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Enjoy
desserts, but do it healthfully
March 09, 2006
Suzanne Havala Hobbs
Dessert
is one of life’s simple pleasures. For many of us, it’s
also one of life’s daily challenges.
Regular dessert-eating can make the difference between one
pant size and the next or the extra ten pounds that make blood
pressure medication necessary.
It doesn’t take much.
Just a small dish of ice cream or a sliver of pie can easily
total 250 calories. A daily dose can add up to more than a
10-pound weight gain in a year’s time. Restaurant portions
or multiple servings can double, triple or quadruple that
figure.
What makes some desserts so fattening?
* Sugar. A teaspoon of table sugar doesn’t have many
calories. But many sweets contain the equivalent of dozens
of teaspoons of sugar. The calories add up. High fructose
corn syrup, table sugar and brown sugar sweeten foods and
add calories – with little in the way of nutrition in
return.
* Fat. It’s a concentrated source of calories, containing
more than double the number of calories as the same amount
of protein or carbohydrate (including sugar). Butter, margarine
and oil added to cookies and cakes, cream used to make rich
sauces, dairy fat in ice cream and cream cheese and the fat
in chocolate are examples.
* Refined flour. It’s nearly devoid of fiber, so it’s
not as bulky and filling as whole grain flour.
* Lack of low-calorie ingredients. If desserts were made from
vegetables, they’d likely be lower in calories. Unfortunately,
green bean pie doesn’t sound very appetizing. On the
other hand, fruit is sweet, and fruit desserts do tend to
be lower in calories. A slice of one crust blueberry or cherry
pie, for instance, is often lower in calories than a piece
of chocolate cake or a Danish pastry.
There are plenty of other lower-calorie desserts out there:
* Baked apples and fruit crisps made with crumbled oatmeal
topping;
* Fruit sorbet or frozen juice bars;
* Gingerbread, angel food and sponge cake – cakes that
can be topped with a dusting of powdered sugar in lieu of
thick frostings;
* Ditto for banana bread, zucchini bread (there’s a
vegetable), and carrot raisin muffins;
* Fruit parfaits made with layered, sliced fresh fruits (strawberries,
melon, banana), grapes and berries and vanilla pudding or
fresh fruit salad topped with a dollop of pudding;
* A cup of cappuccino or hot chocolate.
Of course, these ideas don’t cut it for everyone.
My husband tells the story about the time his grandmother’s
doctor told her, “Gudi, if you don’t give up desserts,
you’re going to die.”
She said, “I’d rather die.”
If you’ve got to have the hard stuff – cheesecake,
premium ice cream – here are some ways to minimize the
harm:
* Eat dessert first. Not a daily strategy, but once in a while,
if you know you’re going to have it, eat the dessert
first and it’s likely you won’t eat as much of
the remaining meal afterwards. You’ll net fewer calories.
* Share. Split dessert with a companion.
* Designate dessert days. If you know that Fridays and Sundays
are your treat days, it may make going without it easier the
rest of the week.
* Buy it out instead of bringing it home. If you buy a gallon
of ice cream, you’ll eat it all. Instead, if you want
dessert, go out for it and buy a single serving.
* Spread it out. If you have cake in the house, eat part and
put the remainder in the freezer for another day.
We enjoy food for more than its nutritional value. Work harder
to strike a more healthful balance between the pleasure you
get from foods and the contributions they can make to your
wellbeing.
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