Eat Out Eat Well

It’s Time To “Cleanse” Your Cupboards, Your Fridge, And Your Desk Drawer

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What kind of food do you have hanging around?  Are there leftovers from the holidays, a random piece of birthday cake, frozen pigs in blankets you bought for possible guests, a bag of mini chocolate chips in case you decide to bake some cookies.  Do you really need the gigantic box of cereal from Costco or the two extra jars of peanut butter that were on sale?  Do you have some mini candy bars tucked in the corner of your desk?

Hey, we’re all guilty of storing food in preparation for the onslaught of visitors or the next blackout.  The problem is that the extra food is not conducive to managing your weight.  Why?  Because usually if we see it, we eat it.

Take a look in your fridge, your cupboards, and your desk and kitchen drawers.  What’s in there?  Why did you buy it and when? Do you really need it – or does it call your name when you really don’t want to indulge in those extra calories but can’t escape the allure of the food at hand.

Tip of the day:

You might want think about what prompts you to buy extra or large quantities of food that tempts you and that you really don’t need to eat.  Knowing why you buy is key to developing some good shopping habits.  Doing a “cleanse” of cupboards, the fridge, and drawers by getting rid of what tempts you is a good way to prevent hundreds of excess calories from making their way into your mouth. Remember:  See It = Eat It.

Do you fall into any of these food purchasing categories?

  • Bargain shopping: getting the largest amount of food for your money by buying a dozen of what’s on sale or two of the gigantic size at Costco?  Who ends up eating the excess?
  • Getting the most calories for your money and the biggest bang for your buck.  Is it a bargain if it tempts you to eat the excess?
  • Buying special or celebratory food because it’s someone’s birthday, or Thanksgiving, or Easter, or your kid’s team is coming over.  Do you really buy it because of company or because the event has given you an excuse to buy – and indulge – in what you ordinarily wouldn’t?
  • Buying food you’ve always wanted to try and or on the spur of the moment because you happened to see it in the store. Then you get the food home find out that your family really hates it. So you eat it – all of it.
  • What about the product of the moment – which might fall into any number of categories.  It could be trendy, the latest low-fat wonder, or the cake mix your neighbor said was so good.  Maybe it’s good, maybe not – but who ends up eating it?
  • Then there’s the diet foods:  the low or no fat, low or no sugar, fiber rich, reduced calorie bars and cookies you bought in an endless quest for the miracle food that won’t pack on the pounds. Guess what – they still have a whole bunch of calories.
  • The convenience foods – the stuff, probably already prepared and/or processed, frozen, or take-out  — that you grab when you are totally exhausted or exasperated and you want to get the food on the table and not have anyone complain about it. They’re often high calorie and not too nutritious – and come in multi-sized portions.
  • Here’s the big one: the reward foods — the “I’ve had such a tough day” or “I’ve been so good all day” food that almost always packs a whopper of a sugar, fat, and caloric punch.They’re also the foods that, because of the sugar, fat, and salt, keep you coming back for more.

Sometimes there is a time and place for food from any of these categories.  But, if you want to develop healthy weight management habits, think about your current habits and patterns and take action.

This article is part of the 30 day series of blog posts called: 30 Easy Tips for Looser Pants and Excellent Energy.

 

When’s The Best Time To Start Your Diet?

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Do the stars, moon, sun, and all of the planets need to be in alignment for you to start your diet?

The word diet usually means deprivation and a way of life that’s not easy, comforting, or fun.  So is there any wonder that there are tons of excuses and reasons to put off starting one?  Who wants to be deprived of food – especially if you love to eat?

Does This Sound Like You?

If you’re thinking about losing weight, do any of these seem familiar:

  • “I’ll wait until Monday to start” – and then you eat enough through the week and over the weekend to pack on more weight.
  • “Wow, it’s Monday, but it’s so and so’s birthday on Wednesday and we’re going out to dinner and then we’ll have cake – so I might as well wait until after Wednesday to start.”  And then it’s Thursday and you go back to “I’ll wait until Monday.”
  • “I don’t have the right kind of food in the house and it’s raining outside and I can’t get to the gym – so I might as well chow down today and wait until I can stock up on the right stuff” (and when will that be?).
  • “I was so ‘good’ all week and then on Friday I went out and had drinks and dessert and a ton of bread.  So I figured I ‘blew it’ and might as well eat what I want all weekend.  I can start again on Monday.”  Of course Monday comes along and another verse is added to this tune.

