We Love Our Life With Less Sugar Low-Sugar Treats to Satisfy Your Valentine’s Sweetheart & Sweet Tooth
We thought we loved our life with sugar, but now we love our life with less sugar so much more.
Valentine’s Day: A romantic holiday of crimson dresses, lavish bouquets of flowers, sleek bottles of white wine, heart-shaped sweets filled with lusciously sweet cream and lots of chocolate-covered strawberries. From the month of October all the way to the month of February, many of us ride an intense sugar wave as we bounce from holiday to holiday and treat to treat. Some of us may ride an intense sugar wave all year round– in our favorite coffee drinks, kombucha teas, midday snacks, and even the breakfast foods that kickstart our day.
We thought we loved our life with sugar, but now we love our life with less sugar so much more.
A low-sugar diet works wonders for your energy levels, your figure, your skin, your smile, and your immune system. Cutting back on sweets can be difficult because sugar consumption prompts our brains to release neurotransmitters of dopamine that make us feel oh-so-lovely— but the less sugar we consume, the less dependent on it we become. A well-nourished body can still provide us all the same feel-good pleasures of our favorite treats— and more— without all the processed carbs!
A low-sugar diet works wonders for your energy levels, your figure, your skin, your smile, and your immune system.
But what do we do for Valentine’s Day, or any holiday, when we’d still like to gift our loved ones with a special treat? There’s no need to ditch the sweets altogether— try some natural, low-sugar recipes, bakeries, and gift boxes to show your loved ones how sweet your holidays and life can be, even with less sugar.
Alter Eco’s Deep Dark Super Blackout
Dark chocolate, especially at high percentages of raw cacao, can actually nourish your heart’s health and provide you with plenty of antioxidants and soluble fibers. As the percentage of cacao increases, the amount of sugar often decreases as well— which is why Alter Eco’s New Year’s release only contains a guilt-free three grams of sugar per serving. Let your partner indulge in the rich, fruity malt of Ecuadorian cocoa and the subtle, smooth sweetness of Madagascan vanilla— and maybe they’ll share a piece with you if you’re lucky!
You can give your valentine the Deep Dark Blackout Bar on its own or in the Be the Change Vegan Gift Box, which also includes a variety of other tempting flavors such as crisp mint, quinoa crunch, sea salt, and salted almonds. Some of these chocolate bars contain as much as 18 grams of sugar per serving (yikes!), but Alter Eco makes up for it by promising to plant one tree in Peru for every gift box purchase. Consume these higher-sugar bars in smaller quantities, or just spread the love and share your sweets with more loved ones!
Theo Vegan 4-Bar Pack
Organic, vegan, fair-trade, kosher, soy-free, gluten-free— whatever your dietary or environmental concerns may be, Theo definitely has you covered. Theo’s vegan gift box boasts four high-percentage dark chocolate bars, sampling flavors of coconut, black rice quinoa, salted almond, and ginger to satisfy all of your eager taste buds.
You can also always go with Theo’s classic Pure 85% Dark Chocolate, which is perfect for splitting in pieces and sharing with your loved one. A rich bar of dark chocolate is a lovely match for a bowl of roasted almonds, which can also help to lower your blood sugar levels.
Sans Bakery
Wedged in a petite white stall in The Falchi Building in Long Island City, Sans Bakery produces lovely gluten-free baked goods with flavorful, organic ingredients that promise nutritional value and prime sweet-tooth satisfaction. Sans literally translates from French to mean “without,” and this bakery definitely prides itself on the ingredients it omits from its delicious repertoire— especially sugar and gluten! If you can’t make it to the bakery in person, you can order all kinds of cookies, brownies, loaves, and gift boxes online— or even a gift card if you’d rather let your valentine choose for themselves!
BWB particularly loves their vegan zucchini and banana bread for a moist and subtly sweet treat with speckled pinches of cinnamon and vanilla. Both of these loaves contain tree nuts, so please be cautious if you or your valentine has allergies! Otherwise, indulge in a modestly priced 3-piece order of banana bread— one for you, one for your loved one, and one to share!
YumEarth Organic Candy Cane Pops
Long before I had any valentines of my own, my mother was always my number one sweetheart. Every Valentine’s Day, she would leave a small 4-piece box of Russell Stover’s chocolates on the kitchen table for me and my two siblings before we bounded out the door for school. Sometimes, she would let me eat a piece before school, but perhaps chocolate truffles are a bit too sweet for an eight-year-old to eat at 7:45 AM.
If you’d like to give your child a low-sugar alternative to make them feel special and loved this Valentine’s Day, try YumEarth’s Organic Pops & Gummy Fruits, which are available at one of the most magical stores known to all of humankind: Target. These heart-shaped gummies omit eight of the most common food allergens (egg, fish, milk, peanuts, shellfish, soy, tree-nuts and wheat), as well as gluten, dairy, and high fructose corn syrup! Nobody needs chemically engineered and processed sugars— especially not growing children with bodies in need of proper nourishment.
Chia Pudding
The best way to ensure that your sweets and treats don’t have excess amounts of sugar is to make them yourself! This Boom Boom Chia Pudding recipe for two is the perfect homemade treat for satisfying your sweet cravings while getting a good source of omega-3 fatty acids. Between the dark chocolate and chia seeds, your heart health will be soaring— which is more than suitable for this special day of love.
Ingredients:
2 servings
- ½ cup coconut milk
- 2 tablespoons raw honey
- 1 tablespoon raw cacao powder
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon maca powder
- 3-5 drops stevia (sweeten to taste)
- 1 ½ tablespoons chia
- 1 tablespoon dark chocolate, chopped
- 1 tablespoon goji berries
Directions:
- In a medium bowl, whisk together coconut milk, honey, cacao powder, cinnamon, vanilla and maca.
- Add more stevia, if desired—just enough to make the mixture sweet to taste.
- Whisk in chia and allow to set for 20 minutes in the fridge.
- Serve topped with chocolate and goji berries.
- Enjoy together!
Even without any chocolates, treats, candies, and desserts, Valentine’s Day can be more than sweet when you share the love and compassion you have in your heart with others. But if you do happen to have a banana loaf to share, you can definitely enjoy it with a loved one— guilt and sugar-free!
Teresa Deely is a graduate from Columbia University with majors in English and Creative Writing. She is a freelance writer and marketing assistant working for clients in the wellness, jewelry, creative, and sports industries. She believes that one’s skin is yet another canvas and vehicle for art, and has loved styling her hair and applying makeup from a young age. Spending much of her time in educating youth and leading enrichment programs for children, she is highly motivated in discovering new ways to care for herself and sharing them with others.
The less sugar we consume, the less dependent on it we become.
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