Less-guilty pleasures: Put your desserts on a diet this holiday season

If you're trying to cut your sugar intake, this is a challenging time of year. First come Halloween treats, then Thanksgiving pies, followed by a month of holiday cookies, candies and pastries.

It's enough to make a even a healthful eater like Margot Duncan "fall off the food wagon a little," as she puts it. Having been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes 14 years ago, Duncan sticks mainly to vegetables, fish and meats.

"Basically I'm not a big sweet eater," said the Salt Lake resident. "I'm from Europe, and Christmas was really a time for sweets there. My mother made 35 different kinds of cookies. But, we didn't eat cookies all the time during the year like people do here, only at Christmas."

Her strategy at a holiday gathering is to first survey the table before picking and choosing. "I tell myself I can either have the potatoes or the piece of pie," she says. "People offer me sugar-free candy, but it still has carbohydrates. So most of the time, I just stay away from sweets."

But, not everyone has that kind of self-control.

About 17 million people in the United States, or 6.2 percent of the population, have diabetes, according to the American Diabetes Association. And with low-carb and "sugar-buster" diets in vogue, more people are concerned about their intake of sweets. There are more sugar-free products, artificial sweeteners and low-carb recipes than ever before.

It's not a bad idea to watch your sugar intake, even if you don't have a medical condition.

"Americans eat too much sugar in the first place — about 34 teaspoons a day," said Pauline Williams, a dietitian who teaches a "Dining With Diabetes" class with Utah State University Extension. "When you look at the guidelines of the Food Guide Pyramid, most people eating a 2,000-calorie diet should have only 12 teaspoons of added sugar a day."

Sugar intake is definitely linked to dental cavities, Williams said. The allure of sweet treats can also cause overindulgence, leading to weight gain.

When you try to put your desserts on a diet, it's not just a matter of replacing all the sugar, honey or corn syrup with artificial sweeteners. In baking, sugar does a lot more than sweeten, Williams pointed out. It adds volume, caramelizes and helps food to brown, and it makes the dough more tender and moist. Artificial sweeteners can't do that. You may end up with a dryer, tougher product that doesn't brown very well. That's why some low-sugar recipes still call for a little sugar, honey or molasses to help with browning and flavor.

When you put cookies on a baking sheet, the dough doesn't spread, said Williams. You have to flatten it before baking or it will retain its round shape.