Are you a member of the clean plate club?

Do you feel like you have to eat everything on your plate - or else you feel guilty?  Are starving children in Africa or a nagging fear that you won't get dessert keeping you in front of the plate until every bite is gone?  Stop right there.  Listen.  There is no rule that says you have to eat every bite of food on your plate.  In fact, you may be hurting yourself and others by doing so.  Clean-plate thinking represents an unnecessary connection between the food on your plate and false guilt.  Replace those old messages with better ones...with truthful ones.  Try this, "I'm going to take care of myself by paying attention to how I feel at this moment instead of eating." Or how about, "By not overeating, I'm going to take better care of myself so that I have more to give others."  Or "I'm going to stop eating because I feel satisfied." 

On the practical side, try putting a little less food on your plate than you think you want to eat - a good rule is 80% - and then see how you feel.  If you're really still hungry after 15-20 minutes, have a little more.  If you're a road warrior (like me these days) and find yourself eating out often,  you may not always have control of the portions on your plate, however you still have control over the portion you eat.  Remember that you don't have to eat it and make up your mind to leave some on the plate.  Here's a real world example for you...

This fried oyster po boy was huge!  But I love fried oysters and since I was in a place known for good seafood, I splurged.  Not to overdo it, I skipped the tarter sauce and asked for steamed veggie in place of french fries for a savings of hundreds of calories.  =)  I could have also chosen to have a salad with broiled shrimp or fish or a sandwich with one of the other, but this is my dietary confession for the day.

I ate all of my veggies and the fried oysters, but left 1/2 of the (very large) baguette for an additional savings of more than 100 calories. The meal was still calorie dense, because the oysters were fried, but it was a treat!

To help compensate for some of those calories, I took a stroll after dinner.  Walking after a meal like that does three things: (1) helps burn off some of those extra indulgent calories, (2) helps promote digestion, and (3) helps me relax.  Going to straight to bed after a meal like that makes me feel heavy and uncomfortable (if your one of millions with gastric reflux, it could make you feel even worse).

What do you think? Can you reprogram those messages and get out of the clean plate club?  I know you can do it!  Just replace them with better messages...like, "I'm worth it."  'Cause you are.

Eat Food...Update from Healthy Kitchens

I have been MIA once again, due to my travel schedule.  Eventually I'll catch up.  I have tons of pics to share from NYC and now from California.

Meanwhile, I wanted to share a bit from the Culinary Institute of America's (CIA) Healthy Kitchens, Healthy Lives event.  This is a collaborative event of the CIA and Harvard School of Public Health.  The idea is that in bringing clinicians (physicians, registered dietitians, nurses, psychologists, etc.) together with chefs, we might discover the sweet spot where healthy food meets tasty food and be able to really develop some ideas and concepts that make a difference.  The speakers include some of the most influential and wise, such as Walter Willett, Kathy McManus, Suvir Saran, and Mollie Katzen (and others), led by David Eisenberg.  They discuss the science of nutritional health, disease trends and hope for prevention and turning the tide on obesity.  It's good stuff.  It's not complicated.  Here's a summary of the theme of so much of the conference, a quote from Michael Pollan, by way of summary: Eat food.  Not too much. Mostly plants.

Good advice.  Uncomplicated.  I'll share more later.  Oh, but the food...is fantastic.  The wine (we're in Napa, after all) is delicious.  Here's a peek at last night's dinner.  I think I did pretty good...mostly plants!

Cream of Celery Root Soup (note the portion here is a very small tea cup)

Green Salad with Pea Tendrils, Watermelon Radishes and Goat Cheese

Dungeness Crab Cakes with Apple and Celery Slaw

Plus...three bites of fruit sorbet, though no evidence.  Does that count as a fruit?  No, but it was good.  Practice this idea today.  Eat real food, but not too much and choose plants most often.

First Meal in NYC

So, deciding what to have for my first meal in NYC wasn't easy.  Of course, it wasn't that hard either.  I could have spit in any direction and couldn't have missed a restaurant.  In fact, my taxi driver said there are 2,500 restaurants in NYC.  I wanted it to be easy, quick and vegetarian.  Choosing a meal that was unusual was on the top of the list - and of course, not a chain.  Thanks to the spectacular app "Around Me", I had lots of choices.  I wrote down a short list and then consulted the oracle (Google) to determine which would be good.  The winner?

