I eat too much candy and I know it. If I didn’t eat so much candy, I’d actually have a very healthy diet. So what I’ve started doing is finding candy substitutes that satisfy my sweet tooth, but have more nutrition than, say, gummi bears.

The natural substitute is fruit. I bought myself some Archer Farms labeled condensed fruit bars at Target, and they’re really yummy, and quite satisfying.  I’ve only tried the tropical flavor so far, but I want to try the others.

Another snack I tried is freeze-dried fruit. Trader Joe’s has quite a few freeze-dried fruits. I particularly like the rambutan and the strawberries.

I won’t stop eating candy, but I’m trying to eat less now. Does anyone here have any treats that they enjoy that aren’t quite candy?

I mix plain yogurt with something to sweeten (agave syrup or splenda) and frozen fruit. I find the yogurt deals with any mushiness there might be from freezing, since it’s supposed to be jammy anyway. And I’m controlling the sugar levels, because really… the amount of sugar in a lot of store yogurts might as well be a chocolate bar. Gives me that hit of sweetness while being pretty healthy.

Karwei - 19 July 2008 08:25 PM

Another snack I tried is freeze-dried fruit. Trader Joe’s has quite a few freeze-dried fruits. I particularly like the rambutan and the strawberries.

I loved the freeze-dried bananas.

My other indulgence is Lara Bars. Mostly the cashew cookie. It’s just dates & cashews but it satisfies me.

Cybele - 21 July 2008 12:21 PM

Karwei - 19 July 2008 08:25 PM

Another snack I tried is freeze-dried fruit. Trader Joe’s has quite a few freeze-dried fruits. I particularly like the rambutan and the strawberries.

I loved the freeze-dried bananas.

My other indulgence is Lara Bars. Mostly the cashew cookie. It’s just dates & cashews but it satisfies me.

I love Lara Bars! Apple pie and cashew cookie are my favorites, at the moment.

For a candy substitute, I freeze grapes and berries. I also make lemon and cranberry juice ice pops. I make them -really- sour, though. I use 100% cranberry juice (no sugar or other fruit juices added) or fresh-squeezed lemons, a little splash of water, a couple drops of liquid stevia sweetener and pour into some molds I ordered from amazon (and then found much cheaper at Target, of course).

They give me sour the hit I crave without the calories or sugar spike and keep my mouth occupied and entertained for awhile. Then I like to reward my virtuousness with some real candy. . .

Fruit generally satisfies my sweet tooth. I like mandarin oranges, grapes, strawberries, anything we have around. I also snack on Zone bars for a “chocolate bar” fix. not exactly low on calories, but it has vitamins and protein in it… >.>

Just last week my aunt and grandmother and I were discussing fruit and what kinds of pie everyone always makes, and I said everyone always makes pies that I don’t like. My aunt said “Well what kind of fruit do you like?” After thinking about it for a few minutes, I realized that I really don’t like the taste of any fruit at all. With the exception of lemon, orange, and lime. But it’s not like you can just peel a lemon or a lime and eat it. And you can’t take an orange and make a pie from that. Does anyone know of any somewhat healthy and fast (i.e. not a lot of work involved) snacks that can be made with lemons or limes?

I do enjoy the peanut butter granola bars from Nature’s Valley. However while they are good in protein, they are kind of fattening. I also just recently tried the Archer’s Farm peanut butter bites. Except that they do have a coating of chocolate over them. So I’m not sure if they should be classified as candy or a snack. They’re 1/2 granola bar, one layer of peanut butter, and then the chocolate coating. They are so yummy!! Now I’m going to crave them for the rest of the day!

Being that I have a sweet tooth, while trying to lose weight, I am always on the lookout for sweet snacks that give me a bigger bang for my caloric buck.  Recently, I tried meringues from Amazon.  Two brands that are quite good are called Miss Meringues and Divine Meringues.

Miss Meringues are sold in tubs with the cookies coming in two sizes, regular and mini.  The regular is about thirty calories per piece (and they are a nice size - about two bites each) and the minis are eight calories per piece.  A serving is four cookies for the regular size and thirteen for the minis.  Divine Meringues are sold in boxes, with an inner cellophane bag.  Half a box is considered a serving and the calorie count per serving is seventy.

Another cookie I like (also found this on Amazon) is Erin Bakers Minis.  These individually wrapped cookies are about one hundred calories each, are made with mostly organic ingredients, low fat and have two grams of fiber.  They make a great snack either on their own or crumbled into a cup of your favorite yogurt.

the new chocolate chunk chex mix cereal bars are really good

there was a coupon in the paper for them yesterday