Health
Habits
Food
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6 Tips To Make Dessert Worth It
Never trust anyone who believes dessert isn’t an essential part of life.
There may be some small, joyless percentage of the population who can live indefinitely without sugar, but in my experience those who attempt it are kidding themselves and will inevitably fail.
Sugar is wonderful sometimes, and in general it is easier to find a way to live with it than without it.
But I’m not here to propagate any illusions either. The scientific literature makes it is pretty clear that sugars, specifically sucrose (table sugar) and fructose (the sweet stuff in fruit and corn syrup), are some of the worst foods you can eat and should generally be considered dangerous.
Sugars promote aging, weight gain and most chronic diseases. Sugar is also regarded as addictive by many in the field of obesity and weight loss.
So how should you deal with it?
Keeping desserts in perspective goes a long way to helping you make smart choices.
Keep these tips in mind to make sure the desserts you choose are worth it.
6 Tips To Optimize Your Dessert Choices
1. Make it formal
Self-control is not the easiest thing to practice when dessert is involved. You probably know this from experience.
Make a rule for yourself to not eat dessert in an informal setting. That is, do not eat sweets between meals and always sit down and be fully present when you eat treats.
Resist the piles of cookies, brownies and candies set out around the house. If you do choose to eat one, do not make light of it. Sit down with a chair, table and napkin and enjoy every bite.
Try to wait until after a meal so you are eating for indulgence and not to satisfy your hunger. Trying to feel full from dessert is a losing battle (see tip #4).
2. Size matters
Dessert has an obscene amount of calories. I know this is not fun to think about, but you should be aware that if you are eating something with sugar and fat there is an excellent chance you are putting down 50-100 calories PER BITE.
A single Godiva or See’s truffle runs at about 100 calories. A slice of Oreo cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory has 600-800 calories. It is hard to overemphasize how huge this really is. If you eat a reasonably healthy diet, this is likely more calories than you consume in an entire meal.
When you do sit down and eat dessert, remember that you do not have to eat everything that is put in front of you. The first two bites are always the most satisfying. There is no need to test the hypothesis that the 12th bite doesn’t live up to them.
3. Make an allowance
You should keep tabs on how often you eat dessert, and one or two per week is a reasonable goal for someone looking to maintain their weight. Zero to one serving is best for someone trying to lose weight.
For most people, weekly allowances are easier to manage than daily or monthly allowances.
Rules likes this help you make smarter choices. Do you really want to waste your only treat this week on a cookie from a box or a cake from Costco?
If you are ever going to be a picky eater, dessert is the best place to turn up your nose.
4. Don’t treat yourself when hungry
Sugar does not satisfy hunger. In fact, repeated sugar exposure creates spikes and dips in blood sugar that make you feel hungry again sooner than you should.
For this reason, sugary foods should never be substituted for real food and you should not rely on them to satisfy your hunger. Not only is this ineffective, it also makes it more likely you will overeat. Remember tips #1 and #2 and eat your small desserts after a real meal.
5. Eat healthy meals
Having an overall healthy, balanced diet is another effective way to avoid dessert binges. If you already feel satisfied with what you have eaten, dessert will truly be a treat and not an overcompensation for poor nutrition.
Healthy meals can also go far to prevent emotional eating, since they help create a feeling of fulfillment, comfort and satisfaction.
6. Stay on the bandwagon
Slip-ups happen with dessert, and it is not the end of the world.
Remember point #2, that size matters.
Just as 5 bites of dessert is much, much better than 10 bites of dessert, one slip-up is better than 3-4 slip-ups. Don’t let one holiday uh-oh send you into a week of unbridled gluttony.
When it comes to sugar, less is always better. Avoid the temptation to throw in the towel.
Are your desserts worth it?
Originally published December 21, 2009.
so all your ‘cheatings’ are home-made (or from a good bakery, at least) ? (because of #3)
Good rules to live by, Darya.
When I feel like over-indulging in dessert, sometimes I’ll just skip the meal and have a couple pieces of apple or pumpkin pie.
But I wouldn’t do this more often than every 3-4 weeks. Otherwise I’d be missing out on other healthy nutrients.
