Have Your Cake

Coaching clients often approach me with obstacles related to special occasions and their associated foods. There’s the whole issue of traditional holidays such as Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Valentine’s Day, of course. But one that comes up on a year-round basis is birthday cake.

The trouble with birthday cake is that it already knows your name. There it is, elegantly scrolled across the top, most likely in your favorite flavor and color combination, and lit up like a theatre marquee. You are the star. How could you possibly make a wish and walk away? And why should you?

Since I’m not in the business of “should,” I encourage coachees to explore could instead. A recent client came up with the following options. I could:

a)       Refuse to go near the cake and feel deprived;

b)       Starve myself all day to allow for as much cake as I like and feel stuffed;

c)       Devour large chunks of cake as fast as possible (get it all over with) and resign myself to live with guilt and regret;

d)        Eat a slice of cake and risk feeling guilty anyway; or

e)       Grant myself permission to enjoy a slice of cake and feel satisfied.

Unlike those tricky multiple choice tests in school, in the coaching process, there is no right or wrong answer. It’s up to you to choose a path of action. My client ultimately chose “e,” adding that she would send the leftovers home with her guests to avoid temptation later.

I must admit that I am a huge fan of birthday cake, and particularly the icing roses—those glorious blobs of dressed up sugar and fat, so artfully disguised as love. You see it’s not really about the cake or the frosting. It’s about a feeling. While birthday cake doesn’t fall into the category of good nutrition, life is short, and my once-a-year frosting fest doesn’t affect my health or weight one way or another. I choose to enjoy it.

Should you have cake? It’s up to you. Let the choice be a source of freedom and empowerment.

Turning Healthy Shopping Into Healthy Meals

Here are some grocery store shopping tips and look outs that will assist in making your kitchen a safe and bountiful place to prepare healthy meals. 

First and foremost, skip the aisles that are danger zones such as that darn chip and cracker isle.  If these items never go in your cart, chances are they won’t go in your stomach or tempt you at home.  Sometimes you’ll hear people preach to only shop in the outskirts of the grocery store, but to me that doesn’t really make any sense since the bakery, deli, wine and ice cream sections are on the perimeters.  Anyway, what you want to do is go through your grocery store purchasing items off your grocery list.  Break your list down into categories such as: grains, vegetables, proteins, condiments, dairy and dry goods. 

Now, what to buy?

• If you buy oranges, when you get home peel all of them and put them into zip lock bags.  If you buy grapes, wash them then keep them out where you can see them, don’t put them in the bottom of the crisper drawer to mold.  Unless that’s only happened to me?


• When buying plain brown rice (not minute rice), cook off many portions and once cooked, portion serving sizes and freeze.


• Buy whole wheat pastas and portion each box into 14-16 servings if cooking for one.  Freezer bags work great for pastas like spaghetti.


• Buy your vegetables half fresh half frozen— this prevents some waste while allowing you to enjoy foods that taste best fresh such as tomatoes, mushrooms, zucchini, and so forth.  Frozen broccoli, carrots, cauliflower and brussel sprouts quality and texture are comparable to fresh.  This will prevent in trying to buy too many fresh produce and not having enough time to use them before they go bad.


• Buy precut melon, such as pineapple, watermelon, cantaloupe and honeydew.  This prevents the idea that you will cut it later this week, and then never get around to it and end up throwing it away.


• When buying meats always make sure your buying the leanest cut, such as ground turkey breast and ground chicken breast—very different than buying ground turkey or ground chicken!  If buying 1 pound and cooking for yourself, portion the pound into four sections and either freeze or prepare each portion in a different manner.  For example, you can use ground chicken breast to make taco meat, a chicken breast burger, chicken meatloaf or chicken breast meatballs with marinara. 


• When buying cheese from the deli counter, ask them to slice it into ½ ounce slices.  This keeps your calories lower per slice, but the size still covers the whole sandwich. 


• Even if you don’t enjoying drinking skim milk, at least cook with it. If you don’t taste in the final product, you can at least save those calories.  Buy pre-shredded cheese instead of shredding it yourself.  We all know what happens to that end piece when we shred it ourselves.

Bottom line is that you need to set yourself up for success while at the grocery store so when you’re at home you don’t have the temptations to make ‘unwise’ decisions.  Oh, and just because a company calls a product “smart”, that doesn’t mean it’s healthy—and just because something is natural or organic, that doesn’t mean it’s healthy.  If you buy organic butter does that mean you get to eat more?  Nope!

Happy Shopping and remember Bob’s ‘Unwise Better Best,’ it’s up to YOU!

"Legalize" Your Favorite Foods

Do you think certain foods—ice cream, cookies, chips, or pizza—are “bad” foods when you are on a diet? If you designate your favorite, high-calorie foods as forbidden, your desire and cravings for them may increase. Furthermore, if you call yourself “bad” when you slip and eat your favorite, “bad” foods, that downward spiral of shame and guilt may cause you to eat even more. Please give yourself a break, and don’t beat yourself up about your food choices, which are just that—choices, not a sign of a character flaw.