Healthiest cookie vibes are almost unheard of, as they often have too much high fructose corn syrup, other sugar, fat content, artificial flavoring… and I did I mention sugar. 😊
But, I share a piece of good sweet news… today, you could look for the healthiest cookie that tastes good (and not like the box it came in), and then feel better for your reduced sugar choice.
Included below is a helpful sugar content list next time you’re out cookie grocery shopping.
If you were born with a sweet tooth (ahem…Vatas!), eliminating sugar from your diet, may be one of the worst food elimination news you could hear.
But wait!… before you give up on all sugar, know that your natural makeup and desires are there for a reason, so you don’t have to give up all your sweets if your body and health allow. Instead, you could look for better, daily choices so you don’t have to give up entirely one day.
Cookies are one sweet type and if that’s not your go-to sweet, what are some of the other daily sweet delights? Ice cream, cakes, pies, candy, and donuts.
Sugar is sugar. But some sweets are better for you and they originate in nature and from plants. If a piece of dark chocolate or a juicy piece of fruit will give you the same effect, learn to let your healthy taste bud rule over your eyes that plays tricks.
Because the truth is if you or I tell ourselves, no, we can’t have that sweet piece of joy, then we just want it more as we have an internal debate. And once we get a taste of the tasty stuff, our brain’s pleasure center can easily tempt us to go overboard in a weak moment, even if we consider ourselves self-disciplined in every other way.
That’s why lose weight diets (a.k.a. yo-yo or fad diets) don’t work long-term or lifelong because we feel we are missing out on what our mind and body know is out there. Short-term diets are not natural to our bodies. We want real tasty foods that we crave.
But, if you want to fit into that special dress or get your bathing suit body ready for the summer season, you’re better off doing it naturally so that you can stay the same size year-round.
Just ask Oprah who was the poster example for learning how to eat healthily. And thankfully our abundant society has wised up with better accessible plant-based and healthier ingredient options (from farm to store), than when we were kids.
Decades ago, I wrote a lifelong diet guide with recipes that included enjoying more or less one day “off” a week. A few years before then I had gone on a diet of eating low-fat cookies that came from a dark green healthy-color box (that was anything but healthy or plant-based).
I don’t see those cookies on the grocery shelves anymore, but they were a terrible food substitute that led to weight gain and adding unhealthy processed ingredients to my body. I learned the hard way, but that saved me a lifetime of going down the wrong eating path, and from then on, I wised up.
And I try to save others from making the same mistakes I made. I still very rarely eat red meat, dairy, or more than one or two bites of a sugary sweet, not because I don’t like those foods or can’t eat them (au contraire!), but because I choose to, now knowing what I know. And like Oprah says, “when you know better, you do better.”
And you can do the same with knowledge and a little discipline, which then becomes second nature where you don’t even want those foods anymore because you know they don’t make you a healthier being and that is more satisfying to you. There’s no guilt, either way… it’s just a choice.
Plus, as you get older, the bad foods and sugar your body could tolerate in your 20s may not be the same, so you’re better off wanting to change instead of having to or being forced to.
So that’s where cookie consciousness came into the picture for me. My sweet weakness is cookies (and decadent cakes and cupcakes). It’s wired in my DNA.
But, I’ve learned to be discerning and find the best ones out there. I enjoy the cookie if it tastes great and has low sugar content, or if I make my own in a controlled sugar baking environment.
Keeping it real to yourself is what it’s all about…
And also celebrating your efforts, leaves you happy, your mental health improves, and your body benefits, so you want to balance health and happiness (btw, my blog name is healthy and happy 😊).
I like to have fun (Enneagram 7) probably as much as the next person, and I also like to balance rules because they keep life simple. So looking at nutrition facts is one practice that I like to do (and seriously I do find fun in a mature, adult sorta way).
And I started out my career out as a catering manager at a DoubleTree Hotel where they’re famous for their c.c. cookies you can make healthy 🍪 but yeah the original ingredients in the official recipe is not listed on the fresh brown paper cookie bags. I know because I sat next to them and used them as a pound of butter paper weights for my BEO contracts I had on my desk, taking a bite here and there to curb my breakfast appetite.
Gosh, those were the early days!
And, on that note…
Quick trivia question:
Which of these cookies was famously credited as the first?… is it the Fig Newton, Animal Cracker, or Chocolate Chip Cookie? (Keep reading, as the answer is below ⬇️).
Choosing the Healthiest Cookie
In choosing cookies, the first step is acknowledging that all cookies are not created equal. You know this without having to think about it twice (or twice baked like a healthy no-sugar or butter biscotti recipe)… but when you’re in the grocery aisle, do you make mostly sensible or sensory decisions?
If you’re not sure or it can vary, take a photo of your grocery cart at the check-out line and evaluate.
Then when you get home, take a look at the Nutrition Facts on the back of the food packaging as though you’re looking for the healthiest cookie out there that you want.
When you look closer and compare, you may find an oatmeal cookie may not be lower in sugar count than a chocolate chip cookie, the one you and the Cookie Monster in your house wanted.
In those pleasantly surprising fact discoveries, if nothing else you get what you want and are happier for your choice! And sometimes you’re shocked at what your old favorites tell you.
You can also compare cookies in the same brand like a Girl Scout Cookie. One GSC can be lower in sugar and another one can be off the charts. They may be made from the same factory, but they have a different makeup.
You can continue reading below how they rank in sugar content as I’ve included in the list. Today, gratefully we have so many healthier choices and from the same brands. Continue reading “Healthiest Cookie and Nutrition Facts Low Down”