruits are already considered concentrated sugars, they can be consumed a maximum of 5 pieces per day. They have a high glycemic index.
