Desserts Made Healthy

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Hi, my name is Beth Schmidt and I'm a graduate student here at
Eastern Illinois University majoring in dietetics.
Today, I'm going to tell you about ways to
make desserts healthier.
This is especially useful during the holidays because
most people have holiday parties and family gatherings.
A lot of people take in more calories and fat than
they normally would, so I'll give you some tips on ways
to reduce those components and add some healthier components
to your desserts.
First of all, I'm going to tell you some of the downfalls
desserts typically have.
They're usually higher in fat and calories, also higher in
sugar and simple carbohydrates.
Typically they are lower in fruits and vegetables,
whole grains, and protein.
I'm going to tell you three ways in which you can
make desserts healthier.
First of all, by making healthy additions.
Second of all, by making healthy substitutions.
Third of all, by making healthy choices.
Some of the reasons that you want to avoid an excess intake
of fat and calories is it can lead to obesity.
Obesity is a risk factor for diebetes, stroke, heart disease,
and a variety of other health conditions.
So to start off, I'll tell you ways to add
healthy components to desserts.
You can first of all add fruits and vegetables.
You can add vegetables such as zucchini and carrots to
breads and muffins, especially quick breads.
You can also add fruits by adding raisins or cranberries
to cakes, cookies, or breads.
Here's an example--you can buy dried cranberries, you can
get these at most grocery stores, they're simple to add.
You can also add the raisins or cranberries or any dried fruit
instead of chocolate chips to increase the fruit and
decrease the fat calories in sugar.
Another addition you can make is adding nuts or
peanut butter for a protein source.
Add those to breads, muffins, or cookies as well.
Good examples are cashews, almonds, walnuts, or peanuts.
Second of all, I'm going to tell you about healthy
substitutions you can make.
The most popular and widely-known substitution is
using apple sauce for oil.
You can do this in cookies, breads, or cakes.
You can also use pureed prunes.
This is especially good in brownies and chocolate cakes.
It has also been said to improve the chocolate flavors,
so that's another good one to keep in mind.
Another substitution you can do is reducing the sugar by using a
sugar substitute or more natural sugars by adding fruit or honey.
Here I have honey, this is actually imitation honey
that's sugar free.
So that would be a good substitute for sugar.
One of my personal favorites is using Splenda.
You can buy this granulated and substitute that for sugar
in any cooking or baking.
Those are great alternatives to regular sugar, you're going to
lower the calories and the sugar content.
Another substitution you can do is substituting egg whites
or egg substitutions for eggs.
You can go ahead and separate the whites from the yoke and
use the white in your recipes or else go ahead and go to
the store and get the egg substitute.
That's going to lower the fat and calories, it's going to keep
your protein high because it still has all of the protein.
One more substitution is using low-fat dairy products
for full-fat dairy.
Try using skim milk instead of regular, using low-fat
cream cheese or sour cream.
Also, if you have those desserts where you want to
add a scoop of ice cream such as cakes and pies, go ahead
and get the yogurt, like a frozen yogurt, or even better,
a low-fat frozen yogurt.
They're good sources of calcium, your going to, again,
reduce your fat and calories.
Finally, I'm going to tell you ways to make healthier choices.
If you know that you're going to eat dessert at
the end of the meal, try to cut down on your calories
and fat throughout the meal.
You can do this by taking more portions of fruits and
vegetables, and lower portions of your high calorie foods
such as fried meats, maybe like mashed potatoes and gravy.
Take smaller portions of that and take bigger portions of
your fruits and vegetables.
You can also try to take small portions of your desserts.
Desserts can be a healthy part of a menu
but only in moderation.
Try to take smaller pieces of cake or pie or just take
one cookie and eat slowly so you can enjoy it.
To go over what I just discussed, there's three ways
that you can help make desserts healthier.
Make healthy additions such as peanuts and peanut butter
for protein, fruits and vegetables.
You can also make healthy substitutions such as
apple sauce or prunes instead of oil, egg substitutes
instead of eggs, and low-fat dairy.
You can also focus on making healthy choices
by taking smaller portions.
For more information, you can go to the American
Dietetics Association at www.eatright.org.
They have healthy recipes and more information
about healthy nutrition.