Building a Body That Doesn't Leave Your Heart Behind ③ | Sesame Dressing Isn't Evil. It Was 100kcal That Satisfied My Heart

Last time,
even though I was proud of myself for eating salad chicken,
I wrote about how my heart was actually craving rice with natto.

This time, it's a story that continues from that.

If you make low calories the only correct answer, your heart can sometimes get left behind.

So, what was it that supported my sense of satisfaction with meals?

When I thought about it, what came to mind was,
surprisingly, sesame dressing.

Sesame dressing,
you weren't just any dressing.

☕ The day I looked at the calories in sesame dressing and froze for a moment

When you're on a diet,
there are moments when reality is suddenly thrust upon you.

The other day, I checked the calories of the salad bowl I often eat.

Pumpkin salad.
Boiled egg.
Vegetables like lettuce and tomatoes.
And, sesame dressing.

I thought it was a pretty well-balanced meal.

It has vegetables.
It has eggs.
It has pumpkin.
When I eat it with iced coffee, I feel quite satisfied.

Yeah, it feels good.

That's what I thought, anyway.

When I looked at the restaurant's website, it was about 620kcal in total, including the sesame dressing.

Oh.

It's more substantial than I thought.

And when I looked further,
the sesame dressing alone was 50g, 192kcal.

Sesame dressing, you really are something.

I had no idea it had such a presence.

Smiling there next to my salad, it was actually quite a heavy hitter in the calorie world.

Don't go surprising me like that.

☕ But the sense of satisfaction after eating it is completely different.

But you know.

Even though I was surprised when I saw the calories, I didn't want to make sesame dressing the villain.

Because for me, that salad bowl was a meal that left my heart truly satisfied after I finished it.

There are plenty of other dressings out there.

If you look only at calories, there are lighter options than sesame dressing.

If I switched to another dressing, I might be able to cut about 100kcal.

But.

The reason I felt,

Ah, I really ate something. I'm satisfied. I think I can spend the rest of the time calmly now.

after eating, was because of the sesame dressing.

This was really important to me.

The nuttiness of the sesame, the creaminess, and the way it blends with the sweetness of the pumpkin salad.

Because of those things, I think I was able to feel satisfied with it as a proper meal, rather than just eating vegetables.

When it comes to dieting, don't we tend to just look at the numbers?

This one is lower in calories. This one has less fat. This one is better for dieting.

Of course, that is important.

But, what if you choose the lower-calorie option, and after you finish eating, your heart isn't satisfied?

Something is missing.
My mouth feels lonely.
I want something sweet.
I want to eat bread.
If anything, I want to make up for what I held back earlier.

Feelings like that can sometimes emerge.

People who don't have those feelings are amazing.
I have days when they do come up.

The little me inside my heart,
has days where they sit at the cafe counter with a look that says,
We haven't closed yet, you know?

They just won't go home.

And what's more, they look a bit dissatisfied.

They are a troublesome customer.

But, perhaps I should listen to the voice of this little me,
properly.

I chose the lower-calorie option, yet I'm not satisfied.
It's okay to pay attention to that sense of discomfort, too.

I've started to think that way recently.

☕ ☕ ☕

☕ If an extra 100kcal settles your heart

This is what I thought this time.

If an extra 100kcal satisfies your heart,
then perhaps it isn't just unnecessary calories.

Of course, if you increase your intake every single time for everything
just because satisfaction is important, that's just a calorie festival.

Festivals are fun.

But if you hold one every day, your body will probably be shocked.

So, I make sure to keep an eye on that.

However, if choosing sesame dressing significantly increases the satisfaction of that meal,
and reduces the urge to eat extra afterwards,
then for me,

it might be something I can include in my design for keeping things going.

I think there's a difference between eating without knowing the calories,
and choosing to eat something while knowing the calories.

This is also important.

Continuing to eat without looking at anything, just going with the flow, is a bit dangerous.

But,

this dressing is on the higher side.
Today is a day I want to be satisfied with this.
In exchange, maybe I'll cut back a little on fat elsewhere.

If I can think like that,
I feel like sesame dressing isn't an enemy, but an ally.

Sesame dressing isn't evil.

It's just a bit strong.

With a gentle face,
it has quite a presence.

It's a martial artist in the calorie world.

But it does its job properly.

☕ You don't have to make fat the villain either

When you're on a diet,
I feel like fat easily looks like a villain.

It has a lot of fat.
It's high in calories.
So I have to cut back.

It's easy to think that way.

Certainly, fats are higher in calories.
That is a reality, isn't it?

But if you make fats the villain,
the satisfaction of a meal can drop all at once.

Richness.
Fragrance.
Mellowness.
The feeling of eating.
The feeling of being fulfilled.

I think fats are often involved in these aspects.

Sesame dressing is exactly that.

Even though you're eating vegetables,
there's a sense of being properly satisfied as a meal.

It doesn't let a salad end as just a gathering of leaves.

It brings all the leaves together
into a proper single dish.

Sesame dressing is actually a great moderator.

Wait, what am I talking about?

But really, that's what it was for me.

It turns a salad into a proper meal.
For me, that's what sesame dressing was.

☕ Meals that don't satisfy the heart can lead to a backlash later

What I've realized after dieting many times is that meals that ignore your heart are prone to causing a backlash later.

It's low-calorie and correct.
It has protein too.
I ate vegetables.

But my heart isn't satisfied.

If this state continues, in my case, it shows up somewhere later.

