Healthy and Harmless Desserts
When most people think of the word dessert, they think of really rich, sweet, and fattening foods. We tend to think that it’s okay to have something a little sweet and fattening after a meal because we deserve it because we all ate vegetables; and two, how much it could hurt to have a super small portion of something tasty and fattening. You would be surprised with some of the desserts that exist today. Little individually wrapped fancy chocolates from specialty chocolate manufacturing companies are the prime suspects I’m talking about here. Some of these treats manage to convert hundreds of calories into the smallest pieces of chocolate. Some of which are usually just a bite!
Now it doesn’t really matter if you ate all your veggies that day because if you mess it all up with a fancy piece of chocolate with only 10-20 second gratification, then what’s the point? I think most don’t even consider healthy alternatives in the dessert realm. How can that be possible? That pretty much defeats the purpose in itself. Well, at least that’s what most would say or gravitate towards thinking. I think dessert shouldn’t be a tradition in most cultures to represent an excuse of some kind. It should be a rewarding after-meal treat that can still stay within the bounds of what is generally considered healthy.
How about some examples? There are plenty of perfectly harmless low-calorie desserts out there, including fruit pies, yogurts, low-fat/low-calorie ice cream, strawberry parfaits, rhubarb bread pudding, oatmeal cookies, frozen yogurts, caramel apples, frozen raspberry pie, ice cream smoothies. fruits, strawberries with chocolate and the list. continue. So, as you can see, many desserts can be very tasty and satisfying for those of you who have an undeniable sweet spot that needs to be recognized from time to time. However, I really wouldn’t recommend having any type of recognizable food in the dessert category every day. If you’re constantly craving deliciously flavorful, sweet goodness, then maybe something like every other day. But be careful what you’re constantly consuming to make sure it’s okay to have it on an almost regular basis.
Some healthy desserts add more calories than others. Maybe it would be a good idea to find some that you really like. Not only do you know how, but you’ve gotten used to making and buying and you know they’re not that bad for you. Once you’ve figured that out, stick with those desserts for as long as you can. Eventually, if you get tired of the same old treats after dinner, try mixing them up again.
Now, given my examples above, I hope you’ve recognized a certain trend or ongoing theme with desserts. That’s right, you guessed it, fruit! Anyway, nature’s sweets are better than factory sweets. There’s more to love, more juice and the same flavor. Anyway, factory sweets nowadays can be expensive and they only focus on quantity, not quality. I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but I have. Candy today has been drastically reduced to what it used to be. Also, not only have they become smaller, but the packaging or wrapper has also become larger, which contributes to the smaller size of the candies. Now I’m sure none of you who are trying to control your weight are eating sweets anyway, just trying to make nature’s sweets look better. In general, today’s desserts can range from naughty to nice. It’s up to you to choose which category you place them in for your own personal indulgence.