Whilst, I was on my cut one of the biggest struggles I faced was how to incorporate healthy snacks into the mix that were both macro-friendly and didn’t supersede my daily Kcal allowance. Like many of you out there, I have a sweet tooth and needed to find options that satisfied my cravings but didn't sacrifice my waistline or my prescribed calorie intake.
The way I managed to muster through my cut was by banking some of my daily calories and reserving a small iota towards a sweet treat at the end of each day. From my perspective, any remaining and unused macros at the end of the day were fair game and I could do with them as I pleased. The real difficulty came not only with finding snacks high in protein but low in carbs and fats as ‘’sweet’’ snacks tend to have high ratios of one and/or both.
By virtue of my job, I tend to be a pretty proficient and adept researcher and so prior to and throughout my cut, I successfully scoured the web for sweet and macro-friendly snacks. On my snack finding mission, I came across loads of taste-worthy products and recipes, which I will in turn share with you. Think of me as the Sherman Holmes of healthy treats and me sharing my discoveries with you lot.
Grenade Carb Killa: I have already spoken ad nauseam about these amazing protein bars in my previous article. They were undoubtedly my go-to snack whilst on the cut and they continue to be. In case you haven’t read my previous piece on the Carb Killa range, here’s a link: https://www.pushingforty.co.uk/single-post/2017/04/18/Carb-Killa-boom
Barebells: no need to describe, simply check out my past review: https://www.pushingforty.co.uk/single-post/2017/06/03/Eat-your-barebells
Protein pancakes: These are easy peasy to make and definitely satisfy a sweet tooth especially if topped with a teaspoon of nut butter, blueberries and/or some zero calorie pancake syrup. The World Wide Web is rife with protein pancake recipes so there is no shortage out there. The recipe can differ ever so slightly but basically they consist of the same main ingredients namely, protein powder, eggs/egg whites, oats/oat flour and banana.
Muscle Mousse by Muscle Moose: As a Canadian, I absolutely love the name of this product and the play on words. I have managed to taste two of the flavours in range, Peanut Chocolate Caramel and Peanut Butter Cup, although I have heard through the fitness grapevine that the Caramel flavour is the best out the lot. I have to be honest in saying that the mousses are a bit on the sweet side but I guess what they do have going for them is their macros where a 50g serving equates to 173 Kcals (31g protein, 8g carbs and 1g fat).
PES Select Protein: I have definitely tasted lots of protein shakes in my time and to date this American brand is my favourite. I have tasted four different flavours in the range namely; Frosted Chocolate Cupcake, Cookies n Cream, Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup and Snickerdoodle. I can safely say they all taste pretty darn good whether mixed with water, almond milk or as part of a shake. The macros are also sensational boasting tons of protein and little/if no sugar or fat. Whilst you could technically buy this product from various selected online retailers, I acquired mine from one of my favourite websites: https://www.proteinpickandmix.co.uk/. Not only does this website stock all the flavours but they actually sell varying sized options and throw in some samples too.
Mymusclemug mug cake mix: These cakey concoctions are sold by my friends at https://www.proteinpickandmix.co.uk/ who sell every flavour under the sun from red velvet to chocolate brownie to pumpkin pie. Basically, you stir the mixture with some almond milk, throw it in the micro and in a minute and twenty seconds, you have a delicious and nutritious cupcake. I have tasted the whole range and actually quite like all the unique flavours and taste combinations. The best part though is that they are chocked full of protein and chock less of carbs and fats which makes them the ideal snack for those looking to restrict their daily calories.
Quark cheesecake: Quark is high-protein cheese with a consistency similar to that of yoghurt or thick cream. I stumbled upon an amazing quark based cheesecake whilst I was prepping for the cut and I actually made this recipe on more than one occasion as it was not only super easy to make but super macro-friendly. For those of you who want to give it a go here is the link: www.bodybuildingwarehouse.co.uk/blog/healthy-snack-ideas/
Freezer Fudge: This recipe can be found on the same site as the Quark cheesecake above and is not only super easy to make but also super macro-friendly. It makes 12 servings with each slice equating to 89 Kcals: 6.4g protein, 2g cabs and 6g fat.
Salted Caramel Protein Dark Chocolates: I bought this lot from http://www.musclefood.com/. These pop-sized treats are great to satisfy a sweet tooth with the only problem being the temptation to eat more than one square at a time.
Protein hot chocolate and zero calorie marshmallows: I acquired these products on http://www.musclefood.com/. Obviously as the name suggests this hot beverage is brimming with protein but probably has more carbs/fats than some of the other products outlined in this post. In order to meet my daily calorie allowance whilst on the cut, I often opted for half a mug with a liberal sprinkling of marshmallows atop.
Beltsander brownie: This is a very well known snack within the weightlifting community and brands like Mymusclemug obviously drew inspiration from this original recipe. This recipe really couldn’t be simpler to make as it literally consists of combining whey protein, baking soda, cocoa powder and almond milk in a mug and zapping it in the micro. The macros on this one are exceptional: 142 Kcals: 20g protein, 4g carbs and 4g fat.
Protein Carrot Cake: I got this one from the Beltsander recipe book, which I cited above which offers IIFYM (if it fits your macros) flexible dieting recipes. Similar to the cheesecake recipe above, one of the mainstay ingredients of this cake is quark. What’s great about this one is you can make a whole cake and then slice and dish it up into snack-sized portions. I probably got a week's full of snacks off this cake whilst I was in my calorific deficit.
There are tons of other macro-friendly snacks on sites like Myprotein, Musclefood, Proteinpickandmix but I wanted to give you a sense and taste of the possibilities. As you can see, there are endless healthy, sweet options, you just need to make the effort to seek them out. Hopefully, I have given you a good starting point and shown you don’t need to give up sweet snacks rather just need to hunt them down and hone in your detective skills.