Experts confirm: your body automatically makes room for dessert

Of those people who say they don't need to see the dessert menu in a restaurant: I'd rather not go out to eat with them.

So terribly dull I think. Do you know that moment when you crave something sweet and all the people you're eating with at the table say: ‘No thank you, I don't want dessert anymore. A cup of tea, please!’ And then you don't dare to start on that panna cotta by yourself.

I love desserts. I'm fully team dessert. Love sweet, chocolate, and ice cream. Sorry, but I'd rather have an appetizer and still have room for a warm, dripping chocolate cake than eat a steak. But research shows that I could just as well eat that steak, because your body would still have room for a dessert anyway. This is primarily due to your stomach. It just stretches with how much food you throw in it. And sugar stimulates the reflex that relaxes your stomach wall, so there's even more room left.

Your brain also plays a role. Because: the same food gets boring at some point. You know that taste and it doesn't trigger you to keep eating anymore. But if you then get something sweet, that's a new taste sensation again. Especially if you can see or smell your other food, then you have room in your belly. Even if you just stuffed yourself with that steak. And fries. And bread with aioli with the first drink.

Do you want to snack a little less this year? Then the tip is to eat something sweet after the meal, but to take a small amount. That way your stomach and brain also have a feeling of fullness. So those are the people who say: can we share that chocolate cake surely?Share? Half a cake? Well. It's better than A CUP OF GINGER TEA AFTERWARDS. Or can I have two desserts if I also trade in my appetizer?