Have you ever stopped to consider why we always reward ourselves with naughty sweet or savour treats when we are celebrating or when we are down ? Now don’t hit delete, please read on as its not all doom and gloom, a yummy recipe awaits you at the end, thats a promise !!.
It got me to thinking the other day when I heard a piece on the radio about this. Apart from those of us who are under 10 years old, the rest of us have been brought up that a naughty treat is the way forward when we need a pick me up or as a reward when we have done something amazing, am I right ? Come on lets all fess up here and admit that hitting the sofa with a packet of biscuits or a tub of ice cream when we are feeling blue is something that we have all done …. so, after years of consoling or rewarding ourselves like this it is no wonder that we find it so hard to cut these so called “reward foods” out of our diets.
At this time of the year when we are trying to be a little bit more health conscious and shift a few pounds for summer this is a hiccup I come up against all the time. Lets face it, none of us wants to be denied the odd treat as quite frankly life is too short to be a “goodie two shoes” all the time, but it is hard to change that mindset isn’t it.
This really hit home the other day when I turned around to two of my children who had both achieved something they were proud of and I heard myself saying “OK lets go out for Krispy Kremes to celebrate !”, quite normal isn’t it to say that but actually we really are not doing ourselves any favours by linking those celebrations with rubbish food. By doing that to our kids when they are young they will always associate a treat as being something that is not good for us and that is surely not helping their future selves to live vital, healthy lives as adults.
So how can we break this cycle? I feel that the horse has rather bolted in that department for me at my age and I am sure some of you may feel that way too but actually it is never too late to change ladies and there are plenty of “rewards” out there that do not have to be bad for us, it just requires a bit of reprogramming or rewiring in our brains.
If you are desperate for a sweet treat like a slice of cake or another type of pud, there are lots of recipes out there to help us to cook a homemade treat which is considerably lower in sugar than a shop brought one. After this whole concept popped into my head earlier this week I changed my Krispy Kreme offer to “lets all head home for ice cream”. This did mean that when I got home I had to come good on my offer so I ended up throwing together a delicious homemade ice cream which took me no time at all to make (see the Strawberry & Raspberry Ice Cream in my recipe section). This was a winner and went down a treat – lets just say none of it made it to the freezer as the whole lot was wolfed down in one sitting and I have made it again since Tuesday ! it was a treat after all (there I go again, sweet reward..) but not such a bad one when you consider the ingredients are berries, double cream, dates and lemon juice.
I could have offered up loads of other treats for example.. a family movie night, a gorgeous long evening walk, an hour of uninterrupted time lying on my hammock with a good book, oh now I am on a roll the ideas are coming thick and fast ! What is your favourite “non-food” treat, please add your comment at the bottom if you have a great idea to share with us all.
So, I am going to try for a whole week when ever the treat or consolation prize situation arises, to pick a more healthy option to help my brain rewire itself, how about you joining me too and giving it a go, you are going to thank me for it come bikini time.
I have added a quick link to the ice cream recipe for you guys to have a go and check out my recipe section as, over the coming weeks and months, more of my low sugar treats, snacks and recipes will be popping up which I hope will inspire you to eat well.
Have a gorgeous weekend and don’t forget to slap on that sunscreen as it is going to be a hot one xo
https://webofgoodness.com/recipes/strawberry-raspberry-ice-cream/
