Humans do love their sweets. You don’t have to give up everything sweet to go gluten-free. If you give a baby a spoonful of ice cream and one of sour cream, you don’t need a team of researchers and a multimillion-dollar, placebo-controlled, double-blind study to figure out which one will make him smile and which will make him grimace. Sure, people need glucose — that’s the sugar that powers the body. But you can get enough of that from fruit, vegetables, and other foods.
You also have the added benefit of getting vitamins, minerals, fiber, and antioxidants for far fewer calories than the “empty calories” you find in sugary foods. So satisfy your sweet tooth, but try to do it with foods that pack a nutritional punch. Here are some ideas:
Chocolate hazelnut spread fruit dip: Warm up chocolate hazelnut spread a little and dip fresh fruit in it.
Grapes and French cream: Combine about 1 cup fat-free sour cream, 1/2 cup powdered sugar, 1/2 cup sucralose artificial sweetener (Splenda), and a dash of vanilla. Mix the French cream with red, green, and black grapes.
Peaches ’n cream: Put half of a peach or pear in a dish and add a small scoop of vanilla frozen yogurt. Put raspberries or strawberries on top.
Pudding: If you use skim milk with a packaged pudding, it’s pretty good for you. Serve it with bananas on top.
Strawberries and yogurt: Slice strawberries and blend them with nonfat flavored yogurt. Top the mixture with artificial sweetener if you want a little extra sweetness.
Strawberry sweet and sour: Dip fresh strawberries into fat-free sour cream and then into artificial sweetener or honey.
Fresh fruit is best for you when you store it properly. Don’t refrigerate bananas and other tropical fruits. Melons don’t need refrigeration until you cut them; store them in a separate bin, away from vegetables and meat.