Major points:
- You can reduce the amount of sugar in most recipes while keeping a delicious sweetness.
- You can have as much fresh and dried fruit as you want to satisfy your sweet tooth.
- Neatic allows 280 g sugar per week since a complete avoidance of sugar is neither necessary nor typically possible.
Life with Neatic means that you restrict your sugar consumption to less than 280 g per week. We have gathered some ideas on how you can still satisfy your craving for sweets.
What can you do when the craving for sweets starts?
Here are some options. Keep in mind that every person is different and eats differently. While some can satisfy their craving for sweets with an apple, others need chocolate.
Less is more. If you want to have some cake, try opting for a smaller piece. Enjoy it with all your senses and savor every bite. The quantity does not have to define the quality of the experience.
Reduce the amount of sugar if you do your own baking. In most recipes, the amount of sugar can be reduced while keeping a delicious sweetness. Often two-thirds of the specified amount of sugar is sufficient. E.g., if 150 g of sugar is needed for a cake recipe, the cake will still taste sweet with 100 g of sugar.
If you are unsure, take smaller steps. Try your favorite recipe next time with 10 to 20 g less sugar. If you do not notice any difference, you can further reduce the amount. Keep decreasing it until you find the optimal balance between the amount of sugar and sweetness. Give your taste buds time to get used to the change.
For recipes that contain less or no sugar, check out our Neatic recipes.
Dried fruit instead of sweets. The great thing about dried fruit is that it is actually fruit, but it tastes like candy. The next time you are craving something sweet, a handful of dried fruit can help. The selection ranges from classic raisins, apricots, and dates to exotic mango strips and pineapple rings. You can decide what you like best. In Neatic, dried fruit is not restricted as long as no sugar has been added during the processing.
Sometimes fruit is already the solution for your craving. It does not necessarily have to be a boring apple. Supermarket shelves are full of delicious fruit. Oranges, bananas, strawberries, figs, raspberries, melons, plums, grapes… just to name a few. The consumption of fruit is possible without restrictions as long as it is eaten in its edible entirety. By “edible entirety” Neatic means that all edible components are eaten completely, e.g., an apple with the peel or eating an orange whole instead of squeezing it.
Do you have an appetite or do you feel bored? Listen to yourself to find out where your craving for sweets really comes from. Sometimes it is just boredom. Then even a little distraction can make the craving go away, e.g., going for a walk, calling a loved one, or reading a few pages. Do you still feel like eating something sweet afterward? Then go for it, enjoy it, and track the amount of sugar.
Setbacks are part of it. From time to time, you might fall back into old patterns. That is part of the process. The important thing is that you do not give up. See every day as a new opportunity.