While on his strict diet, we went to a friend’s house
warming party and the food was incredible. They really went all out with a
variety of gourmet cheeses and crackers, crab salad, jumbo shrimp, meatballs, a
selection of wonderful fresh breads, gourmet cookies and so much more. And sadly
all my sweetie could eat was his cooked rice, bananas, applesauce and yogurt
that we brought with us in Tupperware containers. He pleaded with me, “Can’t I
just have a little bit of all the other wonderful foods?” Jokingly I said, “Eat
as much of it as you like as long as you don’t swallow it.” He said, “Really???”
And so what he did was put the foods in his mouth to taste it, chewed it a few
times and then spit it out into a napkin. I know that sounds disgusting, but he
was very discreet and it allowed him to enjoy the taste without suffering the painful
consequences. When people go to a wine tasting, they swish the wine in their
mouths and spit it out openly into a bucket so how can what he did be so bad? The
taste and spit strategy allowed him to have the satisfaction of the taste
without the added calories and more importantly in his case the pain and negative
consequences of his illness. I must say he’s looking a bit trimmer this past
week than prior to his illness.
Now that he’s getting better, we’re slowly introducing more
foods to the diet, but still avoiding dairy and sugar and keeping things really
simple as in no spices and very little fat, if any. The strange thing is that
the grilled chicken with no sauce or seasonings actually tasted really good.
Last night we baked fish in the oven coated with egg and breadcrumbs, that’s
it. You know what? It was really good. Neither of us missed the usual
seasonings and sauces that we’d normally put all over our food. Not only was it
good, but we were actually satisfied with a smaller portion. I’m not suggesting
that you start eating all your food without seasonings and sauces, I’m just
suggesting that so much of how we eat or how we think our foods ‘should’ be
eaten is simply a matter of habit. He also tried some salad but with no
dressing to avoid the fat. He said he didn’t mind it at all and that it was
nowhere as bad as he thought it would be. He said he would even do it again
when he’s not on the BRATTY diet for when there may be a lot of excess fat in
other parts of the meal. As for his tea, he’d normally take sugar, but recently
switched from sugar to honey. With the BRATTY diet, he couldn’t even add honey
so he had to drink it straight. He was astounded at how good it tasted to him without
the honey. For years he always added a lot of sugar because that was his habit.
He never thought he could enjoy his tea without any sweetener and get used to
it in such a short time.
Taking this all to heart, I went to a business luncheon
yesterday and had the chicken in a cream sauce, steamed vegetables, a bun and
salad. Since the sauce was somewhat creamy, I opted to have no butter on the
bun and no dressing on the salad like I normally would so as to compensate for
the creamy sauce that I chose to partake in on my chicken. I didn’t miss the
butter or dressing one bit. All this to say is that the choices we make in our
food, how we eat and the portion sizes are so much a matter of habit.
I encourage you to look at your habits. Look at what you eat
and why you eat it in the way you do. Do you really have to add all that salt,
butter, mayo, sugar and sauces to your foods? Do you really have to order
dessert with your meal? Do you really have to have that extra glass of wine or
beer and that before bedtime treat? Do you really have to have all that extra
cheese on your pizza? Do one thing slightly different today and see how it
goes. A little less salt on your food, a little less sugar in your coffee or
tea, a little less butter on your roll, a little less cheese on your pizza. Or
maybe one less cookie or handful of chips. Focus on one thing and let me know
if you have a success.
Email me at roslyn@roslynfranken.com
and let me know the changes you've made, your successes, how it felt and if you think you
could do it again. How much of a difference did it really make? Was it so bad
that you would never do it again? If you have habits you want to change,
whether in your eating habits or otherwise, just pay attention and do one thing
differently that you can feel proud of at the end of the day.
Roslyn Franken is a proud
cancer survivor, motivational speaker, author, coach and radio host committed
to helping people lighten up for good. Using her 9 proven life-changing
principles for healthy eating and positive living, Roslyn inspires and educates
people on how to live healthy and be happy for life. For more information, visit http://www.roslynfranken.com.
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