Quenching the craving: sweet treats without the added sugar

By day four, you’re probably dreaming of chocolate bars or oatmeal raisin cookies. I know I do. I remember within a week of the first time I stopped eating added sugars, I went to a summer barbecue in Sonoma. Someone had brought brownie bites and, for some god-awful reason, had decorated them with store bought icing in bright pink. Needless to say, these did not quite fit with the rest of the food aesthetic, but weird local foodies that we are, everyone flocked to them. Guess you can only do brussel sprouts and locally-sourced lemons for so long.

One of these brownie bites actually talked to me. I swear.

“Coco, it’s okay. This silly no-sugar bender doesn’t have to last forever.”

“I know, but so far it has only lasted three days.”

“Three days! Wow! Congratulations. I’d say that’s sufficiently long. Eat me.”

“It’s only been three days of no sugar. I can’t even tell how I feel yet.”

“You’ll feel better if you eat me.”

“No I won’t.”

“Oh yes you will.”

“Okay, maybe. I could just have a bite.”

“Yup, no problem. And you can even start again tomorrow with this silly no sugar thing.”

“No, I won’t.”

“Aw, c’mon. Give a brownie a break.”

“No.”

“Yes, it’s okay.”

“No, it’s not.”

The argument only became more juvenile. (Yes you are, No I’m not, You are but what am I, that kind of thing. I’ll spare you the further details.)

Okay, now you’re thinking about brownies, maybe simply because I said not to. So, how do you abate the sugar craving? How do you get the brownies out of your head?

Offer alternatives.

Here are a couple natural sweet treats I like:

• Bahri dates. Add crème fraiche to one and you’ve got nature’s Sugar Daddy (the candy, in case you’re confused)
• Dried mulberries. Aka, Nature’s Crack.
• Tangerines, persimmons, pears, cherries, and other sweet, easy to eat fruits. You’ll be surprised how easy it is to reach for one of those instead of a cookie.
• Trail mix of cacao nibs, dried cherries, dried currants (not raisins) and almonds. The mix of cacao and currants gives you surprisingly chocolatey flavors.
• Cacao – whole beans or nibs. Cacao has all the nutritive goodness of chocolate – theobromine, antioxidants, magnesium, for starters – without the added sugar rush of the chocolate bar. But warning: if you haven’t had cacao before, it’s not sweet at all – try mixing it with a date or currants at first.
• Fresh squeezed fruit juice. Not everyone wants loads of fruit juice around their house because it’s so high in natural sugars. I found it invaluable when first removing added sugars from my diet, but slowly weaned myself off that and replaced it with lemon juice, cranberry juice, and green smoothies. In terms of fruit juice, if I can’t make it myself, I look for the organic juices that are pasteurized without heat. Evolution juice used to be like that (I don’t know what’s up with it now that Starbucks owns it), and there’s a new one from Oregon that I saw at the Bowl the other day – Genesis Organic and they make a spicy ginger-apple juice I love.