There’s always room for dessert!

Some are quick to say that dessert is a very important part of a meal. In fact, among the different courses of a meal–from the appetizer, salad, soup and entrée, desserts and sweets like candy, ice cream and chocolate have the most quotable quotes from authors, celebrities and other personalities. Different cultures even have their sayings about the multitude of variations of dishes that make a sweet ending to a meal.

The most popular sayings cannot even be attributed to any particular person anymore. “There’s always room for dessert!” probably places on the top of the list as it justifies the sometimes guilty feelings some people have in still eating something else after an already heavy meal. Overindulgence in desserts is also one of the diet pitfalls most people encounter in trying to lose weight. That’s why most people just quit cold turkey and skip it altogether. This is somewhat tragic and to a certain degree unnecessary as there’s always a healthier alternative to anything we eat. With a few simple substitutions and choices in ingredients, dessert can actually be good for you and provide additional vitamins, minerals and fiber in your meal. Rather than totally avoiding it, opt for fruits like kiwi, strawberries and blueberries contain vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants which delicious and surely satisfy any sweet tooth.

 These can simply be served fresh with a drizzle of lemon or lime juice or baked into decadent pastries combined with other wholesome ingredients like almonds, oatmeal and flaxseed. You can even boost the nutrient content further with super foods such as chia seeds, goji and golden berries, acai and maca. These are pure nutrition than come in small packages and are nice conversation pieces too as these are sourced from exotic places from the Andes Mountains in Peru to the Amazon forests of Brazil! Tropical super foods you can use for dessert include cacao, mangosteen, avocado, guyabano and coconut. Instead than cream or whole cow’s milk, opt for vegan nut milks or probiotic rich kefir.

 This just needs to be sweetened with raw sugar or honey as it tends to be on the sour side.

Following this advice, another popular saying “Life isn’t complete without dessert” can actually be true in the figurative and literal sense! Of course, there’s always room for traditional decadent desserts like apple pie, ice cream, chocolate cake, puddings, custards which are usually laden with sugar, butter, cream and other high fat and calorie ingredients, but like any food type that’s delicious but not necessarily healthy, go easy on the portion size and eat it occasionally. You’ll certainly savor the experience more!