CHAPTER 11
Meals

Breakfast

          This is the most important meal of the day. You’ve been told that hundreds of times in your life, and it is true. So how can we find a plan that will work for you? I will give you several suggestions that you can choose from; one approach is not necessarily right or wrong, but if it works for you then use it.
          What should you eat for breakfast? That depends on what kinds of food you like. There are some foods that are better for you than others. The most important thing that you need to remember is that you should not skip breakfast.
          So what would be a bad breakfast? A pack of crackers and a soft drink would be a good example. The problem with it is that all you get is a little carb hit between the sugar in the soft drink and the carbs in the crackers. Yes, there might be a little artificial cheese or peanut butter but not enough to amount to anything. So do you need to stop by the gas station on your way to work to grab the crackers and soft drink? I hope not. I hope that if you have been eating breakfast like this that you will choose differently.
          Many of the diets that are out there do not want you to eat any bread, juice, or flour-based foods. If you go by those diets, then your breakfast may be limited. You could get a cup of coffee and an Egg McMuffin combo, without the bread, potatoes, and juice. Or an omelet wrap combo and hold the wrap, fried potatoes, and juice. That does not sound very appealing. It is true that most fast foods are not things that you should eat for breakfast anyway. If you are eating them for breakfast, you already know they are not very healthy. So why are you eating them? Probably because you think they are quicker than trying to cook something at home. They are not less expensive. If your goal is to lose weight, then you need to rethink what you are doing with breakfast.
          If you are using fast food restaurants for breakfast, then you have to realize that they are cooking the food in oils that you would never use in your own home. The oils they use are not healthy fats; they are the less expensive, less healthy fats. If you are going to use the fast food system for your diet, then you are probably not going to be very successful. You may want to re-think the entire process of weight reduction.
          What are some healthy breakfasts? I personally like the whole-grain cereals. I like to add yogurt to the cereal and usually 2 to3 tablespoons of ground flax seed. You can find the ground flax seed at your local health food store if you can’t find it yet at your grocery store. The flax seed is high in omega-3 fatty acids that are good for your heart, and in fact may help prevent heart disease. Most of you will probably add milk instead and that’s fine--whatever suits your taste. I like vanilla-flavored yogurt. If you are going to use yogurt, then I recommend that you use the kind that has the live culture. The ones that have been pasteurized have all the culture heat killed When milk, eggs and yogurt are pasteurized the food is heated to a certain temperature for a very short period of time. The reason this is done is to kill bacteria and it also may prolong the shelf life of some foods. Yogurt, on the other hand, is a milk product that is cultured with organisms that allow the milk to be processed to the form that we call yogurt. Some varieties of yogurt will have the fruit on the bottom because the yogurt is made in the cup. With others, the fruit is blended in the cup and those have usually been pasteurized, so you do not get all the benefits from the yogurt. One benefit from live cultured yogurt is that it may help prevent yeast infections. So for women who have problems with recurrent vaginal yeast infections and for adults with recurrent oral yeast infections due to their dentures or other problems, you may want to try eating a cup of yogurt a day instead of milk.
          If you are going to eat cereal, then it is best if you do not use one that is high in sugar. You may want to look at the back of the box if you are not sure, but if the cereal is covered in sugar or coated in sugar then the content is very high. In the grocery store, the low-sugar cereals are frequently on the top shelves; the ones with the highest sugar content are located at eye level so that you will see them more easily and pick them up.
          What about two eggs and some Canadian ham, with a glass of orange juice and a cup of coffee? It sounds good to me. You can either use eggs or artificial eggs; you can cook them any way you want, but if you fry or scramble them you ought to use one of the healthy oils such as olive or canola.
          Canadian ham has a lot fewer saturated fats than bacon. The glass of orange juice should be a normal juice glass or about 4 ounces, and you will be better off if you buy the one with extra pulp. The pulp will give you extra fiber, which is beneficial. Some of the nutrients are in the pulp and it will take the stomach a little extra time to digest. The coffee is fine as long as it does not bother your stomach. I know that I can drink a couple cups in the morning, but if I go much beyond that my stomach will start to grumble and growl in a couple of hours. I have learned from past experience that two cups are fine for me, and no more. You will find what works for you.
          How about pancakes and butter with maple syrup? If you are going to eat this, you don’t want to ask for the tall stack. You will find that it may not last as long in your stomach as other things unless you also have some bacon or sausage with it. The carb load of pancakes is great if you are going to go for a run the next day and you are loading up on carbs, but if you are just going to work, keep the pancakes down to two, butter them and have one or two pieces of Canadian bacon. The butter and protein will help the food stay in the stomach a little longer and decrease the rate of absorption of the carbs.
          What about an omelet? That can be ideal. You can add some vegetables to it, such as mushrooms, onions, asparagus, green pepper and artichokes. You can also add some cheese if you wish. The important thing is that you keep the portion size within reason. If you are going to eat a 6-egg omelet with all the fixings, then you may be putting away quite a few calories for breakfast. I suggest that you limit it to two eggs.
          The list goes on. What about a bagel with cream cheese, orange juice and tea? Again, you will have some carbs from the bagel. You will do better if you choose a multigrain bagel, rather than the plain ones. The cream cheese will give you some extra fats that will help slow the absorption of the food. Again the goal is to find something that you like that is quick and easy. If it gets too complicated then it won’t happen for you. All the nice fancy dishes sound great in the cookbook, but I do not know about you but my time is limited. I eat to live.
          With the cereals and the milk or yogurt, you need to measure the amount of food that you are putting into your bowl. You might wonder why? This is simply portion control. If you do not measure them, over time the portions will get bigger and bigger. That is natural; it happens to me, and it will happen to you. Leave a ½-cup measuring cup near the cereal so that you won’t have to go find it. Make your life as easy as you can. If you are serious about losing weight, then you need to be compulsive in the beginning until you learn what normal portions are. The cereal box will tell you what the manufacturers consider to be a normal portion.
          When you select what to eat, try to make sure that you are choosing healthy foods. Try not to get foods that are cooked in a way that is harmful to your body. Find foods that retain their nutritional value, and for breads this means the multigrain variety. They taste great and are a little crunchy. They have a lot more fiber, will stay in your stomach longer and do a better job in making your life easier as you try to lose weight. If you make your own bread, then put the extra grains in when you bake them, and add flax seed to the bread and pancakes to improve their nutritional value. You will probably have much better bread if you bake your own.

