desserts Archives - Eat Out Eat Well

. . . And Enjoy Every Bit Of It

We celebrated my Mom’s 90^th birthday this past weekend. Actually, she has three birthdays – the one on her birth certificate and driver’s license (yes, she still drives), one on her baptismal certificate, and a third that doesn’t appear on anything other than innumerable birthday cards. No explanation for this.

As you can see above, my Mom’s name is Virginia. This is notable because she is one of thirteen children – and the other 12 all have names like Mary, Helen, and John. Why Virginia? “I’m named after the undertaker’s wife,” she said. Thanks, Mom. Any other strange bits of trivia hanging around the family tree?

Mom wanted to celebrate her birthday at her family’s annual reunion – with her six living siblings and lots of other family. Okay, doesn’t everyone drive 3 and ½ hours for lunch? Off we went with a couple of surprise “picture” cakes hidden in the trunk of the car.

And a surprise it was. She was delighted – and it showed. And it was so worth the searching through boxes of pictures, picking up the cakes, and the drive.

Sometimes Celebrations Outweigh The Calories

We eat cake for lots of reasons. It just may taste delicious. Maybe it’s your favorite food. Or, maybe you avoid it like the plague because of calories, fat, sugar, and white flour. All legitimate reasons if they’re your reasons.

But, there are times when celebrations are important, really important – weddings, baptisms, engagements, holidays, and birthdays, to name a few. Even funerals and memorial services are often followed by food — and cake — because food is a way of bringing together friends and family.

What’s So Important About The Cake?

Special celebration cakes are designed, made, ordered, and eaten with love. Sometimes they taste good, sometimes they don’t. Sometimes “diets” get in the way of the meaning of the cake. Sometimes the regimentation of an eating plan gets in the way of the reason for a celebration.

Sometimes cakes are just cakes – like the ones that sit in the multi-shelved dessert display at the diner. Those are not celebration cakes. But the lopsided one that your child makes for you on Mother’s Day, or the multi-tiered one at your or your child’s wedding, or the one for your Mom’s 90^th birthday are very special.

So have a small piece (or a big one if you want) – or eat only a couple of forkfuls. Or, if you’re like my cousin, gleefully eat the corner piece (of a rectangular cake) because it has the most icing.

How would you feel if it’s your birthday or wedding and you hand some of your special cake to a friend who says, “No thanks, I’m on a diet”?

Sometimes it’s important to eat cake.

Do you have a clue about how much added sugar you eat each day?

Added sugar is the kind that doesn”t occur naturally, like in fruit, but is added during food processing, preparation, or at the table.

Because food labels show only grams or percentages of sugar in a product rather than the number of calories or teaspoons it contains, it’s hard to tell the number of teaspoons of sugar you’re eating. Food labels also don’t list which sugars are natural and which are added. Sugar does masquerade under many different names and in many forms. You usually are aware that candy, cookies, and soda have sugar in them – although probably not how much. You know when you are dousing your pancakes with syrup (how many teaspoons?) or dumping packages of sugar into your coffee for a “pick me up.” But, who thinks of hamburger buns and crackers – or even ice cream or canned fruit — in terms of teaspoons of sugar?

Recommended Amounts of Added Sugar

The American Heart Association recommends that most women limit their sugar intake to 100 calories (25 grams), or around six teaspoons a day — men should limit their intake to 150 calories (37.5 grams), or nine teaspoons. (Although there were no sugar recommendations for children, a national health survey found that 14 to 18 year olds consume 34 teaspoons of added sugar a day!)

Restricting yourself to the recommended limit might be difficult, since one 12-ounce can of soda has about 130 calories, or eight teaspoons of sugar. Data collected by a national nutrition survey between 2001 and 2004 suggested that, on average, Americans consume 355 calories, or more than 22 teaspoons, of sugar a day, the equivalent of two cans of soda and a chocolate bar.

What’s the big concern about eating too much sugar?

Eating a lot of added sugar is linked to the rise in obesity and is associated with increased risk for high blood pressure, high triglyceride levels, and other markers for heart disease, stroke, and inflammation.   Because sugar just provides calories with no other nutritional value, for many people eating sugary foods and beverages can displace the more nutritious ones that are part of a healthy diet.

The Biggest Sugar Culprits

According to an article in Circulation, the biggest culprits for added dietary sugar are:

Regular soft drinks: 33%

Sugars and Candy: 16.1%

Cakes, cookies, pies: 12.9%

Fruit drinks (fruit punch and fruitades): 9.7%

Dairy desserts and milk products (ice cream, sweetened yogurt, sweetened milk: 8.6%

Other Grains: (cinnamon toast and honey-nut waffles): 5.8%

SocialDieter Tip:

Added sugars have no nutritional value other than calories. Many of us can reduce our risk of heart disease by achieving a healthy weight. There’s pretty strong evidence that decreasing the amount of sugar in your diets can help you achieve that. You don’t have to eliminate sugar from your diet, just use your allotment wisely. Make trade-offs. Use more fruit to add sweet flavor to cereals, yogurt, as dessert, and for snacks. Cut back on candy and way back on sweetened sodas, teas, and flavored waters. Help your kids learn that so much sugar is not necessary, train their palates when they’re young to enjoy less sweet food. And, read labels, know where hidden sugar hangs out. Be aware and smart about what you buy and eat – both in and out of your home.

desserts

Sometimes It’s Important To Eat Cake