-Steve
I always make my own desserts, so I know exactly what is in them. I also make my cookies small (so I can eat a few!). I posted my favorite ginger cookie recipe a couple days ago.
http://makingfoodandotherstuff.wordpress.com/2009/12/19/i-had-the-best-of-intentions/
I didn’t know that fruit sugars were so bad for you. I usually eat plain fruit for dessert, and I have apples at least 4 or 5 times a week. I find the fiber in the skin helps my digestion a lot. I often eat a banana or a peach or blueberries with my breakfast oatmeal. I’m not sure I can give up fruit, but this has definitely shaken up my dietary thinking.
OMG, I agree with Ryan below, don’t stop eating fruit! The reason fructose is bad is because it is taken out of fruit and concentrated. For more on this check out this video I posted by Dr. Lustig http://summertomato.com/for-the-love-of-food-30/
And also see what I wrote on the topic here http://summertomato.com/does-fruit-make-you-fat-and-old/
Whole, natural foods are almost always fine in moderate quantities.
Thanks for your advice! I must admit when I posted my comment, I had only watched the video you linked partway (I ran out of time, so I stopped after the biochemistry lesson, which I found fascinating). I was a bit freaked out by his description of fructose’s effects on your liver. I’ve now watched the rest, and I’ll will eat fruit guilt-free as always!
@ps
Fruit sugars aren’t bad for you. I could dig up the literature (that’s seemingly always misread) of where this preternatural fear comes from, but it’s Christmas Eve and I’m feeling, well, lazy. Basically, studies looking at the ‘evils’ of fructose are giving subjects the equivalent of 6 – 8 soft drinks worth of HFCS, which is roughly 10x the amount you could get down in an average day’s worth of fruit consumption. Remember, fruits aren’t made of pure fructose, they’re a mixture of fructose and glucose. And even over-feeding studies of fructose showed no metabolic difference when compared to other types of sugars. In the end, calories are calories, and sugar is an easy way to eat too many of them. There’s nothing inherently bad about sugar. In isolation, it’s an easy to over consume substance, but in no way should you avoid the natural sugars that occur in a healthy, balanced diet.
I’ll chime in later with some more substantial evidence, but to boil it down, every piece of peer-reviewed research covering increased fruit consumption shows an increase in lipolysis (basically, fat-loss) and improvement in a host of biomarkers related to inflammation, cardiovascular conditions, and even brain functioning. So don’t cut the fruit out of your diet. Ever.
Thanks for chiming in on this point. I was busy and just now got to it. Like your blog btw 🙂
Thanks. I hold fellow bloggers’ opinions, particularly the intelligent and articulate ones, in high regard. Is there an e-mail address I can reach you at?
Hey Darya,
I always appreciate your sensible advice and completely agree with you here. I find I eat dessert probably around the once a week and always work to keep it in check. I think for me your making an allowance section describes my biggest motivation.
I figured out at some point that eating sugary food just because it is there is not a good thing. When someone brings a generic package of store bought cookies I easily pass, but when my cube mates wife (who mills her own flour) bakes I am in that line!
Focus on quality foods always and don’t go overboard (yes people you can eat just one small cookie) and you will be in a good place.
🙂
it is hard to live without dessert! what can I say, funny post, I just finished posting my muffins recipes today, with pictures step by step, if anyone is interested i’m sure you will find them delicious! Muffins Recipes . Dessert is good! but as this post explains watch out for how much dessert you actually eat, keep it healthy!
thankz for the tip…
i really appreciate it..
very practical…
i love desert same like i love my hublot big bang king…:)
Hiya – I’d also like to add the tip that real dessert freaks might want to try getting into true dark chocolate (under 25g of sugar per 100g!). A square or 2 can satisfy the ‘after dinner’ dessert thirst, but there is actually plenty of evidence to suggest its healthy! Its one of my favourite tricks! 🙂
Timely article! The year end holidays, full of gatheringd with food, drink and desserts, the 0.75lbs lot last week came right back on….
My daughter baked double chocolate espresso cookies on Wednesday …. I’ll have my 1 cookie on Friday…. I really got to stop!
Awesome tips – these are going up on my fridge at home 🙂
I think you mean “stay on the water wagon”.