6 Healthy Ways to Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth

Following a healthy lifestyle is about living well and loving what you eat — and that includes enjoying a decadent dessert on occasion! That's right — you can have your cake and eat it too, as long as you enjoy it from time to time and don't go overboard. When you do decide to indulge in something decadent (and you're not on Phase 1 of the South Beach Diet), stick to our "Three-Bite Rule": Take three bites of the dessert, savoring each one, and then set it aside, share with a fellow diner, or hand it off to a passing waiter if you're dining out. You'll be surprised by how easily you can satisfy your sweet tooth with just a few bites.

Who says you can't enjoy chocolate on a healthy diet? Indulge your inner chocolate lover with this delicious Dark Chocolate Bark with Walnuts recipe. Dark chocolate contains antioxidant-rich compounds known as flavonoids, which have been shown to help improve heart health. In addition, dark chocolate can help decrease blood pressure and keep you feeling fuller, longer. This decadent bark combines the antioxidant power of dark chocolate with the heart-healthy benefits of omega-3 fatty acids found in walnuts. It will be hard, but stick to just one piece as a serving!

Not to be confused with an "Almond Joy" candy bar, these Almond-Jam Bars are a healthy alternative to the popular jam-filled thumbprint cookies. Made with finely ground natural unblanched almonds instead of flour, along with an egg white and sugar-free jam, these cookies are best enjoyed with a glass of 1% or fat-free milk. Almonds are not only rich in vitamin E, they also provide riboflavin, iron, and magnesium and a good amount of fiber. And their fat content is primarily monounsaturated.

Popsicles are an all-time favorite summertime dessert for kids, but we know plenty of adults who love these refreshing treats. Unlike store-bought pops, which are loaded with sugar, these naturally flavorful Banana-Orange Pops are made with puréed bananas, undiluted orange juice concentrate, and low-fat plain yogurt. Bananas are high in vitamin B6 and potassium, a mineral that can help regulate heart rate and blood pressure. Prepare these pops ahead of time and keep them ready in the freezer for a superhot day.

We gave the classic strawberry milkshake a healthy makeover by using plain low-fat yogurt, 1% milk, frozen strawberries, and vanilla extract. Enjoy a Creamy Dreamy Strawberry Vanilla Shake for an after-dinner pick-me-up or as an energizing mid-morning or mid-afternoon snack. Strawberries are rich in fiber and vitamin C, and the good news is that they are at their peak in supermarkets and at farmers' markets right now. You can freeze strawberries by spreading them out in a single layer on a cookie sheet and placing them in the freezer. Once they're frozen, transfer the berries to a plastic bag, date it, and store them in the freezer until you're ready to use them; they will be fine for up to a year.

If you like peanut butter and jelly in your sandwiches, you'll love them in these cookies. Our Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies are simple to prepare because they use only a few ingredients, including natural peanut butter. Peanut butter is an excellent source of "good" unsaturated fats, folate, and resveratrol, a phytochemical that helps prevent heart disease. When buying it, be sure to purchase no-sugar-added natural peanut butter that has 1 gram of sugar or less. And when it comes to the jelly, select a sugar-free variety. Just two of these cookies will be enough to satisfy your sweet tooth.

Tiramisu, which means "pick-me-up" in Italian, is so named because of the espresso and cocoa it contains. Our South Beach Diet version of this classic dessert uses part-skim ricotta cheese, egg whites, whole-grain pastry flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, espresso, and fat-free dairy whipped topping. Part-skim ricotta cheese has a naturally sweet taste and contains four times more calcium than cottage cheese as well as protein. The eggs are also a good source of protein, along with vitamin B12, and selenium.