Special Occasion Eating

Aug 15, 2009

I was reading an article today about making healthier choices at chain restaurants when eating out. Just in case I end up eating at one of those restaurants some day, I transfered the nutritional info... (especially fat and sodium since I have hypertension).. into my food log, which I keep online through fitday.com. ( I have not yet tried the food log on this site.)
I get worried when I start thinking about going to restaurants because of the large portions, high sodium and fat content. I'm afraid I'll give in to temptation and once again start down that road to uncontrolled binging. (Is that redundant?). 

I do allow myslf "special occasion" eating.  But even then, I try to limit my intake of foods outside my normal eating plan which consists of lower fat, low sodium high fiber, high protein foods.  But how may "special occasion" days should I allow myself?  Let's just arbitrarily say i'll allow special occasions 12 times a year, including holidays and birthdays. This doesn't mean a binge fest.  I do my best to honestly list the foods I eat in my daily food log.  It is difficult to weigh foods in a restaurant or at a party, so I have to trust restaurant's online nutrition information.

Also, on days when I know I will be dining out, or eating a holiday dinner, I try to eat less  food for the rest of my meals. And those meals are high protein with virtually no sodium and fat. (i.e. dry cottage cheese and microwaved egg whites seasoned with Mrs. Dash) In that way, I can partially compensate for the high sodium, higher fat foods I may eat later in the day. 

  I make this work by being scrupulous about measuring  food and making healthier choices.  For instance, on those "summer picnic" holidays.. I'll have a turkey burger on a whole grain sandwich thin, instead of a beef hamburger on a white bread bun.  I'll have corn on the cob without salt or butter.  I even ate some dessert.. but a small measured amount.

This is not something I do every day, but just on the 12 days a year I allow myself to go outside my regular food plan.

So now the tough question: Which 12 days do I allow myself to go outside my food plan?

Let's look at holidays and special occaisons.
New Year's Day
Wedding Anniversary
Son's Birthday
Mother's Day
Father's Day
Daughter's Birthday
Easter
Memorial Day
Independence Day
Labor Day
Wife's Birthday
My Birthday
Thanksgiving
Other son's birthday
Christmas Eve
Christmas Day

Oops! That's 16 days, not just 12.  And the list doesn't include dining out if I went on vacation.

Narrowing down the days which you can have "celebration meals" may seem extreme. But I also beleive that weighing more than 500 pounds (which I did at one time) is even more extreme, and requires extreme measures.. such as weight loss surgery.

I'm not suggesting this list for anyone else,  But is shows you how difficult it is to be honest with myself about your eating.

P.S. Just to be clear... I am losing this weight to improve the chances of a safer outcome when I have roux en Y surgery. NO GOING BACK!

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