Recipe for a Delicious Life: Discover the Perfect Blend of Food & Music to Stimulate

Chapter Seven

Developing and Maintaining a Healthy Food Lifestyle

PREPARING SOMEONE THEIR favorite food and seeing them enjoy it is rewarding, but it can be even more satisfying to serve them a surprise that they relish—maybe because the stakes are higher.

When you’re making something with which they are familiar, you know what you are being judged against. When it’s new there is a greater element of risk. Do you know them well enough to be able to “read” their likes and appetites?

One of the biggest dinner gambles I ever made was with a stake of more than $10,000. That is how much it cost to prepare an intimate eight-course meal for a famous actress-singer. As part of my work with her, I’d deliver healthy brown-bag lunches to the studio where she was filming a television series.

She came to me one day and told me she was inviting a top producer and his girlfriend over for a dinner with her and her boyfriend. She wanted a part in a movie the studio guy was involved in and hoped a fine meal might help seal the deal.

“I’m going to get this movie job and you are going to help me,” she told me. “I want you to go over and beyond what you may be thinking. Don’t tell me the menu, just surprise me. I trust you.”

Well, that was exciting and scary at the same time. The challenge got my creative juices flowing. I had a month to prepare, designing just the right progression of small portions, from appetizers to desserts, and pairing each dish with the perfect wine. I ordered the best ingredients from one of Beverly Hills’ top specialty food stores, and hired a sommelier to ensure the wines were exactly right.

Come the night, I joined the tuxedo-clad servers to introduce each course. “I’m Zipora,” I said, “and I came all the way from Israel to prepare this meal for you.” That got a laugh, and at the end of the meal I was brought back for a round of applause.

And my client got the part. Phew!

Sometimes it wasn’t only my clients who were not sure what they were going to be eating for dinner. There were times when I did not know, either.

It was one thing to be able to cater well for The Kelly Family band members when we were at their home base in Cove, Ireland, a tiny, one-pub village about twenty minutes from Cork in the south of the country. Their favorites included Cornish hen and eggs Benedict. It was another matter when we were out on the road.

At that time, cities like Prague and Budapest that were just out from under Communist rule didn’t always have the fresh vegetables I was familiar with. I had to use local produce I didn’t know well, and still make it taste delicious and nourishing.

How did I do it? Intuition mostly, and sticking with the core principles of eating healthy. If you can’t find romaine lettuce, it’s not such a leap to replace it with some other green leafy vegetable that is available. In Croatia, for example, the street markets didn’t carry asparagus, green beans, spinach, or zucchini—all vegetables that were an established part of the band’s diet. But because Croatia is on the Adriatic coast, several kinds of seaweed vegetables were available.

From town to town and market to market, I didn’t know what would be available. Sometimes even after I cooked the meal, I still didn’t know the name of some of the items I had used in the meal. Band members would tell me a particular dish was delicious and ask me what was in it. All I could answer was, “Don’t ask,” with a smile.

Those rock tour travel experiences emphasized the importance of flexibility, and have helped me guide many other clients through the challenge of sticking with a program that sustains a healthy body weight and nutrition in the face of the challenges and uncertainties life often throws our way—whether we are at home or on the road.

Firmness and Flexibility

Most people who travel aren’t fortunate enough to have a private chef to take care of them. They have to rely largely on restaurants. But it is possible to stay consistent with your eating when away from home. It just takes a little more intention and effort.

Planning ahead is key—taking time to prepare ahead of departure will reduce the challenges you face. For instance, consider booking a room that has a small kitchen so you can prepare your own food. Build a little time into your schedule so you can visit a store and stock up on the things you will need.

If you have to eat out, you don’t need a restaurant with a low-carb or low-fat menu, ideal though that may be. But you do have to be specific about what food you want and how you want it prepared. It shouldn’t be difficult to find a restaurant that can grill a piece of beef, chicken, or fish for you. Ask the server to have the chef prepare the meat or fish how you’d normally eat it at home.

If you’re going for beef, choose filet mignon—it’s the leanest cut. Always ask the server to request that the chef grill the meat, so there is no need for butter. Just to be absolutely sure, request No butter. You’ll also want to be clear about No sauce. Don’t worry about blandness. There’s plenty the cook can do with spices alone to make your meat or fish delicious.

