Having dessert occasionally with a meal may not be such a bad thing depending on when you get it. A study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied offered 130 students and staff on a college campus a choice of two desserts at the start of the cafeteria lunch line. They had a choice between a decadent dessert or a piece of fresh fruit. When the people selected the decadent dessert, about 70% them wound up choosing healthier food options as they went through the rest of the line and the foods that they picked resulted in them consuming 250 fewer calories than the fresh fruiters.
They didn’t have to eat the dessert first for this to influence the rest of their selection process. Just the process of choosing first effected the rest of their choices. So…the slogan “Life is short, eat dessert first” needs an upgrade to “Make better choices, select dessert first.”
The other piece of research to add to this is when you have desserts it is better to have the dessert with your meal as opposed to eating it separately. The sugar in the dessert will normally cause your blood sugar levels to spike, which is then followed by a blood sugar crash. When you have the sugary dessert with a healthy meal, the rest of the food slows down the absorption of the sugar. This means you won’t experience the same blood sugar spike. So, keep in mind this is not a license to have desserts all the time as you are still eating foods that don’t provide you with much nutritional value.
(Reported Time, March 11, 2019)
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