Healthy food swaps for baking

Cakes, muffins and cookies. One word: yum. But wouldn’t it be great if these sweet treats didn’t come with an extra serving of guilt? Well, they can. To start with, baking your own goodies at home is always healthier – for example, you can control how much of each ingredient you use, it’ll be free from preservatives and flavourings and you can always opt for higher quality ingredients.

It can get even healthier than this, though. Swapping out some of the more indulgent ingredients – like sugar, flour and oil – for more nutritious ones could change the way you look at treats forever. Try these healthy food swaps for baking

 1.    Swap sugar for xylitol
Sugar is bad for you, there’s no way around it. The sweet stuff not only rots your teeth and has no nutritional value whatsoever, but it also wreaks havoc with your blood sugar levels, which leads to weight gain and could also put you at risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Swap it for the natural sweetener xylitol. The sugar replacement is actually good for your teeth (which is why it features in a lot of chewing gums) and also keeps your body free of blood sugar spikes – good news for staying in shape and avoiding mood swings.

2.    Swap flour for coconut flour
Plain flour used in baking is a refined, white flour from wheat. It’s had all of its fibrous goodness removed, making it devoid of vitamins and minerals, too. In fact, all it does is, like sugar, create blood sugar spikes which promote fat gain. Coconut flour is far less stodgy, so you’ll have to adapt your recipe to use more eggs, but has more protein and fibre than plain flour, as well as a lower amount of carbohydrates. It can also be used to thicken sauces and homemade soups.

3.    Swap margarine for butter
Not long ago, people would’ve been recommending margarine in place of butter, so it’s hard to shake the notion that butter is bad for you. Not only is butter not bad for you, but it’s really, really good for you. It’s packed with vitamins – particularly vitamin A – and minerals like chromium, zinc and selenium and is a good source of antioxidants. Margarine, however, is oil that has been processed and dyed to look and taste like butter. Which would you rather