Start meal with high- calorie disserts
■ Health- conscious diners consume 30% fewer calories
Washington, Feb. 9: It turns out consuming a high- calorie dessert at the beginning of your meal can actually make you opt for a healthier course.
According to a recent study, if you are going to choose dessert first, then the high- calorie option might lead to a healthier meal.
As part of the study, researchers placed either a healthy or less healthy dessert ( fresh fruit vs. lemon cheesecake) at the beginning or end of a university cafeteria line. When diners picked the cheesecake first, they then chose lower- calorie main or side dishes and ultimately
consumed fewer calories than diners who chose the fresh fruit first.
“We believe diners who chose the indulgent dessert first then picked healthier main and side dishes to make up for their high- calorie dessert. Diners who picked the healthier dessert may have thought they already had done a good deed for their bodies so they deserved higher- calorie food further down the cafeteria line,” said Martin Reimann, lead researcher of the study.
Findings of the study were published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied
In the experiment, diners who chose the indulgent dessert first consumed an average of 30 per cent fewer calories ( including the dessert) than diners who picked the healthier dessert first. Diners who chose the cheesecake first also were twice as likely to order the lighter main dish, than diners who picked the cheesecake at the end of the line. — ANI