Food Management Practices and Strategies….(Part 5, Final Chapter)
A few evenings ago I cooked a pot of turkey soup while watching a hockey game on TV. It was easy. I had the turkey meat ready in the freezer, taken from the leftovers of our Christmas turkey. I just threw it in the pot, added water, some chicken bouillion cubes, carrot, turnip, celery, onion, rice, peas, savory, and simmered it for about two hours. Easy right? It is now, but it took a lot of trial and error for me to be able to consistently cook a good pot of soup. Thanks to that effort we had two meals ready-made and another put in the freezer for later.
That’s a good example of how I prepare food at home. I’ve talked about it a lot in earlier blogs. Food Management is the cornerstone of my success. But how do I keep it up when I’m not eating at home and don’t always have the foods available to me that I would like? I have strategies that work fairly well, but for me there’s no replacing what I do at home when I’m in control. In essence, when I’m not preparing my own food I’m in ‘damage control’ mode. This is how I have to think so I don’t lose my mental focus and make poor choices. In this blog I’ll describe the most common situations when I eat away from home and what I try to do to minimize the nurtitional damage!
The most frequent situation is when my wife and I travel to the city for the day, which is about an hour from our home. We go there on business or pleasure, and sometimes both in the same day. It’s usually a long day, and we eat two meals there. One thing we do is to pack a cooler with healthy snacks, which might include apples, bananas, fruit cup, yogurt, or any number of items. I make sure I have something every couple of hours, so that when we do stop to eat I don’t feel too hungry and won’t overeat. Lunch is usually something light, a sandwich, soup, salad, baked potatoe, or chili. Although the ingredients used may not always be perfect, I believe those choices are a lot better than burgers, fries, pizza, fried chicken, deep-fried fish, or sub sandwiches with processed meats. If we are in the city for our second meal, I’ll usually want to have a proper sit down meal instead of something on the fly. My preferred option is a chinese food buffet, since I can choose from a wide variety of items and I try to pick primarily the vegetable and rice dishes. Again, the way these items are prepared, using sauces and sodium, are not the greatest, but I think its the lesser of many evils that I could chose from the buffet, or from a menu at most restaurants as well. My other favorite is a hot turkey sandwich. I get some strange looks when I ask for one slice of whole wheat bread, extra turkey, baked potatoe instead of french fries, and hold the gravy.
Another situation that happens from time to time is when I eat at a luncheon or dinner on business or at a function involving the volunteer organization I am with. Often there is no menu choice, and its usually soup and sandwich for a luncheon, and roast beef, roast chicken or turkey dinner for an evening fuction. For lunch, I usually have no problem with the soup. Sandwiches can be a problem depending on the ingredients. I avoid white bread any anything that looks like it was mixed with mayonnaise. I go for roast beef and tomatoe when I can get it. In the evening, the dinner is almost always served with everything, the meat, potatoe, and vegetable, all covered in gravy. I don’t know if its like that everywhere, or if its just a cultural thing here in Newfoundland, but people don’t think a cooked meal like that is complete unless its smothered in gravy! I refuse to eat gravy, so when I’m faced with that reality I will ask the server to get me a plate from the kitchen with no gravy. They are always happy to oblige. Another danger is that chicken is always served with the skin on. I’m careful to cut my meat away from the skin with my fork and knife. I believe that not having gravy or chicken skin in these circumstances has reduced substantially reduced the fat and calories I consume when I eat at one of these functions, and over time that has added up to much body fat being avoided! Also, there is almost always a sweet dessert served at a luncheon or dinner. Cookies, cake, pie, puddings, and trifle being the most common. If I’m served fruit cocktail I’ll eat it, otherwise I’ll pass. Instead, I always put an apple in my coat pocket ready to eat when I leave the table. Do people I’m dining with think I’m weird for being so picky about what I’m eating? Probably some do. Do I care? No. The people I’m with at these events are usually in the 30 to 60 age group. Many of them have at least one roll of fat falling over their belts (for the men, I won’t describe the ladies) and a few of them are dangerously obese. Most are somewhere in between. Do I thank God that I found a way out of my unhealthy lifestyle and feel good about how I look and feel? You bet I do!
