We Always Have Room for Dessert and That's not Bad...but

let's take a hard, close look at some calorie facts.

Here's a rundown of the calorie amounts of some popular desserts, from low to high (courtesy of USA Today):

Sugar-free red gelatin -------------------10 calories

Carrot cake (Country Buffet)------------240 calories

McDonald's Baked apple pie------------250 calories

Dunkin Donuts (jelly filled)-------------270 calories

Burger King Dutch apple pie------------300 calories

Chick-fil-A lemon pie--------------------350 calories

Au Bon Pain banana nut pound cake ---520 calories

Denny's Banana split--------------------894 calories

Ruby Tuesday's double chocolate cake--955 calories

I noticed a couple of things during the low carb revolution.  People passed on bread - they didn't pass on dessert (it looks different than bread-pasta-rice).  I noticed that while on a diet, people justify "just a couple of bites" of dessert, which can snowball into an eating frenzy later on.  We nutritionists are not against dessert. We just want you to understand a couple of things:

• A dessert is a "special pleasure," which means you need to position it in your diet - not have it daily.
• A dessert has to be savored and really enjoyed - not inhaled, so that you almost don't even experience the experience.
• On the day you have dessert, we feel you should "make a deal" with yourself to exercise and burn off some of those extra calories
• Unless you are part of the sub-set of people, struggling with your weight who simply cannot handle desserts because they "set you off," - you should find ways to factor desserts into even a serious diet.
• You need to look into why you feel depressed when you can't have a dessert - because people who truly don't have food issues - don't really care - they can have a meal with or without a dessert.  Why do you need it so much??
• Do you crave desserts - alot - all the time -  or simply enjoy them when they present themselves?

Desserts are not the enemy - size, frequency, quality of desserts just might be.  I've personally made one weekend night - dessert night - and depending on my level of activity that day, I either have it all or share it.  Then I look forward to the next weekend and begin planning where my next dessert will be enjoyed.  I associate desserts with pleasure not with desperation. 

EXAMINE YOUR RELATIONSHIPS WITH TREATS AND DESSERTS AND SHARE WITH THE COMMUNITY....