How I Reduce the Guilt of Dining Out
Or, how to continue to enjoy life while maintaining a healthy diet.
I love to eat. This may be one of the most needlessly spoken sentences in the English language. Love of food is a universal element of the human condition. Yes, we NEED to eat to survive — but, we WANT food for the sheer pleasure of eating. When I was growing up, my stay-at-home mom prepared a home cooked meal every day of my young life. Dining out was rare to the point of being almost non-existent in my household. I was good with that. My mom was a simple, basic, meat and potatoes kind of cook. Meals were hearty and flavorful. Desserts were homemade and worth every extra calorie (calories being something I paid absolutely no attention to in my early years, living at home) that they might be adding to my tomboy-like figure.
I Started to Expand When My World Started to Expand When I entered the world of semi-adulthood, my life started to expand — as is usually the case when college and employment become a major factor in daily life. Exposure to different people, different experiences and different ideas lead to added exposure to different foods — good foods, exotic foods, fast foods, sometimes foods with a less than stellar nutritional profile. A lot of life experiences evolve around a dining table. Family gatherings, events with friends, even business transactions somehow find their focus around a pizza or a plate of paella.
This is the good part about dining out — finding common ground over a shared culinary experience.
The bad part about dining out is losing a level of knowledge and control over exactly what (and how much) you are consuming. If you’re conscious of your weight (and, let’s face it — most of us reach a point where we SHOULD pay attention) or have dietary restrictions, dining out can be a minefield of unhealthy options.
Awareness is the First Step to Self-Control. Dining out shouldn’t be a gluttonous free-for-all. Fortunately, for me, I was never a super big eater. I attribute my ability to push away from the table before I exploded to my mother, who never forced me to “clean my plate.” Instead, some of my childish picky-ness carried over into adulthood. I always gravitated towards being a “plain food” eater. Condiments, sauces, creamy dressings, breading or extra toppings never caught on with me and my palate. I’ll take broiled salmon, seasoned with herbs, over fettuccini Alfredo any day of the week. Strangely, I even prefer to eat my salad dry, rather than soak my otherwise healthy vegetables in a pool of dressing. Just by my very nature of being a plain food eater, I am able to bob and weave around some of the most dangerous fat and calorie landmines — especially when dining out.
My Achilles Heel Before I start to come across as some sort of eccentric health nut or dietary guru, let me reveal the two weak links in my gastronomic chain. They are, without too much fanfare — wine and dessert. Yep, they are big obstacles to a healthy diet — I know them for what they are. And I love them just the same. For me, the greatest treat is a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon paired with a piece of rich, dark chocolate. But, oh, I don’t stop there. I am not one of those wine drinkers who hones in one varietal or one particular wine type. I am definitely an equal opportunity wine taster/drinker. I have found very few wines where I could not find some redeeming virtue in the tasting experiences — and believe me, I’ve tried more than a few. And chocolate — what can I say about chocolate that hasn’t already been said by many before me. Even the word has a smooth and creamy feel on my tongue. So, when it comes to focusing in on where I need to monitor my food intake, I know exactly where to look.
The First Bite and the Tenth Bite — All the Same Any diet program that focuses on moderation will tell you that the first bite of chocolate cake and the tenth bite of chocolate cake taste exactly the same. The idea being, I suppose, that you’ve reached the ultimate tasting experience very early in the game, so why not just stop after the first few bites. I applaud this effort — and, for the most part, I try to follow this course of action. As I said, I probably have less trouble pushing back from the table than the average person. As long as I don’t feel I have to give up my chocolate cake entirely, I’m reasonably good at moderating my enjoyment.
Ahh, But That First Sip is Not the Last I’m sure the “first bite tastes like the tenth bite” theory should apply to my wine indulgence as well. But, in reality, it does not. Even as the first sip of wine slides over my tongue and down my throat, I feel myself relaxing and easing into the mood around me. A glass of wine with a good friend is the ultimate pre-dinner — after-dinner — end of a long day — dealing with a stressful situation — no really good reason whatsoever — way to ease into an enjoyable moment.
One glass is good — two is often better. I try to buy into the claims that a glass (or two) or wine has health benefits, even though I am a bit skeptical about its overall value in that respect.
In Conclusion: The only time I’m really remorseful about the perils of dining out is — well, never, actually. We live in a fast paced world where people like my stay-at-home mother, lovingly preparing home cooked, healthy meals each day, come at a premium. Dining out has become a way of life. That way of life comes with a certain responsibility to one’s health. If you, like me, can focus on the strengths and weaknesses we experience in our food selections, and work to act accordingly in our best interest, I still think we’ll be alright.
RECENT STORIES