For those with a sweet tooth who are familiar with the food pyramid, it seems like a cruel irony that some of the best-tasting foods fall in the “eat sparingly” category at its peak.
Especially for students who keep late hours and live dangerously close to Cold Stone Creamery and Albertson’s cheesecake cooler, the temptation for dessert is hard to resist.
Knowing the nutrition information behind some perennial favorites, however, helps to sour their taste for those committed to healthier fare.
Forbes.com compiled a list of the worst offenders, which may or may not surprise you:
• Death by Chocolate
• Apple Crumb Pie
• Chocolate Cheesecake
• Carrot Cake
• Banana Split
• Strawberry Shortcake
• Key Lime Pie
• Bread Pudding
• Peach Cobbler
• Tiramisu
As you can see, even the mention of fruit in the title isn’t enough to calorically redeem these dishes.
What doom most of these recipes are their calls for sugar and butter, and by extension fat, which are found both in their crust/shortcake bases.
Discouraged?
Not to worry, luckily some variations on these favorites preserve much of their flavor for at much less of a nutritional cost.
Try, for example, berries with homemade whipped cream:
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| Raspberries & Cream |
Or else these other, healthier variations on the classics
Of course, everything is fine in moderation, but who wants to be thinking about portion sizes all the time?
So, the next time those late-night sugar cravings strike, head for the fruit bowl instead of the ice cream bowl — it’ll taste just as nice.
Crunching the Numbers 