Nourish Magazine - October 2017

In this issue

Being a lover of dessert – or having a sweet tooth – is often perceived as a barrier to eating healthily, or as a weakness that ought to be overcome for healthier body or a slimmer waistline. While it’s true that sweets (especially lollies and mass-produced choccie bars) can be calorific and nutritionally void, it is entirely unreasonably to assume that sweets have no place in our diet at all.

Just as nourish columnist and dietitian Pip Taylor says, “For many of us, abstinence seems like a sure-fire way to avoid temptation. However, this kind of blanket ban rarely works. In fact, it often backfires most spectacularly, with a short stint of virtuous eating before giving in to cravings and feeling a sense of failure or resentment.”

Dopamine-inducing deliciousness means we’re biologically driven towards high-calorie foods. Resistance is futile, but adding extra goodness into our sweet things might just be the trick we’re looking for. This month’s cover star, Louise Keats – nutritionist and granddaughter of national treasure Margaret Fulton and daughter of food writer Susanne Gibbs – is a firm believer in ‘a spoon full of sugar makes the medicine go down’, especially when it comes to kids. “I’m happy for kids to have a sprinkle of brown sugar on their porridge if it means they’re getting the goodness of those grains. Or to eat my caramel slice, which has the sweetness of dates in it, but
also banana and quality dark chocolate and nuts and seeds,” she says.

So, this month, for our sweets and nourishing treats special, we’re finding new excuses to each dark chocolate, putting cauliflower in our smoothie bowls and even making our own cheese in an effort to ensure that, when someone asks ‘Who wants dessert?’ We can all, enthusiastically, say ‘yes’.