Yesterday’s post discussed just how bad of a deal purchasing empty calories actually is. But if these treats occasionally come to you for free at a fun social event, they’re not so bad.  

There are also some times when buying sugary or buttery treats can actually be useful. Maybe you’ve had a truly terrible day and really need something to lift your mood to a more productive state. Or maybe you just need to take a tasty snack to a social gathering. 

For these cases, it’s very useful to do a little bit of thinking about upgrading the health value of the treats we buy. 

Healthier but still pleasurable 

The whole point of culinary treats is the instant pleasure (endorphin release) they deliver. Sometimes, this burst of instant pleasure can break a sour and unproductive mood or contribute to a joyful social experience, bringing genuine longer-term value. 

Empty calorie carbs and fats are hard to beat when it comes to delivering this endorphin boost. But luckily, there are healthier instant pleasure snacks out there. You just need to look.   

My personal favorite is a combination of yogurt nuts and sweet chili nuts. Nuts covered in chocolate are not far behind. Dark chocolate is another good option. 

Fresh strawberries, raspberries and/or blueberries also work well as healthy treats. Some molten chocolate on top can really get those endorphins flowing 🙂 

But there really are tons of other options out there. Just Google “healthy snacks” and you’ll discover a whole new world. 

Priorities

The challenge with healthier culinary treats is that they are often more expensive than the endless assortment of empty calories lining the shelves at your local supermarket. 

Here, the best advice is to simply make a rule: it’s either healthier snacking or no snacking. The logic behind this rule is simple:

1. Snacking is supposed to deliver instant pleasure, which can be genuinely useful under certain circumstances.
2. There are plenty of reasonably healthy snacks that can deliver this instant pleasure just as well as empty calorie carbs and fats. 
3. Any money or effort saved by choosing cheap empty calories instead will need to be payed back 10-fold in lost vitality and life expectancy.
4. If you can’t get yourself to pay for healthier snacks, you clearly don’t need instant pleasure badly enough for snacking to be useful.  

Also keep in mind that, when you choose healthier snacks for a social event, you’re not only boosting your own vitality and life expectancy, but also that of your friends. 

This logic needs to sink in pretty deep to really start influencing real day-to-day actions. But once it gets internalized, you can finally put the days of spending your hard-earned money on self-destructive empty calories behind you 🙂