Another situation is when I am eating at a friend or relative’s house. This can be a difficult situation since not only do you not always have control over what you’re being served, if you refuse it you run the risk of offending your host or worse! Of course, what you can say and request of your hosts depends on what kind of relationship you have with them. For example, if my sister in law offers me something (such as hot dogs for a quick lunch when we were visiting one day during Christmas), I’ve got no problem saying ‘no thanks, I don’t eat that anymore, it’s not the type of food I want to eat.’ She won’t be offended. Now, my elderly Step-Mother is a lot more problematic. She lives in a town 4 hours drive from me and I visit about 3 times a year. She has always cooked for me when I visit, for the last 25 years. She always baked things too for me to take home. I love her for being so thoughtful and appreciate the effort, but I can’t seem to make her understand that I don’t eat the way I used to and it’s really important to me to eat how I want to eat now. When I call to plan a visit she tells me what meals she is going to prepare and suggests what goodies I might liked baked. If I tell her I don’t want something she says something like: "What? I’ve always made that for you! Don’t be so foolish, having it once and awhile won’t hurt you!" So, she’s cooking things and baking things I don’t want to eat because it makes her feel good and its a way for her to show how much she cares. Any suggestions on how I make her change her behavior without causing severe hurt feelings? I certainly don’t know how to do it. I’ll just have to put up with it. During my visits, which are only for one night (they would be longer but she’s a smoker - that’s a whole other blog) I will eat that one meal she insisted on preparing (then take a long walk). Breakfast is not a problem, I’ll just have toast. For the other meal or two I will just have a sandwich or I will take her out to a restaurant where I can order something half-decent. As for the baked goods, I will take them home and sometimes my wife will eat some of them or we’ll just give the stuff away. Those short visits aren’t too damaging to my overall food management. But just imagine if I was expected to eat there once a week, or if I had more than one relative like that who cooked for me regularly. I’m sure there are lots of people out there who find its easier just to eat what they’re given rather than cause a lot of family strife and hurt feelings. I can’t tell you what to do, but you have to do something to minimize the damage to your body if you’re serious about eating clean and transforming your body. It all comes back to making the choice to be in control of what goes into your body. Sometimes the choices affect other people, and it can be a challenge to deal with it.
The final situation where I am challenged in my food management is when I travel away from home for work. Most of the business trips are 4 to 5 days, and I have about 5 of them each year. Many are to small communities where there may be only a small motel or a bed and breakfast to stay at. I have to admit that over the years I have made many poor choices while on these business trips. It’s easy to make poor choices when the good options for eating are rare. I haven’t been on one of these trips in about 6 months, but I have several coming up over the next 4 months. I haven’t had to face this challenge since I got 100% serious about my food management in October. What will I do? I’m thinking I’ll do a lot of little things right in hopes of avoiding making any significant poor choices. Like I said, it’s all about damage control. For example, I will bring a bag of apples and some bananas with me for snacks. I will bring a case of bottled water so I can keep hydrated and feeling full. I will try to eat a really good breakfast (instead of just toast) so I won’t be too hungry at mid-day. I will try to have soup and green salads for lunch. The evenings will be the hardest part. Most places to eat in small communities have the same standard fare…deep fried everything, salty everything, fatty everything. No chicken breasts to be found. Instead of just accepting what’s on the menu I’ll have to ask for alternatives….I’m not looking forward to the hastle but I’m determined not to let this situation undermine all of the progress I’ve made. I’d rather bring a jar of peanut butter and a loaf of whole wheat bread and have that in my room than eat garbage!
When I travel I also don’t get to workout. I work evenings so as to get the job done and get home as soon as possible. If I’m lucky I’ll get a quick walk or two during my trip. These trips are an unfortunate but necessary part of my business, so at this point in my life I have no choice but to deal with them. When those travel days are over and I’m on my way home, I have so much pent-up energy and my body is craving a workout so much that I feel like I could scream! Don’t stand in front of me when I’m on my way to the gym or you might get bowled over!
Damage Control. It’s what you have to learn when you eat away from home and can’t always bring your food with you. You’ll develop your own strategies and ways to cope that work best for your own situation. You’ll do it if you’re truly serious about managing your food.
I’ve written 5 blogs posts about ‘Food Management Practices and Strategies’, talking about my attitude towards food, the actual foods I eat, and statategies for dealing with different situations. My knowledge of nutrition is still a work in progress and I am sure that over the months and years to come I will improve my choices and eating behaviors even more. My most important message on this broad topic is this: Everyone has to start somewhere. If you have the desire to change your behavior, start right now. One small positive step will lead to others, and over time it will accumulate to a big change in your life and health, if you want to make it happen. You are not alone. Seek help where ever you can, from the web, from a personal trainer or dietician, from friends. Measure your success in small ways, don’t strive for perfection because there is no such thing. Strive for good health and a change in lifestyle that will stay with you forever. Keep a positive attitude towards what you are doing and enjoy your journey.
