We all know that candy and chocolate bars are almost always loaded with ridiculous amounts of sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, and all sorts of dyes. Even though they can sometimes give you a burst of energy, sweets can cause you to gain weight and have sugar crashes as the day goes on, leaving you with even less energy than you had in the first place. Fruit can be full of sugar, but because it’s natural sugar, it’s much better for you—plus, all the fiber in fruit means you’ll fill up faster than you would if you were just eating candy. Eating too much of anything is bad for you, of course, but replacing candy with fruit is a great way to incorporate healthier things into your diet and reduce calorie consumption overall!

Taking the First Step…

The first thing you need to do before replacing candy with fruit, is to remove the candy in the first place. If you have a stash of Skittles in your purse, or a bunch of chocolate bars in your glove box, you need to get rid of them. You don’t have to throw them out, but give them to your friends or coworkers instead—you just have to get them out of your way so you’re less likely to eat them.

Next, stock up on some delicious fruit! Put a few fruit bowls around the places you spend the most time in, and put some washed fruit in them. Don’t get too many fruit, because you want to be sure you can eat them before they go bad. Make sure that you refrigerate berries or fruit that you want to chop up. If you chop some fruit, like melons, and put it in little Ziploc bags in the fridge, you can treat the bags like bags of candy whenever you need a snack.

Want Something Cold?

Everyone knows about dried fruit, but my favourite way of sneaking more fruit into my diet is by eating frozen fruit! I absolutely love eating frozen grapes, but chopping berries into little pieces and freezing them is also a great idea. They are great substitutes for ice cream, and they can be used instead of ice when you make smoothies, too!