Sweet endings

If I had to identify my single biggest weakness, diet-wise, I'd have to confess it is my sweet tooth. I love, love, looooove sweet treats. My favorites are ice cream, chocolate, and pastries like the patisserie that the French are known for the world over. In fact, my favorite shop in all of Paris is probably
Ladurée.  
Last time I was in Paris, I even snuck a few photos at the store in St. Germain:

So, I have to confess that when I embarked on this French experiment of mine, I wondered about the French attitude towards all these delicious confections. I mean, what is the point of being able to make all these wonderful treats if you are never going to enjoy them?

Then, as I did my research, I started to understand how they French did it. Again, the key lies in balance and moderation.  Sure, the French eat dessert and they have access to delicious croissants and macarons and other baked works of art, but they view them as treats, not everyday staples. Their typical weeknight desserts come in the form of fruit, not frangipane! And breakfast bread is baguette, not croissants or pain au chocolat. Those treats are reserved for the weekend or some other special occasion.

Luckily, I am not a big fan of dessert. (Hmm...maybe because I always tended to overeat and was too stuffed for dessert??) But, in my former eating life, I would eat something sweet every single day (!!), usually with an afternoon coffee. 

So, it was a wonderful surprise to read in The French Don't Diet Plan: 10 Simple Steps To Stay Thin For Life that the author, Dr. William Clower, recommends incorporating an "ender" into your daily diet. That is, as he describes it, some small sweet treat that you enjoy some 10 minutes after you finish a meal (a meal that didn't already include what we would normally think of as dessert, like cake, ice cream, or pie!) and that serves as a sort of epicurean punctuation mark and tells your brain, "Okay, I'm done eating now until my next regularly scheduled meal." 

With this in mind, I looked for that special item that I would use as my "ender" and I found it in the form of extra-dark chocolate from Lindt:

As Dr. Clower recommends, I take a small amount of this super rich chocolate and I let it melt in my mouth, savoring the flavor and letting it cover every taste bud. With chocolate that's this high in cocoa a little goes a long way, so you don't need much to feel satisfied. I'd almost go so far as to say I think it would be nearly impossible to overdose on such dark chocolate!

In any case, I've found that having just a bit of chocolate after lunch or dinner really makes me feel like I got a "treat" in, but it doesn't derail me like a daily raspberry-chocolate-mousse-tart or eclair might. 

C'est magnifique!