What happened to elegance in eating? When did the concepts of “eating-on-the-go” or devouring plastic-wrapped or boxed meals become appropriate methods of dining? How did eating in front of the TV or in the car become alternatives to the dinner table? Our modern lives are often hectic and mindless; jumping from work to family to social and community obligations. Running down the long to-do list, barely crossing each item off, even exercise has to be scheduled. Many of us have lost touch with what food is and what it does. For many, it is merely a means to quench hunger, rather than to nourish. Our health and meals have sadly become an inconvenience.

Elegance in dining brings to mind fresh, whole foods and ingredients and the time to touch, smell, and taste flavors. Chopping, slicing, cooking, putting love into your foods is elegance. Presentation on a plate with silverware and cloth napkin at a dinner table with candles and the scent of flowers in a nearby vase is elegance. Spending time and nourishing yourself and those you love is elegance. Welcome back elegance and mindfully prepare and eat your next meal.

1. Eat before you go. If you eat about thirty minutes to an hour before dining out, it will make sticking to your meal plan much easier. When your stomach is growling, making good food choices is hard. A good example of a premeal snack is a small piece of fruit, a yogurt, and a bit of low fat cheese.

2. Avoid skipping breakfast and lunch to “save up.” Skipping meals will definitely make you overeat and will slow down your metabolism.

3. Eat the lower-calorie foods first. Order soups and salads to start and you will be less hungry when the higher-calorie entree arrives.

4. If bread or chips are too tempting, REMOVE them from your table. Do not fool yourself with willpower. It is almost impossible to stop eating if it is in front of you. Practice out of sight, out of mouth.

5. Order an appetizer as your main entree.

6. Think about your choices and what will be best for your meal plan and limit your alcohol intake.

7. Ask about portion sizes and how things are cooked.

8. Request substitutions. Many restaurants are great about accommodating your needs.

9. Always ask for salad dressing and sauces on the side and do not trust a menu that describes a dressing as light. This definition is frequently misused.

10. Choose broiled, grilled, or roasted meats and steamed vegetables.

11. If portion sizes are too large, share it or ask for a “take-home bag.”

1. Keep cleaned and prepped vegetables in your fridge like broccoli, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes, and turnips.

2. Double up on vegetables in sandwiches and wraps.

3. Eat a salad with lunch and dinner or even as a snack. A salad can be as simple as mixed greens with tomato drizzled lightly with olive oil and seasoned with salt and ground pepper.

4. Make stir fries. Add a low-fat sauce to diced and frozen cut vegetables.

5. Add extra vegetables to sauces and casseroles. For example, add carrots to spaghetti sauce.

6. Make vegetable soup or get a can of low sodium soup and add vegetables.

7. Dip vegetables in low fat salad dressing.

8. Add vegetables to side dishes like rice or beans.

9. Add vegetables to egg white scrambles.

10. Grill or roast zucchini, portobello mushrooms, eggplant, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussel sprouts, bell peppers or asparagus drizzled lightly with olive oil and seasoned with salt and ground pepper.

Asparagus is best when the blossom heads are tightly closed and the stalks are smooth, firm and brightly colored.  Thinner spears are usually more tender but fatter ones are sweeter once they are peeled.  Choose similarly sized asparagus so that they will cook evenly.

To prepare asparagus, hold each spear and bend until it snaps.  The spear will break at the point where it becomes tender.  For fat spears, use a peeler to remove the paper-thin layers of skin to expose pale green flesh.  Start about 1-inch below the blossom head and peel down along the spear towards the cut end.

Cooking Asparagus

Boil.  Cook the asparagus uncovered in a large pot of salted boiling water until just tender.  This will be about a few minutes for fatter ones and less for skinnier ones.  Drain and serve hot or at room temperature.  To cool asparagus, lay them out on a towel.

Steam. Place peeled asparagus in a steamer over boiling water for a bout a few minutes or until just tender.

Roast.  Place peeled asparagus in one layer on a baking pan.  Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt and freshly ground pepper.  Make sure all the spears are coated uniformly.  Roast in 400 degree F-oven until tender, which will be about 9 to 11 minutes.  Turn the spears once, halfway through the cooking.

Grill.  Coat peeled asparagus uniformly with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt and freshly ground pepper.  Place them in one layer on the grill or use a grilling basket.  Grill until tender.  Grill for about 3 to 5 minutes, roll the spears and grill for another 3 to 5 minutes.

