How I Dodge Diet Traps at Family Get-Togethers

Counting calories is a tedious pain sometimes, but it’s better for me than a scripted menu plan. Part of my job means tasting foods (rough, I know), and calorie-counting gives me the flexibility in my diet to allow for that. It also lets me follow my own whims for what I want to cook and eat. Every day, I aim for about 1,700 calories worth of healthy, filling foods. (Find out how I got this number.)

That calorie count isn’t too restrictive, but the tricky part is sticking to it when I’m not at home! This past week I was visiting my parents on vacation, and I don’t think I could have had a tougher diet challenge. It’s guaranteed that my parents’ kitchen contains Pepperidge Farm cookies, Häagen-Dazs ice cream bars, peanut-butter cups, chocolate bars… and on top of all that, requests for me to bake or cook their favorite foods. (I made a bittersweet chocolate tart for my mother on this trip.) And then, there’s the many restaurant meals to eat with family and old friends.

Here’s how I managed my eating during our family time and avoided diet pitfalls:

Eat a filling pre-flight snack before getting on the plane. This way I can easily pass by the airport food vendors. My snack is a glass of low-sodium tomato juice and a boiled egg. Total: 118 calories and 8 satiating grams of protein. (On the morning I flew back to Birmingham, I added another egg—that’s another 77 calories. Total: 195 calories.)

Look up menu nutrition info before going out to eat. Sunday night my sister wanted to go to PF Chang’s, so before we left I went online and decided I’d order the Wild Alaskan Steamed Salmon With Ginger and a small side of Shanghai Cucumbers. I also had two shrimp dumplings and a glass of unsweetened iced tea. Total: 429 calories. (I also went to a few locally owned independent restaurants that had no nutrition info available. There, I just had to make my best guess for something healthy, stick to soup or salad and skip the extra toppings, or go small by choosing a few appetizers.)

Pack my own treat. It’s no secret I love chocolate. I took a few bars of my favorites so I could have a small yet decadent snack in the evening. The trick is finding a treat that’s not only lower in calories than the other temptations around me but also something I look forward to. (Otherwise, hello, Häagen-Dazs bars…) This entire Lemon Ginger Dagoba bar has 250 calories; I can savor it over three nights, as long as my boyfriend doesn’t find it. Total: About 84 calories.

Next page: The most important meal of the day