Desserts as a topic? Since desserts aren’t nutritionally essential, you might think you should just skip them and you’ll be better off, right? While technically that may be true, eating as a whole should be a pleasurable experience and desserts can add to that pleasure. And like many foods, the key is getting away from the idea of good and bad foods and focusing on frequency and quantity. While a pint of ice cream every night won’t exactly fit into a healthy eating plan, a small, sweet treat once in a while can.

The issues when it comes to restaurant desserts versus something you might make at home are a combination of portion size and decadence. One serving can easily be two to three times the size of what you might serve yourself at home. Add to that the decadence of all of the butter, cream, sugar and more, and you end up with a dessert containing a meal’s worth of calories, nearly three days’ worth of saturated fat, and close to 40 teaspoons of sugar. While this is likely more than any one person needs at one time, there are strategies you can use to still enjoy a sweet ending to your meal without breaking your nutritional bank.

Helpful hints: Keep these ideas in mind next time you’re perusing the dessert menu.

(Environmental Nutrition is the award-winning independent newsletter written by nutrition experts dedicated to providing readers up-to-date, accurate information about health and nutrition in clear, concise English. For more information, visit www.environmentalnutrition.com.)

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