If you’re anything like me, you’re in the mood for dessert pretty much all the time! This is challenging because when you’re always craving something sweet, it’s easy to cave often and have some Oreos or go out for some ice-cream.
That’s fine! We shouldn’t shun ourselves for splurging sometimes, BUT we can’t do that all day, everyday. It kills our energy levels and isn’t healthy for our body!
I started researching that unfortunate “sweet-tooth” that many of us have, hoping to figure out how to stop it! I also started curating a little homemade menu for myself filled with guilt-free sweets that give me my fix. These snacks and desserts are all super easy to whip up!
Over time, I realized I was starting to crave some of my healthy treats more than say a bowl of ice cream or a donut. This is how your body adapts. It takes time to adjust so remember not to beat yourself up when you first try a new lifestyle habit. That’ll only make you bounce back more.
Just start by trying out some of these research-backed tips and incorporate some of the snacks into your diet. See how you feel and how you like them. Hopefully, over time, you’ll kill that sweet tooth and be able to make healthier choices that you actually WANT to make!
To go straight to the sweets, click here. But, you’ll definitely want to check out the tricks to curb your sweet tooth to help you in the long run!
Proven Ways to Kill Your Sweet Tooth
Before I get into the nitty gritty tips here, I have to point out the most important take-away. Eating habits are called eating HABITS for a reason. They are habits. The more you exercise a habit the worse it gets. So remember that the more fast food, processed foods, baked goods, desserts, fill-in-the-blank, that you eat, the more you will want it!
Keep that in mind when you go about your choice of sweets. Frosted Flakes for breakfast will make you want ice cream after dinner.
1. Avoid Sugar (to an extent)
This is the simple and most effective way to adjust your sweet tooth. Like I just explained above, eating sugary cereal for breakfast makes you want something just as sugary throughout the day. Check out this post that explains why sugar primes you to want more sugar.
I’ll never go as far as telling people to cut out fruit because I think that’s just silly. We gotta have something, right? And it’s fruit.. it’s nutritious! What I suggest is trying to cut out the processed sugary foods as much as you can.
Take a look at the nutrition label and avoid foods with lots of “added sugars.” This is something that is hard at first, but it pays off over time. Tap into that will power that you know you have!!
2. Load Up With Healthy Fats
Yay, this is what we all wanted to hear! But don’t get ahead of yourself now and start ordering a McDonalds Big Mac to fight the urge for an Oreo McFlurry. We want to be choosing healthy fats.
Fats help fill you up and actually make you feel full longer then less fatty foods. So, having salmon for dinner might make you feel like you don’t even want dessert later.
Filling your meals throughout the day with fatty foods like nuts, seeds, olive oil, salad dressings, etc., can help you constantly curb that sweet craving. By doing this, the craving may never even arise rather than you trying to combat it when it does sneak up. Fatty foods are also great to incorporate in your diet because of the many other nutritional benefits they offer!
3. Eat Protein and Fibrous Foods
Protein and fiber actually help slow the digestion of sugars in your body, helping you curb that need for sweets. Similar to fatty foods, filling your diet with protein and fiber throughout the day can help you kill that sweet tooth.
This is important when it comes to “empty carbs” that people talk about so often. Eating a turkey sandwich can give you that protein, but you should eat it on whole grain bread for that fiber boost. White bread spikes up your insulin levels and gets digested so fast. This makes you want something sweet again shortly after that meal!
Replace the pasta and bread with whole grain options to feel fuller, longer and kick that sweet tooth.
4. Workout
This can really be a win, win, WIN. Here’s the deal. Working out is actually proven to curb your appetite and drop hunger levels so you feel less inclined to indulge. The other plus here is that working out will benefit you anyway!
Also, if you can’t help but to squeeze in some chocolate or a little ice cream in your day, you can at least feel less guilty about it knowing you’ve just killed it at the gym or went on a great run.
Something else important to note is that there are actually some benefits to eating sweets BEFORE you workout. Don’t go eating a pint of Ben & Jerry’s before your 5K! But a little chocolate bar or candy can help give you a boost of energy right before a workout and then you can burn it off.
5. Avoid Diet Drinks and Sugar Free Foods
This is a really easy way to kill your sweet tooth. Sugar free foods and drinks are secretly sabotaging you and you don’t even realize!
When you eat or especially drink these quickly digested, empty things, they trick your brain. You eat something that seems sugary and tastes sugary, but theres no real sugar! Because of this, your body feels super unsatisfied and pretty much immediately makes you want something actually sugary.
Guilt-Free Sweets
Now that we understand how we can fight off our sweet cravings, we will hopefully do a better job of refraining from sweet treats. But of course with anything, it’s not going to be a complete fix.
We all need our sweets sometimes! Lets look at some guilt-free sweets we can indulge in when our sweet-tooth strikes…
- Chocolate Drizzled Strawberries
- Strawberries & Cool Whip
- Peanut Butter Banana Toast
- Apples & Peanut Butter
- Apple Pie Oatmeal
- Banana Bread Oatmeal
- Dark Chocolate Bark (just not too much!)
- Frozen Greek Yogurt Covered Blueberries
- Banana “Ice cream”
Chocolate Drizzled Strawberries
Ingredients:
- Strawberries
- Dark Melting Chocolate
- Crushed nuts (optional)
Melt some chocolate and drizzle it over 5-10 strawberries. Sprinkle on some crushed nuts for some extra crunch and healthy fat. You can eat them when the chocolate is warm and gooey or refrigerate them for a bit for a nice cool crunch.
