Dear Friend,
On a hot summer day, nothing is more refreshing than a frozen treat, but often times those are loaded with sugar and fat. Sure, every now and then it’s okay to splurge and give into these frozen temptations, but if these items have been a staple to your summertime diet, they could be hurting you in the long run.
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Ice cream, sundaes, and popsicles are popular hot weather favorites, but they can easily be undermining your diet efforts. You should opt for healthier versions of these classics instead, so you can still enjoy a frozen dessert but with added benefit and zero harm.
Case in point, here are some super easy ways to turn healthy food items into frozen treats you can enjoy without feeling guilty!
Popsicles
Popsicles are easy to make as they are basically a frozen liquid. Sadly, though, the ones you buy at the store often contain artificial flavors, concentrated juices, artificial colorants, and, of course, plenty of sugar. That doesn’t sound too refreshing now, does it?
Making your own popsicles is super easy, and the options are endless! For starters, you will need to buy a popsicle-making tray. Once you have that, you are ready to create any type of popsicle you like.
Feel free to use any freshly squeezed juice or store-bought organic juice as the base. For added health benefits, you can also freeze some berries inside. For example, you can throw in some blueberries in some orange juice.
If you want to get really fancy and make a creamsicle, you need to freeze some yogurt. Once the yogurt base is solid, you can pour some juice to freeze around. This way, you get a juicy, tangy outside with a creamy inside!
Ice cream
A good substitute for ice cream is yogurt. For a simple snack, you can keep your yogurt in the freezer to get that ice cream texture when you’re ready to eat. Do keep in mind, though, while yogurt is considered a healthy food, there are some not-so-healthy varieties, too. Always read the label for sugar and fat content.
If you want to customize your newfound ice cream, once again you can add in some fruit into some plain yogurt and keep it in the freezer. If you like it really creamy, opt for Greek yogurt – you’ll get more protein, too!
You can even add frozen yogurt in-between two cookies to make an instant ice cream sandwich! If that doesn’t sound delicious, I don’t know what does.
Frozen fruit
Frozen fruit has a more refreshing taste and texture. To take it up a notch, cover the fruit pieces with yogurt and freeze. What you have left is a fruity, creamy little treat.
One of my favorite recipes is slicing a banana, sticking two pieces together with some peanut butter, and freezing them. Delicious! And I don’t feel even a bit of remorse enjoying my little frozen snack either.
Essentially, any fruit can be frozen, so you have endless options to choose from. And feel free to mix it up by adding yogurt, peanut butter, and maybe even some melted dark chocolate if you want to get real decadent.
As you can see, you can still enjoy plenty of frozen treats during the summer without jeopardizing your diet.
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Do you have a summertime healthy recipe you want to share? I’d love to hear all about it!
Until next week,
Emily Lunardo
Emily Lunardo studied medical sociology at York University with a strong focus on the social determinants of health and mental illness. She is a registered Zumba instructor, as well as a Canfit Pro trainer, who teaches fitness classes on a weekly basis. Emily practices healthy habits in her own life as well as helps others with their own personal health goals. Emily joined Bel Marra Health as a health writer in 2013.
