Everyone decides that when it’s time to get serious about losing weight and becoming fit, it’s time to cut out the sugar. But don’t look past dessert shops so quickly. Just like everything else in the world, nothing is either black or white. Dessert is not a sweet yet wicked evil that entices you only to ruin you. It can have many health benefits too! Intrigued? Read on.
Sugar and Mental Health
Sugar is great for mental health. Studies have found that sugar immediately boosts effect and motivation. These underlying factors influence your productivity and success in social interactions, which almost always indirectly affect your mental health and how you feel about yourself.
It’s also important to consider that each food group serves a purpose. Carbohydrates are thus as essential for the daily survival of human life as any other food group, and starving yourself of it does not help anyone. While toxic body shaming has resulted in many people steering away from sugars, it can be a nice treat for yourself to indulge in once in a while. And using dessert as an act of appreciation for yourself is a great way to reward yourself for something people might not explicitly praise.
More Than Just Sugar
Dessert is not synonymous with sugar. Everyone knows that even the most basic dessert, cake, has dairy and eggs, which people consume as healthy foods. But in puddings and tarts, desserts can also be very rich in fruits. And if you start buying fruit-rich desserts, your body will thank you. Not only will you increase your intake of vitamins and minerals, but the sugar in fruits is also organic and non-processed, unlike the other processed sugar people usually try to avoid.
Dark Chocolate and Its Many Benefits
You might already know this, but for those who don’t, dark chocolate has many benefits once you look past its slightly bitter taste. The idea that dark chocolate is bitter is a myth! Dark chocolate gets more bitter the stronger it gets. But in most chocolate desserts, it instead appears as a rich chocolate flavour that envelops your mouth and causes your taste buds to flow rivers.
Dark chocolate is rich in antioxidants. It improves blood flow and controls blood pressure. In this way, it reduces the possibility of cardiac arrest and stroke. It is also anti-inflammatory and improves cognitive function.
Better Weight Control
Human bodies are used to consuming a required amount of sugar daily. The digestive system is designed in a way that begins digesting sugars right from the mouth itself! That surely indicates that consuming sugar is a necessity for the human body. And if you’re on a diet, consider squeezing in a trip to some dessert shops once or twice a week. By taking control of your cravings, you prevent binge eating on cheat days. Regulating on a daily basis can turn out better than swinging back and forth between extremes.
Diabetes and its Myths
The people who are known to avoid dessert the most are those with diabetes. But diabetes doesn’t always mean high blood sugar; it can also mean that the body is not able to convert enough glycogen into sugar when the body needs it. So, it’s always best to keep a sweet handy if you have diabetes in case your blood sugar drops. The signs of this are weakness, sudden fatigue, dizziness, possible nausea, and body pain. And better than eating mass-produced chocolate, relish in organic, hand-made, fresh-fruit desserts.
