Do you love to bake but hate what sugar does to your mood and to your body? Maybe you have a strong sweet tooth, but are fighting so hard to stay on track with your diet. Perhaps you should consider switching up what you use to bake so you can get your sweet tooth fix and still be healthy!
Benefits of Eating Healthy
There are many lifelong benefits to eating healthy, it helps you to live longer, boosts your immunity, lowers your risk of heart disease and diabetes as well as helps maintain a healthy digestive system.
There is no end to the benefits acquired from eating healthy. When you choose to care about what you put into your body, your life and your body can be transformed.
Deciding to be conscious and aware of what you are placing into your body will help you limit the amount of artificial preservatives entering your system. This alone will help you avoid health hazards such as asthma, allergic reactions, neurological damage and in some cases, even cancer.
We don’t realize the importance of what we put into our body until it’s too late.
Healthy Baking Substitutions
If you are an avid baker but are fighting hard to maintain your healthy diet then maybe you should try substituting some baking ingredients for healthier ones.
Here are a few ingredients you can try switching out.
Healthy Baking – Swap Butter with Avocado
When you swap out a tablespoon of butter for half a tablespoon of avocado you are going down in fat and in calories and if you have dairy sensitivities this will positively help you as well.
Healthy Baking – Try Greek Yogurt Rather Than Sour Cream
Greek yogurt is high in protein and low in fat. It’s not like other dairy products so when you switch out your sour cream serving for Greek yogurt you are decreasing your calorie count and increasing your protein intake.
Healthy Baking – Trade In The Eggs For Chia Seeds
Chia seeds are known for their high fiber content. When you mix one tablespoon of chia seeds with three tablespoons of water you can replace your recipes call for one egg. Therefore, lowering your cholesterol intake that is high in eggs and increasing your fiber intake.
Healthy Baking – Switch Your Sugar to Honey
Even though honey still contains sugar it is a much healthier option because honey is dense with other nutrients. Honey is a good source of vitamins and minerals for your body whereas sugar is just like empty calories. There is also no sugar crash when you use honey rather than plain sugar.
Healthy Baking – Use Options for Grains
While flour is a common baking ingredient in recipes, consider using another whole grain such as barley, bulgur, Farro, freekeh, sorghum or wheat berries. Barley has a rich flavor with mild sweetness. Bulgur can be nutty or earthy flavored.
Farro looks like plumper wild rice and tastes of toasted walnuts with some caramel. Freekeh is made of broken wheat and tastes for vegetal. Sorghum is more hearty and slightly nutty with some sweetness.
Wheat berries can have many different flavors and you need to determine what works best for your recipe.
There are many ways to swap out the unhealthy ingredients used for baking to healthy baking ingredients. Of course, this will make your baking a little more challenging, but you will reap the benefits afterwards without having to sacrifice the taste of your sweets!
Some practice and patience go a long way while learning how to replace certain ingredients and getting just the right amount or consistency, but your health will thank you. Once you’ve gotten the recipe down to perfection, enjoy your sweets without worrying about sacrificing your health with healthy baking!
Contact Us Today To Schedule Your Appointment!
If you are tired of a one-size fits all approach to medicine then you should contact Today’s Integrative Health of Rockville, MD and schedule your appointment with a doctor today! We are located at 6321 Executive Blvd, Rockville, MD 20852, in the Executive office park. Here Dr. Leo and our team offer a wide variety of integrative health services, including nutritional services so you can take a stand for your health and take control again. Call the office at (301) 770-6650.