Losing weight and keeping it off requires that you have skills for all types of situations. Up until now, we’ve focused on your average day. This week, we take a look at handling weekends, vacations, and special occasions. We’ll continue this discussion next week, when we address sticking to your diet plan while at parties. But first, here’s one more way to use veggies to keep you full and satisfied.
Do you want more meatloaf, macaroni and cheese, or potato salad than your waistline and blood glucose should have? Sometimes just a half cup of a favorite food is just right, but other times, it’s terribly unsatisfying. Don’t fret, though. Here are some tactics that will help you out.
In Week 6, you learned to swap one ingredient for another to lower the fat and calories in your recipes. This week, you’ll work on making your portion bigger without increasing the calories and carbs. By slipping in some vegetables, you can actually eat more for less. For example, instead of having one-half cup traditional mac and cheese, enjoy a full cup of reduced-fat mac and cheese with tomatoes and broccoli. Also, consider hiding puréed vegetables in your casseroles, soups, and baked goods. When researchers at Pennsylvania State University did this, the men and women eating in the research lab cut their daily intake by about 350 calories. The bonus? More vegetables and better nutrition.
Try these vegetable sneaks:
• Replace some lasagna noodles with very thinly sliced zucchini. A mandolin is a kitchen tool that thinly slices ingredients, and having one can be very helpful with this. Look for a mandolin in kitchen stores.
• Add lightly steamed or thawed frozen broccoli and canned tomatoes to macaroni and cheese. Be sure to use reduced-fat cheese.
• Tuck puréed broccoli or carrots into tomato-based casseroles.
• Layer sautéed mushrooms and onions over the cheese in a tortilla.
• Give a grilled cheese sandwich a lift with sliced tomato and fresh basil leaves.
• Chop colorful bell peppers, celery, and red onion for both tuna salad and pasta salad. Grape tomatoes and sugar snap peas also work well with pasta salad.
• Add a bag of thawed frozen vegetables to pasta salad. Choose your favorite veggie combination or whatever is on sale.
• Give potato salad some color with steamed, chopped green beans, roasted beets, or other favorite veggies.
• Turn plain rice fancy by adding diced and sautéed summer squash, asparagus, onions, celery, and herbs.
• Top spaghetti squash instead of pasta with your favorite sauce.
• Chop Portobello mushrooms and toss with any beef dish. Portobellos have a very meaty flavor.
• Mix grated zucchini or carrots or puréed vegetables into ground meat for meatloaf or meatballs.
• Substitute puréed cauliflower for half the potatoes in mashed potatoes.
• Make a veggie omelet instead of one with ham and cheese.
• See the Appendix for three bulked-up recipes: Judy’s Lightened Meatloaf, Veggie-Packed Potato Salad, and Rita’s New England Clam Chowder.
Stay the Course on the Weekends
TGIF! Who doesn’t look forward to the weekend, vacations, and special events? It’s important to enjoy time off without extra food, however. It’s much too easy to undo all of your hard work from the week before. Researchers with the National Weight Control Registry (see Week 3 and Month 12 for more information about the NWCR), a registry of over 5,000 people who have lost at least 30 pounds and kept it off for at least one year, learned that day-to-day consistency is important for maintaining weight loss. Loosening up the diet plan on the weekends or special occasions is such a common tendency and one that’s easy to ignore or rationalize away. Special meals out can easily have more than 1,500 calories. Add dessert and a drink or two, and you’re hitting more than 2,000 calories—all in one meal! Throw in some mall fare earlier in the day and your calories are sky high. Even a fancy burger in a casual restaurant can saddle you with more than 1,000 calories—and that’s not including fries or other sides.