Suddenly, you want something sweet.
You find yourself thinking about bread.
You crave something salty.
It's not so much your stomach, but your heart that starts searching for something.

I don't think that's just a matter of having a weak will.

Perhaps,
that meal just didn't suit your heart.

Of course, there's no need to seek 100% satisfaction every single time.

If you did that, every day would turn into a feast planning meeting.

What shall we use to satisfy our hearts today?
Well, let's start with an appetizer.

No, that's going a bit too far.

But I do think that including things in your daily meals that truly make you feel at ease is quite important for keeping things going.

In my case, one of those things was sesame dressing.

A pumpkin salad bowl with sesame dressing
for me while I was on a diet
wasn't just a salad.

It was a meal that my heart could truly be satisfied with.

☕　☕　☕

☕ On days when you use sesame dressing, you can just adjust elsewhere.

Of course, if you ask if that means you should just pour on plenty of sesame dressing every time,
I think that's a different story.

Sesame dressing is an ally.

But just because it's an ally doesn't mean you should call on it infinitely, or you'll end up with a massive gathering of the calorie brigade.

That would be a problem in itself.

So, this is how I want to think about it.

On days when I use sesame dressing,
I make sure to account for it within my meal.

For example,

I cut back on fried foods.
I don't add too many nuts or cheese.
I don't add too many eggs.
I adjust my dinner by watching the amount of natto and rice.
If my stomach is settled, I don't force myself to add anything.

Something like that.

Instead of forbidding it,
I make a proper place for it.

Sesame dressing,
you're hired today as the person in charge of satisfaction!

In exchange, the other fats, please take it easy.

Something like that.

The shift schedule for Cafe Le Miracle.

Sesame dressing is on duty today.
Cheese and nuts are on break.

When I think of it this way, it's actually kind of fun.

☕ What's important during a diet might be conviction rather than endurance

Dieting has a strong image of endurance, doesn't it?

Enduring not eating what you want.
Reducing calories.
Refraining from things you like.
Having to do things properly.

Of course, a certain amount of adjustment is necessary.

But if you make everything about endurance,
meals gradually start to feel like the enemy.

I find that painful.

Eating is quite important to me.

It's not just about filling my stomach, but
calming my feelings,
marking the end of the day,
and connecting to the feeling of taking care of myself.

That is precisely why I don't want to look at meals just as numbers.

I look at calories.
But I also look at my feelings.

I look at protein.
But I also look at satisfaction.

I look at fat.
But I don't make it out to be a villain.

I feel like this balance suits me right now.

When I chose sesame dressing, I wasn't being lazy; I was looking for a way that I could keep going.

Thinking about it that way made me feel so much better.

I don't want to get in shape just through self-denial; I want to get in shape while feeling good about my choices.

That's how I feel right now.

☕ 100kcal that buys satisfaction

If I had to sum up this realization in one phrase,

If I only thought about cutting 100kcal, I could just choose a different dressing.

But if that 100kcal increases my satisfaction after a meal,
if it reduces unnecessary snacking afterward,
if it reduces my dissatisfaction with my meals,
and if it makes me feel like I can keep at it tomorrow too,

then that has meaning for me.

I think dieting isn't just about reducing numbers; it's also about creating a lifestyle you can sustain.

If you're only going to work hard for a moment, you can cut out all sorts of things.

But if you want to keep going for a long time,
you have to leave room for your heart to be satisfied, or you'll end up suffering somewhere along the way.

That's why I won't ban sesame dressing.

Know it properly.
Choose it properly.
Taste it properly.

And, balance it out elsewhere.

I feel like this is the easiest way for me to keep going right now.

☕ Today's Cafe Le Miracle Summary

Sesame dressing is on the higher side if you only look at the calories.

192kcal for 50g.

That's quite a bit.

Even though it looks like it's just sitting quietly next to the salad,
it actually has quite a presence.

But for me, it wasn't a villain.

It was the thing that turned my pumpkin and boiled egg salad bowl into a truly satisfying meal.

If an extra 100kcal helps my heart feel at ease,
then that might just be the nutrition I need to keep going.

If you make low-calorie the only correct answer, your heart can sometimes get left behind.

And in my case, meals where my heart is left behind are hard to stick with for long.

So from now on,

I'll look at the calories.
I'll look at the nutrition.
But I'll also look at whether my heart is satisfied.

Sesame dressing isn't the villain.
However, it does have a presence.

So, I'll factor it into my plan properly when I eat it.

I feel like this is the easiest way for me
to keep going right now.

If there's a day when you're on a diet
and you feel unfulfilled even though you chose low-calorie options,

it might not just be because you're weak.

Perhaps I am still in the middle of searching for
a form that satisfies my own heart.

Look not just at the calories,
but also at the satisfaction of your heart.

I think it's perfectly fine to have a way of organizing meals like that.

At Cafe Le Miracle today, too,
sesame dressing is quietly doing a good job.

Even though it's a bit strong in the calorie world.

Yeah.

As a strong ally, I'm choosing it today.

☕ ☕ ☕

☕ Next, I also want to talk about soy milk protein

Next, I will write about soy milk protein.

If it's just protein, it can be kept light.

But in my case,
there were days when adding soy milk to make it 300kcal
made my heart feel more at ease.

Rather than pampering myself,
for me, it was a drink to maintain my mental peace.

I think I'll write about that next.

☕ This work is a series of articles for the Creative Awards 2026 submission.
Subsequent articles will be compiled in this magazine after publication.
I will add them in order so they are easy to read.

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#PhysicalWellbeing
#Diet
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