Eating asparagus can help you protect yourself against heart disease.  It contains folate as well as vitamins E, A, and C. Asparagus also contains potassium, which can help you lower your blood pressure and cholesterol.

In order to lose fat you must lose weight and to lose weight you must eat fewer calories than you are expending. Cutting just carbohydrates is not the solution. Carbohydrates are needed so you can function properly and be able to sustain your exercise plan. Plus carbohydrates actually help you burn fat as you lose weight by transporting fat cells to be metabolized. So if you are lacking carbohydrates you may stop burning fat cells. Carbohydrates, such as whole grains, are rich in B vitamins which are key elements in helping your metabolism work, thus a diet low in whole grains negatively affects your metabolism. In addition, glucose in the blood (a simple carbohydrate) and glucose in muscle in the form of glycogen (a complex carbohydrate), are the primary sources of energy when you exercise. Therefore, if carbohydrates are either missing from your diet or are being eaten in insufficient amounts, your body will be forced to attain the glucose needed for energy from protein. Your body gets energy from protein by breaking down your muscles, which causes decreased muscle mass and can be very detrimental for the functioning of your body. Plus muscle drives your resting metabolic rate, so having a higher muscle mass helps burn more fat, even while you are at rest.

Combine quinoa and vegetable broth in a saucepan; bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes or until broth is absorbed and quinoa is tender. Remove from heat.

Place tofu on several layers of paper towels; cover with additional paper towels. Let stand 5 minutes. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add tofu; sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt. Sauté tofu 9 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from heat; cool completely.

Combine remaining 2 tablespoons oil, remaining 1 teaspoon salt, basil, and next 6 ingredients (through garlic) in a large bowl; stir with a whisk until blended. Stir in quinoa.

Cook lima beans according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Cool completely. Add the lima beans, tofu, chopped tomato, green onions, chopped carrot, and black beans to quinoa mixture; stir gently to combine. Store, covered, in refrigerator until ready to serve.

Yield: 10 servings (serving size: 1 cup)

Calories 232(24% from fat); Fat 6.2g (sat 0.6g,mono 3.7g,poly 1.2g); Protein 9.8g; Cholesterol 0.0mg; Calcium 68mg; Sodium 722mg; Fiber 6.7g; Iron 3.8mg; Carbohydrate 35.1g.

Allowances: 1.2 allowances of very lean meat,  1.1 allowances of fat, and 2.5 allowances of grains and starches.

Quinoa is a protein rich seed that has a fluffy, creamy, slightly crunchy texture and a somewhat nutty flavor when cooked. Quinoa is available in your local health food stores throughout the year.

Making quinoa

1 cup quinoa
2 cups boiling water

In a saucepan, boil water and add quinoa. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Cook until all of the water is absorbed.  Fluff the cooked quinoa with a fork and serve.

Note that for every 1 cup dry quinoa use 2 cups boiling water. One cup dry quinoa is equivalent to 3 cups cooked.

Yield: 3 servings (serving size is 1 cup)

Calories 159 (14.2% from fat); Fat 2.5g (sat 0.3g, mono 0.7g); Protein 5.6g; Carb 29.3g; Fiber 2.5g; Chol 0.0mg; Sodium 8.9mg; Potassium 314.5mg.

Allowances: 2 allowances of grains and starches and 1 allowance of very lean meat

Sumo wrestling is an ancient Japanese sport; where the heavier you are the better! They stare each other in the eyes and slap their feet and enormous thighs, trying to break their opponent’s courage. One of the heaviest sumo wrestlers, or rikishi in Japanese, was Hawaiian born Konisiki. He weighed 630 at his peak. So, how do sumo wrestlers get so big?

Sumo Wrestlers’ Tricks for Getting Big

• Don’t eat breakfast. Sumo wrestlers never eat breakfast. This is a great way to slow your metabolism way down and will definitely ensure over eating later in the day.
• Exercise on an empty stomach. When you exercise without proper fueling, your metabolism will conserve every ounce of energy you have left to get you through the activity. So you end up burning far less calories then you would have had you eaten prior to exercising.
• Eat only 1 to 2 meals each day. Sumo wrestlers get up early, work out and then don’t eat until late in the day. This way they will be starving and will eat anything they can grab and in enormous amounts. This ensures a great calorie surplus and maximum weight gain. When you eat a large amount of calories in one sitting, the body will use up what it can and then fill your extra energy reserves for later. When your storage gets full, everything left over is stored directly as fat.
• Drink alcohol. Sumo wrestlers drink large amounts of alcohol with their meals (their favorite is beer). For a sumo wrestler, the bigger the belly the better!
• Eat out. Many studies have found that people eating in a restaurant will eat 40% more food and 30% more fat then they would if they were at home. Sumo wrestlers like to distract each other while eating to make sure they don’t notice those “getting full” signals. They also always have someone else cook for them so they don’t pay attention to fat or ingredients.
• Sleep after eating. When they finish their large meals, the wrestlers will get up and take a long nap. Going to sleep on a full stomach forces the body to store most of the calories as fat because it doesn’t have the ability to metabolize large amounts of food while sleeping.

