Ayurveda suggests Madhura (sweet) tasting food has to be taken first while having a meal. Madhura rasa ahara usually includes food items which are rich in carbohydrates e.g. rice and wheat. Proteins rich foods are also Madhura to an extent, but desserts such as kheer (payasam), sweets (like rasagulla, gulab jamuns) should be considered ati-madhura, as they are very sweet to taste. Madhura rasa (sweet taste) comprises of prithvi and aapa mahabhuta, which makes it heavy to digest; hence sweets are meant to be taken at the start of the meal as it requires more time for its digestion. Infact most the indian desserts were either taken just as a meal like payasam (where only payasam is eaten and nothing else) or served at the start of the meal in small quantity as in case of temple prasadam. Hence the concept of having a dessert after meals should be avoided and a more sensible approach should be adopted.