February 05, 2009
Healthier Treats For Valentine’s Day
I was pondering earlier what I don’t want for Valentine’s Day. At the top of my list were:
- Fresh flowers. They can be expensive but disappear too quickly.
- Dinner out. A long wait for expensive food that usually doesn’t “wow” me.
- The typical two-pound box of chocolates. Because although the chocolates disappear quickly, the 3000 calories don’t.
Which made me think, “What could we get for Valentine’s Day that we could feel good about?”
- You could ask your sweetie for the Whitman’s 4 piece Sampler Box and enjoy every one of the 240 calories.
- If you get a large box of chocolates, pick your favorite 6 and eat them 2 pieces each day. Two pieces gives you around 150 calories (unless they’re truffles which are 170 each piece) which you can burn in a 42 minute walk. I never can decide if we should take the rest of the candy to work to let others struggle with overeating it, or throw it away but waste the money. Whatever you do, get it out of your house.
- You could check out Weight Watchers chocolates by Whitman’s which have between 30 and 50 calories each piece with only 3 grams of fat.
- You could ask for a box of Cocoa Via chocolate covered almonds. They use good dark chocolate to coat plain almonds for 140 calories per pack. A pack could easily be your afternoon snack.
- You could try Sweet Riot’s chocolate-covered cocoa nibs from Whole Foods. They look like chocolate covered raisins but are little pieces of the cocoa bean straight off the tree. These little crunchy bitter bits of chocolate coated in chocolate pack tons of health benefits. I will definitely be giving these a try.
- You could go for a fresh fruit bouquet (fruit on sticks). Delicious cold fruit you don’t have to prepare at all. Eat all you want, guilt free - Yum.
- You could think of something meaningful to YOU for Valentine’s, and ask for that. (Instead of letting society tell you that you want flowers and candy.)
My favorite Valentine’s Day gift has nothing to do with flowers, dinner, or chocolate. My hubby takes me out and we buy some cute “Valentinesy-kind-of-mug” and go have coffee at Starbucks or Panera. We talk and laugh and enjoy some time without the kids. Then, each time I use that mug I remember the fun time out and that my hubby has learned to ask me what I really want, and then give it to me. Now that’s a gift!
