Want to Live a Long Healthy Life? Don’t Skip Dessert

I’ve never learned to like the bitter taste of coffee. I love the smell, but the taste? Not so much. I mean, every once in a while I’ll have a little coffee with my cream and sugar.

Until.

Until our latest adventure in Puerto Rico, when my son and daughter-in-law took us to breakfast one morning. My daughter-in-law ordered a mocha, which turned out to be a cup dipped in Nutella, plunged into Oreo cookie crumbs, and filled with the chocolatey-coffee beverage with a creamy heart painted on top.

And so, when my husband and I returned home from Puerto Rico, we added Nutella and Oreos to our grocery list.

My husband was gracious enough to take care of the frosting in between the Oreo sandwiches (thank you, Dan).

I crumbled the cookies, dipped and plunged mugs, and concocted the coffee/chocolate component. (I failed at crafting the creamy heart on top, but I think it’s because we don’t have one of those foamer thingies.)

Mocha. Rimmed in Nutella and Oreo cookie crumbs. My fav new, (overly-sweet), pure, unadulterated coffee beverage.

Want to Live a Long, Healthy Life? Take All Things in Moderation

Glancing back several years, my first husband’s cancer had already metastasized outside the prostate by the time it was diagnosed. At that point, there was no proven cure, but we asked a lot of questions and did a good amount of reading on the importance of diet and physical activity for quality of life. 

Our cancer center registered dietician had a general guideline about eating not-so-healthy foods. “All things in moderation,” she said. Which means, go ahead and have a cupcake at your kid’s birthday party or enjoy that slice of pizza after the basketball game. But eat mostly healthful foods.

“Instead of discarding all your favorite foods,” she said, “simply add more fruits, veggies, legumes, whole grains, and healthy fats and sugars to your diet, which hopefully will crowd out the not-so-healthy items.”

Consequently, for quite a few years, this is how we ate. We also included outdoor movement—hiking and snowshoeing in the Cascade Mountains near our home—with the goal of better quality of life and hopefully a longer life. Turns out, my husband lived 10 good years with late-stage disease, well beyond the expected length of time.

After he passed, I continued these healthful eating habits through my widowed years.

And then, in the year leading up to COVID, I met Dan. He and I became our own little bubble—mostly hiking and snowshoeing and cooking together. Since there was someone to bake for who loves sweet things, I didn’t waste any time pulling out the baking pans and cookie sheets.

And of course, while Dan was sampling cookies and pumpkin/banana/zucchini breads and berry crisps, I may have indulged alongside him. And now I like sweets too much. (Did you see how I did that? How I blamed it on Dan?)

5 Risky Food Groups and Easy Ways to Safely Enjoy Them

So back to the Puerto Rican mocha—it basically comes down to indulgence vs. moderation. Do we want to eat way too much of the unhealthful foods? Or do we want to keep them in our diet but consumed in smaller portions and not so frequently?

In an MD Anderson Cancer Center article titled “5 foods and drinks linked to cancer,” the writer lists the five food groups and how clinical dietician Alyssa Tatum approaches each:

Red meats. “When opting to eat red meat, suggests choosing an option with less marbling, trimming the fat or marinating meat before cooking.” 

Processed meats. “When shopping for deli meats, might look like choosing nitrite and nitrate-free options, or those with lower sodium and fat contents.” 

Alcohol. “For those who wish to drink alcohol, do so in moderation with a maximum of one drink a day for women or two drinks a day for men.”

Ultra-processed food and drinks. “ recommends reducing the amount of ultra-processed food in your diet by focusing on moderation and opting for smaller portion sizes.”

Food and drinks with added sugar. “ recommends approaching artificial sweeteners the same way she recommends using sugar: in moderation.

Dan and I are currently revamping our eating habits and adopting the all-things-in-moderation philosophy. As for the Nutella-and-cookie-crumb-dipped mugs of mocha, moderation for us means maybe once a month. Or twice a year, say, on Valentine’s Day and Christmas.

We’re choosing smaller portions and eating sweets less frequently. Because we want to feel healthy, we want the best possible quality of life. But we also want to enjoy a long healthy life—because everyone knows it’s more enjoyable drinking a Puerto-Rican-style mocha than, say, a kale/celery smoothie, right?!

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Now that you’ve got the scoop on diet recommendations, why not check in on all areas of your physical health? Get answers on all the questions you’ve been wanting to ask your OB-GYN: Answers to the OB-GYN Questions You’re Scared to Ask with Dr. Holly Miller – 245