Lunch

          This needs to be the meal that will hold you for most of the day. If you eat too much, then you are going to go to sleep in the afternoon--so that is not the goal. But the goal is to satisfy you, and keep you productive so that you will have the energy and stamina to enjoy the afternoon.
          If you come into the noon meal and have not eaten all day, then you will tend to be hungry and will tend to overeat. For that reason, eating an apple as a snack approximately 2 to 3 hours before you sit down to eat can curb the hunger that you will otherwise feel. If you have prepared your own lunch and taken it to work, or if you are eating at home, then plan ahead and have a lunch that is not too filling. Most of the time people get into a feeding frenzy at mealtime and overeat. The goal for you is to control the amount you eat so that you don’t overeat. For me it is best to prepare my lunch ahead of time and take it with me to work; that way I know exactly what I am going to eat and I keep it under control.
          So what would you like for lunch? You need to try to keep the calories within reason. About 800 calories for lunch would suffice. You can eat a lot with that. Subway has subs that would fit into that range, even with the foot-long variety. Most sandwiches that you make at home would easily fit into this range. For example, a sandwich with three slices of turkey or ham, two slices of Swiss cheese, mustard and two slices of bread would have 310 calories. It would be great if you could use multi-grain bread rather then white bread, just because it is better for you, but if you only like white then that is acceptable. The meat and cheese will help slow the absorption time so the food will stay in your stomach longer. It is really very easy to figure out the calories in a meal: just look at the package when you fix it. It will tell you how many calories are in the container.
          You want pasta? That is fine. Macaroni and cheese--even if you eat two servings--may only contain 700 calories. Spaghetti and a marinara sauce may provide you with 500 calories. Now this does not mean going to your favorite pasta place and getting enough pasta to feed 4 people and eating it all by yourself. It does mean eating normal portions.
          Steak for lunch? A normal-sized steak sandwich at a fast food restaurant may have 500 calories, as does a 6-ounce filet. One thing that I like to make is a venison sandwich with a couple slices of Swiss cheese and some Mile High hot sauce. Now that is a great lunch. Now if you go out and have a 6-ounce steak, baked potato with butter and sour cream, vegetables, a soft drink and dessert, then you are in trouble—even more so if you had an alcoholic drink. The steak will be 500, the potato 150, two pads of butter 400, sour cream 75, vegetables 100, 12-ounce soft drink 150, for a grand total of 1375--before dessert and any alcoholic drink. Some of the desserts in restaurants may have 800 to 1000 or more calories. So in one meal--if you are not careful--you have eaten more than you need for your body in an entire day. If you are out doing manual labor--not sitting on a piece of equipment running the equipment, but digging the ditches or swinging the axes--then you may be able to get away with that many calories, but the rest of the world can’t do it. We have to pay attention to what we choose to eat. We have to use common sense.
          You don’t want to bother making your lunch if it is too much trouble. Then I would suggest that you go back to your goals and see if you really want that goal or not. It is up to you; it is not my goal. If you don’t want that goal, then make a new one. If you want to lose weight then you will have to deal with reality: namely, you cannot eat everything that you want, when you want to. If you do you will gain weight. If you are going out to eat, then you have to do it wisely. You have to call the restaurant beforehand and ask them about the menu and how many calories are in the different dishes. They should be able to tell you. You may want to go and get a take-out menu so that when you call them you will be able to make notes on it. If they are not willing to tell you what you need to know, then go to a different restaurant or fast food establishment. They want your business and they will give you the information that you request.
