Now, I am not a medical authority, so I cannot recommend any particular diet plan, but in the last few months I have been trying to lose some weight. My sister passed on to me a tip for watching one’s calories while eating out that has caused no end of laughter whenever we’ve used it. And it works too!
Scenario: You’ve ordered a standard meal — and restaurants tend to portion such meals to an adult male — and find that you’ve eaten enough to satisfy you. You could ask the waiter to box it up for you to take home, but by the time you flag him down and he brings you a box you have finished eating the meal through picking at it. Even if you manage to hold off and take home the leftovers, they are more likely to become your midnight snack rather than tomorrow’s lunch. What do you do?
One solution: Ruin the food.
Yes, that’s right. Make the food unpalatable. After all, if you leave it on the plate the restaurant will throw it out anyway. The staff won’t box it up and send it to the starving kids in China or even to the local food pantry. It goes in the trash. So, you might as well have fun with the food before it is disposed of.
For example, after seeing Revenge of the Sith Saturday night with my sister, we went to Denny’s for dessert. We each ordered a chocolate sundae, not realizing that the portions were going to be huge. (We could easily have shared one if we had known beforehand the size of the portions.) So, when I ate all I knew I should eat, I picked up the pepper shaker, unscrewed the lid, and dumped some pepper into the remains of my sundae. My sister did likewise to hers with sugar packets and table litter. Voila! The sundaes were no longer appetizing and we had a ball while depriving ourselves.
It’s especially fun when the wait staff notices what you have done. One waiter actually missed a step when eyeing another dessert to which I’d added a liberal amount of salt. When asked to explain — which has happened once or twice — the wait staff I’ve encountered have loved the idea and have said they’d be trying it too.
One caveat: Not everyone will be impressed by your brilliance in happily destroying your leftovers. I’ve had friends plead with me not to do it in their presence because they are either grossed-out or want my leftovers for themselves. As long as they are willing to lay claim to the food and thus remove the temptation from me, I am more than happy to accommodate their more delicate sensibilities.
Feel free to share your own diet tricks in the combox.
I ask for smaller portions. Every time I’ve asked, they obliged and in a couple of cases, they knocked my bill down a bit.
Another trick is to drink a bit of water between bites.
I’ve got a friend who does that, and it’s not pleasant for the rest of us.
I don’t think I could do that…I have a big hang-up about ‘the people starving in Africa’ syndrome/guilt-fest that was intitiated fairly early on in my upbringing.
Fortunatley my own children have good appetites and I don’t usually cook food that they dislike, thus avoiding the mealtime battles that can ensue. Just for the record, I hate stringy green beans…any kind of currant…offal…seafood…blah…blah…blah.
God Bless.
I have a problem. If it’s on my plate, I WILL eat it. It’s compulsive. The easiest way to stop that from happening is not have it there to begin with. I’ve tried the ‘ruin the food’ technique, but I also had that “starving children in africa” upbringing. Lately I’ve been ordering from the kiddie menu or the senior menu. Especially from places that traditionally have big portions. If they’re smaller kiddie meals, I might get a side in addition to that, or order all sides. Especially if I want something naughty 🙂 It’s WAY healthier to be naughty with a kids’ meal of chicken strips (which is STILL twice the serving reccomendation for protine)
My favorite trick is to eat it anyway and then think really hard about exercising it off later. If I fret enough I can actually work up a mild sweat, which I hear is healthy.
My other trick is to eat it anyway, and then eat something healthy to “cancel it out”.
……….
You’re welcome.
This post will go into the “why women are a different species” file. I read it twice and still don’t understand it.
I find that by moving to a vegetarian/vegan diet is mostly low-cal. Whatever you like you get as a veggie/soy-based version instead. While a few years back it was laughable, today’s recipes are far more tasty. Also, avoid any foods that have partially-hydrogenated oils in them. I live this five to six days a week, and then celebrate on Sundays with a meat-based meal, which means far more afterwards.
The waste of food in America is a very common practice that needs to be corrected. The fact that this country have plenty of everything doesn’t justify to waste the food. I believe you are responsible for that food that you ordered, if you see is too much take it home or give it to a homeless. I’m coming from a third world country where starvation is still an issue on some sectors. Also remember our Lord comment after the miracles of the loaves John 6:12 “Gather up the fragments left over, that nothing may be lost”