Are you too busy to make a "healthy cheesecake"?I was last week, but I still tried to get my fix. On my way to Zehrs I thought of what kind of cheesecakes were going to be available for purchase. I questioned whether or not I was going to find one "healthy enough" for guilt-free consumption. Some of you may be less naive than I. I still live in the land of fairies, unicorns and rainbows I guess, because I thought the food industry was beginning to take responsibility for North Americans bulging waistlines by reducing the fat and calories in their products. While I realize this is more difficult with cheesecake, I have proven in my own little home kitchen it is possible.
In the bakery section at Zehrs you will find a freezer filled with deliciously depicted cheesecakes on numerous square boxes of every size. Take your pick - they all look soooo goooood, especially the festive double chocolate candy cane one! That inspires me! However turn the boxes over and the Nutrition Facts Tables are grossing. The amount of calories per slice would take up more than a third of your daily energy intake and the fat content is astounding.
Box after box I flipped them over to check the nutrition facts tables. As I was doing so it suddenly occurred to me that these boxes weren't designed for turning over. Each time I turned the box over I could hear the cheesecake go SPLAT! Ooops... my bad! Why do they put the nutrition facts tables on the back?
I began to feel depressed that I wouldn't have my cheesecake this week when I saw the "mini chocolate coated cheesecakes". The combination is genius! The portion size clever, for to consume a smaller portion of cheesecake obviously cuts down on the calories consumed. You could even eat two of these little suckers and not feel as guilty as eating a slice of all the other cheesecakes.
Case in point - cheesecake can be made healthy and guilt free ( as I have been demonstrating all along), and the food industry is blatantly denying me the luxury of a healthy option for my favourite treat. The culture of North Americans doesn't allow for women to stop to enjoy baking a cheesecake for an hour so we can have a healthy alternative to prepackaged options.
Now the question remains do we change our culture or do we change the fat/calorie content of our cheesecake?
You are a very good writer!
ReplyDeleteGood find on the bite-sized cheesecakes. Not only are they well-portioned but they're covered in chocolate (a definite plus). Maybe the answer to your question is that both culture and the fat/calorie content could use a bit of a change. Lowering the fat content would make eating treats less horrifying, but having more time to do anything besides our obligations (including baking) would probably add to our society's well-being in general.
One hazard with the tiny cakes: would people think because they're eating smaller portions they can have more (and ultimately end up eating more calories than they would in one slice)?
Hey Shay!!!
ReplyDeleteLove the idea of the blog! How creative!
Your posting this week was great for people like me who love cheese cake but who dread the thought of baking. My only fear is I wouldn't be able to quit at just one or two.
Hopefully the food industry will pick up on the increased consumer demand for healthier options and come up with healthier pre-packaged options. Unfortunately, I think them, along with most other people think of Cheese Cake as a time to through caution to the wind and forget about the nutrition facts panel all together.
Cheers,
Kayla H
Im definitely buying this next time I go to the grocery store...reading your blog has my mouth watering!
ReplyDeleteYou have a great variety of cheesecakes for health and flavors! However, here is an amazing tip for you - if you go downtown Guelph there is a restaurant on carden street called "Wild Organic Way" aka "WOW" They only serve 'raw foods' so the food can be dehydrated, but nothing is cooked - a very healthy, time consuming way of living. However they make a 'cheesecake' from 'cashew cheese'...check it out or google on a 'Raw Food Website' it is so good and will blow your mind!
Now, if you excuse me, Im off to the grocery store ;)