FACTOR-IN/FACTOR-OUT™
We’ve scoured supermarkets and restaurants to find healthy F–Factor® approved food swaps for high-calorie favorites. Now you can satisfy your cravings without sabotaging your waistline.*
The champ is here!
As any amateur baker or chocoholic would agree, when it comes to household ingredients, chocolate chips are great to have on hand. For one, they’re versatile. Chocolate chips can be used in their original format, as a topping like sprinkles, or mixed right into recipes, just as easily as they can be melted down for their sheer chocolatey-ness and used accordingly. They’re also rather user-friendly. Because chocolate chips are small, individual “morsels” of chocolate, you can more readily control how much you are using, compared to say a big brick of chocolate. The individuality of each chip allows for level of portion control**. Of course, just because these edible entities are of smaller size, does not mean they should be regarded as inconsequential or harmless by any means. Singular crystals of granulated sugar are practically microscopic compared to the size of a chocolate chip, and we know how fast those can add up!
Chocolate chips similarly can add up, especially in terms of the aforementioned white stuff. Picture a tablespoon. Just one tablespoon of Nestle Toll House Semi-Sweet Mini Morsels contains 8 grams of sugar. That’s more sugar in that one tablespoon than in an entire double cheeseburger from Micky D’s complete with ketchup, mustard, onions, pickles, bun—and a side of fries. If you’re letting that fact marinate for a second, consider also that 8 grams is more sugar than in a serving of Soy Vay Veri Veri Teriyaki Marinade & Sauce, too. Feeling a bout of sugar shock? We feel you.
Fortunately, there’s no need to have a chip on your shoulder over this—you can have your chocolate, and eat it too, thanks to a company called Lily’s Sweets. Lily’s Sweets makes no-sugar-added chocolate, and as far as mini morsels go, their Premium Baking Chip are a complete game changer.
With just 50 calories per serving, a tablespoon of Lily’s chocolate chips contains almost 30% less calories Nestle’s mini morsels! This difference is due in part to the fact that Lily’s chips are (again) a no-sugar-added chocolate AKA, they’re SUGAR-FREE. What’s great about Lily’s is that despite this, taste is not compromised in the least. Sweetened instead with zero-calorie natural sweetener, stevia and erythritol, Lily’s chips are far from bitter (…which is something we can’t exactly say would hold true for Nestle Toll House if they were to ever read this… sorry NTH!).
Of course, we’d be remiss to skip over the fact that Lily’s choc chips also contain fiber—4 grams per serving! This means if you’re making something like cookies or pancakes, using Lily’s doesn’t just add delicious chocolatey-ness, but an extra dose of metabolism-boosting, fat-fighting fiber too. A win-win? You betcha! Lily’s chocolate chips are also gluten free and vegan, fair trade certified and non GMO verified. AND because Lily’s chips are dark chocolate, they’re packed with antioxidants. The choice is yours, but for a champion chocolate chip, Lily’s takes (and can be used to make) the cake.
THIS PRODUCT IS A STEP 1 FOOD.
TO JOURNAL THIS FOOD: Lily’s Sweets Chocolate Chips (1 Tbsp) – 9g carbohydrate, 4g fiber
Convinced but need some inspo? The following recipes use Lily’s Premium Baking Chips:
*Are you interested in having a product featured in Factor-In/Factor-Out? Contact Jessica Rossman for details.
**That’s not to say that following said portion control doesn’t take a huge level of self control. It’s far easier to indulge in a few more chocolate chips, than it is to strictly stick to the proper portion. This is, of course, more reason to choose Lily’s—the subsequent damage of eating more is minimized.