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Nine Food Tips For Excellent Holiday Eating Without The Pudge

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What’s your plan? That sounds clinical — but it doesn’t have to be. It could be your saving grace.  Think about how you want to handle yourself in the face of food, family, eggnog, and pecan pie.  Nothing is engraved in stone but if you have an idea about what you want to do and how to do it you’ll be far less likely to nibble and nosh all day and night. You’re the one in charge of what goes into your mouth.

1. Make simple swaps in the food you prepare and the food you choose at parties and in restaurants. Reduce the amount of fat and calories in holiday food where you can by doing things like using skim milk instead of whole milk, applesauce in place of oil, or two-thirds or one-half of the sugar called for in a recipe. Make a horse trade or a deal with yourself that might have you avoiding the breadbasket or a pre-dinner drink if you are going to have dessert.

2. Beware of food landmines.  It’s so easy to be fooled by fatty sauces and dressings on innocent looking vegetables. Vegetables are great.  Veggies smothered with butter, cheese, croutons, and/or bacon are loaded with calories.

3. Let this be your mantra:  no seconds. Choose your food, fill your plate, and that’s it.  Keep a running account in your head of how many hors d’ oeuvre you’ve eaten or how many cookies.  Those calories are loaded in fat and add up very quickly. Keep away from spreads of food at home, at the office, or at your Mom’s house to help limit nibbling and noshing.

4. Stop eating before you’re full.  If you keep eating until your stomach finally feels full you’ll likely end up feeling stuffed when you do stop eating.  It takes a little time for your brain to catch up and realize your stomach is full. A lot of eating is done with your eyes and your eyes love to tell you to try this and to try that. Work on eating a larger portion of fruit and veggies and less of the densely caloric foods like pastas swimming in oil and cheese.

5. Use a fork and knife, a teaspoon rather that a tablespoon. Chew your food instead of wolfing it down.  If you have to work at eating your food – cutting with a knife for instance – you’ll eat more mindfully than if you pick food up with your fingers and pop it into your mouth. Before you eat drink some water, a no- or low-calorie beverage, or some clear soup. The liquids fill up your stomach and leave less room for the high calorie stuff. If you know you’re going to eat treats, pick one – and only one – portion controlled treat to eat each day.  Pick it ahead of time and commit to your choice so you don’t find yourself wavering in the face of temptation.

6. Plan ahead, commit to your plan, and don’t go to a party or dinner feeling ravenous. Before you go eat a small healthy snack that‘s around 150 calories with some protein and fiber like some fat free yogurt and fruit, a portion controlled serving of nuts, a small piece of cheese and fruit, or a spoonful of peanut butter with a couple of whole grain crackers. Have a no-cal or low-cal drink like water, tea, or coffee with it, too.  When you get to the party or dinner you won’t be starving and less likely to attack the hors d’oeuvres or the breadbasket.

7. Choose your food wisely.  If you can, pick lean proteins like fish, poultry, and the least fatty cuts of pork, beef, and lamb that are grilled or broiled, not fried or sautéed. Load up on vegetables – preferably ones that are not smothered in cheese or dripping with oil. Eat your turkey without the skin. You can save around 200 calories at dessert by leaving the piecrust sitting on the plate.

8. Leave the breadbasket at the other end of the table.  If you absolutely must have bread, go easy or without butter or oil.  One teeny pat of butter has 36 calories, a tablespoon has 102 and 99% of them is from fat.  A tablespoon of oil has about 120 calories.  Would you rather have the oil or butter or a cookie for dessert or another glass of wine? Which calories will be more satisfying?

9. Keep the number of drinks under control and watch the mixers.  Certain drinks are much higher in calories than others.  There are a couple of hundred calories difference between a glass of wine or beer and eggnog. Calorie free drinks would be better yet – even if you alternate them with your alcoholic beverages you still cut your alcohol calories in half.  Liquid calories really add up and they don’t fill you up.  Try planning ahead of time how many drinks you’ll have – and then adjusting your menu choices accordingly.

Free Food Is Hard To Resist (And A Caloric Nightmare)

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Morning meeting.  Right in front of you: platter loaded with bagels, danish, and doughnuts parked next to giant coffee urns.  A freebie breakfast and the beginning of a blood sugar roller coaster ride.

No worries if you miss the morning carb fest – if all the platters aren’t picked clean the remnants will surely end up in the snack room next to the birthday cake (it’s always somebody’s birthday) or the leftover cookies from someone’s party the night before.

Costco on the weekend.  There are at least three tables manned by people offering you samples of hot pizza, luscious cheesecake, or tooth-picked pigs ‘n blankets.   Just the right size to quickly and neatly pop into your mouth – especially when you circle back for seconds.

Errands. Stops at the cleaners, the tailors, the veterinarian, the hair salon.  On the desk or counter:  giant bowls piled high with freebie candy.  You can dig deep for the kind you like – Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, mini Snickers, Tootsie Roll pops.  You name it — it’s usually there for the taking.

