35 Secretly Healthy Desserts ’cause Dieting in January Sucks

I open the closet after carefully avoiding my reflection in the mirror.  Panic.  FREAKING CHRISTMAS!  My heart rate speeds up, my palms get sweaty… “Oh, God.  Where are my fat jeans?  Why did I think it was a good idea to donate them?!  Oh, yeah.  ‘Accountability.’  Great.  I’ll have to pour myself into what I’ve got and throw a big chunky sweater over it to hide my bulk.  Hm.  The button closed!  Maybe I’ll have just one more piece of that chocolate I got for Christmas.”  

I hope that none of that strikes a cord with you and that you are the perfect picture of health, that you indulged a little over the holidays and you were back on track the morning of January 1st, but for many of us, January sucks.

Most of us feel ashamed in January and I definitely count myself among them.  We fall into bad habits during the holidays, and you know why?  Because eating fun food in copious quantities is FUN, gosh darn it.  And who doesn’t want to be fun?  We all want to be known for being fun, right?  Then at some point the fun stops being fun but we want to keep being fun, so we fall into a cycle of self loathing or just life loathing.

Truthfully, none of us should feel ashamed about the way we look.  Period, end of story.  The goal of eating healthy is to FEEL healthy ’cause I don’t know about you, but it’s unlikely I’m going to be getting many modeling requests (unless they want an almost 40 year old mom who is the size of an average eleven year old boy.  What?  No takers?).  So, if we aren’t going to be modeling, why do we beat ourselves up and try to kill ourselves in January?

We know deep down that we need to treat our bodies well, but we want to have more fun in the new year, which leads me to this mighty fine list of 35 secretly healthy desserts which are FUN and HEALTHY.  Seriously, even your mouth won’t believe it.  I’ve tried a few of these recipes and so far I’ve been amazed.  Not only are they pretty, but they are yummy.  So, here’s to being Healthy and Fun in 2016 because we should get to have our cake and eat it, too!  (and fitting into our “skinny jeans” wouldn’t hurt either!) ** Disclaimer: My husband claims this post is food porn.  I cannot be held responsible if you want to eat all 35 of these in one sitting!) **

WARM CAMEMBERT TART WITH POMEGRANATE SYRUP FIG & PISTACHIO

3 INGREDIENT CHIA PUDDING

QUINOA COCONUT CACAO BARS

VANILLA + COFFEE CREAM TART

BLACKBERRY TIRAMISU

VEGAN NO BAKE CHOCOLATE MOUSSE CAKE

BANANA CACAO NIB BUCKWHEAT MUFFINS

RAW CHOCOLATE ALMOND BUTTER FUDGE BARS

RAW FIG CHEESECAKE

RAW BLUEBERRY AND CASHEW COCONUT BARS

VEGAN COFFEE + BANANA CREAM PIE

RAW + VEGAN TIRAMISU 

EASY SALTED OAT FUDGE

 EASY RAW RASPBERRY SLICE

RAW VEGAN CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER CHEESECAKE

HEALTHY COOKIES & CREAM DIP

VEGAN COOKIE DOUGH BARS WITH DARK CHOCOLATE GANACHE

GOOEY CHOCOLATE OAT CAKE

RAW FIG BARS

SALTED CARAMEL + PECAN PIE BARS

DOUBLE CHOCOLATE BANANA CAKE

RAW FIG + BLACKBERRY TART

SALTED CARAMEL PEANUT BUTTER TRUFFLES

RAW BLUEBERRY CHEESECAKE

SNICKERS LAYER BARS

VEGAN SNICKERS ICE CREAM BARS

ICED CASHEW MOCHA

HAZELNUT ESPRESSO TORT

VEGAN COCONUT CREAM PIE

RAW ALMOND JOY BARS

ALMOND + CHOCOLATE ENERGY BARS

BANANA SUSHI

BEST EVER HEALTHY CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE

3 INGREDIENT PEANUT BUTTER COOKIE

VEGAN MOCHA CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE

For these and more ideas, visit my Healthy Foodie Pinterest Board!