Healthy Lifestyle: Having Your Cake and Eating it Too!

   

Posted by Sterling McKinley

Oct 15, 2015

You might have heard people say that life is too short and this is why they like to eat dessert first!  From the standpoint of a healthy lifestyle, eating dessert first may not be the best thing.  Not only are you consuming a lot of fats and sugars, you’re doing so on an empty stomach, which means you’re sure to get a sugar rush.  And although a sugar rush might feel good in the moment, it recedes quickly and makes you crave sugar again a couple of hours later.  Does this mean that you have to cut out desserts entirely from your diet?  Of course not.  You can have your cake and eat it too but you need to do so in a controlled manner.  Here are a few tips to help you do so:

  1. Tracking.  The first thing you should do is figure out exactly how many desserts you’re eating.  You can do this by carrying a journal around with you and writing it down when you eat anything sweet.  Keep in mind that even sweet coffees from Starbucks count towards this number because they contain as many calories as full-fledged desserts.  Try to write down anything that you eat that has a sweet taste.  After you’ve done this for a week, you can sit down and have a look at everything you’ve been eating.  You’ll be surprised at the number of desserts you’ve consumed and you might easily be able to see where you can cut down.
  2. Cutting down.  When you look at your list, there might be sweets or desserts that you don’t really feel attached to.  For example, you may really love that post-dinner ice cream but maybe you don’t really care that much for the morning caramel macchiato.  So why not substitute plain coffee or a skim milk cappuccino instead?  Sometimes, people tend to put off lunch or dinner by eating small pieces of candy while they work.  They’re not really attached to eating that candy but it helps them to wait a little longer to have lunch.  In such cases, it’s probably a better idea to have your lunch rather than putting it off.
  3. Substituting.  Many people think that diet dessert substitutes don’t taste that good.  However, when was the last time  you tasted diet ice cream or a diet cupcake?  Chances are it was a long time ago.  Many companies have now started making diet desserts which are no more than 150-200 calories.  Compare this to the average 600 calories you’ll consume from a piece of chocolate cake!  Sure, these desserts may not be as sweet or as rich as the ones you usually get but they’re still creamy and full of chocolatey goodness.  Try a Skinny Cow ice cream or a WeightWatchers sundae and you’ll find that you end up feeling more than satisfied.

Contact us for more great ideas to help you quit the high-calorie dessert habit.

Topics: food, healthy lifestyle, healthy diet, eating