Will I be able to have dessert if I start eating healthy?

A statement that can stress out a lot of those who would like to start eating healthy and cut out foods that have no place in their diet. Honestly, I'm not surprised that many people don't commit to healthy eating and prefer to stick to their "normal" diet, where dessert or chips always have their place. However, the opposite is true and healthy eating does not necessarily mean a hard, strict regime without a sweet spot at the end of lunch. Of course, it all depends on your goals and priorities (a bodybuilder will have a different diet than a person from the general population who just wants to start eating better) and the most important thing is that the diet is sustainable for you so that you can find a balance in your eating.

The fact that a healthy diet must contain only a few basic, repetitive foods is of course one way to achieve maximum results, and if you choose to eat strictly, sooner or later it will bear its fruit in the form of the reward of a dream body (whether in terms of fat reduction or muscle building). However, it is more than clear to me that for a person who is not exactly a fitness enthusiast and goes to the gym to stretch, such a strict diet will not be the best choice. If you choose this strict way, you will either fail after a few weeks in the form of a selected fridge and then return to your "normal" diet where you can indulge in any amount of junk food, or you will fall in love with the strict way thanks to your results. However, if you end up back on your original diet, you will most likely become disillusioned with healthy food and will no longer feel like leaving your comfort zone.

If you don't feel like switching to a strict diet and a hard regime, there are several possible solutions for you too. One of them is a varied, healthy diet, rich in a variety of foods that will still meet the requirements of healthy eating. It's just that eating them probably won't cause you as much stress due to the not-so-limited food choices. This is a healthy diet, where your diet will include a variety of meats (chicken, turkey, beef, pork, several types of fish - salmon, tilapia, stress), a variety of side dishes (rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes, pasta, buckwheat, couscous, lentils, etc.), eggs, fruit, vegetables, avocados, oatmeal for making porridge (or other types of porridge such as buckwheat, barley, rice, etc.) and an endless variety of dairy products (yoghurt, cottage cheese, cheese, milk, etc.). I think that's already a pretty decent selection of healthy foods that will make your diet varied, playful and above all sustainable. Moreover, today there are already a great deal of foods (products) that can be bought in a lighter version so you don't have to deny yourself your favourite foods.

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This also brings me to the idea of healthy recipes, which can often fully replace your favorite dessert or an entire main meal. Thanks to the internet and social media, where we can find a plethora of healthy recipes, we can prepare a healthy, tasty meal (or dessert) without necessarily staying true to white flour and full-fat cream. Create a diet that is not only healthy but also tasty. If you look forward to your meals and enjoy not only eating them, but also preparing them in the kitchen, you are well on your way to adopting a healthy diet that will not cause you stress, but joy and good mood. Feeling good in your body, both physically and mentally, is an important factor in making the transition to sustainable, healthy eating.

If even this dietary option doesn't convince you to start eating better and healthier, then there's the 80:20 option. That is, you eat roughly 80% healthy and balanced and the remaining few % of your diet is devoted to the aforementioned dessert after lunch or dinner at a restaurant with friends. For many of us, this is a way to eat healthily, but also an opportunity to not limit our cravings so much, for example for sweets. In case you find a liking for this or any other option, it is always true that healthy eating does not necessarily guarantee weight loss. Both reducing and gaining is driven by caloric intake. So it depends on how the calorie intake is set and we can expect results accordingly. Either way, a caloric deficit is required for weight loss, a caloric surplus is required for weight gain. This is a simple equation that applies to both healthy eating and where we find unhealthy, processed foods.

Of course, there are several ways to eat better and healthier, and the above are just some of them. The most important thing is that you enjoy eating, that it serves a purpose, that it helps you reach your goals, but it also needs to be sustainable. It's a lifestyle that initially involves, for some, small but also big concessions, and it takes time to get comfortable with your new eating and make it part of your daily routine.

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