There’s Always A Reason — Or An Excuse – Not To Start 

You get the idea.  You can always find a reason not to start your new healthy eating plan.  How about listing the compelling reasons to want to start.

Just Start

Diets don’t work.  Maybe they do for the short-term, but it’s rare to have long lasting weight loss using a restrictive diet mentality.

Try a different approach.  Healthy eating habits are the key to success.  Finding what works for the long term may require some out of the box thinking and creative solutions.  Go for it and give it time.  Just start.

Have you ever watched an athlete look for an opening through a crowded field of players who are obstructing his or her way?  The athlete just keeps looking for an opening – an opportunity.  The ultimate choice might be unconventional and require lateral movement or some pulling back before surging forward, but without making some kind of move nothing happens.

The first step is deciding that you want to change your eating patterns.  Once you’ve decided you’re ready, look for your opening and take it – stop waiting for that elusive perfect moment in time.  You can keep telling yourself that you’ll start tomorrow — but will your “tomorrow” ever come if you don’t take some positive action to make it happen?

This article is part of the 30 day series of blog posts called: 30 Easy Tips for Looser Pants and Excellent Energy.

 

Resolutions And Goals: Perfection Just Might Be The Enemy Of Good

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It’s a week into the New Year.  Your pants are uncomfortably tight and the number on the scale is in the wrong zip code. Trying to right the ship did you resolve – swear — to never again eat another chocolate chip cookie?  Or maybe you’ve taken an oath to lay off potato chips forever or to go to the gym six days a week at 6AM.

Resolutions Can Be Tricky

Count yourself among the legions of people who have a specific end game in mind and then set broad – huge – resolutions and goals to try to get there. Unfortunately, those resolutions and goals usually aim for perfect achievement – something that’s virtually impossible to accomplish.

Aiming For Perfection

Be honest.  You know that aiming for perfectionmeans lining yourself up for a big time fall. Inevitably, you end up feeling awful when you step over the theoretical line – or maybe it’s more like you fall off the cliff.  Why must pursuit of a goal be done that way?  Perfection, in this case, is really the enemy of good.  In the real world, isn’t movement toward achieving your goal good enough?

Two Tips

1.  Ditch the all-or-nothing thinking and overly ambitious goals. Drastic changes usually don’t sync with daily life and probably won’t last more than a few weeks.  Cycle through the drastic changes often enough and you solidly embed a “no can do” attitude in your brain. Remember, your less than ideal behaviors have taken time to develop and replacing them with more ideal, healthier ones takes time, too. Don’t reassess/alter everything at once. Instead, work toward changing one thing at a time. Human brains don’t like too much disruption all at once – they like their familiar way of doing things.  Pick one thing at a time and create a new habit around it. Then go on to the next thing on your list.

2.  Not having succeeded before doesn’t mean you won’t succeed this time. Everyone has made and broken resolutions. We’ve all tried to lose weight or eat more fruit and veggies.  Adopt a positive attitude and frame your resolution in positive terms. “I will eat vegetables instead of French fries twice a week” or I’ll have cereal only on Saturday mornings” is much more positive than “I’ll never eat French fries or cereal again.” It’s easier to put a new habit in place than to change an old one, so embed the positive behavior not the negative one.

30 Days Of Usable Tips And Strategies

For the next 30 days check in daily at EatOutEatWell.com for a practical, usable tip of the day to help you on your way to achieving – and keeping – your resolutions and goals.

 

What To Eat On New Year’s Day For Good Luck – And What To Avoid!

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Pork products, fish, beans, cakes with coins, grapes, pickled herring?

Sound tasty?  Maybe yes, maybe no?  So what do they have in common?  They’re a sampling of some of the foods people eat on New Year’s to bring good luck.

Food has power and especially at transitional points – like holidays and feast days — many cultures traditionally eat food that has special meaning.

I grew up with the Greek tradition of eating Vasilopita on New Year’s Day.  It’s a rich, buttery cake-like New Year’s bread with a coin baked in it.

Named after St. Basil the Great, a theologian who gave all his possessions to the poor, the needy, the underprivileged, and children, tradition has it that whoever gets the piece of cake with the coin embedded in it is supposed to have good luck in the coming year.  I once got the coin in the first piece of Vasilopita that was cut in a restaurant in Athens, which blew the hopes of everyone else in the restaurant!

Then again, I distinctly remember my Mother, who is Russian, eating pickled pig’s knuckles on New Year’s for good luck.  Try as she might, there was no way she was getting me to even go near them.  Vasilopita – even if you don’t get the coin – is a much more appealing choice.

