I've read where a lot of dieters have trouble with the low carb treats, especially desserts. I've found it to be a challenge to control them. For those of you who are successful, I was wondering what you do about low carb treats. Are there any that you have found to be less of a trigger for you? What are the ones that are most troublesome? Do you have any rules that you've put down for yourself to control them? Do you avoid them? Do you still have trouble with them?

I suppose it depends on what you define as low carb treats.

If you're talking about the various processed frankenfood items on offer, such as the Atkins bars etc., then no, I steer clear and totally avoid them.

If you're talking about real food, and/or something that I've made myself, then I do have them occasionally. For instance, this weekend I made my Chocolate Mousse for Grown Ups (though these days I make it with 70% Dark chocolate, rather than a low carb chocolate).

My main rule is to have something if I want it at the weekend but avoid 'treating' myself during the week.

Loads of great recipes here.

But I find that I just tend to overeat on treats, so I try to make them single serving, if possible.

If you're talking about sweet treats, I guess I'm "lucky" in that I really don't care for the taste of artificial sweeteners. There may be one out there I could like, but I'm not making it a priority to find it, lol! Therefore, I don't really eat anything sweetened. I have found that unsweetened coconut tastes sweet to me now and I will eat a couple of tablespoons of that if I feel the need for dessert. It is low carb, filling and takes a while to chew so I have time to get a handle on the craving for sweets.

IMHO, eating sweetened treats keeps mind and taste buds primed and wanting sweets. So eating them does not really reduce my craving but rather keeps me wanting them again and again. I am happier just considering them off limits. YMMV.

I can't have the Atkins bars and things like that. I was mainly talking about the low carb recipes. I tend to overeat them, too. I like the idea of the single servings or maybe cutting the recipe in half. The problem may very well be the sensation of sweet.

It's highly subjective, so I think the best strategy is to pick the "treats" that a) don't trigger cravings or bingeing, and b) have some redeeming nutritional qualities. Homemade chocolate coconut bark is a safe bet for me, for example, because the artificial sweeteners make it taste weird enough that it's binge-proof for me. Also, dark chocolate and coconut oil fit condition (b) above.

Kitann, I also have the odd habit of chewing on unsweetened coconut as a snack/dessert.

I'm fortunate that I can make a recipe and then portion it into serving size and freeze. I might eat one a day for a few days, then lose interest and have one every couple of days. I usually end up throwing some portions out due to freezer burn. For that reason I look for singe serving sizes and also halve or quarter recipes.

The one treat that I avoid is cherries. They cause me wild, uncontrollable cravings. Don't seem to have a problem with anything else.

Here's a tasty low carb and homemade sweet treat:

Take a pot of full fat soft cheese and set it aside to warm up a little for half an hour. In the meantime take one dried fig and five or six blueberries and chop them up into very small bits. Add two or three chopped walnuts and mix both the fruit and the nuts into the soft cheese. Cover and return to the cooler for 24 hours.

Now for the treat: Take half a spoonful of the fruity cheesy mixture and sandwich it between two pecan nuts.

So if you're using 100 grams of pecans, a small pack of cream cheese, one fig, five blueberries and 14 or 15 walnut halves, the whole lot comes to 27 grams of carbs and those of you who would like to follow net carbs will come with an even smaller number so it really is a guilt free treat.

Cheers,

Mark

Thanks for the recipe, Mark.