Can You Resist a Complimentary Decadent Dessert?

You made a healthy dinner choice in one of your favorite restaurants and are feeling rather proud that you bypassed the bread, got  salad dressing on the side and ordered grilled fish and veggies (instead of that steak you really wanted).  Suddenly the waiter appears with the most decadent dessert you have ever seen saying  “compliments of the chef”. What should you do?

Possible thoughts going through your head…
Give me that fork – asap!
Maybe just one bite
I was really “good” at dinner so I deserve to have a few bites
I will just take a few bites – no sense being rude to the chef / waiter
It is free, why not!
I’m not going to have even one bite as that will set me off as sweets are a trigger food and I won’t be able to stop
I’ll do 30 minutes extra on the treadmill tomorrow to burn it off

My personal dessert story
This scenerio actually happened to me last weekend at The Orchard in NYC – except that my meal wasn’t quite as virtuous as the one I described above. While I am generally on the careful side when I order in a restaurant, that night  I decided to let loose (somewhat!). Three of us shared a  mushroom flatbread (See pic– sauteed seasonal mushrooms, polenta, mushrooon puree and fresh herbs) and pasta (fresh cavatelli, crispy pancetta, parmigiano-reggiano and a tomato cream sauce).  Both dishes were excellent … not too dietetic though. We  also ordered the tuna tartare. However the taste was  “off”, so we sent it back. No big deal. As we were getting ready to ask for the check, the waiter came over with some spoons and said “more things would be coming”.  Yikes! Two jumbo desserts were soon placed on the table in front of us.Warm flourless chocolate cake with vanilla gelato and an Apple Crumble made with baked apple-pecan crumble, carmelized apples, brown sugar crumbs and vanilla gelato.

So what did I do? I took bites of each … many many bites.  For those of you who have been following CGB, you know I have a problem with control when it comes to chocolate. And after a few glasses of wine, my willpower gets even worse!

How to recover from a dessert episode:
1. Don’t beat yourself up. One episode of overindulging won’t affect your weight. Remember it takes an extra 3500 calories to promote a one pound weight gain. Unless you ate 2 pints of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, you didn’t consume 3500 calories!

2. If this is happening to you fairly frequently, you will need to evaluate the situation. I have some clients who frequent the same restaurant (s) and are friendly with the staff. They almost always get complimentary desserts sent over to the table. This can definitely be a problem. If that is the case,  you may want to tell them you appreciate the gesture, but that you are really trying to watch your weight (or that you have high blood sugar or cholesterol).

3. Engage in some extra exercise the next day. However keep in mind that you have to run at least 6 miles (or the equivalent) to burn off what you just ate. Unless you are a major athlete, don’t start rationalizing that you can burn off the calories from frequent splurges with exercise. You would have to spend hours a day in the gym. In addition, the calories that the machines in the gym say that you burn can be overestimated by at least 30%.

4. Cut back a bit on what you eat the next day. However don’t go too low as this can create a starve/binge mentality. Eat healthy but carefully.