Sweet Temptations

Let’s face it – if we have a weight issue – and who doesn’t these days? – it’s most often due to a lack of willpower. We tend to use food, particularly desserts, as a salve for other things going on in our lives that make us uncomfortable – things we’d rather not deal with - or forget - or gloss over with something we know we love, like food to switch our focus, if only for a moment.

Once you’ve decided to pay more attention to how much you are eating – you may decide that not having certain items in the house is the best way to battle temptation. If it’s not in the pantry or refrigerator, you can’t eat it, right?

A friend mentioned that she has bought several cupcakes with the idea that she will only eat one a day. If she can do that, keeping track of the calories, that’s great. But what is going to keep her from diving into a second one or a third or even all of them if temptation gets the best of her? Many of us wouldn’t stop at one. If we didn’t struggle with willpower, we wouldn’t be in this predicament. After the first cupcake – it would be too easy to start justifying the second one:

‘OK, so if each cupcake is X amount of calories, I’ll subtract the second one from tomorrow’s calorie count. It’s all about our total calories for the entire week, right? 3500 calories is 3500 no matter how you slice it. A pound is a pound, right?’

But you know what will happen. Tomorrow rolls around, you’re hungry for sugar – you not only don’t like the idea of subtracting last night’s cupcake from today’s calorie count, but you also don’t like the fact you won’t get today’s cupcake. And then there is the shrug-your-shoulders-and-eat-it-anyway, excuse. You only live once, right? And it’s only a cupcake for heaven’s sake.

May I offer a suggestion? Don’t buy desserts in multiples. Resist a full-sized cake or pie or a dozen donuts or anything that’s going to give you more than one serving of dessert, unless you have someone at home to share it with. You’re only making your battle with food, harder. Yes, if you can eat only one cupcake like my friend believes she will, you’ll feel proud of yourself in the morning, knowing you struggled and won the day. But how will you feel if you ‘slip’ and have two or all? You’ll probably feel physically bloated and a little ill from the sugar rush – but more importantly, you’ll risk feeling a failure – disgusted with yourself for not finding that elusive willpower. Not a good way to strengthen your resolve and be proud of what you’ve accomplished. We don’t get very far by taking two steps backward. Do yourself a favor. Buy one cupcake. Eat one cupcake. Be proud of yourself. Move on.

The Business of Eating

Yes, it has been a few days since my last posting. I've been out of town for several days on business. But that brings me to the subject of today's entry. How do you eat when you're living for days out of hotels and restaurants? It isn't easy, but the encouraging thing about it is this: if you are diligent on a daily basis, then you can actually fade the heat when it comes to going a week off your program and unable to do any calorie counting.

The challenging thing I found is that being with a group of business people, it's hard to eat 'lite' or ask for any special compensations of the restaurant chef without drawing attention to yourself and having comments made by your fellow diners; something you really don't want to have happen. So here is what I did. Breakfast, thankfully, was easily taken care of. I packed plenty of nutrition bars to bring along. Most every hotel room has a coffee maker of some kind now, so it was easy for me to have my usual breakfast of coffee and a bar. Lunch meals ran the full spectrum of everything from something grabbed on the road, to an actual sit-down meal in a small town diner where a serving of chicken fried steak or chicken and gravy over homemade biscuits are the norm. For the on the road stops, a Subway Sandwich shop fit the bill. But for the diner stops, the choices were tougher. In those cases, I sometimes opted for a salad with dressing on the side. Instead of pouring all of it over my salad, I dipped my fork in the dressing before each bite, and that gave me the flavor I wanted without having a salad 'swimming' in dressing. Or I would pick a cup of soup with a small sandwich. When I finished, there was still food on the plate.

Dinner was the toughest. When you're eating out with a group of colleagues, particularly men, they tend to lean toward ordering those huge steak dinners complete with wine and dessert. Even in those cases I tried to lean toward the healthy end of things. Most steak places still offer a few fish and chicken dishes. As long as the meat is broiled or baked and not battered and fried, you're probably pretty safe. And forget what Mom said, you never have to clean your plate. In fact, if you do that by today's American restaurant servings, you're probably eating enough for 2 other people.

Side dishes can be loaded with fat and calories. In those cases I opted for a baked potato dry, (as in not loaded with butter, cheese, and sour cream), and got those items "on the side" to add as I saw fit. Frankly, I didn't add them, but they were there if I'd wanted. Other 'healthier' choices available were steamed vegetables, which I also opted for on occasion. I did order steak one night so I got the leaner cut, the filet Mignon over say a fatty prime rib or some such. Wine was easy since as long as your glass is half full, no one knows whether you're drinking it or not. Sipping it slowly as an accompaniment instead of a thirst quencher, allows you to join in with everyone but not go crazy with empty calories. I always have a glass of water next to my wine glass and that's what I end up drinking mostly. One out of 5 nights of straight restaurant meals, I went ahead and selected a dessert. And even then I went for what I thought might be a tad healthier. In this case, Key Lime pie over what I can only call the biggest slab of chocolate cake I've ever seen. (And Americans wonder why we're so fat!) Remember, you also always have the option of sharing a dessert if someone else at the table wants to.

All in all it was not a bad week of eating. When I stood on the scale this morning, even I was surprised to see that the number was the same as it was the day I left. I attribute that all to the fact that I'm careful about what I eat and how much, most of the time. If you're careful, then every now and then when these events come along that are beyond your control, you and your body will do just fine. Afterward, you can get back on your program, which I've already done, and carry on!