 Even when people genuinely want to start eating more healthfully, they often doubt whether they can actually do it. This doubt stems from the mistaken belief they'll need to give up all the foods they like, and start eating foods they don't like. It's easy to see how people wind up concluding that healthy eating is out of reach. In reality, however, a healthy diet includes room for the foods you enjoy. And that includes everyone's favourite treat: chocolate chip cookies! How is that possible? The secret is baking them yourself from scratch—read on to find out why. You control what goes into the mix, and what stays out. Whether it's cookies, cakes, muffins, or any other baked treat, when you bake it at home from scratch, you control what goes into the mix, because you decide what ingredients to use. You can bake up all kinds of treats with just Most store-bought baked goods have a surprisingly long list of ingredients, filled with stuff you really don't need, like artificial flavours and colours, chemical preservatives, and a variety of highly-processed ingredients. Your home-baked goods, on the other hand, can be made with just a handful of ingredients, many of which are pantry staples. You can focus on using wholesome, natural ingredients, with no need to throw in all those unwanted extras the store-bought products require to prevent spoilage and extend their shelf-life. You can swap out ingredients to suit your needs. Baked goods have often contain ingredients that people may be trying to reduce or cut out from their diets. But there is plenty of room to get creative; baking from scratch gives you the flexibility to swap out ingredients to accommodate your personal health goals and concerns. For instance, if you're trying to cut down on refined sugar, you might opt for alternative sweeteners like stevia, mashed bananas, applesauce, or berries. If a recipe calls for milk but you don't want to use dairy, there are plenty of non-dairy options that will work just as well, like almond milk or cashew milk. Many recipes call for butter, but if you're trying to cut this from your diet, you can replace it with other healthy fats like coconut oil or olive oil.  You can manage portions more easily.
It's easy to get carried away eating cookies directly from the package. You have one, then another, and before you know it, the package is empty. Or, maybe you were able to put the bag away after a few cookies. But every time you open the cupboard door, the bag is sitting on the shelf, tempting you to dig in. Baking from scratch makes it easy to manage portions, so you're less inclined to overeat. In some cases, you can easily cut all the recipe ingredients in half. Another option is to mix all your ingredients in whatever amount the recipe calls for, but don't bake all of the cookie dough; freeze half of it and use it at a later date. Or, once the cookies are baked, store half the batch in the freezer—out of sight, out of mind. For healthy eating to be sustainable in the long term, it can't be endless restrictions and deprivation. Fortunately, there's no reason why healthy eating can't be fun and tasty, too. So go ahead and bake up a batch of delicious chocolate chip cookies once in a while, and enjoy them guilt-free! Clear up other common myths and misconceptions about healthy eating. Image Credits: Pexels from Pixabay Comments are closed.
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