Dry, soft, flaky, chocolate … There are 85 families of cookies and cakes as many temptations! On the hit parade of our cute peach trees: madeleines and cake, followed by Petit-Beurre, boudoirs and Choco. Let's be clear, we all know that these delicacies are sugar bombs, not to mention the addition of fat, additives, salt … For proof, on 36 references tested by the magazine "60 million consumers" (September 2019 ), 31 indicate on their packaging the letter E, that is to say the worst of the Nutri-Score which evaluates the nutritional quality of food!
Additives: read the labels carefully
The first reflex to have, "It is to favor short lists of ingredients and noble ingredients (flour, butter or non-hydrogenated rapeseed or sunflower oil, sugar, eggs) like those that we use in our homemade recipes", advises Dr. Jean Michel Cohen, author of the "Buying Guide to Eat Well" (First Edition). Second reflex: look at which ingredient comes to mind, the best being flour rather than sugars (carbohydrates). Third reflex: zap the products with a litany of chemical names and bad sugars: sugar syrup, glucose, fructose, invert sugar (mixture of glucose and fructose).
Cookies: adapt your consumption according to your needs
Of course, there is no question of saying that cookies are good for your health! But even if you eat it, you might as well do it knowingly and adapt your consumption as best as possible to your profile, your activities … The aim is to control your intake and portions.
- If I monitor my cholesterol: boudoirs, spoon cookies. "They contain 2 to 4% lipids (fat) against 30% in madeleines or cake", argues Florence Daine dietician. For other varieties, prefer recipes to rapeseed oil (unsaturated fats not harmful to the cardiovascular system) and avoid those with palm or coconut oil.
- If I am sporty: jam trays, wafers. These varieties contain up to twice as much sugar as flour which provides readily available energy. A priori, it is not top! But this ratio turns out to be a good plan for hiking or for a long bike ride or between two indoor fitness classes. Or even after an effort to replenish your glycogen stock (reserve sugar). The right equivalence: 3 trays = 1 bar of cereals.
- If I have diabetes: Petit-Beurre, shortbread. Rich in cereals and less sweet (20 to 25%) than other varieties, these cookies do not raise blood sugar (blood sugar) too much or too quickly at the end of the meal. But in this case, the equivalences must be played: 3 Petit-beurre = 40g of bread = 100g of cooked starchy foods. If you taste them at snack time, then combine them with plain milk to reduce their impact on blood sugar.
Diet or fruit cookies: flee from false friends!
- Cookies with the words "no sugar or" rich in fiber "or" source of magnesium "… may be of interest, depending on the category, for diabetics or athletes, but you should know that they are as caloric as their conventional counterparts. Ditto for light cookies. When we remove fat, we add sugar and vice versa. And sugar is often replaced by polyols (sweeteners), sources of stomach aches. As for organic cookies: palm oil, even organic, remains harmful to health (increased cardiovascular risk).
- Fruit cookies. They are thought to be better for health, even lighter! Often, however, the fruit content is only 5% or less, according to a survey by the National Consumer Defense Association CLCV. However, the list of additives, colors and flavors can be long (up to 22!) And the sugar level high. The association also wishes to establish a minimum fruit threshold below which they could not be highlighted by a drawing or a photo on the packaging or in the name of the product …
Cookies: limit skidding
- Better assess portions On what criteria? First, the weight. A cookie weighs on average from 8 to 20 g, which makes a huge energy difference! Then, the amounts of fat (the best: less than 25% fat per 100g) and sugars (no more than 30g per 100g). Finally, our preferences. We eliminate non-essential cookies, for example "special breakfast", buttered toast being more relevant in the morning for satiety and energy. And we preserve the essential for morale, like the regressive snack cookie. Another piece of advice: beware of cookies presented in individual sachets. There are often 4 or 5 per sachet. Which suggests that this is the right portion. It is too much! The right portion: it's two!
- Savor rather than gulp. To limit the gaps, just take two cookies out of the package. Place them on a pretty dessert plate. Add a hot drink (unsweetened!) Plus two healthy foods to balance and give the impression of a real snack. Start with the fruit and the dairy that will already stall you and keep the best for the end in pleasure.
Read also :
⋙ Food additives: the right keys to flush out these hidden enemies
⋙ Breakfast: is it better to eat salty or sweet in the morning to lose weight?
⋙ Alzheimer's: should you be wary of sugary snacks?