          If you are following one of the other diets, then also consider the amount of calories that you are taking in. Calories do count and if you are serious about your goals then you need to count them--especially if you find that you are not reaching your goals. If you are on another diet and you like it but you are not able to lose any weight, then you need to start keeping up with the amount of calories that you are eating. If you keep it below 2000, I suspect that you will lose weight. If not, then drop the calories down to 1800 or increase your walking.
          You may decide that for one or two lunches a week, you will only eat fruit. That is reasonable; you can go to the grocery store or local deli and get two apples, a pear, a couple peaches and make a fruit plate or simply eat them as they are. We need to try to get more fruit into our diets; most of us are not very good about doing that. It is very important that you realize that fruit that comes in sugar syrup in a can is not fresh. I know that you just opened the can and it seems fresh, but canned fruits are out.
          You have the choice: how do you want to spend the 800 calories? Some choices may be better from the point of view of cholesterol if you happen to have high cholesterol, but if you are overweight, then losing weight is probably more important in the short-term than your cholesterol. So if you need to get your weight down 5 or 10 pounds, then you need to pay attention to some of the details that a person who needs to lose 100 or more does not need to. The person who needs to lose 100 or more pounds has a greater need to lose weight than to worry about the cholesterol in their food. People who are 100 or more pounds overweight find dramatic drops in their cholesterol as they bring their weight down. When they get to the desired weight level, if their cholesterol is still not under control, they can take some medicine for that. If, in contrast, you are only going to lose 5 to 10 pounds, then you do need to start paying attention to your cholesterol.
          So can you go out for the famous business lunch with two martinis and a three-course meal? Yes, but not if you are going to stay within the calorie limit for lunch. You may have to make some compromises. How could you possibly stay even close to the range that you were shooting for that day? One solution is to have your two martinis--not double, though: that will be 120 calories; 1.5 cup tossed salad and dressing, totaling 100 calories; ½ cup of ravioli, spinach-filled in a cream sauce, providing 200 calories; and an orange or lemon soufflé, 200 calories. This comes to a grand total of 620 calories. Now if you also had bread dipped in olive oil while you wait for your food, that is great. To me, there is nothing like some fresh bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar to dip the bread into. You may have added another 125 calories for the oil and 200 for the bread, so you are up to a grand total of 960. The little things do add up. If you overdo at lunch, then you need to back off at supper. Or you could go to the gym and try to burn the calories off later. Either way works.
          Maybe you want to go to your favorite fast food restaurant for lunch and you choose a ¼ pound cheeseburger, large fries and soft drink. You now have a grand total of 1185 calories. That is the same as two 12-inch subs from some of your favorite sub restaurants. Not only that, but the fat that you got in the fast food restaurant was not the kind you got with the olive oil. You may say that the fast food was only 200 calories more than the meal at the restaurant, and that is true; but 200 calories a day 30 days a month is 2 pounds a month or 24 pounds a year that you gained from the extra 200 calories you ate a day. Were they worth it? Probably not.
          For most of us, it is better to take the 3 to 4 minutes in the morning and put our lunch together and take it with us, then to go out to the fast food place and get lunch. I am sure that the fast food restaurants will hate me for saying it. It will take you longer to go and get it then it will to make it. It will probably be better for you if you make it, too. You can choose the fruit that you may want or the dessert to take with you; you can take leftovers that are in the refrigerator. You could have ordered something from a restaurant the night before and split it and made two meals out of it. There are hundreds of options available to you. You be the one to choose.