Party or wedding.  How do you escape the platters of salami, cheese, mini quiches, and then the desserts covered with icing, whipped cream, and powdered sugar?

What’s The Problem With Free Food?

Not a thing if you don’t care about calories, nutrition, and how you’ll feel after an overload of sugar, fat, and salt.  Tons of “starving” students and young (and not so young) adults have chowed down on ample quantities of free food.  Here’s the question:  are full bellies with no impact on the wallet ultimately the best choice?

Occasional dips into free food are probably not going to hurt anyone in reasonable health.  But, on a consistent basis, there is certainly a downside to your health.  There could me a more immediate concern, too.  A whole bunch of non-nutritious (junk, processed, and high calorie) food eaten right before a time when intense concentration and focus is necessary (translation:  exams and presentations) could certainly have a negative impact.

Why Do We Find Free Food So Attractive?

Most of us find it pretty darn hard to ignore “free food,” the food that’s just there for the taking. It’s everywhere – and we’ve become accustomed to valuing cheap calories.  Think about it:  when was the last time you resisted the peanuts, pretzels, or popcorn sitting on the bar counter?  What about the breadbasket – that’s usually free, too.

We don’t have to eat any of this stuff.  But we do.  Why?  Some of us have trouble passing up a giveaway regardless of what it is.  Some see it as a way to save money – despite possible negative health consequences.  And a lot of us use “free” as an excuse or sanction to eat or overeat sweet, salty, fatty junk food.

And the calories?  Free doesn’t mean calorie free.  But it’s all too easy to forget about those calories you popped in your mouth as you snagged candy here and tasted a cookie there.  Yikes.  You could eat a day’s worth of calories cruising through a couple of markets and food stores.

Before The Freebies Land In Your Mouth

How about creating your own mental checklist that, with practice, can help you figure out whether or not it’s worth it to indulge.  Even f you decide to go for it and taste the salami, butter cookies, and cheese cake, at least you’ll have made a mindful decision rather than mindlessly shoving food in your mouth.

Ask yourself:  Is the food you’re so willing to pop in your mouth . . .

  • fresh and tasty, with some nutrition?  It might be if you’re at a wedding or an event, but the odds go down if it’s food handed out at the supermarket or grabbed out of a large bowl at the cleaners.
  • clean?  How many fingers have been in the bowl of peanuts or have grabbed pieces of cheese or cookies off of an open platter?
  • something you really want – or are you eating it just because it’s there?
  • loaded with fat, sugar, and salt that adds up to mega calories?  Every calorie counts whether it’s popped in your mouth and gone in the blink of an eye or savored more slowly and eaten with utensils off of a plate.

Choices, Choices

Just because food is free doesn’t mean you have to eat it. No one is forcing you.  Beware of the cascading effect:  if you let yourself sample the candy, pizza, cheesecake, popcorn, or cookies, perhaps you’re giving yourself permission to continue to overindulge in food you probably don’t want to/shouldn’t be eating.

Highly caloric, sugary, and fatty foods can act as the key to opening the flood gates that cause you to continue to indulge for the rest of the day (weekend/week). Loading up on simple sugars – the kind found in candy, cookies, cake, and many processed foods – causes your blood sugar level to spike and then to drop –leaving you hungry very quickly and pretty darn cranky — and isn’t great for your waistline, either.

Do Restaurant Meals Sabotage Your Diet?

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Are you afraid to eat out for fear of “blowing your diet” or because you think there aren’t good choices to be had? Are you tired of hearing that you shouldn’t go to restaurants if you want to control what you eat?

Choices

You can choose to eat out and eat well. You are responsible for making good choices for yourself.

Your first choice is when you select which restaurant to go to (do you want grilled fish or a huge plate of pasta).  The second round of choices come when you’re inside the door and confronted with the menu, the breadbasket, and the portions.

Restaurant Meals

I eat out a lot.  After years of cooking for a very active family of five, I’m quite happy not to cook every night.  I actually find it easier to control my portions and calorie consumption when I eat out in restaurants.

I follow a number of unwritten guidelines that, over time,  have become habits.

I eat in the restaurant rather than ordering in or bringing prepared food home.  It is too difficult to eyeball portions when they arrive as full containers and it is far too easy to eat too much by finishing off the last bits rather than saving or tossing the leftovers.

Select Wisely

I pick my everyday restaurants carefully and I’ve developed relationships with the wait staff.   I certainly go to special restaurants on occasion and really enjoy the fantastic food – but that’s not my everyday fare. My “everyday” restaurants serve food that is friendly to my eating patterns.

They offer a range of lean proteins and vegetables and are amenable to swaps.  My local diner is so used to me ordering a side of spinach instead of home fries with my eggs that they bring it without my asking.  They make food swaps with pleasure – not with grumpiness.  I’m a good customer and ask very politely.

I don’t let the breadbasket even land on the table (if I’m eating with others it goes near them — my husband agrees with the breadbasket taboo).  Bread is way too difficult to resist when it’s staring you in the face and can add hundreds of calories before you get to the main course.

