The new way to nourishment and healthy living is through letting go of unrealistic expectations and boundaries. Eating to sustain our bodies is just one piece of wellness puzzle, and these swinging virtue-meets-vice recipes showcase this.
In a world and community where “perfect” health and eating can overrule our daily lives, it can be easy to slip into self-doubt in terms of what we’re eating.
Eating for pleasure can encompass ultra-healthy bites, such as a crispy seasonal apple just picked from the tree, or super-decadent ones, such as a second slice of cake at a birthday party. Balance, living, and nourishing our bodies and minds is not an all-or-nothing endeavour. It’s a marathon that includes peaks and valleys.
There are times when we eat for health, and there are times we eat for fun. That’s life, and it’s worth every morsel. With these recipes for healthy indulgences, we're taking on “off limits” meals and ingredients.
Moderation is key
There’s room for everything, especially when we’re mindful and moderate, and listen to our hunger cues. Perceived dietary indignities hasten anxiety, taking the flavour out of mealtimes, contributing to overriding and life-interrupting preoccupations around nutrient values, ingredient lists, and calorie counts.
It’s even been shown that occasionally enjoying your food “vice” can help you stick to your healthy eating goals overall. The more we deny ourselves, the looser our commitment to fit living can become. Giving into our foodie desires is worth embracing!
Eating for pleasure and eating for wellness don’t have to be different things. These recipes are here to carve out a new definition of nourishment. They’re label-free, real-food meals and snacks that are homemade with care. Swinging both ways can lead us to a middle ground where the food pendulum’s superficially battling sides can, and do, coexist.
Healthy indulgences
Baked Sweet Potato Nachos with Spicy Goat Cheese Drizzle
White Bean, Turkey, and Greens Chili with Cornbread Crumble
Roasted Bitter and Sweet Vegetables with Trout and Green Goddess Cream
Flourless Hazelnut Cacao Cake with Whisky and Prunes
Chocolate-Tahini and Ginger Sandwich Cookies
Embrace both sides now
Here are some food swaps that satisfy.
Less often: |
More often: |
| Ramen | Brown rice bowls |
| Fried fish tacos | Grilled fish tacos |
| Chocolate milkshakes | Chocolate smoothies made with banana, avocado, maple syrup, and cocoa powder |
| Deep-fried french fries | Oven-baked russet potato fries |
| Fruit candy | Dried fruit |
| Eggs Benedict | Poached eggs on avocado toast with hot sauce |
| Sweetened ice tea | Kombucha |
| Fried doughnuts | Baked doughnuts |
| Pie and ice cream | Fruit crumble with plain yogurt |
| Loaded chicken tacos | Chicken tortilla soup |
| Milk chocolate | Dark chocolate (at least 70 percent cocoa) |
| Sweetened yogurt | Plain yogurt with a swirl of jam or honey |
| Tuna salad | Wild salmon salad |
| Carbonara pasta | Kamut or gluten-free spaghetti with olive oil, garlic, and roasted broccoli |
| Battered and fried fish or chicken | Homemade almond meal-breaded baked fish or chicken |
Allison Day, RHN, is a nutritionist, blogger, and cookbook author. Check out her cookbooks, Whole Bowls and Purely Pumpkin (Skyhorse Publishing, 2016).
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