Applying the half plate rule at a party

Last night I went to a Young Life Leaders end of year party with some of my favorite people! Yeah, Young Life Capernaum! Young Life for High school and College kids that are differently-abled! The first thing I did when I arrived, was to check out the meal plan. Chicken and white rice casserole, fresh green beans, fresh fruit salad of mixed melons, Costco white rolls, and s'mores for dessert. I am so not into deprivation, but I also like to practice the half plate rule, so I plan! The half plate rule is to fill your plate half full of fruits and veggies, 1/4 full of your protein source, and 1/4 full of your carbohydrate source.

My plan:

• I know for sure I can make the fruit and green beans fill half of my plate. Great! Half way there! 
• There is dessert on the horizon, which I do want. It is not a great choice, but one I want to indulge in. I know that we will be having a fire, roasting marshmallows, making s'mores, laughing, and having fun! I would feel deprived if I did not make a s'more and eat it! (Not good)
• I will serve myself a small serving of the casserole that would count as my 1/4 plate protein serving.
•  I will opt out on the Costco white roll. If I am going to eat processed food for my grain serving, I would prefer the s'more! 
• I will fill my plate only 3/4 full because I know the s'more will be my carbohydrate 1/4 section of my plate. Remember to do this because dessert counts in your plate!

My plan worked. I filled up on fresh crispy green beans, a large serving of fruit, modest serving of casserole and a s'more. I was satisfied, not deprived, and highly enjoyed the entire meal and evening!

Using the half plate rule is easy to visualize. You know immediately if your choices are off and no one is ever asking you to deprive yourself!

Holiday Eating

Happy Holidays Everyone,

I hope that everyone is enjoying the holiday season. I wanted to give you a few of my personal tips to make it through the holidays without gaining a ton of weight! These are my favorites and they work for me.

1. Do not deny yourself when you go to a party. Denial leads to sneaking later on. I have been to many holiday celebrations this year already and have noticed that I eat more than everyone else. I take a serving of each thing I like, skip the items I can get other times of the year, skip desserts I do not love and eat a generous portion of any fruits and veggies that are at celebrations! My plate is always full and I leave full but not stuffed. I never feel the need to go home and pig out because I've denied myself. I totally enjoy party foods!

2. Keep self-talk under control. When I come home from a party I do not berate myself for indulging in party foods. You must keep your thoughts under control as I believe most overeating starts with poor thoughts of yourself and beating yourself up.

3. Practice healthy eating for meals in between your parties. This is where the difficulty comes in. Yesterday, I went to a ladies brunch with amazing treats and also a pizza party in the evening. Quite a caloric day for me. I noticed this morning that my regular breakfast of Trader Joe's High Fiber cereal did not sound appealing. My brain was telling me that a scone, bran muffin or bread pudding would taste wonderful (my previous day's brunch). I was mulling over what I could eat. I do not have a house with junk food in it. Therefore, my choices were to eat my regular cereal or bake something. I am lazy so ate my cereal. It is very important during the holidays to keep your house clear of foods that call your name. I had to sit myself down this morning and practice some great self-talk about staying within my eating boundaries. I planned out my breakfast and lunch. They will be very healthy to make up for yesterday. 

4. Take something healthy to your holiday celebrations. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, you will have something healthy to eat at the party. I took fresh pineapple and mascarpone cheese to my brunch. Everyone loved it and it was the only healthy food at the brunch. The second reason is that you will bring home healthy leftovers. If I had taken a gooey cinnamon roll creation to my brunch (my second choice), I would have eaten it again today when my brain was rebelling against healthy eating this morning. I will eat my leftover pineapple with a tuna salad for lunch!

5. Keep your home baking under control or bake and give it away. I baked four types of Christmas cookies last week for a party. I had tons of leftovers. I plated them immediately and passed them on to my neighbors. They loved them and I had the cookies out of my house! I will bake a couple of types of cookies right before Christmas but not my usual splurge. I know that if I bake variety, I will not be satisfied with a couple of cookies but will want one of each type. Keep your baking to a minimum!

It is possible to party and keep your weight under control during the holidays! It does take some planning and great self talk though!