What do a container of Greek yogurt, two cups of diced watermelon, and this lemon donut have in common? Surely, a personal trainer would only recommend two out of these three treats, right?
Think again! All three of these snacks have less than 130 calories. No, seriously. This donut only clocks in at 114 calories. There’s no sorcery or black magic behind the crazy low calorie count on this donut, just a personal trainer with a mean sweet tooth.
Enter Sarah of Sarah Lynn Fitness, a certified personal trainer who, in addition to her career in fitness, spends her time making drool-worthy treats and writing e-cookbooks.
I recently reached out to Sarah to see if she could answer some questions about her inspiration and fitness tips. Plus, if she slides over a couple of recipes, all the better.
Like a lot of little girls, Sarah loved baking, even from a young age. But, her healthy dessert kick got started after her love of baking starting to affect her health.
“My healthy dessert recipes started when I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease a couple of years ago and found out I could no longer eat gluten.”
Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder in which gluten causes significant damage to the small intestine. When sufferers of the disease eat foods with gluten, like breads, cakes, and cookies, the immune system attaches antibodies to the gluten. These antibodies then attack the intestinal lining and cause inflammation that prevents the absorption of key nutrients.
So, what’s a girl to do if she can’t eat any of what she bakes? Sarah did some research and “started experimenting with gluten-free recipes made with healthy ingredients, and it happened that they also were a lot lower calorie than traditional desserts.”
And not only were they lower in calories, these desserts were also delicious! The desserts that Sarah specializes in with her “Bake to Be Fit” cookbooks “look and taste just as good as the traditional versions, but with less allergens and sugar, and more protein.”
Girlfriend wasn’t lying–one look at Sarah’s Instagram gives you a major dose of food porn. If you don’t look at the captions, you’d never even know that Sarah’s recipes are healthy. And, some of Sarah’s recipes are less than five ingredients (like this cake with 3-ingredient frosting)!
Even though she spends a lot of her time making these drool-worthy desserts, Sarah actually keeps a pretty healthy lifestyle outside of her social media sphere.
Sarah is a certified personal trainer with the NASM, and even though she doesn’t have any clients to her name just yet, she puts her training to good use in her personal life.
“As for myself, I believe in eating and exercising intuitively, and listening to your body. I personally feel best eating mostly whole foods and foods low in sugar, along with my healthy desserts. I do not currently follow any strict diet or exercise regimen, besides eating gluten-free for health reasons.”
I myself am an amateur baker, so naturally, I had one big question: is it even possible to make these treats in my dorm kitchen? According to Sarah, yes!
“I think all of my recipes are pretty friendly for a college student budget – a lot of the recipes use the same ingredients, so if you have those ingredients on hand, you can make almost any of the recipes!”
As a no-fuss kind of girl when it comes to food, that sounds perfect to me.
Okay so let’s review: Sarah is a certified personal trainer, runs a crazy-successful food Instagram (57.5 thousand followers, hello!), has written three cookbooks, and was featured in a video for Insider this past July.
I don’t know about you, but I think that it’d be pretty hard to make it to the top without playing favorites…with her desserts that is! It was a tough choice, but I had to ask Sarah what her favorite culinary creation has been so far.
“I think my favorite recipe is probably the 5-ingredient chocolate fudge cake – it is one of the first healthy dessert recipes I ever posted about on Instagram, and it is so simple but so good!”
Hello, look at this thing! Is your stomach growling? Mine definitely is…and something tells me that this would be a lot more satisfying than a salad.
All in all, if you’re looking for a way to get your dessert fix, I’d definitely recommend Sarah’s page! Her recipes look delicious, have fewer ingredients than it would take to make that pumpkin pie for Christmas (btw, she’s got a recipe for that too), and I promise, you don’t have to eat any kale to feel like a bonafide health goddess.
Just try to wipe the drool off your chin before you serve these desserts to your friends!