How to Eat Dessert AND Stay on Track
I get these types of questions a lot:
How often can I have dessert?
What dessert is best to have?
Whenever I eat sweets I feel like I blew my meal plan – how can I not feel this way?
I used to feel this way and have these same questions, so I hear you for sure.
When you’re trying to lose weight or be on a healthy diet, it can seem daunting to eat desserts, as you might feel you’ll ruin your diet and your progress.
However, that's not the case.
If you add desserts to your diet the right way, they won’t mess with your weight loss goals or results. In fact, they might help you, as you’ll be able to stay on your healthy diet long-term because you have a balance.
Here are some key things to keep in mind, to have a more positive relationship with desserts, as well as some tips on how to make that happen.
How to Eat Dessert AND Stay on Track
1. Focus on what you ENJOY eating
Rather than just eating something “for the health of it”, enjoy your food. There are lots of ways to include desserts in your diet if you love them so much and have a sweet tooth, even when you’re working on losing weight - you just have to make some adjustments (and think about portion size).
Think about your favorite desserts, and then figure out how to make them healthier.
Or, think about certain sweet ingredients you like, such as your favorite fruit, and find recipes that incorporate that. There’s no reason to completely get rid of foods you love.
2. Along with focusing on the foods you enjoy, bring in nutrition principles when you can
When possible, if you truly enjoy “healthier” desserts, try some of these to help your body function at peak capacity!
Making some healthy dessert swaps, while still treating yourself can be rewarding.
It’s actually the easiest way to keep eating desserts while staying on your diet. Making easy and healthy swaps makes desserts healthier, less calorie-dense, and therefore better for you and your goals.
For example, you can swap regular chocolate for dark chocolate, regular chocolate spreads for healthy homemade spreads, healthy energy balls with nuts and dates instead of regular cookies, and so on.
Making swaps helps you get the taste you love, they resemble your favorite desserts, while being better for you.
From top to bottom, left to right
1 cup raspberries dipped in one 2% yogurt (if using a flavored yogurt, just choose one with <15 gm sugar per serving). Freeze on a sheet pan lined with wax paper overnight
Slice 1 banana. Top with 2 Tbsp peanut butter and 1 Tbsp chocolate chips
Slice 1 cup strawberries. Top into 2 Tbsp whipped cream
Wash 1 cup grapes. Remove from stems. Freeze in a container or plastic bag overnight.
SO - if you get the same enjoyment from 2 cups of strawberries & 2 Tbsp whipped cream vs. 1 strawberry flavored poptart, let’s choose the strawberries. But if the poptart is really going to do the trick, we can choose that. See Step 3!
3. Include dessert as part of your eating plan
Is it ok to eat sweets once a week?
Yes, it definitely is! As long as you’re eating healthy most of the time and have a healthy, balanced diet, having sweets once a week is definitely fine (you can have them even more often if you like - you just need to incorporate them the right way). It won’t ruin your weight loss goals.
If you have a sweet tooth, it’s actually better for you to include sweets in your weekly diet. Why? Because eating the foods you love makes it easier to stick to a healthy diet long-term. When you torture yourself, you usually end up binge-eating, and you’re not able to stay on the healthy diet long-term. That’s why you need to find a balance.
So, include desserts in your eating plan.
Instead of feeling like eating a dessert or treat takes you off of your plan, make it PART of what you plan to eat in a day or week – feeling more in control makes a world of difference.
I do find that different people need different amounts of dessert - some people need dessert just twice a week, but others need it twice a day.
What I typically recommend is to think about what’s realistic for you - how often do YOU need dessert in your life to feel happy and satisfied? Is it:
Once a week
2-3 times per week
Once a day
Twice a day
Then, just plan for it! If you’re tracking what you’re eating, i.e. calories, you can track what you think you’re going to eat for the day ahead of time so that you’re not surprised.
By planning the desserts you’ll be eating you’ll also be able to plan portion sizes, and make your meals for the day balanced accordingly.
Some of my favorite comfort treats are:
A small chocolate bar
A small hot chocolate
A single-serving sized ice cream
A single-serving flavored yogurt - I recommend choosing one with less than 15 gm of sugar per serving
Banana “cookies”
Apple “cookies” (which are basically slices of apples with peanut butter and chocolate chips on top)
