Before I start, I want to take a moment with my French audience, so stay with me if you will…
J’aimerais
m’excuser auprès de mes lecteurs francophones du fait que les textes
sont seulement en anglais. Si vous avez besoin de précisions, n’hésitez
surtout pas à communiquer avec moi. Comme je manque de temps pour
faire la traduction des textes, je préfère vous en faire profiter dans
au moins une langue plutôt que de ne pas distribuer l’information du
tout. J’espère que vous nous pardonnerez ce manquement et que vous nous
ferez part de vos questions. Il nous fera plaisir de vous répondre dans
la langue de Molière.
The deal with fast foods!
Over the last two
years, I have always included in the Advent Calendar an article to help
you make good choices when you are stuck at the mall trying to get all
the shopping done and out of the way. This weekend promises to be a big
one at the mall. When you are almost done and realize it is 1:00 pm and
you’re hungry and tired, the choices can be daunting. Should you abandon
the mall and get yourself home quickly to eat only to have to return
later to get the rest done? We all know what parking is like. If your
car is already parked and you have gained some momentum, don’t abandon
your shopping excursion because you need to eat. I have compiled a list
of places that you can go to and still remain compliant with phases 1, 2
& 3 of your program.
As I have said
countless times, this is the best time of year to be dieting and here’s
another opportunity for me to show you why… Practice makes perfect! If
you didn’t have to make these decisions at the mall right now, you
would likely not learn what choices are good for you for future
situations.
So here are a few tips to surviving at the mall.
If there is a
grill, head that way first. The Japanese cuisine is actually perfect for
what you are trying to achieve… which is to get lots of protein, stay
away from fried foods and ensure you get two cups of vegetables.
At the Gloucester
Mall, you can find a place called Edo Japan. Awesome food right around
$10. You can even double the meat for only a few dollars! Incredible!
Ask that they cook it with no sauce (you can add some soya sauce at the
end). Tell them you don’t want rice, they will actually increase the
portion of vegetables without you having to ask. I trust you to stick
handle the few pieces of carrot out of the way and enjoy!
At some of the other malls in Ottawa (and many other places in Canada and the U.S.) you can find a restaurant called Teriyaki Experience. Check out their menu online. Same idea as with Edo, you can double the meat and get a super meal for about $10.
Here are the locations in Ottawa. They define their food as: “Quick,
water-based cooking done right in front of your eyes. Great for
take-out with sit-in options as well. All main meal options offered are
under $10.”
ST. LAURENT SHOPPING CTR.
1200 St. Laurent Blvd.
(613) 746-5067
CARLINGWOOD MALL
2121 Carling Ave.
(613) 729-8050
PLACE D’ORLEANS
110 Place d’Orléans Dr.
(613) 834-9366
BILLINGS BRIDGE
2323 Riverside Dr.
(613) 730-8181
RIDEAU CENTRE
50 Rideau St.
(613) 695-1600
BAYSHORE
100 Bayshore Rd.
(613) 519-0388
240 Sparks
240 Sparks St.
(613) 800-0450
Now
if you are at Costco and your entire family is lobbying to eat there,
go for the smoked meat! Leave the bread and eat the meat. It’s not the
leanest meat but in a pinch, it will certainly do! You can buy a tray of
veggies in the store to complement your meat… et voila! You can even
have the dill pickle! LOL
There
are a few novelties since last year. The first one and this is a big
one is the salad bar at Farm Boy! If you are mall hopping, make a quick
stop at Farm Boy (and this holds true for any day of the week not just
shopping days). Over the last 8 months, each store has been retrofitted
to have a salad bar. On the one side there are mixed salads, but on the
other side, they have fresh ingredients and protein that you can put
together to make a super lunch/dinner. If you were planning ahead and
brought your IP pack with you, then all you need are vegetables. You can
even purchase single servings of the Lemon Garlic dressing that is so
yummy. You know that the Greek dressing and the Italian dressing (Farm
Boy brand) are acceptable too!
Another
delightful discovery is Freshii. Sadly, there are only two locations in
Ottawa (one on Sparks street for all you downtown workers and one on
Laurier for University of Ottawa patrons) but my, what a place to have a
great lunch! They offer so many choices of ingredients for your build
your own salad that you won’t know where to start. Everything is fresh
and because you make the selection of each ingredient, you don’t need to
remove anything. Just dig in!
OK,
finally, we should take a look at the really bad places… like the
double arches and other places like it! But first, a quick story! When
Rachel (she was our amazing Orleans coach a few years back) and I
returned from a training weekend in Boston back in October 2011, we
stopped at Exit 17 on Hwy 40 (near Hudson). We were tired, it was 8:30
pm and we were hungry. The only thing that was open was Burger King!
Rachel, eager to not step off Phase 1, especially after having spent the
entire weekend doing a perfect job of staying on (even at Cheers in
Boston), made a great suggestion.
A double burger each with a salad.
We took the two burger patties from our burgers and broke them into
pieces onto the salad (after scraping the ketchup and other condiments
and using the bread to soak up the excess fat). We also reclaimed the
two slices of tomatoes from the burger to add to the salad. I had a
single pack of Walden Farm’s Ranch dressing in my purse that we
shared… Are you getting the picture? We were both so pleased with this
solution and I hadn’t even been the one to come up with it. Kudos
Rachel!
Phase 4 tip…
At this time
of year, there are so many opportunities to eat fattening things that a
trip to the mall should probably be handled as if you were still on
phase 1 & 2. The comment that I get most often is the difficulty
with frequent “fun days” in any week. If you are shopping on a day that
is not designated as “fun day”, take this opportunity to revisit the
good habits you had developed during Phases 1 & 2. You will be glad
you did and it will serve as a refresher course. At any rate, it’s not
only a question of weight… it is above all a question of health and
there can be no doubt that fast food remains at the bottom of the food
chain when it comes to making healthy choices.
I hope these tips
will help you in a pinch. There is always something you can eat. The
more you practice, the better you will get at making the right choices.
It is still not the ideal situation to go to a fast food… but if you
have to, better be prepared!
On these parting
words, enjoy your weekend, try and plan for all eventualities and don’t
skip meals! You’re not doing yourself any favours by going too long
without food… your body AND THE SCALES will be only too happy to show
you why next week!
Have a great day… until tomorrow!
Sincerely,
Lise Hamilton-Carriere Food-Wise Weight Loss
PS.
I know you won’t take this as a license to go to the fast food every
day. You don’t want to make a habit of it (especially with all the MSG
restaurants put in their food) but at this time of year, we are just
scrambling to get everything done with the little time we have.
Solutions are what we need!