I usually drink iced tea, water, diet coke (yep, I like it), or a glass of wine.  These choices account for zero to around 120 calories for the wine (one restaurant sized glass).

If I do have dessert at an “everyday” restaurant, it’s berries in season.  If they’re not sweet enough I sprinkle a little Splenda on them – which makes my husband wince, but I find quite satisfying.

By no stretch of the imagination am I so controlled that I eat plain lean proteins and steamed vegetables all of the time.  Far from it – but for routine meals, I try to stay away from sauces, dressings, and sides of pasta, rice, or potatoes.  When I really “dine” at the finer restaurants, I deliberately choose  (not always successfully)  to limit either the number of courses or the portion size.  I attempt – again, not always successfully – to lay off the bread and control the liquid and dessert calories — often choosing either an appetizer or a dessert.

When I’m with other people who are ordering an appetizer and an entrée I often will order two appetizers instead — a practice that is so common that most waiters  don’t even blink an eye.  I find that if food is in front of me I’ll eat it – especially if it’s a lengthy meal.  The smaller the portion in front of me (appetizer size) the less I eat.  Still tastes darn good.

No Trauma

Don’t let the thought of eating out be traumatic.  Restaurants exist to serve you meals and it is up to you to choose which one to go to and what you will eat when you get there.

If you know you’re going to go for broke because you’re eating at a special place – or just because you want to – don’t freak out.  Eat and enjoy — you can always compensate by controlling what you eat earlier in the day or the next day.    Be careful about depriving yourself — you don’t want to feel so “cheated” that you end up raiding the fridge when you get home and chowing down on more calories than if you had eaten a full meal in the restaurant.

Food As Love, Joy, And Energy

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The other night I went to a talk and book signing by Lisa Oz (married to Dr. Oz), for her new book, US:  Transforming Ourselves and the Relationships That Matter Most.  During the course of the evening there was a lot of discussion about the healing power of energy.

As a nurse I began to think about how nurses use the power of touch – the “laying on of the hands” – to help their patients.  I believe that this is also true for any parent who uses a gentle touch or a hug to convey energy and healing to a child – or for other healers who appropriately and with discipline use the power of touch and energy transfer for healing purposes.

As a nutritional counselor I started to think about the energy we gain from both food and the act of eating.

We Get Energy From Food And From Eating, Cooking, And Sharing

Food supplies calories and a calorie is a quantifiable, measurable unit of energy.

But food – and the act of eating and sharing – supplies energy in another unquantifiable way, too. Think about the energy you can get from sitting around the kitchen table hashing out issues – over food —  or the great feeling to be had after sharing a phenomenal meal with someone special. What about that very special jolt of love and energy you get when you cook or share something as special as a homemade cookie with your child?

As Craig Claiborne, restaurant critic,  food writer, and former New York Times food editor said in Craig Claiborne’s Kitchen Primer: “Cooking is at once child’s play and adult joy. And cooking done with care is an act of love.”

 

 

Prep For Your Big Event And Snag An A . . .

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A  for Awesome, because that’s how you’ll feel.

Don’t you hate it: you’ve been so much attention to what you eat and your healthy eating habits are really getting grooved.  You’re starting to feel and look great, but, oh boy, you have to go to something big.  It could be a wedding, a dinner party, or dinner at a fabulous restaurant.

First thought: I’m going shopping for something great to wear.

Second thought: The food is going to be awesome.  Is this going to make me blow my careful eating and, then, forget it — it’s all down hill from there.

The Dilemma

You want to enjoy yourself and be able to have some of the restaurant’s “specialty of the house” or a bunch of hors d’ oeuvres followed by a delicious piece of cake at your friend’s wedding.

What To Do?

Prep like your final exam is tomorrow.

Remember cramming for finals?  Hit the books and collect some information.  Research the menu of the restaurant you will be going to or call your host or event planner to find out what will be served at your event.

Many restaurants have their menus online – or you can stop in for a preview.  If you nicely give your host, the caterer, or the event planner a solid reason for wanting to know the menu, you’ll be surprised at how accommodating most can be.

After you’ve researched what can be ordered and/or what will be served, you can then come up with your plan.   If you want that fantastic dessert perhaps you decide to keep your hand out of the breadbasket.  Do you want to have wine with dinner?  Maybe forego a cocktail (or two) – and its calories – before dinner.  Want the very special hors d’oeuvre?   Maybe dessert gets jettisoned.

The point is:  You are in control and can choose what you want to do.  But planning is important.  Make up your mind what you’re going to do ahead of time and commit to it.

A game time decision means that you’re making decisions when too many enticements are already in front of you.  That’s not easy to do.  So, do your research, come up with a plan, and stick to it.  Allow yourself something special – don’t take that away.  But, maybe stick to one or two special treats, not an ongoing feast.  You’ll feel fantastic, in control, and tremendously proud of yourself.  You’ll have had something delicious -– and your new clothes will still look just as great.  Most importantly, those new healthy eating habits are still intact and have and will continue to serve you well.