Dinner

          For most of us, this has traditionally been a large meal, or at least one that has more calories in it than others. One problem is that when you put a lot of food in the stomach, you tend to become lethargic. We all know that because it has happened to us before. So if you eat a large meal at any time of the day, you will be less energetic. At supper, you will eat and then go and sit on a chair or the couch until it is time to go to bed. If you eat less, then you will have the energy to do something other than just sit. Perhaps you will want to go for a walk.
          How do you break the habit of eating the largest meal in the evening? One day at a time, that is how. You start with today and you make a conscious effort to make the meal smaller. You need to inform everyone so that there are no surprises. If others don’t want to do it that is okay; you will plan on doing it for you anyway. At suppertime, just use a smaller plate and serve yourself smaller portions. You have to take care of you; you are the most important person in the world. You need to remember that. If you don’t take care of yourself, no one else will. The question is: what do you want, what are your goals? How do you want to get there? You will be successful if you make up your mind to be successful. It is amazing how easy things become once we make up our minds to do something.
          So you are now planning on eating perhaps 400 to 500 calories at supper. That is good. Don’t forget to drink water. A couple glasses of water with supper will go a long way to helping you feel good. You will also find that after supper you do not feel as lethargic and that you have more energy, more life so to speak. You are not bloated, lethargic, ready to fall into a chair and vegetate. You are alive, vibrant, and ready to do the other tasks that still need doing. We all know that it is impossible to get everything done. There are always things that still need to be done, unless you are Superman or Superwoman. Many people will eat a suppertime meal that will consist of more then a thousand calories, some as many as two thousand calories. I know--I have seen it; you may have as well. When you put a huge volume of food into your stomach, it has to be digested.
          Whenever you overeat, you will be less active. This is because your body has to digest this food and that process takes energy. The body focuses on getting this task done so that it can move on to other tasks. For example, it is generally not a good idea--as all of us know--to go swimming after a large meal. The fear is that you might get cramps and drown. You will find the same sort of thing to be true with running; if you go running after a large meal, you will probably vomit along the way. Your body will not tolerate both digesting the food and performing the physical activity. You could probably eat a large meal and go for a leisurely walk without any problems, but strenuous exercise is not a good idea unless you want to see that food again.
          Supper does not have to be a big affair. You do need to be careful. Many times people think that just because they had a salad for supper, they are fine; well, that may not be true. It depends on what you put on the salad. Think about what you are putting on the salad or on your plate. You need to read labels and find out about the amount of calories that are in the foods that you are preparing. There is a reason for the information that is printed on the package. I can assure you that the companies did not put that information on there out of their own free will; they were forced to do it. The reason was so that you as a consumer could make knowledgeable choices. You are the one in charge, you make the choices, and you live with the consequences of those choices.
          If supper in your house is a time to socialize, that is great; keep it that way. Sit down, eat at a leisurely pace, and keep a pitcher of water on the table for others to use. Make the conversation fit the needs of the time. Enjoy the life that you have in front of you. Today, after all, is the first day of the rest of your life--so enjoy it. Sip some coffee after dinner and keep the conversation going if that is your wish. Make mealtime an occasion to keep up with family and friends. Make it a time of conversation; how are they doing in school, how is work going, what are the plans for the weekend, what programs are on at school, how is math, etc.? Make supper a time for the family and not a time for overeating. If you don’t have as much food on the table, then no one can eat as much. This may be important, especially if you are dealing with obese children.
          After dinner, some people will not allow any food to either be put into the refrigerator or in the garbage. They will eat it first. This is a learned behavior and one that you will probably not change; they have to want to change it themselves. The best thing to do is not to fix as much food. Then there will not be as much and they won’t feel obligated to eat it all. Some of this goes back to the time when we were told to finish the food on our plates. That there are thousands of hungry children in the world and we do not need to waste our food. I agree we don’t need to waste food but we shouldn’t eat food that we don’t need either. It is best if we don’t cook as much and don’t put as much on the table. Some people will argue that they don’t want to run out of food; they don’t want their family to be hungry. Well, no, we don’t want that but to be honest most of us in America are overweight and not lacking for food. If your family does not eat quite as much, then maybe they will eat an apple or peach before they go to bed to satisfy them. Hopefully, they will not be grabbing the microwave popcorn and having a bag or two. I hope you removed it from your house.
          You can either sabotage your weight-loss effort and that of your family, or you can take a proactive role and make sure that all the weaknesses are out of the house. If you have cabinets full of cake, cookies, pies, and muffins then you are probably setting everyone up to fail. I was talking with one woman who has been successful, despite her husband who last week brought six boxes home of “Little Debbie’s” cakes and put them in the pantry. You have the right to choose what you will eat. You also have the right to the consequences of your choices. I hope that you will choose wisely and that you will be able to reach the goals that you set. Remember if the goals that you have set need to be changed that is okay. You can always make new goals next year, and the year after. One friend of mine named Bob made his first goal to lose 20 pounds, then as he got close to it he chose 30, then 40 and 50 and so on. He has been able to achieve his goals. He is now at his ideal body weight. You can do the same.

