Cut The Carbs Not The Cakes: Top Dessert Swaps

Paige Tucker | 7th September 2017

For those of you who have decided to lower your carb intake (a lifestyle change I would definitely recommend), It can be super hard to find alternatives to foods that you love. Luckily, with the help of the internet, finding these products is much easier than it used to be, but the only problem is not knowing which products taste the best!

Because we all love a bit of chocolate and get cravings for sweet desserts and snacks, I decided to round up some of the best “dessert-like” snacks out there right now.

My ultimate fave was the Freaks of Nature dessert pots. Whilst these are still indulgent desserts, to be had on occasion, they only contain 19-22 Carbs! If you are counting calories too then I would watch out as these dessert pots go up to 327 calories but they are definitely worth it. This is also a lot fewer carbs and calories than a dessert served at a restaurant and they are full of much healthier ingredients, which have the same great taste.

They come in three flavours, Cocoa loco, Mango fandango and Zingy thing. My favourite is cocoa loco which is super chocolatey and literally blew me away. I never thought they would taste as nice as they do but they are for sure my new favourite indulgent dessert! They are priced at £2.29 each and can be found in local supermarkets or online.

Atkins is one of the most popular low carb companies and so I had to try some of their low carb bars. It’s important to keep high protein when eating fewer carbs as it helps you feel full and helps repair your muscles after workouts (which you should still do regularly). So grabbing a high carb low protein bar is brilliant for before or after the gym, plus when warmed they make ace desserts!

The first Atkins bar I tried was higher in protein (18g) and super low in carbs having only 3.1 net carbs in them! This was their chocolate brownie bar. I have an obsession with finding the perfect brownie and so going low carb means a lot fewer brownie searching. But when I tried this bar I was thrilled. It may not be the best brownie but for the calories and carbs, it is damn near perfection! It tastes amazing both cold and slightly warmed in the microwave (30sec) and I actually went on to buy 16 more of them from Amazon for only £22!

If you don’t need the added protein then there are a range of other low carb bars and snacks you can purchase from this website or online. I also tried their crispy milk chocolate bar which only has 4 grams of protein and 1.4 net carbs and it tasted just like some nice milk chocolate which had added crunchy bits in it. I wish I had purchased more than one of these from Tesco’s and I will most certainly go back for more in the future.

Holland & Barrett have just introduced a few more PHD bars to their store, one of which includes the chocolate peanut butter bar. This is another snack that is aimed at gym goers as it has high protein (20g) low sugar (2g) but a slightly higher carb intake than the other bars mentioned (24g carbs-20 polyols) The chocolate mixed with peanut makes this taste a little like a Reese’s bar, so it is fair to say I’m in love!

The last dessert swap item I love is the Double chocolate chunk bar from Quest. Whilst it sounds similar to the Atkins bars I mentioned, it tastes completely different. I have found that trying different bars with similar ingredients do taste vastly different from one another, which is quite fun as you can find a range of delicious bars that suit your taste buds. This bar is best heated up in the microwave for 20-30 minutes to let some of those chocolate chunks melt. It is chocolate rich and only has 5 net carbs and 191 calories in it. Making it a perfect dessert or indulgent snack to eat every now and then.