Indulge Without Guilt: Surprising Swaps for Your Favorite Treats
In this episode, I’m flipping the script on indulgence and revealing my secret arsenal of guilt-free treats that’ll make you feel like you’re cheating without derailing your health journey. As women over 40, we know the struggle of balancing cravings with wellness goals. But what if I told you that you could satisfy your sweet tooth, enjoy the fizz of soda, and even indulge in a bagel – all while nourishing your body? From stevia-sweetened sodas that’ll make you forget about your diet cola addiction, to high-protein, low-sugar yogurt parfaits that taste like dessert, I’m sharing my favorite swaps that prove healthy eating doesn’t mean depriving yourself. These aren’t just food hacks; they’re game-changers for women like us who refuse to give up on flavor or our health goals.
What you’ll learn:
– How to satisfy soda cravings without the sugar crash
– The secret to creating indulgent, protein-packed yogurt parfaits
– Why certain syrups can actually benefit your blood sugar
– How to make guilt-free puddings that will wow your dinner guests
– The surprising truth about high-fiber, low-carb bagels
– Strategies for curbing cravings without feeling deprived
– Why “cheat foods” might be a thing of the past with these alternatives
Ready to revolutionize your relationship with food? Tune in to discover how you can have your cake (or bagel) and eat it, too, all while supporting your health and vitality in your 40s and beyond!
Resources Mentioned in this episode
Reignite Wellness™ Collagen Peptides Powder
Reignite Wellness™ Plant-Based & Paleo-Inspired All-In-One Shakes
Try Rx Sugar and use code JJVIRGIN20 for 20% off
Get 60 FREE delicious, protein-packed shake recipes in my Eat Protein First Smoothie Guide
Episode Sponsors:
Try Timeline. Use code JJ10 for 10% off all products
Try Qualia risk-free for up to 100 days and code VIRGINWELLNESS for an additional 15% off
I get asked all the time, what do you do on your cheat days? Here’s the reality. I don’t believe in cheat days. I’ve actually found foods that feel like you’re cheating. Bagels, cereal, syrup, pudding. But they’re healthy for you. Want to hear more? I’m going to flip the script for you on what indulgence can look like and show you how you can eat foods that feel like you’re cheating that are good for you.
Full disclosure, I love fizz. I love sparkling stuff and I especially love soda. Back in the day, I was a full blown diet soda addict. So what do you do with that? Do you drink regular soda? Do you drink diet soda? Actually, you drink neither. I’ve got a way better recommendation for you. So first off, there are these amazing little sweet drops that you can add to sparkling water and it will taste just like a soda.
Next thing that you can do, I’m totally hooked on these, are Zevia. Zevia comes in a host of flavors and it’s stevia sweetened soda. And then, this is my hubby’s favorite, Ollie Pops. They’ve got them in orange, they’ve got them in coke, they’ve got them in root beer, all sorts of flavors. They’re a prebiotic soda that is good for you.
So, if you’re one of those people like me that just loves the soda, here’s how you can have your soda and feel good about it. All right, I was at the store and they had this cookies and cream yogurt. It was called a flip where it had Greek style yogurt and cookies with it. It was like 19 grams of sugar.
Here’s how you can make something just like that without the 19 grams of sugar and crank the protein up too. So you get Chobani zero sugar yogurt. Now this is great if you’re not dairy intolerant. It’s Greek style yogurt, high in protein. They’ve got all sorts of great flavors, but I especially love cookies and cream.
And then. You get Catalina Crunch. This is a high protein, high fiber cereal. 110 calories in a half cup, but in that you’re getting like 10 grams of protein, I think 10 grams of fiber, um, around there. So all you do is take your yogurt and top it with your Catalina Crunch. Now, here’s some other things I love to use Catalina Crunch for.
I make an amazing yogurt. pie crust out of this. So I do a dairy free cheesecake, and you can also do this just to make regular fruit pies. And I will use the graham cracker crust, and I’ll use a little ghee. And it is amazing. It’s a high protein crust. You can also make a really amazing smoothie and throw a little bit of This on top to crank up the protein and crank up the fiber.
So this is one of these things I used to love cereal growing up, especially Golden Grahams. This is my replacement. What if I told you there was a syrup you could use that would actually lower your blood sugar instead of Hijacking it. Yep, this is called RX Sugar Syrup. It is amazing and when you use this, about 10 grams of this, it sweetens stuff up without the calories and it actually lowers the blood sugar response.
It’s from a rare sugar. It’s actually good for you. I am pretty much hooked on the caramel one. But the chocolate one’s a great one to put into your coffee too. So these are things that you can put into your yogurt. You can add them into your smoothie. You can put them on desserts and they are guilt free and actually good for you. So I recently discovered these little Simply Delish Puddings that I am just totally hooked on. They’re basically cornstarch and erythritol with a little bit of flavoring, whether it’s stevia and vanilla or cocoa powder and stevia. And here’s what I do with them. They are super low calorie and basically 4 grams of net carbs.
So what I do is I take one of them and I add in some of my Reignite Wellness collagen peptides to pump it up a little bit, kind of beef up the protein. And you make this thing and it takes like five minutes in the fridge to set. I mean, they set almost immediately. So, I make it, I add in a little bit of one of my nut milks.
I like to use the flax milk because that’s got some protein in it too. I add in my collagen protein peptides and then I throw on top A little bit of Coco Whip. This is the greatest stuff. Um, I’ll add in like two tablespoons of Coco Whip. I’ll sprinkle on a couple of Lily’s Dark Chocolate Chips.
They’ve got no, sugar. And if you really want to go crazy, you can add in a little bit of Dark Chocolate RX Sugar over the top. Amazing taste. Kicking up the protein. Basically no sugar. And it will absolutely wow guests if you’re having a dinner party. All right, you probably never thought I was going to talk about bagels, except one of my friends turned me on to Better Buns.
First of all, I had to buy it just for the name alone. Come on. But then I found out they have a lot of different things with gluten in them. So if you’re not gluten intolerant, these could be great. But I was looking for the gluten free and I found the Better Bagel. And this thing is awesome. Amazing. So in one of these bagels, I’ll show you one, we’ll have show and tell, there are three grams of net carbs, 110 calories, 10 grams of protein, and get this 35, 35 grams of fiber.
Here’s what it looks like. You cut it in half, you toast it, you get a massive fiber hit. It’s basically fermented plant protein and psyllium husk fiber and agave fiber. And here’s what I do. I toast it on up. And then I add in some Kite Hill Almond Cream Cheese. So if you’re gluten intolerant and dairy intolerant, you go, I want a bagel with cream cheese.
I gotcha. This is fantastic. This is a high protein way, high fiber way to get that, uh, get that bagel without all the, uh, the carbs, right? And if you’re again, not gluten intolerant, they’ve got some other amazing things like pretzel rolls and brioche as well. Alright, so there’s the inside scoop on the best cheap foods.
You can see they’re not really cheap foods. But here’s the thing. How about we tackle what’s really going on here? The cravings. Watch this next video to learn simple and effective strategies to curb your sweet tooth and take control of your cravings for good.
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