Don’t Be a Big, Bad Wolfer
I am one of those fast eaters. For years, I would go to lunch with my business associate, Bob, and my former business manager, Patti, both of whom are thin and have never had a weight problem, though they each work out four to five times a week and do watch what they eat. The food would arrive, and I was nose to plate until almost all of my food was consumed. Bob and Patti would be talking, resting, eating a small bite, breathing, and irritating me immensely. I would get agitated and say, “Hurry up, hurry up, we have to get back to the office.” Bob would say to me, “Listen, porky, we don’t inhale our food like someone’s going to snatch the forks out of our mouths. Relax!” (Bob is also my best friend, so he can get away with this comment.) It kills me to say this, but he was right. I’ve learned to slow down, and you can, too.
Draw Your Own Conclusion
When I observe a thin person eating, he or she is eating slowly. And every time I watch an overweight person eating, that individual generally is eating very quickly. Watch your friends and family members eat. Who is eating slowly and who isn’t? Most important, how quickly are you eating?
Don’t Eliminate Food Groups
Europeans, for the most part, do not eliminate food groups. Their diets include foods from all groups. Furthermore, most European food stores rarely carry low-fat or fat-free items. To Europeans, fat-free or low-fat items make little sense. If they want cheese (my personal pitfall – I believe most of us crave foods with either sugar or salt, and I’m a “salty”), they eat the real thing; if they want cookies, they eat the real thing. They do not eat large portions of these foods, but they enjoy each and every taste. I love that style of eating. I always find that when I have had dinner at a restaurant that serves a few different small dishes (I generally get two bites of each item), like a tapas bar, I always come away feeling satisfied but never stuffed. And, for the record, I don’t gain weight. I am talking about eating five or six different small dishes, not sampling twenty-five different items, which is what many Americans do at a typical buffet.
Compare how Americans and Europeans eat cheese. After dinner and before the final dessert course, Europeans may consume a small amount of cheese, say the size of two dice (approximately 1/2 ounce). That is the cheese course. If you don’t believe me, fly over to France and experience it yourself. Americans, on the other hand, generally serve cheese as an hors d’oeuvre, before dinner even starts, with cocktails. The American portion of cheese is generally a baked Brie the size of a steering wheel, along with crackers and other high-calorie items. Once again, this is before dinner.
Watch the Snacking
Finally, Europeans rarely snack. Stop for a moment and consider what you consume on a daily basis between meals. Take a look at your food diary and you will see in black and white what and when you are eating. By minimizing or eliminating snacks, you will see your calories consumed drastically diminish. Don’t be confused. As you saw in the Flip the Switch Seven-Day Jump-Start Eating Plan, I do recommend a small snack to maintain a feeling of fullness, but those snacks should be small, somewhere in the 100- to 150-calorie range, and should not be liquid calories. And, as I said earlier, please approach popular coffee drinks with caution. Regular brewed coffee with a little skim or low-fat milk and a small amount of sweetener or sugar is fine, just watch the calories in the milk and sugar.
Contrary to what many think, there are some positive effects to snacking. Research has demonstrated that eating small amounts more frequently can lower cholesterol by between 5 and 10 percent, so intelligent snacking may be the answer to both fending off hunger (and a potential binge) and reducing cholesterol. But once again, these snacks should be small.
*64/280/5*