What’s life without a little fun? When trying to eat healthfully, it can seem like so many tasty foods are off-limits, which is disheartening. Being too strict on your diet may drive you to eventually binge eat, resulting in that familiar ‘all or nothing’ mindset seen in dieting.

We believe that your diet should be balanced, that there is room for a few indulgences, and that you should enjoy living your life. Hopefully, the tips below will help you do just that.

• Limit treats to a certain time of day, for example when you’re full after your main meal. The fullness should help you avoid overeating the sweeter stuff, so you naturally portion control. Remember to eat until you are satisfied, not stuffed.
• Look at the label to assess how it fits. Yes, we always talk about this, but knowledge is power. Being able to assess something to see how it fits in with your dietary goals makes healthy living easier – and making it like a game where you’re being proactive about it is fun! For example, the American dietary guidelines recommend that we limit added sugars to no more than 10% of our caloric intake daily. For the average woman eating 2000 calories per day, 10% works out to be 50g of sugar per day. To give you reference, a 20-ounce bottle of coca cola has around 65g of sugar per day, so drinking the full bottle would automatically put you over your daily goal. This is not including other ‘hidden’ added sugars in processed foods which you may not even realize contain sugar, such as bread, condiments, and other goods. To avoid this, we suggest not drinking your daily sugar allowance via soda, but enjoying a soda water – and saving the sugar for the food you eat.
• Have treats only when you’re outside the house will help you avoid constant temptation. Many of us are guilty of mindlessly eating things like cookies without really enjoying them. Having a constant supply can also be taxing on even the strongest will power. Why not choose to have treat foods when eating out, so that you can really indulge, and enjoy the indulgence!
• Switch to a healthier option if you want to treat yourself at home. Our site is full of heathier versions of treats, such as our delicious Tofu Chocolate Pudding or Berry Granita. While you still need to be mindful of calories and sugars with made-over dessert recipes, they are not as nutritionally empty as many store-bought treats. Enjoy making them, enjoy eating them – and don’t forget to share!