Should You Eat Dessert First?

Have you ever been tempted to eat dessert before a meal? If so, you’re not alone. I’ve certainly thought about that (and occasionally done it), and I’m sure plenty of others have as well.

In fact, I started thinking about this after reading this passage in the book A Walk in the Park by Kevin Fedarko – this is about the author’s great-uncle, who worked in mines:

“Mac… always made sure to take his cake out of his lunch bucket and gobble it down first, so that if the tunnel collapsed before they finished eating, at least he wouldn't have died without his dessert.”

Then I remembered that there had been some studies about eating something sweet before a meal, so I looked into it more.

Pros of sweets before a meal

A small study of 134 people published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied found a difference between those who ate a more indulgent sweet before a meal – in their study, lemon cheesecake vs. fruit – or no sweet before a meal. Most of those who had an indulgent sweet actually ended up choosing more nutritious foods for their main meal, and those who chose cheesecake over fruit ate 250 fewer calories overall.

It’s rather fascinating. Some people seemed to feel that eating something healthy first gave them permission to eat more sweets for dessert. Other people might feel like they had “earned” dessert and would have it even if they weren’t hungry, whereas having the sweet first addressed any sweet cravings they had early on.

For people who struggle with eating disorders, it can be very helpful not to save dessert for last because then it plays into feelings of restriction and rules, which can contribute to the eating disorder. I found one article that lists 11 Reasons to Eat Dessert First, and while I’m not going to list them all, here are a few that struck me.

• Dessert is the easiest food available: If you can eat a brownie now or wait 30-60 minutes to cook a meal, and you’re quite hungry, the brownie seems like a good choice. This is one reason why I like to keep cookies on hand – a cookie might be enough to tide me over until the actual meal, and it’s very quick and easy.

• Nothing else sounds good: After a long day, or something emotionally intense, you just might not be interested in a more traditional meal. In this case, not only is a dessert potentially easier, but it might be the only thing that you actually feel like eating.

• Higher energy needs: Those who struggle with eating disorders (or those who are very active) may need to get in more calories in general, and one of the easiest ways to do that is to eat more energy-dense foods. As nutritious as a salad is, or steamed broccoli, it only has so many calories, and dessert can help you get the necessary calories and energy.

Cons of eating dessert first

This doesn’t necessarily mean that you should always eat dessert first, though. In fact, some people need to be very careful about doing that, especially those with diabetes or other health issues that make sugar complicated.

Social factors also come into play. If someone else is making you a meal, or if you’re going out to dinner at a fancy restaurant, eating a big dessert beforehand is probably not the best idea since then you won’t eat much actual dinner. That could end up offending the person who cooked for you or the person who went out to dinner with you. A small snack, though, sweet or otherwise, might be fine, but you’d have to judge that based on the circumstances.

Also, part of the reason many of us eat dessert after a meal is to have a final sense of satiety and give enjoyment to the meal, in a way to put some closure on it. If you have the dessert first, you may feel like something is missing at the end of the meal.

You get to decide when to have dessert

Ultimately, the choice of when to have dessert – or whether to have dessert, not to mention what to have and how much of it – is entirely up to you. You could even experiment a bit and see what works best in different circumstances.

The main thing to remember is that even if it’s more common to have sweets after a meal, it’s just custom, not a real rule, and you may find that sometimes, dessert first is the best choice.