What does 'treat' mean?

[tulipflower]

You can still enjoy your favourite sweet and salty foods but too much sugar and salt is bad for your body. These foods should only be 'treats'.
What does 'treat' mean in the aforementioned sentenc?

 

[bhaisahab]

Have a look here: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/us/treat at the definition of 'treat' as a noun.

 

[Skrej]

I'm not sure that dictionary entry quite emphasizes the sparsity issue that the original sentence is getting at.

The idea is that sweets and salty foods should only be viewed as occasional treats and not staples.

 

[andrewg927]

The definition is "An item that is out of the ordinary". I think that's quite clear.

 

[tulipflower]

I haven't still gotten the meaning. What does it mean by 'out of ordinary'?

 

[andrewg927]

http://www.macmillandictionary.com/us/dictionary/american/out-of-the-ordinary

 

[Tdol]

Something you eat infrequently, on a special occasion. If you eat these things every day, they aren't treats. If you eat them once a week, on Friday, after working hard to give yourself some pleasure, they're treats.