Add to this a steamed green vegetable and a small salad with a low-calorie dressing on the side. If there’s no low-cal dressing, go for balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Now you’ve got a great meal without sacrificing your eating goals. You can even have dessert. Ask for a serving of fresh fruit like strawberries, melon, or peaches to top off your meal.

If you aren’t taking care of yourself adequately, you’re not going to be able to function at your best for very long.

We travel for different reasons and each kind of trip has its own mindset. What’s important is that you don’t put it ahead of your health and well-being. Take business travel as an example: you can be so focused on the work you need to get done that you neglect yourself and your own needs. But that’s a short-sighted view. If you aren’t taking care of yourself adequately, you’re not going to be able to function at your best for very long.

Remember, your body is like a fireplace. You want to feed it fuel at a steady rate. Keeping with your aim of eating something every two to three hours may mean carrying some easy snacks with you. An apple, cheese sticks, or sliced veggies in a little travel cooler to keep everything fresh can provide what you need.

If you are taking a trip for pleasure, the temptation can be to take a vacation from healthy eating as well. Indulging yourself a little or trying something new is okay, but don’t go overboard.

When traveling for business or fun, the biggest obstacle to good eating typically is time—either not enough for you to cater well for yourself, or too much so that you eat more than you should. On family visits, the biggest obstacle can sometimes be people!

I’m not suggesting that your family doesn’t want you to be healthy. In most families, eating is a ritual, an almost sacred event. The way your family eats today is probably the way you used to eat back then, when you were with them—the old way. But now you have adopted a different approach. Here is where planning ahead can help: let them know beforehand how you have changed the way you eat, and ask for their help.

Usually they will be willing to accommodate you. Be aware, though, that becoming healthier and happier is your goal and others around you may not understand how important it is for you to eat healthy. They may even seem hurt or upset that you aren’t indulging in the food the way you used to when you would visit.

For whatever reason, there may be occasions when it’s almost impossible to escape everything you shouldn’t eat. In these situations, my advice is: don’t be extreme. Don’t say no to everything, but don’t overdo it either. You can accommodate someone’s feelings without completely surrendering. Just say thank you and have a taste.

Creating a Team

For some people, the big obstacle they face in making a lasting change is internal. Deep down, they think they don’t deserve the new life they are close to reaching, that somehow they are unworthy. And they quietly punish themselves. Others are scared they won’t be able to maintain their new level, so they avoid the issue by making sure they never get there in the first place.

One client, a multi-millionaire businessman, dropped his weight by thirty-five pounds in less than four months through his new eating program. But then, in sight of his fifty-pound weight reduction goal, he began faltering. He would tell me he wanted to skip one week, then another. He claimed it was because he was traveling on business.

Finally, during a coaching session, I asked him about it. He admitted that it wasn’t the travel—he was just more comfortable with what he knew, being overweight, than what lay ahead.

I challenged him, pointing out that he had not been afraid to go into the unknown in building a series of successful businesses; why not apply the same determination in regards to his health? If he wavered now, I warned, chances are he would in time slip all the way back to where he had been.

In the end, what helped this client press on through was encouraging him to pursue his goal not just for himself but also for his daughter, with whom I was also working.

Now thirteen, she had been overweight most of her life, and this was becoming more of an issue for her as she entered her teen years. Recognizing that if he slipped up he would be setting a poor example for his daughter, my client found the motivation to keep going after all.

This is why it can be helpful to have a team approach. You need people who are on your side, sharing and supporting your goals. As the song says, they can be the wind beneath your wings on those days when you are tired of flapping.

You might want to work with a lifestyle coach to keep you sharp. Or maybe consider spending some time with a therapist to look at certain bad habits or thought patterns that may have been in place since childhood. Don’t be discouraged if you need some help in staying on track. We all need to be encouraged to make lifestyle changes permanent. Creating a support team around you is a great way to make sure you can get the right advice when you need it.

A little accountability can help too. I have a client who used to send me postcards when she traveled, letting me know how good she was doing on her eating. That was her motivation. She knew I cared and was proud to hear of her success and support her struggles.

Always keep in mind the long view. Remember that real transformation isn’t temporary; it’s forever. Like any lifestyle change, if it’s worth starting, it’s worth continuing. When you experience the real joy of eating, you’ll want to feel that way all the time.