Diet 101: Dealing With Roadblocks (special occasions, travel, and the unexpected)
We all know how tough it is learning healthy new eating habits and making them stick. Even a long-term successful dieter who has things under control during normal circumstances can be thrown off when unexpected events are tossed into the mix! So how do you deal with things like holiday picnics, family parties, vacations, and the surprise business lunch meeting? The key is always having your “sensible eating” hat on, and being able to see things in shades of gray, rather than just black and white. In other words, if the only options for lunch that are being served to you are fried chicken, potato salad, coleslaw, and apple pie, what can you do?
If you have a black-and-white diet mind you fret, “these are all foods I can’t have! They are fat-laden and high-calorie and they’ll just ruin my diet”. So you either choose to starve yourself and just have water during that meal, or you toss up your hands and exclaim, “I’ll just have to dig in to a two-thousand calorie meal and it’s not my fault”…. what? Whoa!
I know some of you are wearing your sensible eating hat now (especially since it’s easy to look at this scenario objectively when you’re not in the moment) so you have some great ideas! Here are a few of mine:
1) Think of how you can reduce the fat content: For the fried chicken, you can take off the skin; for the salads you can try getting them as dry as possible, but there are probably other low-fat options there such as a vegetable (tossed salad?) and rolls that you can have without butter. As for the apple pie, the filling has far less fat than the crust. Leave part (or all) of the crust behind and enjoy the sweet apple filling!
2) Think of how you can reduce the calorie content: The best way to lower the calorie intake is often to reduce the portion size. Perhaps 2 or 3 pieces of fried chicken along with a healthy portion of mayonnaise-y salads and buttered rolls and apple pie is way off your calorie allowance. How about one chicken leg and a couple tablespoons of the salads and a half-slice of the apple pie? This might really be enough to satisfy your hunger (although you won’t be stuffed) especially until you have the chance to get back to your car (purse, desk) where you have a healthy snack bar stashed for events just like this one!
3) Think creatively. What would someone else do in this situation? Someone who was on a prescription low-fat diet for health issues such as heart disease, or someone who was allergic to mayonnaise, or someone who was an athlete and practiced strict dietary habits to keep their body in shape for what was important to them…. what would they do? What comes to my mind is finding the vegetables for a side dish, grabbing 2 rolls, peeling the skin off a chicken breast and making two little chicken sandwiches from the leaner white meat without the breaded skin. Then having some slices of apple from the apple pie. Hmmm, that almost sounds healthy, doesn’t it!
When you get stuck in an airport, at an unexpected luncheon, or out to dinner at a restaurant you didn’t choose, stop and take a breath. Put on your sensible eating hat and think outside of the lunchbox! Have a few ideas you can fall back on for these situations like making a small sandwich, or having an appetizer as a meal; focus on reducing the fatty part of the foods or shrinking the portion sizes. You’ll come out on the other end just fine. Be sure to give yourself that pat on the back you deserve before climbing back into your comfortable routine.
Be sure to comment here with ideas you use in these situations so we can all use them next time!
photo credit: Dazza_13
Written by Laurie Beebe
|
About The Author: Laurie Beebe has been a registered dietitian for 25 years and is certified in adult weight management. Laurie currently serves as a Related posts:
Add A Comment