When you were young, you couldn’t have your dessert until you finished everything on your plate. This was enough incentive for you to finish your meal. Dessert indeed is the most important part of any meal. I will go as far and say that you should never leave the table without having a sweet taste to finish your meal. All in all, the last taste you consume should be sweet. Why do I give it so much importance? Because without ending your meal with a sweet taste, you just won’t feel satisfied with what you eat.

You can have the most delicious main course meal, but if you don’t have dessert, more than often, soon enough after the meal, you will feel like you want some munchies or you’ll start opening the kitchen cabinets in hope of finding a snack. Whether you are already on a great diet and routine, or you trying to lose weight, always end your meal with a sweet taste.

According to Ayurveda, there are six tastes, sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter, and astringent. In a nutshell, the sweet taste generally gives a feeling of satisfaction and pleasantness to the sense organs and tends to be heavy for the physiology. The sour taste makes the mouth water and its properties are light, oily, and hot. The salty taste increases salivation and has the qualities of heaviness and warmth. The pungent taste is really felt on the tongue and is most often associated with the spicy taste. The bitter taste cleanses the mouth and is light, dry, and cold. The astringent taste affects the taste buds of the tongue and it is primarily heavy, dry, and cold.

Sour, salty, and pungent tastes increase the Pitta dosha, which means that digestion will increase. Therefore, if the last piece of food you ate was spicy, then when you are digesting that last piece of food, the spices will kindle your digestive power, giving rise to false hunger. False hunger means that you think you are hungry, but you are still digesting your previous meal. Remember, you should never eat until your previous meal has digested.

The sweet taste is the only taste that provides satisfaction to the taste buds and to your digestion. No other taste will do such a thing. Some examples of sweet tastes are grains, such as wheat, rice and barley, pulses, lentils, milk, cream, butter, sweet fruits such as dates, figs, coconut, and mango, cooked vegetables such as potato, carrot, cauliflower, and of course, sugar.

At the end of your meal, you could have a fresh baked pie, fruits, strawberries and cream, or even some rice cakes. You can have anything you want for dessert as long as it’s warm, fresh, and sweet. Ending any meal with a sweet taste will provide the ultimate satisfaction with your food. Enjoy!!!