Celebrate a Healthier You!

Options for Healthier Treats

A common custom is to bring a “treat” when it is your birthday. While all foods are OK in

Moderation, sometimes it becomes difficult to manage your health and weight with

tempting, high calorie, low nutrient temptations seemingly around daily.

When bringing in a birthday treat to share with your co-workers you may want to consider the following

ideas to help keep everyone working toward optimal health:

· Consider celebrating all the birthdays “in the month” or in the “season” with a group lunch/snack.

· Offer a beverage bar: i.e. Low fat fruit smoothies, hot or iced teas/coffees (low cal. sweetener options), and/or water with lemon/orange and/or lime wedges.

· Single portion items: this could be a “100 calorie” treat or self-packaged single serving of the treat to discourage overeating. The 100 calorie microwavable popcorn snack bags are a healthy whole grain example.

· Homemade snack mixes (you have more control over the calories, sugary ingredients, salt, and fat)……i.e. pretzels, dried fruit, whole grain low-sugar cereals, sunflower seeds, nuts [if no allergy issues], and light/fat free popcorn. Add Mini M & M’s found in the baking aisle if you wish to add a little chocolate, while keeping the calories and fat in line. Provide small paper cups for serving, and to help manage portions.

· Dried fruit and nut bar: variety of nuts and dried fruits for people to mix their own

· Fruit Kabobs made with a variety of fruits or a fresh fruit salad, or a variety of cut up fruits and a fruit dip:

Fruits can be dipped in lemon juice or add “Fruit Fresh®” product from grocery store, to keep cut fruits from browning.

Fruit Dip idea: ½ cup vanilla low-fat or Light yogurt + 1 tsp honey (optional) or low calorie

sweetener + ¼ tsp. Cinnamon + ¼ tsp nutmeg. Mix ingredients together until blended.

· Apple or Pear slices with low fat yogurt dip or low fat caramel dip, or trans-fat free nut butters.

· Fresh berries or other fresh fruit in season with low-fat/fat-free whipped topping or vanilla yogurt.

· Angel Food cake topped with fresh fruit, and low fat topping or light vanilla yogurt.

· Yogurt or pudding parfaits (made in clear plastic cups) made with non-fat or light yogurt/pudding, layered with fruit, low fat granola or crushed graham crackers or whole grain cereal options, and topped with a light or fat free whipped topping.

· Pumpkin dip with graham crackers or apple slices:

Recipe From Dannon Institute: 3 TBS canned pumpkin +1 cup low-fat vanilla yogurt + 1 TBS orange juice concentrate (100% juice type), + ½ tsp cinnamon.

· Whole grain tortilla chips or baked chips with hummus, or salsa, raw veggies served with low-fat dip/Ranch dressing or hummus.

· Low fat whole grain crackers with reduced-fat cheese.

· Sweet breads (i.e.….pumpkin, banana, cranberry) or cookies (i.e. oatmeal, oatmeal raisin, peanut butter, molasses) made with at least 50% whole grain flour, try reducing the sugar by ¼-1/3 (you can generally cut back at least this amount without affecting the outcome of the product) or try Splenda® Sugar Blend for baking, and use a trans-fat free margarine, canola oil vs. high saturated/trans fats, or applesauce to replace oil.

· 100% Frozen fruit bars or lower calorie/lower fat ice cream type bars (i.e. The Skinny Cow Mint Ice cream sandwich 140 calories, 1.2 grams fat)…also gives your portion control.