What Not To Eat (Hint: Don’t Look Or Move Back)

Different cultures have various foods that are supposed to be eaten at the stroke of midnight or sometime on January 1 to bring luck, fortune, and plenty (both money and food).

There are also foods not to eat.  Things that move or scratch backwards — like lobsters, chickens, and turkeys — are to be avoided because they symbolize moving backward instead of progressing forward. There should be no looking back, setbacks, or past struggles – only things that move forward should be eaten.

And in some cultures, a little food should be left on the table or your plate to guarantee – or at least to hedge your bets – that you’ll have a well-stocked kitchen during the coming year.

Why Tempt Fate — Some Lucky Foods To Consider

There are many New Year’s foods and traditions — far too numerous to list – that are honored by people all around the world.

Don’t you at least want to consider piling some luck on your plate on January 1? Why tempt fate?

Here are some of the more common good luck foods:

  • Pork is big.  It symbolizes abundance, plenty of food, and the fat of the land (think pork barrel legislation, too). The pig is considered an animal of progress because it moves forward as it roots around for food.  Pork products appear in many ways – ham, sausage, ham hocks, pork ribs, and even those pig’s knuckles.
  • Seafood, with the exception of the backward swimming lobster, symbolizes abundance and plenty. Fish also symbolize fertility because they produce multiple eggs at a time.  It’s important that a fish be served whole, with the head and tail intact, which symbolizes a good beginning and a good end.
  • Long noodles signify a long life – don’t cut or break them because that could shorten life!
  • Cakes and breads with coins or trinkets baked into them are common in many countries.  Sticky rice cakes, rice pudding, and fruitcakes also fit the bill in various parts of the world.
  • Grapes – in specific numbers — are lucky.  Their shape resembles a coin, sweet ones can mean a good month.  In some countries twelve grapes are eaten at midnight — one for each stroke of the clock or one for each month. The number and sweetness of the grape is important – for instance, if the fifth grape is a bit sour, May might be a bit rocky. In some places the goal is to eat all of the grapes before the last stroke of midnight, and some countries eat a 13th grape just for good measure. There seems to be an awful lot of hedging of bets all around the world.

So fill your plate with a serving of luck — and, don’t forget resolutions. They’re not quite as tasty as most (not all) food traditions, but they do have longevity — they date back 4000 years to the ancient Babylonians.

Happy New Year

Are You A Smart Snacker When You’re Out Shopping?

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There are food courts and coffee shops around every bend and on every corner – and all of them seem to sell peppermint and gingerbread goodies that scream, “Holiday.”  That can really test your willpower.

A hot skim latte is a great snack – soothing, calorie controlled, with a nice amount of protein.  A nice giant hot coffee drink filled with syrup and whipped cream – often clocking in at 400 to 500 calories — might be soothing but sure isn’t great for your waistline.

Ditto on mega sized soft pretzels, muffins, scones, and croissants. Think about carrying portion controlled nuts or a protein bar with you to make it a little easier to resist temptation.

And Remember, These Calories Still Count . . .

Do you tend to forget about the:

  • large pretzel with cheese topping that you bought at the mall to snack on while shopping
  • 3 mini candy canes you snagged from the receptionist’s desk
  • couple of samples of cheesecake you grabbed at Costco
  • grilled cheese sandwich you finished off of your child’s plate
  • cookie batter you tasted and licked from the bowl and beaters
  • leftovers in the pot that you finished because there was too small an amount to save
  • tastes of chocolate bark and spiced pecans your coworker offered you
  • Christmas cookies that seem to be everywhere

They Still Count

All calories do count — it’s just that all too frequently we neglect to add them – remember them – or acknowledge them (that would mean having to admit that you ate that candy bar).

You can try writing down everything that you eat – not at the end of the day but when you eat it  – you’re forced to acknowledge all of the random food that you pop into your mouth.  This might be especially helpful during holiday season – or during times of stress – when it’s easy to mindlessly overeat and then to overlook (and then wonder why your pants are tight).

Some Tips

  • Only eat it if you want it. Eat what you want not what you think you should.
  • Skip the everyday food – the stuff that’s available all of the time. If you’re going to indulge, splurge on the special stuff (and make it count).
  • Don’t put yourself in the face of danger – in other words, stay away from all of those place you know will have fantastic treats freely available for the taking – especially if they happen to be your trigger foods.

For more hints and tips about holiday eating get my book,  The Sensible Holiday Eating Guide: How To Enjoy Your Favorite Foods Without Gaining Weight, available from Amazon for your kindle or kindle reader.