Strawberries & Cool Whip
Ingredients:
- Strawberries – 5-10
- Cool Whip – serving
Super easy. Super quick. And it’s healthy! This is a great dessert or something you can whip up as a sweet snack during your day. Just slice up as many strawberries as you want and top them with some cool whip!
Peanut Butter Banana Toast
Ingredients:
- Bread (preferably whole grain)
- Natural Peanut Butter – 1-2 tablespoons
- Banana – 1/2-1 sliced
- Optional Toppings
- Chia Seeds
- Drizzle of Honey
This makes for a great snack, quick breakfast, or a healthy option for a late night dessert. You toast your bread, spread on the peanut butter, and top it with your banana slices!
If you want, you can sprinkle some chia seeds to make it a bit more filling. You can also top it with a drizzle of honey for an even sweeter option.
Apples & Peanut Butter
Ingredients:
- Apple – 1/2-1 apple
- Natural Peanut butter – 2 tablespoons
This is great snack on it’s own or as a little side to your breakfast or lunch. Slice up an apple and get yourself a serving of peanut butter. Sometimes I like to just dip my apples in the peanut butter, but to make it a little fancier, you can melt the peanut butter and drizzle it on top! This is one of my favorite sweet snacks and its super simple, healthy, and filling!
Apple Pie Oatmeal
Ingredients:
- Apple – I usually only use half
- Almond milk – 1/2 cup – 1 cup depending on desired thickness
- Natural Maple Syrup – a drizzle
- Rolled Oats – 1 serving
- Vanilla Extract – 2-3 drops
- Cinnamon – 1 tablespoon (I like a lot of cinnamon)
- Nutmeg – one dash
This is often my breakfast meal, but it also makes for a great dessert that will keep you full the rest of the night and prevent you from snacking. It’s also really simple!
Simply mix all your ingredients in a bowl except for the apple. Microwave those ingredients for a minute and a half. While that’s in the microwave, you can chop up your apple into little bite sized pieces. Once your oatmeal is done in the microwave, mix in your chopped apple and it’s ready to go!
Just for reference, I don’t microwave the apple with the oatmeal because I’ve read that “cooking” an apple can eliminate some of the nutritional benefits. Once you stir it in with the rest of your warmed oatmeal, you won’t know the difference!
Banana Bread Oatmeal
Ingredients:
- Banana – 1 sliced
- Rolled Oats – 1 serving
- Vanilla Extract – 2-3 drops
- Natural Maple Syrup – drizzle
- Almond Milk (or your choice of milk) – 1/2 cup to 1 cup depending on desired thickness
- Cinnamon – 2 to 3 dashes
- Crushed Walnuts (optional)
Similar to the apple pie, this is usually my breakfast when I want something sweet. You can cut down the portion size to make it a sweet treat throughout the day or for dessert. Mix all your ingredients in a bowl and microwave it for a minute and a half. Voilà – your healthy and tasty banana bread dish is served 🙂
Dark Chocolate Bark
You can buy this pre-made at many stores or make your own! My favorite is Member’s Mark Dark Chocolate Thins with Seat Salt and Almonds
To make your own you’ll need:
- Dark melting chocolate – as much as you want for the bark
- optional mix-ins
- Crushed almonds or crushed peanuts
- Sea salt
- Pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds
- Dried Fruit
For this homemade recipe, you’ll want to melt some dark chocolate in a pan or pot over the stove, stirring frequently so it doesn’t burn. Set aside a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Once the chocolate is melted, stir in your choice of mix-ins. Spread the chocolate across the baking sheet in a nice and thin layer. Refrigerate the bark for about 10-20 minutes until it’s hard. Then you can take a pizza cutter or large knife and break up your bark into individual servings!
Frozen Greek Yogurt Covered Blueberries
Ingredients:
- Blueberries
- Vanilla Greek Yogurt
These are super easy and make for a great refreshing snack. You’re just going to coat a bunch of blueberries with greek yogurt by mixing them in a bowl together. Then, take out all the blue berries and place them out on a tray with parchment paper (I froze mine from the photo in the bowl which is why they came out a bit messy). Place them in the freezer for about two hours and you’re all set! You can store these in a container in the freezer and enjoy them by the handfuls throughout the day for a sweet little pick me up.
Banana “Ice Cream”
Ingredients:
- Frozen Bananas – 1 to 2
- Vanilla Extract – a few drops
- Optional Toppings
- Drizzle of Peanut Butter
- Dollop of Cool Whip
- Drizzle of Dark Chocolate
This might be the easiest and most satisfying recipe! All you’re going to do is peel and freeze some ripe bananas and then mash them up in a bowl (or blend them if that’s easier). Add some vanilla extract to give it that vanilla flavor and you’re good to go.
If you want, you can jazz it up with a drizzle of peanut butter or melted dark chocolate. You can also add a little dollop of cool whip. Now you can have your tasty “sundae” for dessert without all the extra calories!
The Bottom Line
I hope this helped you make sense of why we crave so many sweets. These proven tips should help you minimize that sweet tooth BUT don’t get down on yourself if you’re still having a hard time fighting the urge! Whip up some of these healthy, sweet snacks and desserts to offer you some options that you can have “guilt-free”.
But, let’s not lie here and pretend this means we’ll never have ice cream or Oreos again! We’re all human, so let’s not be too hard on ourselves. Just try to incorporate some of these tips and snacks into your life to make baby steps towards better choices. Keep growing 🙂