One of the best approaches to satisfying a sweet tooth involves the addition of sweet vegetables to your diet. Our bodies have a natural craving for sweets since these important carbohydrates play a roll in energy supplies. However, this adaptation is one that isn’t serving us well in an age of packaged, processed foods that are jam packed full of sugar and refined flours.
Satisfying a sweet tooth involves cutting out the offenders – sugar, maple syrup, honey, fruit juices, etc. – and filling this void in a healthier way. It’s easy to focus on subtraction (i.e. taking away the sugar) when implementing any type of dietary change, but success is equally, possibly even more so, dependent on addition. When you create a void, you have a space to fill. How you decide to fill that void will ultimately influence the long term outcome for any desired change.
An alternative approach is to stop thinking about subtraction all together and instead focus on just the addition. When you focus on adding healthy foods into your diet you naturally “crowd out” the bad. Addition, addition, addition! The more healthy foods you add, the less room you’ll have for the alternatives.
When it comes to sweet vegetables, there are a number of healthy options that can be added to your diet in order to build a more desirable balance point – the point at which the body’s natural need for sweets is satisfied through healthier options. Building a balance point can takes years of practice, especially since we’re not a society accustomed to tuning into our body’s messages and responding to those needs. Not only that, but balance is always changing based on age, hormones, stress, activity level, and other outside stimuli.
Some examples of sweet vegetables include sweet potatoes, sweet peppers, onions, carrots, winter squash, and fennel. Others exist, although these are some of the most common. Adding these foods to your diet on a regular basis can help slowly curb cravings from sweets, and naturally leave less room in your diet for such foods. I’m not saying that this approach will be effortless since sugar comes with a healthy side of measurable addiction, but I am saying that this approach is just one piece of the puzzle. Try out this recipe as a great starting point to naturally crowd out sweets!
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 onion, sliced
- 1 fennel bulb, tops chopped and bulb sliced
- 1/4 cup white wine
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 orange pepper, thinly sliced
- 1 yellow pepper, thinly sliced
- 1 small zucchini, diced
- 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Heat a large frying pan over medium-high heat and saute the onions and fennel in olive oil. Add in the white wine when the vegetables are hot and cooking.
- Once the onions are translucent, about 5 - 7 minutes, add in the remaining ingredients and cook the vegetables till they reach desired consistency, about 7 more minutes.
- Adjust the salt and serve the vegetables immediately or store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
- I recommend serving this dish with grilled Sweet Italian Sausages and a delicious starchy vegetable such as baked sweet potatoes.
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