Better The Devil You Know

“Naughty” food is offered to us everywhere. “Treat yourself!” is the constant motto of the brands that make cakes and chocolates. But is it a treat for your body?

I don’t believe in guilt around food and I don’t think trying to avoid all “naughty” food is a way to live. But there is a way of improving the naughty food you consume. Have you guessed what it is yet?

…Making it yourself. That’s right.

Here is why it’s good to make naughty food.

We all get cravings every now and then. Some people are utter sweet tooths (sweet teeth??) and can’t stop themselves if there is cake, chocolate, ice cream… Others love those salty snacks so much - that would be me.

I am sure there are figures online that can tell me how much money people spend around the world every year on ready made desserts. In the UK where I live, there are entire aisles devoted to it - puddings, cakes, brownies, cookies. And if you have to go around the shops after work and you’re starting to get snacky, maaan it’s hard to turn away from all of that!

I don’t think you need to stop yourself from having anything that’s less than perfect for your body all the time. It can handle a bit of sugar, a bit of butter and a bit of salt! The problem when we buy things ready made is; we don’t know exactly how much there is of each ingredient. (Okay, it will have nutrition info on the packaging, but can you really picture what all of that means immediately? How much sugar that translates to in one slice of cake?) The same goes for when you eat at a restaurant. They don’t need to take your health into account, the only thing these people need to be concerned about, is that you immediately find their gooey brownie delicious. How do they do that? Tons of butter, and tons of sugar! Do they get the most expensive, high quality products to make their food with? Not necessarily, because they are also trying to make money.

This is the big difference if you are cooking for yourself. You can make something nice and sweet with sugar in it, but it will probably still be a lot less than what they would use in a restaurant. You also don’t need to put preservatives in your food or desserts, like they have to for everything that needs to live on a shelf in the supermarket. When you cook at home and you see every single raw ingredient measured out in front of you, it becomes soberingly clear that this stuff will be going in to your body. This can lead to a lot of good decisions, like: “I know how much sugar is in this cake, and so I will enjoy this one slice but that’s plenty." With some recipes, if you make them again and again, you can even experiment with cutting down on the sugar every time, and see if the consistency and taste is still pretty much the same. You can invest in better sugar, like unrefined Muscovado sugar or coconut sugar (still sugar, but with a tad more nutritious value!) and maybe try out margarine for certain recipes to replace butter. Some sweet recipes might only need a tiny bit of quality syrup or honey and it’s plenty sweet enough!

Another thing I find that happens when you make food and desserts at home is that you respect it much more because of the work that has gone into it. A cheap pack of 20 cookies can go quickly if you’ve had a bad day, but if you spent 1 hour making gorgeous, homemade cookies, you are more likely to save some for the rest of the week, and even want to give some away to a neighbour!

If you have certain sweet favourites from growing up that you still find yourself buying out of habit, ask yourself “can I make a version of this at home?” - I asked myself this with a certain world famous hazelnut/chocolate spread that I love (hazelnuts, man! They are just so good). And I did. I have made it several times and every time I make it with less sugar and more hazelnuts. It’s actually not so bad, in the end. I don’t let myself have it every single day because I know it contains quite a bit of sugar still, but I trust my own ingredients more than I do those of a huge global brand who make their spread in big factories. So this week I have added my recipe for homemade hazelnut chocolate spread, and hope you will enjoy it if you try to make it!

What are some of your naughty favourites, have you ever tried to make them at home? Do you have a recipe that you have managed to change for the better for your body? Share your thoughts in the comments or on Instagram and tag me @TheFromScratchBody and use the hashtag #TheFromScratchBody so I don’t miss it!