This Functional Medicine Expert's Dessert Meditation Will Transform How You Savor Sweets

Here at mbg, we believe in honoring your cravings. So if you're itching for something sweet? By all means! Functional medicine expert and mbg Collective member Will Cole, D.C., IFMCP, agrees: "Dessert, or any food, shouldn't be this punitive thing," he says on the mindbodygreen podcast. Rather, if you enjoy eating sweets, really enjoy them. It's a recommendation you might have heard once or twice before: Eat mindfully so you can truly savor the flavor and nutrients of your food. 

Comfort foods, like dessert, tend to have emotions attached to them: Say, for example, you baked cookies with your mother most weekends when you were little—your brain typically programs those patterns and associates the fond memories with the treat itself.

That being said, Cole recommends taking the time to reflect on those emotions: "Use it as a meditation of saying, 'How did this make me feel?'" he explains. Rather than berating yourself for indulging, think How do I feel after eating this cookie? Do I feel satisfied and fulfilled? Or sluggish and groggy? 

By ruminating on your emotional and physical response to the treat, Cole says you can tap into that feeling the next time you're weighing your dessert options. If you feel great after taking the last bite, you'll know that this dessert truly serves you and your sweet tooth. "But maybe you'll eat it and you'll say, 'No, this wasn't worth it,'" Cole says. "You'll remember that for the next time, and then it won't be this punitive thing."