Some people nibble all weekend when they’re home. Some sleep late and skip exercise. Some people just plain lose focus on the weekends or when they’re away from home because they’re more relaxed. So how can you keep the same vigilance on the weekends or on vacations that you have at other times? Be sure you try to stick to a schedule, even if it’s not the same schedule you have during the week. Eat breakfast, have lunch a few hours later, and dinner a few hours after that. Find time for exercise, even if it’s different from your usual routine, and make tradeoffs. If you want spaghetti at your favorite Italian restaurant, skip the bread and drinks and take an extra walk. Keep a detailed food record. Even if you use a shorter food record during the week or no food record at all (and this is a good time to remind you that food records work!), track your intake in as much detail as possible over the weekend. Don’t forget to remind yourself of your goals. If you falter, pick yourself back up and get back on track, and don’t try to be perfect. A perfect diet doesn’t exist, and trying to behave that way has sent many dieters into a binge.
The decision to drink alcohol is between you and your doctor. Among other things, that decision will depend on your calorie needs, blood glucose control, and medications. If you decide to drink, pay special attention to your blood glucose. Alcohol can cause hypoglycemia shortly after drinking, or it can even occur the following day because the liver is unable to release glucose into the bloodstream. You are especially at risk for hypoglycemia if you take medications that have that as a potential side effect (namely, insulin, sulfonylureas, and meglitinides). If you’re unsure if you take any of these medications, call your pharmacist or doctor’s office. Lessen the risk of having low blood glucose by eating pretzels, bread, fruit, or other food containing carbohydrate while you drink. You might also experience high blood glucose when drinking, but that is not from the alcohol. High blood glucose occurs from the food you eat at the same time or from the carbohydrate-containing beverage you mix with your drink.
Alcoholic drinks also have calories that you must consider. If you cut back on food to save calories, you’ll be even more likely to experience hypoglycemia. But if you don’t cut calories, you won’t be able to lose weight. It is best to follow your usual meal plan when drinking alcoholic beverages and to drink only a moderate amount (see below). Additionally, measure blood glucose more often when you drink alcohol to see how it affects you. Measure it an hour or two after drinking, before driving, at bedtime, and even more often, including the middle of the night, if you are unsure how your blood glucose is reacting.
What Is Moderate Drinking?
Because women metabolize alcohol more slowly than men, the definition of “moderate drinking” is different for the sexes. For men, moderate drinking is having no more than two drinks per day. For women, it’s having no more than one drink daily. One drink is
• 1 bottle or can (12 fluid ounces) of beer
• 1.5 fluid ounces of 80-proof liquor such as bourbon and vodka
• 1 fluid ounce of 100-proof liquor such as bourbon and vodka
• 4–5 fluid ounces of wine
Calorie Counts of Common Alcoholic Beverages
Being Moderate
It’s tough to say no when you’re out with friends, but limiting the amount you drink is important for your weight and blood glucose control.
• Sip slowly and avoid pressure from others to pick up the pace.
• Start your evening with a nonalcoholic drink like sparkling water with a twist of lime. For something more filling and with a little zip, try tomato or vegetable juice with lemon and a couple drops of hot sauce.
• Alternate alcoholic beverages with non-alcoholic ones. Drink at least as much water as alcoholic beverages.
• Keep track of how much you’re drinking by refilling your own glass and avoiding topping off your drinks.
• Look for low-alcohol and non-alcoholic beers and wine.
• Make a wine spritzer. Mix equal parts wine with club soda or diet
ginger ale.
• Wear medical ID when drinking.
WEEK 10 ACTION STEPS
Continue your current goals or rewrite them if necessary. Additionally, select from the following goals or steps, modify them, or create your own. Choose goals from the previous weeks if applicable. This week I will:
Continue the following goals: ____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
Try at least two strategies to add vegetables to my recipes.
Eat at least three cups of nonstarchy vegetables every day.
Keep a detailed food record on the weekends.
Maintain my food record and eating plan while on vacation.
Take a 30-minute walk Saturday and Sunday.
Drink a low-calorie nonalcoholic beverage before drinking alcohol.
Drink alcohol only on Friday or Saturday.
Take my blood glucose meter with me when I’m planning to drink away from home and use it.
Other:__________________________________________________________