Don't deny yourself holiday treats, just show restraint
• Editor's note: Don Mauer is taking some time off. This column originally appeared on Nov. 25, 2002.
On your marks ... get set ... Go!
In a few short days the holiday season starter's gun will go off, probably at 5:30 a.m., marking the beginning of family get-togethers with a Thanksgiving dinner.
It also marks the beginning of five weeks that dieters and weight maintainers dread. You know the reasons; if you lost weight on a lower-fat, lower-calorie food plan the coming weeks provide neither. If you're maintaining a weight loss accomplished on high-protein and low-carbohydrates, you know that the turkey is the only thing you can eat with abandon, since stuffing, gravy, potatoes (white or sweet), dinner rolls (you can only have the butter) and dessert are all either entirely off your meal plan or you're allowed a tantalizing smidgen. This is celebrating?
As someone who lost more than 100 pounds, more than 10 years ago, I too face the same daunting groaning-board gauntlet. Over the years, I've managed to get through these holiday temptation fests by using my head and a few smart moves.
It's easy to give up before the season begins and assume that failure's inevitable, which doesn't need to be the case. Promising to stick to the straight and narrow path, shunning all enticements, won't work either. There's a middle road that most dieters and weight maintainers identify as their most successful route through the dining land mines dotting this seasons landscape.
Over more than 50 years, study after study shows that telling yourself, “I'll never eat pumpkin pie and ice cream again” leads to certain and swift failure. Completely removing something you like from your life leads most folks to focus on just that item until they can't stand it and gives in.
Breaking that unrealistic promise, even just once leads many to quitting their weight-loss diet or shunning hard-won dietary habits. Which means, during the next five weeks, if someone offers you something you no longer normally eat, but desire ... have a little and savor it.
It's been written that Dr. Dean Ornish, the ultra-low-fat, healthy heart guru, eats some dark European-style chocolate every day; savoring every bite until its gone. Essentially, he satisfies his desire regularly, which keeps it under control.
I use a couple of holiday party food tricks to keep from overindulging. Since almost all vegetables are high in water content and low in calories, head for veggies without sauces or cheese. One cup of asparagus, 23 calories (92 percent water) or green beans, 31 calories (90 percent water) or broccoli, 28 calories (91 percent) or red or green sweet peppers 27 (92 percent). Loading up on these and others like them help keep me from making bad eating decisions based on hunger.
Another trick, and I've mentioned it before since it works so well; use the inner, sometimes indented circle of a dinner plate to create a border outside of which no food can be placed. Of course, this doesn't mean that selected meal items should be piled six-feet high inside that six-inch circle. This helps me to keep my portion sizes reasonable and allows me some freedom of choice.
Accepting seasonal gifts of food, like cookies or candy, could be a problem. You don't wish to be rude: “I'm on diet, remember? I can't accept that.”
My solution: Accept the gift, sample a little so you can tell the gift-giver how good it was and take the remainder to work or to a party to share.
I'm always trying to figure out what the heck to do with leftover turkey a couple days after Thanksgiving. Last year I came across a wedding shower gift of recipes that were given to my wife, Susan, 30 years ago.
My much-loved Aunt Letha passed away in 1976. Her recipe for Turkey Divan caught my eye. Turkey Divan, as my aunt defined it, used canned soup, cheese, cooked turkey and broccoli to produce a quick and easy casserole. I used some of my leftover turkey breast and other lower-fat, lower-calorie techniques and it turned out great.
Ÿ Don Mauer welcomes questions, comments and recipe makeover requests. Write him at don@theleanwizard.com.