People often equate healthy food to bland food. However, you can still enjoy savory meals while being healthy. The trick is the ingredients used in the meals. Granted, if you buy most of your items from a store, you’re bound to find some unwanted additives in the things you take home. But with a little time and planning, you could find yourself welcoming desserts back into your diet without any of the “consequences.”
Baked goods are often considered public enemy number one by health-conscious people. When bought from a store, these items tend to be loaded with extra fats (including trans-fats), dyes, excess sugar, and even lard (to give it that extra “plump”). Nobody wants any of that rolling around in their system! This is a surefire way to bring health problems later down the line.
But what if you could enjoy all the goodness of baked items without those added nasties? What if you could enjoy all the things you love to eat and not have to worry about your health? When I was young, my mother, being quite handy in the kitchen, placed baked goods on our table regularly. Between the cookies, cakes and loaves of fresh bread, we were always treated to something tasty, but the situation was a little different. These items were coming from our own oven, made with simple ingredients that we understood and trusted. My mom’s lemon cakes, for example, were never sweetened with store-bought lemonade or “brands” of any kind. Rather, real, organic lemons were purchased and juiced right on our own countertop. It was this juice produced by the lemons we had purchased that went into her cakes.
In our house, we knew exactly where everything was coming from, and the ingredients tended to be limited: sugar, flour, milk, eggs, cocoa, etc. There were no added sugars; there were no extra fats, chemicals or salts. Just simple ingredients that produced equally delicious results. The fact was that we knew exactly what we were eating. We were the ones who’d made it.
This, combined with regular exercise and natural eating habits (we were never big on meat, and fruits and veggies made up the majority of our meals) allowed us to enjoy ourselves without the added stress of whether or not we’d see the snacks on the scale. We ate what we wanted because we had control, and the same applies to everyone.
Following a certain diet is admirable and sometimes necessary, but denying yourself everything you enjoy simply isn’t the answer either. There’s no need to cut out all the things you love; you just have to know where and how to get them. If you’re in the mood for chocolate cake, gather your ingredients and make one. You’ll know what’s going into it, and on top of that, you’ll have fun! Baking is an experience all its own.
