Photo by Kristine Lockwood

Eating healthy doesn’t have to be about deprivation. You can still indulge in sweets without all the guilt-inducing sugar. Here are some of our favorite fruit-based sweeteners:

  • Use homemade or no sugar added applesauce in place of an equal amount of sugar in baked goodies.
  • Try grapefruit juice instead of sweet and sour mix in a cocktail.
  • Add lemon or lime (or both) to sparkling water instead of downing sugary sweet soda.
  • Blend raisins in a food processor to use in baked goods for added fiber and antioxidants sugar doesn’t have.

The Takeaway: There are plenty of ways to cut back on sugar consumption without cutting out sweet treats completely. Doctor up your favorite recipes for a healthy alternative.

Meat-Free Substitutions

If the New Year finds you cutting back on meat, try any one of our 25 meat substitutes.

Fun Fact:

We only need about 0.36 grams of protein for every pound we weigh, so with the right substitutions vegetarians can get plenty of protein, no sweat.