Yikes, I bet a lot of these behaviors sound really familiar! I know they do to me. Getting up early, skipping breakfast, running to the gym, eating a late (large) lunch and an even later (larger) dinner and then heading to bed. This is the busy American life that many people live. When working as many hours as most do, it is easy to eat like a sumo wrestler!

What if you don’t want to look like a sumo wrestler?

• Eat breakfast like a King (or Queen!). Breakfast really is the most important meal of the day! Breakfast gives your metabolism a daily kick-start plus it helps control your appetite throughout the rest of the day. We recommend a high fiber breakfast that has at least 15g of fiber. This can be attained by eating a high fiber cereal (at east 5g of fiber per serving), topped with 2 tbsp ground flaxseed meal and blueberries. Fiber helps keep you satiated and also regulates blood glucose – so no energy crashes!
• Fuel prior to exercising and post exercising. For a pre-workout snack eat 1/2 a banana, a few whole-wheat crackers and 1/2 c of fruit juice (focus on carbohydrates). This will ensure you have a stronger workout and you will actually burn more calories! Then make sure to have a protein and carbohydrate based snack post-workout to refill your energy stores and maintain muscle mass.
• Eat throughout the day. Take time to eat a healthy lunch and don’t forget those late morning and afternoon snacks! We recommend eating every 3 hours (plus or minus 30 minutes). This will keep the hunger-inducing hormone, Ghrelin, at bay, ensuring you will not over eat and will make good choices.
• Limit alcohol. For weight loss, we recommend drinking no more than about 4 servings of alcohol per week. (Reminder: 1 serving of wine is 4 oz or 1/2 c, 1 serving of beer is 12 oz or a pint, and hard alcohol is 1.5 oz.) Alcohol is metabolized like a fat in the body, so think of each drink as eating 2 Fats (plus a Grain and Starch for beers!)
• Limit eating in restaurants. When eating at a restaurant it is much easier to make bad choices and eat too much, plus you cannot control the ingredients. Restaurants use a shocking amount of fatty products to ensure a yummy tasting meal. Don’t trust anything labeled “low fat” or “healthy choice” without doing a little investigating!
• Don’t eat a huge dinner and then head to bed. About 70% of your calories should be consumed during the day and only 30% should be eaten in the evening. For example, if you are following 1700 calories per day, then before your dinner you should consume about 1190 calories evenly spread out throughout the day, and then have about 510 calories for dinner and dessert.

It is easy to fall into bad sumo habits that stay with us for years. If you have difficulty with the above listed tips, then chose 1 or 2 and work on them. When you feel confident, then chose another 1 to 2, and work on those. You don’t have to be perfect all at once, or perfect every moment. It takes time to break habits, but you can definitely do it! Be nice to yourself and take baby steps. Many bad habits that people have were acquired over many years and they will not disappear over night. Just make small attainable adjustments and before you know it, those bad habits (and the weight) will be in the past!

Resources:
http://www.ada.com
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11138566

A great snack idea is a cup of baby carrots enjoyed with 2 Tbsp of hummus.

Cup of carrots is 1 allowance of non-starchy vegetable. Hummus is 1/2 allowance of very lean meat, 1/2 allowance of fat and 1/4 allowance of grains and starches.

1/2 cup diced apple
8 ounces Brussels sprouts, trimmed and quartered
2 tablespoons apple cider
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Combine apple and Brussels sprouts in an 11 x 7-inch baking dish.  Add apple cider, olive oil, minced fresh thyme, salt, and freshly ground black pepper; toss well.  Bake at 375 degrees F for 25 minutes or until sprouts are tender.

Yield: 2 servings (serving size is 3/4 cup)

Allowances: 1/2 allowance of fruit, 1 allowance of non-starchy vegetable, 1 allowance of fat