“Anything is good, if it’s made of chocolate”. “Desserts are like the fairy tales of the kitchen – a happily ever after to supper”. You must have heard these quotes often. Sweets and desserts symbolise love and we often express our love with chocolates or our favourite desserts. Indians have a habit of ending a meal with a sweet treat, could be an ice cream, halwa or kheer. But along with happiness and pleasure, desserts bring with them loads of calories. Any dessert be it cakes, puddings, pies, ice creams, pastries or brownies are rich in sugars and fats and hence provide anywhere between 250 – 400 calories per serving. Even the Indian sweets like laddus, burfis, jalebi, jamun, halwas etc are equally calorie dense.
Dr. Meghana Pasi, Nutrition Consultant, MyThali Program, ArogyaWorld says, “We all know that refined white sugar, refined wheat flour (maida) and fats which are the main ingredients of sweets. High consumption of these can lead to weight gain and inturn increase the risk of non-communicable diseases like diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancers. Instead of going on a guilt trip after slurping down a bucket of ice-cream, why not be a little mindful and go slow. This will help you stay healthy and relish them on your 90th birthday as well!”
Here are a few ways in which you can balance your calories for the day when you have had a dessert or planned to have one:
