Nothing can derail your good health intentions faster than having the dessert tray wheeled past you in a restaurant. You want to be healthy, but you love the taste of sweets. Is it possible to "have your cake and eat it too?" Rejoice, sweet lovers! The answer is yes.

You should be safe in having your favorites every once in a while. But you want to be sure that your portion sizes are reasonable. A reasonable portion size may surprise you. For example, did you know that a pint of ice cream is designed to serve four people?

I discovered that recently when I decided to treat myself to a serving of my favorite flavor of Haagen-Daas ice cream. I read the label on the carton and discovered that a serving of 1/2 cup was 270 calories. Not bad, I thought. Then I read further and discovered the shocking truth.

If I ate the entire pint (I used to do this regularly when I was overweight), then I would be consuming 1,080 calories! That is over half of the number of calories that I should be eating in a day.

And that, sweet lovers, is the major problem with sweets. They taste good, but they pack an amazing number of calories even in small portions. The best advice is read labels to educate yourself on the appropriate portion size and limit yourself to only that amount.

One of the dangers in eating a lot of sweets is that they tend to cause extreme fluctuations in your blood sugar level. This condition tends to lend to intense hunger and cravings. Limiting your sugar intake by only indulging in reasonable amounts of sweets will keep this sleeping giant at bay.

You could also sidestep this issue by opting for healthier alternatives. Fruit is an excellent choice for dessert, bursting with flavor, vitamins, and fiber. You could also use hard candy or even some of the low carb chocolates on the market, which give you the taste of chocolate but tend to have lower sugar content than regular candy bars.

In addition, you can choose frozen yogurt or sorbets for dessert. If you eat a slice of pie or cake, try making your slice 1/3 size less than you would normally eat. You'd still get the taste of the dessert but lessen the possibility of overindulging. And remember, limit yourself to only one serving!

With the holidays just around the corner, please keep these tips in mind when faced when your favorite temptations. That way, you can enjoy some super sweets without super sizing yourself.

A Registered Nurse for many years, Kimberly Floyd battled obesity for much of her adult life. She was finally able to achieve her ideal weight and is currently writing a book that is designed to help others achieve their weight loss goals entitled