Today we know that it is very important to keep blood sugar and therefore insulin under control during the day , avoiding glycemic and insulin peaks to avoid the danger of pre-diabetes, metabolic syndrome and the risk of some diseases. However, that’s not the only thing to stare at.
Many products with natural sugars or many packaged products are rich in fructose or sweeteners (for example sugar alcohols ) which in industry are widely used in light products, but which in many people cause intestinal fermentation.If we overdo it with fructose, we worsen our metabolism and above all we “load” our liver with excess sugar, which converts it into fat. If we overdo some categories of sweeteners, we can have fermentation problems that in the long run inflame the intestine.
So how do we behave with the desire for dessert at the end of the meal?

This is how I usually do with this desire for dessert at the end of a meal.
– If my meal is mainly protein, and the carbohydrates present are only those derived from vegetables, or for breakfast, I indulge in a small sweet treat that is harmless for the quantity of sugar: a slice of homemade cake without sugar, perhaps prepared with stevia; half a portion of fruit sautéed in the oven or in a pan with spices (if normal fruit does not excite me, for example in winter); a sugar-free biscuit always homemade, a date or other dried fruit that does not contain sugar in the preservatives, or at least a scoop of ice cream when I’m out. The important thing is that the portion is small and that the protein meal is moderate in protein, so that the insulin load is still moderate. – If I have already eaten carbohydrates during the meal (bread, pasta, rice, cereals, fruit)

, then my dessert at the end of the meal is not purely a dessert: for example a small piece (I just need a square) of extra-dark chocolate, a Brazilian nut, some pistachios, a chia seed pudding sweetened with a little stevia.
– If I have to make a sugar-free recipe , I usually use sucralose, and only rarely erythritol. It does not ferment in the intestine, and it takes very little to sweeten. Otherwise stevia is well tolerated. I therefore recommend sucralose or stevia if you suffer from a swollen stomach and fermentation problems.
– If I really want to give myself an extra whim, I do it before a workout or after a couple of hours in which I have already introduced a protein meal. This is a real trick!
– A sugary sweet, always in moderate quantities, it can also go well for breakfast, instead of fruit or associated with fruit (for example an apple pie, a pie with apple puree or a banana pancake), as long as it is combined with a protein food, for example a Greek yogurt. This thing happens to me when a packaged dessert comes into the house or during the holidays. I don’t eat it first but I eat it (less) or at breakfast, or just before training. Same thing for fruit, especially in summer or if it is particularly sugary . A protein pancake with banana slices or juice, or a bowl of strawberries or cherries with a cream of quark, skyr or Greek yogurt. Other more digestive fruits such as pineapple do not cause problems after a protein meal.