Snacks

          Snacks are not a normal part of what people consider in their meal cycles. Yet many of us have a snack; we just don’t think about it and generally don’t count it when we look back at the day and examine what we have eaten. I think that you should consider planning a snack during the day; that way you recognize that it’s part of what you are doing and you are going to count it into your food for the day.
          Each day, if you pay attention to how much and what you are eating you will be better off. If you have a snack that satisfies you, then you will be less likely to binge on the way home. It is so easy to swing by the fast food drive-through on the way home just for a bite--a triple hamburger and super fries. Even if the offense is not so egregious and you just have a hamburger and large fries, it is still a large calorie burden that you just took in. It is better to go home and not be famished, than to walk in the door, open the pantry or the refrigerator and see what you can eat.
          So what are some of the snacks that you might eat? Almost anything could become a snack, but it would be great if it were good for you and would stick with you for more than 30 minutes. Needless to say, donuts and sticky buns are not on my list of things that you should consider. So let’s take a look at some healthy snacks and the appropriate amount to consume.
          Fruits are an excellent choice. They will give you a lot of natural sugars and fiber, along with some carbohydrates, but not much in the way of fats. Here’s a typical calorie count for some common fruits: medium-sized apple--81 calories; pear--90 calories; two peaches--100 calories; ½ cup of dried peach halves--90 calories. Having grown up on an apple farm, I recommend apples, of course: what else? An apple a day keeps the doctor away; it makes sense to me. You could have one apple for your morning snack and then one in the afternoon as well. Some people want a lot of variety, and that is good. I do, too. When you go to the grocery store, look at the dried fruit and see how much you will get to eat if you follow your diet plan. Foods are required to carry information on the caloric count. You simply read the back of the label and find out how many calories are in a serving; you want to plan on 100 to 150 calories for your snack. Assuming 75 calories in ¼ cup, you can measure out ½ cup for each of your snacks. The good thing about fruit is that there are many different varieties that exist and you can have different ones on different days. You may find that some that you have never had are very good.
          What about nuts? You might have 1/8 of a cup of dry-roasted peanuts, for example. It is probably easier to measure the 1/8 of a cup unless you buy them in a package with just one serving. You could count out 32 peanuts but most of us won’t do that; that will give us 160 calories. One-eighth of a cup of cashews will give you 100 calories, while the same amount of pecans will give you 90. Pistachio nuts will give you 90 calories in 1/8 cup, almonds 105, and black walnuts 95. If you plan on eating nuts, then you may want to have one apple in the morning and ¼ cup of nuts in the afternoon. If the 1/8 of a cup will work for you then go for it; if not, be creative--you want the two snacks to equal a total of 200 to 300 calories for the day. That is why it is important to measure the portion size and take it with you to work. Once you’re at work, if you simply guess about the portion size and pour the nuts out of the can, I can guarantee you that you will eat a lot more than if you had pre-measured the appropriate quantity.
          What if you like whole grains? Then consider pumpkin seeds that are still in the shell—they have approximately 145 calories per ½ cup, while the kernels contain 75 per tablespoon. Sunflower seeds have about 100 calories in two tablespoons of the kernels, while sesame kernels provide 50 calories per tablespoon or 150 per ounce.
          Another favorite snack that some people enjoy are vegetables. Carrots, broccoli, radishes, cauliflower--just to name a few. You could use onions or any other vegetable that you like; some may keep friends away. Prepare them in the morning so you can take them to work. You could prepare 5 or 6 sandwich bags of them in advance for the entire week.
          Cheese is another snack that you could try. You could take some of your favorite cheese and measure out 1/3 cup, which would be about 150 calories—an appropriate amount for your snack. It does not matter which cheese you use; the calories will be close to that. You could also get low-fat mozzarella sticks in the grocery store; these come in packages that you can carry with you.
          As you can see, there are lots of options that exist for snack time and it does not have to get boring. You can vary them, or stick with one type; it depends on what you like to eat. Be adventurous; try different things. Enjoy all the different kinds of foods that are good for you--just try to stay away from the high-fat, processed snacks. For example, one ounce of cheese crackers in a packet is 140 calories and won’t help you prevent hunger later on one bit. A one-ounce bag of potato chips also contains 140 calories.
          So think about what you are going to use, and use foods that you enjoy and hopefully that are good for you at the same time. Avoid your weaknesses, and soft drinks. One soft drink will be more than a snack. You will be successful; you will succeed. You will reach the goals that you set for yourself.

A student should never be placed in a situation that is impossible to master. He must be prepared for the difficult situation through mastering simpler situations that lead up to the situation. A. Varney, The Psychology of Flight (1950)

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