It’s been a while since I have posted a non-training entry, so I figured today would be a good time! I was trying to figure out what topic to cover, but lo and behold a combination of the internet and my co-workers provided me with the inspiration I needed.
Thanksgiving was about a week and a half ago, and people around my office ever since have talked about how they gorged themselves on turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, and of course pumpkin pie! Now don’t get me wrong, on three separate occasion I ate more than my fair share of all of those (except the stuffing…never been a fan). I guess the main difference is that some of my coworkers were talking prior to Thanksgiving about how they were going to try not to pig out this year. For me, on the other hand, I had every intention of feasting on some pastured turkey, vegetables, and homemade pumpkin pie with a whole wheat crust! I follow the 90/10 rule (eat well 90% of the time, relax the other 10%), so as long as I was on point leading up to Thanksgiving then I was free to eat to my heart's content.
What I find interesting about my co-workers’ situation, though, is that they frequently talk about how they try not to pig out at Thanksgiving since they are trying to lose weight or something of that nature. The same thing applies to Christmas Parties since it is that time of year again.
Let me clarify something first: if you want to eat the pumpkin pie, then by all means dig in. That’s what I did. However if you truly want to be “good” this holiday season and avoid the sweets, then prepare for it! It should be no surprise that pretty much anywhere you go around the holidays WILL have some form of seasonal dessert (and probably more than one to be honest). So how do you prepare?
PRE-EAT!
It sounds like a simple concept, and it is. Additionally, it’s an incredibly health-conscious concept! Just eat something before you go (such as raw broccoli and hummus or celery and baba ghanoush). That is the crucial part though. If you pre-eat with crappy food, that defeats the whole purpose of pre-eating. In fact, you'll probably be worse off than if you didn't pre-eat since crappy food tends not to be filling thereby allowing you to eat even more!
If you pre-eat with high quality foods, then the benefits of this are several-fold. First, and most obvious, you’re eating vegetables or some other healthy food. That cannot be bad. Secondly, since you are consuming a fibrous, high volume foods (as in water volume), it will help to satisfy your hunger without a ton of calories. When you actually get to your destination, you will be fairly full from pre-eating and therefore less likely to give in to temptations. Even if you decide to eat desserts and sweets, it is very likely that you will consume less of them because you will be so full.
I pre-eat all the time. In fact, Lauren and I have a Christmas party to go to tonight where I'm not sure what to expect in the food department. As you probably guessed, I plan on pre-eating. As a matter of fact, I have some lentils and veggies cooking in the Crock-Pot as I type this. You can check back to one of my earlier posts about the greatness that is the Crock-Pot!!
Here’s a perfect example of when pre-eating can (and should) be used:
The very first paragraph from the article states the following:
“A medium-sized popcorn and medium soda at the nation's largest movie chain pack the nutritional equivalent of three Quarter Pounders topped with 12 pats of butter….”
That’s absolutely ridiculous. The article goes on to give a few specifics on movie popcorn that detail just how bad it is:
“It found that a Regal medium popcorn -- 20 cups -- contains 1,200 calories, 60 grams of saturated fat, and 980 milligrams of sodium. That's without the buttery topping that can be drizzled -- or poured -- on the popcorn, which adds another 200 calories and 3 grams of saturated fat per 1.5 tablespoons.”
A couple of things jump off the page here…the most unbelievable to me is that a medium popcorn is 20 cups!! How many cups are in a large? I’d be willing to bet they offer an extra-large too! I’m not terribly surprised by the calories and fat content. The numbers are huge to be sure, but I expected that. I guess I never had considered the actual volume of a popcorn tub before.
Anyway, back to the pre-eating concept. If you are susceptible to the temptation of a big, buttery tub of popcorn at the movies, just eat before you go. You can ensure that you eat high quality foods that are highly nutritious and will keep you on track to accomplishing whatever your goals may be (that is, assuming your goals are NOT to pig out on movie popcorn).
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