One of the best health-boosting habits is cutting back on rich desserts.
If you are a frequent dessert-eater, particularly if you prefer those decadent, fat and sugar-rich desserts, try omitting them for a week. Instead, enjoy a serving of fresh fruit. You may develop a new habit or find it’s easy to cut back on the old one.
Fruit is delicious. And there’s so many to choose from! A fresh apple or pear can be an enjoyable dessert, especially for those lazy cooks who appreciate “quick and simple.” Arranging several kinds of colourful fruits on a platter for family or dinner guests couldn’t be easier. Cut-up fruit pieces served in a large bowl (a fruit salad) can be accompanied with smaller bowls of healthy “sprinkles” as optional toppings: nuts or seeds, ground flax or chia seeds, shredded coconut or cinnamon.
For those who are more artistic and have more time, surf the internet to find lots of creative ways to prepare and serve fresh fruit: there are unique watermelon carvings, arrangements with pineapples, or scooped-out cantaloupe shells filled with fruit chunks. You can even make a “cake” using large cuts of watermelon or other melon as the “layers” of the cake. Top and surround the layers with whole or cut assorted fruit, like strawberries and kiwi.
Try to keep the dessert JUST fruit – avoid additions like caramel sauce, whipping cream or powdered sugar. And if you serve yogurt with the fruit, opt for plain, unflavoured yogurt. Fruit-added yogurts always have sugar or artificial sweetener added, so try to avoid those. Fruit is sweet enough. Adding table sugar and even honey, stevia or agave nectar are overkill and unnecessary.
Here are some tips when eating out: At the restaurant, skip the dessert menu. Ask if they have fresh fruit (likely not, but it doesn’t hurt to ask). If not, have fresh fruit afterwards at home. If friends or family invite you for dinner, ask if you can supply dessert: bring a fruit platter, a watermelon or a box of mandarin oranges. If you are serious about cutting back, you can also choose to explain you are trying to skip traditional desserts for a short time. Hopefully, they’ll be supportive of your “experiment.” Maybe they’ll decide to serve you fresh fruit! And if not, you can still choose to say “no” and enjoy a warm beverage while they have their dessert.
Your body will thank you when you more often choose a small serving of fresh fruit as dessert, instead of a fat-rich and sugar-filled cake or pie – not to mention the unnatural preservatives added to commercially-prepared desserts.
Eating fruit as dessert may leave you feeling more energetic, as opposed to the lethargy we can experience after a large meal followed by a rich dessert. Perhaps you’ll even feel like taking an evening stroll!
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Eve Lees has been active in the health & fitness industry since 1979. Currently, she is a Freelance Health Writer for several publication and speaks to business and private groups on various health topics.