Strategies

[Magna]

This article has some interesting strategies for dealing with situations when people are pressured to eat off-plan.
http://health.yahoo.net/articles/weight ... ds-indulge

It's not SBD-specific so not all the advice is appropriate (the "just one bite" strategy, for example). But much of it seems helpful. Feel free to share your own strategies, too.

[Chris55]

I indulged recently, not in one bite, but in three small ones. A group of us who were casual friends took a mutual dear friend out for a much needed birthday celebration/I-can't-believe-I-lived-through-this-year party. Three of us had relatively healthy choices - salads and protein, one had an enormous shrimp taco plate. The birthday girl was having dinner and cake in the evening with her family, but when it came to dessert time the person who organized the group, chose the pub, and had the least healthy lunch asked for the dessert menu. I begged off along with one other woman, but the birthday girl was looking longingly at the menu, so I suggested ordering her choice and getting four forks. Her face lit up, everyone agreed, we got an enormous brownie sundae with a candle and we stuck the plate in the middle of the small table. Nobody noticed that I took tiny bites, it was wonderfully festive, and we all had another round of coffee and enjoyed being together.

It worked because we had a group of reasonable sensitive women, but I think it also helped that the focus was on the social interaction and not the food. When we're out with friends/family or at someone's home we need to keep in mind that it should be more about the interaction with people than about the quantity of food we consume. Sometimes saying something like, "I don't really need dessert right now, enjoying your wonderful company is enough for me" will smooth things over. Or "Since I've started following SB, my appetite has really gotten so much smaller!"

[Magna]

Focusing on people and activities rather than food is a good idea, and helps make holidays, special occasions, and even ordinary occasions better. From what I have seen, that's what most people really want anyway. If there's no clear agenda for the event, it may help to think up some questions, topics, or activities. BTW, the article talks about "scheduling" activities, which is fine. But it can even be something impromptu like looking at a few photos or asking someone to show you their garden or something.

[kalikalooti]

That's a brilliant article, and very useful comments! Great to find these just as I was about to start a thread to ask for ways to prevent myself from indulging when people around me don't know that I'm on a diet (or have changed my eating habits for good).

Before I restarted on SBD last month, I used to eat at least 7 meals out every single week. Now, I've eaten out only four times in the past four weeks. The good thing is I don't miss eating out, BUT when I do eat out I find it quite hard to stick to the diet. It's so hard to be sure the food doesn't contain sugar, butter, etc. So I stick to protein + veggies but feel guilty each time I eat out. Any advice? How do you guys deal with restaurant meals?

[Chris55]

You might want to check out Slipknot's journal on the journals page (from drop-down menu at the bottom of the page). He eats lunch out almost every day so you can see what kinds of things he eats. He also started a thread on the Phase 1 board about eating out, which I've bumped up.

My strategy for eating out is to check out restaurants and menus online so I can suggest SB friendly places or find SB friendly food wherever I'm going with friends. I usually have broiled or baked seafood made as simply as possible, and always ask for salad or veggie substitutions for the starch (unless there's brown rice available), and order all sauces on the side. I also try to get as much info out of the waitstaff as possible about how the food is prepared - being surprised by a glob of herb butter on a broiled steak isn't pleasant!