Num Pang Sandwich Shop

(Be sure to visit to read the extraordinary story of Num Pang)

With two locations, this sandwich shop has been featured in Bon Appetit, NY Post, New York Magazine and the Food Network, a favorite of Mario Batali.  It was also voted #1 sandwich shop in Manhattan two years running (2010 & 2011).  A small walk-in, take-out shop, Num Pang smelled slightly sour and spicy.  They make their own pickled veggies and all of the sandwiches, soups, and sides are fresh.  They have a list of standards and seasonal options, as well as some off-menu specials and choosing what to get was really tough.

Ultimately, I chose the Spicy Organic Tofu with ginger soy-honey glaze, leeks and pickled veggies.  The spicy mayo was amazing and fresh cilantro provided a zing that only comes from fresh herbs.  The bread was delicious, slightly hard on the outside, but perfectly soft and chewy inside.  The soft and sweet tofu contrasted beautifully with the crunchy sour pickled vegetables.  Yum on a bun.

And of course, the perfect match for a sandwich is soup and at Num Pang they offer a great Curry Red Lentil.  The creamy texture of the soup gave way to a warm spiciness.  The soup was topped with pickled red cabbage, carrots, cilantro and fried shallots.

Washed it all down with a local ginger beer.  Simple and totally delicious.  I think it was the perfect first NYC meal - it was unique, fresh, and famous.

Kiwi: The fat, furry egg

     Eating a kiwi starts with choosing the perfect fruit.  It should be symmetrical with a definite firmness, but not at all hard and without any soft or mealy spots.  The perfect size kiwi fits right inside your palm and allows you to wrap your fingers around it, but not so that they can reach completely around for that’s too small.  The skin on the kiwi should be unbroken and unblemished; its hairy brown case makes it like a fat, fur covered egg.   

     There are a couple of ways to break into that shell to eat the flesh and seeds inside and some remove the peel entirely. I prefer the easy route.  Using a sharp paring knife, dig out the stem end to create a concave doorway; furry brown skin gives way to the near neon green flesh.   

     The juice of the fruit will begin to flow making this is a good time for a first taste.  The scent of the kiwi is bright and citrusy, but also a little tropical flower.  Using a spoon, scoop out the flesh and the seeds and take a bite.  The shiny black and tiny seeds add the slightest crunch, while the flesh is soft and juicy.  Holding the fruit between the tongue and the roof of the mouth, mushing a bit releases the fragrant juice allowing the flavor to saturate taste buds and overwhelm the nose.  Eyes closed, the fruit is like a mini beach vacation and calls for a side of fresh coconut water and suntan lotion. 

    It’s a small fruit, so eating it slowly and savoring every bite makes it a particularly special treat.

The Bar Scene

So, in general I'm super skeptical of salad bars - oh and if you thought I meant the drinking-alcohol-kinda bars, I'm generally skeptical of them too.  Buffets tend to scare me.  Too much food safety knowledge in my brain about microbial contamination and the like.  Plus, have you ever seen how some people behave?  It's like their at their own house, fingering the food and popping samples into their mouths, getting so close they could almost lick the food.  Yuck!


(Notice the bars in these pictures are not yucky...they are very clean.  And colorful.  And delicious.)

Plus a lot of the places that sell from salad bars or buffets are "all you can eat", which is always trouble.  There's something about buffets that makes people think they have to get their money's worth and eat until they have to unbutton their pants.  Oh, just me? Well, research supports that the more choices we have when eating, the more we eat (Thanksgiving, anyone?).  The average buffet has dozens and dozens of choices - opportunities to really overdo it. 

But it doesn't have to be.  My favorite lunch happens to be from the Whole Foods salad and hot bar near my office.  The options are also endless here and there are definite pitfalls - macaroni and cheese, gravy covered meats, desserts, just to name a few.  But there are also dozens of really nutrient packed options.  I love the kale salads, whole grain salads and beets!  There are choices of salad greens to use as a base, roasted and marinated veggies, tofu and fresh fruit.  They also have a fresh juice bar where they'll make me my favorite beet-apple-celery-kale-ginger-lemon beverage.  Plus, you have to pay by the pound - on the plate, not on your hips.  So,  you have to be careful or that salad could cost you $20!

Here's my plate.  Lots of color, combination of raw and cooked foods, a little sweet and a little savory...even a hint of sour.  Kale salad, roasted lemon carrots, roasted asparagus, marinated mushrooms, fresh mixed berries...and jalapeno macaroni and cheese.  There's always room for  a little indulgence.  Cost ~$8.  This is my kind of bar scene.

Do you eat at salad bars or buffets?  What's your secret for making it a nice, not naughty, meal?