Don’t you just love this time of year? Catch-ups with friends, midweek drinks, long lunches … until you hit the beach and find last year’s bikini is a bit too snug. Being a social butterfly can swiftly stack on the kilos, but it doesn’t have to be like that. Follow this survival guide to having fun at every social event this summer without sacrificing your waistline! Here’s how:
Backyard barbecue
Steak burger or sticky chicken wings? When you keep track of everything you eat, you’re less likely to overdo it.
DO Fill up your plate once and have a proper meal, rather than grazing. If you’re going to make a hamburger, choose a small wholemeal roll and a lean piece of steak, then fill it up with a green salad. The classic Kiwi barbie can prove to be a very healthy meal.
DON’T Make a meal of chips and dips before the barbie is ready. And stay away from creamy salads – coleslaw and potato salads are packed with hidden sugar, fat and salt.
Girls’ lunch
If your willpower goes out the window around your mates, book a restaurant that does small shared plates to make sure you don’t overeat.
DO Pick a few tapas plates or entrees for protein, and order plenty of salad and vege sides for you all to share as a single course. Then you can have a second glass of wine guilt-free, plus coffee and chocolates later.
DON’T Order more than two courses. You don’t have to have three courses just because it’s a special occasion. A typical set menu of bruschetta, followed by steak and chips, then a chocolate brownie adds up to more than you’d usually eat in a whole day (before drinks!).
Office drinks
Cocktail parties can be a disaster if you arrive starving and dive head-first into every tray of party food on offer.
DO Eat before you go. You never know what you’re going to get at a cocktail party, so make yourself a chicken and salad sandwich to keep your energy up. Not only will it stop you from gorging on party pies, but it will also help to soak up the booze so you don’t finish the night in bed with a bowl of ice cream. You’ll stay in control so you can choose healthy things like oysters or vegetable skewers.
DON’T Pounce on the waiter every time they bring another tray of finger food. Anything
deep-fried soaks up the fat it’s cooked in, so it’s really high in kilojoules. That means no crispy prawn cutlets, spring rolls, samosas or cheesy triangles, however tempting they may be.
Family afternoon
When everything on the dessert table has been made with love by your nearest and dearest, it’s hard to say no to one of everything.
DO Take along some healthy snacks – under the guise of helping out, of course! Make up a fruit platter with sliced pineapple, peaches, apple, strawberries and plain yoghurt for dipping. And get involved with serving or doing the dishes so you’re not standing around eating mindlessly as Aunty Ali talks about quilting for the fourth time.
DON’T Go back for seconds. Decide what your favourite dessert is and serve yourself a single portion. If you absolutely can’t play favourites, take two tiny pieces of each, but never go back – you’ll lose track of what you’ve eaten.
The verdict
The way to avoid pre-Christmas weight gain is to be selective about how much treat food you eat. You don’t have to maintain an absolutely perfect diet, but simply choose a few events where you’ll indulge and eat wisely at the others.
What’s in your glass?
Now you know the food rules to follow, find out how not to sip yourself off course. Each of these standard drinks contains 10g of alcohol:
High-strength spirits:
(30ml) 281kJ
Red wine:
(100ml) 285kJ
White wine:
(111ml) 315kJ
Champagne:
(107ml) 332kJ
Mid-strength beer:
(375ml)
375kJ
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