Menu Makeover #1
So my neighbor, Debbie in Denial – let’s call
her DD for short, tells me she HAS to lose weight. She has been trying to do this her entire
life and, after all her “yo-yo dieting”, she is now 50 lbs. overweight instead
of 20.
She claims she simply has to give up eggs or at least start eating egg whites because her cholesterol and blood pressure are through the roof. DD takes medication for both. My comment was "eggs are the perfect food." I eat a dozen a week and the yolk is even more nutritious than the white of the egg. I was convinced that DD was doing something else to raise the levels of her cholesterol and blood pressure. So I asked her how her deli man prepares her eggs in the morning. DD responded “ he fries them”………..OMG. I nearly hit the roof. So I ask “he fries the eggs, adds the cheese and slaps everything on your toasted bagel????" DD didn’t make the connection that fried eggs + cheese = high cholesterol and high sodium. My solution was for her to bring her own hard boiled eggs and low sodium skim mozzarella string cheese to work, order a toasted bagel from the deli man, and assemble the whole thing herself. “Oh” she said, followed by a face that included a wrinkled up nose. “Hey”, I responded, “stop throwing those poor little eggs under the bus. It’s how you prepare them that counts."
She claims she simply has to give up eggs or at least start eating egg whites because her cholesterol and blood pressure are through the roof. DD takes medication for both. My comment was "eggs are the perfect food." I eat a dozen a week and the yolk is even more nutritious than the white of the egg. I was convinced that DD was doing something else to raise the levels of her cholesterol and blood pressure. So I asked her how her deli man prepares her eggs in the morning. DD responded “ he fries them”………..OMG. I nearly hit the roof. So I ask “he fries the eggs, adds the cheese and slaps everything on your toasted bagel????" DD didn’t make the connection that fried eggs + cheese = high cholesterol and high sodium. My solution was for her to bring her own hard boiled eggs and low sodium skim mozzarella string cheese to work, order a toasted bagel from the deli man, and assemble the whole thing herself. “Oh” she said, followed by a face that included a wrinkled up nose. “Hey”, I responded, “stop throwing those poor little eggs under the bus. It’s how you prepare them that counts."
Menu Makeover #2
DD then continued describing her dinner out
the night before with a friend (all this happened poolside so there was no way
I was going to get a tan without listening to her flapping gums). She had a taco salad at Wendy’s and asked me
“that was good, right?” I kept my mouth
shut because I knew there was more coming.
She added, “I used the low-calorie ranch dressing and I also had the
Chicken Mc Nuggets." I still kept my
mouth shut. DD continues, “we stopped at
Carvel afterwards because I HAD to have a vanilla/chocolate combo with wet
walnuts and whipped cream." Is she
kidding me??????? I found my mouth: “do
you know how much sodium and fat were in the meal you just described to
me? You need to seriously connect the
dots and start monitoring what counts for your body." DD responds “Oh” for the second time but I
think she really got it.
Moral of the story………………little things really
DO matter and they eventually add up. As
I have been telling DD for 20 years, consistency is the name of the game for
exercise, moderation is the key to weight control and reading labels on food
packages is absolutely essential:) If you get your palate used to eating less
sodium and fat on a daily basis, it will carry over when you eat out in
restaurants and you will order your meal more carefully. Buon appetito!
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